Happy Halloween

My nephew, Brady, dressed up as Mario.

When you were little, I suspect that Halloween was a day filled with excitement.  You had the chance to dress up, pretend that you are someone you are not, hang out with your friends and be given candy by neighbors.  Today, for many of my seniors in particular, I suspect Halloween is a day filled with anxiety.  You are not able to disappear into your imagination and the stress of tomorrow's college application deadline feels rather like a nightmare.

I would like you to pause.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Repeat that again. 

Seriously.  (If you didn't, please stop and take the well needed deep breath.)

Applying to college by the early action deadlines is a great goal, but it is not the only deadline so if you are not ready, you're not ready.  Breathe.  You do still have a little over 24 hours left to try to finish up your applications so I want to give you a few final reminders.

1. If you are applying tomorrow via Common App and have not already identified me as your counselor on the FERPA and Recommenders section of your application, you need to do this TONIGHT!

2.  You need to submit your transcript release form.  This is on the WKHS Counselor website - www.wkhscounselors.com - and you need to get that done before noon tomorrow so that I have time to get it uploaded before I leave for the day.

3.  If you have not already requested that your official test scores be sent from ACT/ SAT directly to your colleges, then you need to go the the testing agencies pages and request for your scores to be sent.  (Hopefully you have already done this because they won't make it by tomorrow, but still do this now if you realize you hadn't done that step.)

4.  If you are trying to rush together a half-hearted application and you know that your essay is not great and really could be better, I am going to encourage you to have a heart-to-heart with your parents about waiting to submit your application for the regular deadlines.  The regular deadlines are NOT late.  It is absolutely acceptable to apply by those dates.

5.  This has been a non-stop week of trying to review essays for students.  If you are still working on your applications and need help, feel free to stop by tomorrow and I will do my best to squeeze you into the day - just prepare yourself for the fact that you might have to wait for a few minutes.

Back to Halloween, I wanted to give a special acknowledgement to all of the students who braved the cold and wind tonight to go "Trick or Canning" for the Worthington Food Pantry.  You make a difference and I am grateful for your efforts!

Career Starting Salaries

Today I was meeting with a student and we were talking about what he wants to do some day in the future as a possible career.  His response was that he didn't care what he did as long as he could make a lot of money.  Interestingly, as I was recommending that he use YouScience to explore what he is naturally good at, I had to admit that there is not a search factor that simply said which are the highest paid jobs that he would be good at... but there is the ability to look at the jobs and see what the pay is for each one and save those which interest him - even if the interest is just based upon income.

And here is the thing... money matters, but your happiness matters even more.  However, if making a lot of money is your biggest motivator then finding jobs that will pay well would be a factor in your decision making.  I just hope it isn't your only factor.

During our conversation I told him that I knew that I had recently read articles about the jobs with the highest and lowest starting salaries.  So I found them and decided that I should share them with you as well.

10 college majors with the best starting salaries

The above article features the majors with the best salary and if you’re not interested in engineering, then I have bad news for you - you’re not going to be a fan of this list.

10 college majors with the lowest starting salaries

This article features the majors with the lowest starting salaries and, not surprisingly, many of these jobs are service oriented or more aligned with a person's interests/ passions, but I hope you will recognize that there is still value within these fields.  Just keep it in mind as possible jobs to avoid if making lots of money is your top motivator.

Homework

It's a new quarter and I have been talking to many students about plans for turning around their grades in classes.  One topic that has come up over and over again is homework.

I get it... for some of you, doing work at home is not always a top priority.  Either you tend to tell yourself that you'll do it the next day, that it isn't really that important, or that you forget about it completely, but then it isn't working out the way you had wanted.

Homework has value because it is practice.  Your teachers are not assigning homework to you just because they think it is fun.  They are trying to extend your learning to make sure you know and understand the concepts being covered in class.  Being able to spend your time learning and fully understanding the material is worth the investment of your time and energy.

So let's talk for a second about those top reasons students have been citing about why they haven't been doing their work...

- I'll do it the next day... Saving your work to finish during academic prep or lunch sounds like a viable option, but if you have been saving your work for then and it isn't getting done then it is time to rethink your approach.  Getting through the work rather than having it hang over your head will take away the pressure and allow you to feel the success of having your work completed.

- It really isn't that important... I get it - in some of your classes homework is weighted really low compared to other assignments or tests and so it doesn't always feel as if the work is worthwhile, but here is the reality - Every Point Matters!  Especially if your grades aren't where you want them to be.  But think about it for a moment.  If homework is worth 10% of your grade and you don't do it then you're already starting with a 90% in your class and the only way you could earn a 90% would be if you get a perfect score on every other assignment outside of your homework.  And, let's be honest, if you aren't doing the homework to practice and develop a deeper understanding of the material, then it isn't realistic that you will be able to earn a perfect score on all of your other classwork and tests.

- You forgot about the work... time to get organized and keep a planner or use an app for tracking your assignments.  Your head is the place to think - not the best place to try to keep track of all of your work that needs to be done.  This is especially the case when you take into consideration all of the long-term assignments and projects which you have to keep track of throughout the year.

The reality is a few students also mentioned that they are struggling with homework because they try, but aren't sure of what to do.  If that is you, then I need to stress the importance of doing the best that you can on what you know and then using your academic prep, lunch or before/ after school time to meet with your teacher or the academic assistants to ask questions to make sure you learn and understand the material.  I actually see this struggle as a possible strength because if you are trying the assignments and are able to seek help to learn the specific compoentns that you weren't sure about then you will have a much richer understanding of the material than anyone who didn't even attempt the work in the first place.

I know that homework is not always fun.  I know you have other things happening in your life that can make dedicating the time to complete work a challenge.  But school is your job.  You need to maximize your learning and take care of this responsibility by doing your homework on a regular basis so that you don't fall behind and then have to dig out of a hole.  I am confident that if you do, you will see the reward in your grade and most importantly in your learning and understanding of the material.

Upcoming Changes with ACT

Anytime that there are changes announced related to the ACT or SAT they tend to be big news.  (Ok, well, at least big news for those of us who follow college admissions news regularly.)  Such was the case in the last few weeks when ACT announced that they will have changes coming beginning next September.

They are going to begin allowing students to do retakes in just particular subject areas.  So, once a student has taken the full ACT they will have the option of taking just a particular section that they struggled with rather than retaking the entire ACT over again.

This news excited a lot of people, but I have to tell you, unless lots of colleges change their current admissions policies, this is likely not a change that will make a huge difference for most of our students.  That is because most colleges do not superscore.  Superscoring is when colleges will take the highest scores for each subject area no matter the test date and average all of those together to come up with a composite "superscore."  At this point, most colleges elect to use the highest composite score from one test date.

The other aspect that I thought was particularly interesting is that the section specific retakes will only be allowed to be done at national test sites that administer the ACT online instead of through paper/ pencil.  With most of our students still having a preference of taking the test with the paper/ pencil format, I am also not sure how that shift will impact the decision to take just a particular section.

I am confident that in a few years these changes will be much more mainstream and chances are that for the current sophomores these changes might be applicable, but, I'd guess that before that it is big news that really won't have any applicability yet.

Here is an article that highlights these changes if you want to read more about it.

Searching for a College

No matter what grade you are in, when you start the college search – the answer lies in you! I know, that sounds cheesy, but it is true. Before you really start looking for the “right” school it is important to figure out what you WANT in a school and that can only be found by looking in yourself and determining what factors are most important to you.

For example, for some students distance from home may be a big deal. Being close can have it’s advantages – like being able to come home and have a free home cooked meal or a place to do your laundry and also not having to worry about flying half way across the country any time you would want to come home for a visit. Going to school at a college far from home can also have it’s advantages – often a different climate, a new experience and adventure where you can be independent, and no concerns about mom or dad just dropping in unexpectedly. And, of course, there are some students who will elect to find a school that is not too far and not too close. (Remember, that by communicating with your family about what you are looking for in a school you may find that a college outside of your comfort zone is still worth considering because you and your parents may be able to reach some mutually agreed upon ground rules – so the concern that they might come see you or you might come home too often can be eliminated by talking about those issues up front.)

The size of a school is another factor for many students. Small, Medium, Large or somewhere in between – the challenge is that many students will say, “I don’t know” and that is where making a variety of visits to different sized schools can be advantageous. You can explore a small school and see if the experience of knowing lots of people on campus and in your classes is better for you than a medium or large school where you may have a class in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. As you visit the schools you may find that there are experiences or advantages that a larger school can provide that a smaller school can’t such as a wider variety of clubs or groups for students to be involved. The key is to figure out what size school fits you and then you can narrow your search to explore more schools in that range.  However, it is important to keep an open mind about size because there is only 24 hours in a day so the way you will spend your time is going to be very similar no matter what size of a campus you select.  Plus, you know yourself academically... so you know if you are the type of student who will go and seek out your professors during office hours or if you are the type of person who wants a teacher to notice that you are struggling.  (Hint, at a medium/ large school the professor will most likely not be able to notice that you are struggling.)

Other factors that often influence a student’s college decision will include the types of majors or programs offered at the school, their athletic programs – both collegiate sponsored and intramurals, the food, the dorms, the cost (but don’t necessarily eliminate potential colleges simply based upon cost because often the private schools are much more expensive, but also offer a much larger financial aid package to make it competitive and comparable to a public school), extra-curricular opportunities, career placement services and on and on.

Again, I cannot stress the point that everyone is different and what is best for one person is not necessarily the ideal school for someone else. All too often I listen to students who are only looking at the 2 or 3 schools that their best friend or sibling looked at rather than trying to find the school that fits best for them. Also, I truly believe that it is about being a good match – for both you and the college and that there is not 1 perfect school.  You will be successful no matter where you end up attending.

I know, it can be a bit intimidating to search for a school and to try to figure out what you really want in a college and for your future, but it is also supposed to be fun so try not to put too much pressure on yourself to find “perfection” and try to take a step back and figure out what will make you happy. It really can be fun, but I know it is also overwhelming so remember that I am here to support and help you in any way that I can.

Merit vs Need Based Aid

Paying for College is expensive! There is no question that higher education costs add up quickly.

There are two broad categories of financial aid – Merit Based aid and Need Based aid.

Merit Based aid is what you think of when you think “Scholarships.” These are usually awarded to students based on academic achievements, leadership, athletics, special talents such as art or music, volunteerism, or other personal qualities that set you apart. These scholarships do not consider financial need. A significant portion of all merit-based aid comes directly from the college/ university. Some schools may require additional scholarship applications, essays, interviews, and many colleges will have earlier deadlines to be considered for their scholarships. It can be helpful to know that a lot of times the smaller, private colleges will have more money available for scholarships in order to help make attending their school competitive with the lower costs of the public colleges. Please also remember that there are scholarship offerings listed in PrepHQ. It is important to keep an eye out for unique scholarships that might apply to your personal situation. Last year I had a student who was able to qualify for an Italian heritage scholarship. Perhaps one of your grandparents won a purple heart or maybe you have time to write an essay for one of the other scholarship competitions… no matter what the situation, if you find a scholarship that you meet the criteria for go ahead and apply – you might be pleasantly surprised at the result and if you don’t, the answer is definitely a “no.”

Need Based aid is what you will sometimes hear people refer to as “Financial Aid” even though both Merit Based and Need Based aid technically fall under that one category. There are a variety of different Need Based aid programs which will require you to fill out the FAFSA in order to be considered for them. Grants are considered gift assistance – they give you money and you do not have to pay it back. Loans which can come from a wide variety of sources – the federal government, the college, and private banks is money that you are required to pay back. Work Study programs are on campus job opportunities that the government helps find that allows you to earn money for college through working on campus. The big difference between Merit Based and Need Based aid is that Need Based aid is that the type and amount of Need Based aid you will receive depends upon the amount of financial need you have.

And, yes, just to add to the confusion – there are some scholarships that will consider financial need as a criterion. They are still awarding the scholarship based upon some specific aspect of who you are it is just allowing them to narrow down the potential applicant pool.

One last important reminder - NEVER pay to be considered for a scholarship! That is a scam. Don't waste your money!

Seniors, hopefully you have started making progress on filling out your FAFSA.  Don't forget that you need to submit it prior to your first college's priority deadline.  If you have any questions you can always call the financial aid offices of the schools where you are applying as they are true experts in the field. I am also happy to try to help in any way that I can.

Worthington Industries Workforce Partnership

I have been posting a lot about college lately, but the reality is there are some students who are not interested in pursuing college directly after high school.  Worthington schools has established a partnership with Worthington Industries to help meet the needs of students looking for a strong work option. 

I blogged about the new Worthington Industries partnership back in August.  Here is that information, but we wanted to give all of our students and parents every opportunity to learn more directly from the Worthington Industries staff.  There will be an information meeting on Monday, October 28th at 6:30pm in the WKHS Counseling Center conference room to give you a chance to learn more about the internship experience that Worthington Industries will provide to interested students.

Working at Worthington Industries is a great opportunity for students to have a solid, well paying job after high school.  If you are not looking at college, please consider exploring this opportunity.

Transcript Release Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone that if you are in the process of applying to college you need to make sure you fill out the transcript release form.  This process must be completed for EVERY college where you are applying!  The transcript release form is located a Google Form and there is a link to it on the WKHS Counselor website.

If you are applying to schools utilizing the Common Application or Send EDU, your transcript will be submitted electronically.  You will need to report me as your school counselor on the Recommendation page so that I am assigned the transcript data responsibility and given access to submit them on your behalf.  If you are unsure how to do this, bring your common app username and password to school with you after you have completed the majority of your application and we will fill out the assignment component together.  Transcripts uploaded to Common App and Send EDU are free of charge because we are not charged to use those systems.

If you are applying to schools that don't use the Common Application or Send EDU, we will send your transcript through an electronic system or by regular mail (depending on if they are a college that will accept them electronically or not).  There is a $1.00 fee for each of these transcripts you have requested.  

Some students have asked me if you have to be done with your applications to request your transcript and the short answer is no, but hopefully you will be close.  The one time that it doesn't matter if you are close or not is when we get close to winter break (which, believe it or not, is approaching quickly).  Remember, we are not at school over Christmas either, so if you are applying to colleges with a December 31st or January 1st deadline, you need to make sure that you have requested your transcript no later than December 9th to give us enough time to process and mail it in before your college application deadline.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

We all have our own internal way of processing our lives.  The way we interpret what is happening may have more to do with our own perspective than it does with what is actually happening.  I recognize that this can be hard to grasp, so bear with me for a moment while I try to explain what I mean by giving you a few examples…

     When you ask a question in class about why a question you lost points on was marked wrong and the teacher is short in their response back.  We tend to think “they don’t like me.”

     When the people who sit near you in class are whispering and laughing while looking in your direction.  We tend to think “they are talking about me.”

     When the person you like smiles at you in the hall.  We tend to think “they like me too.”

And, the reality is, all of those thoughts are legitimate possibilities.  But there are other possibilities as well.  It can be hard to remember those other options as being viable alternatives so I would like to share with you one of the best strategies that I have for managing this challenge.

“The story I’m telling myself…” Using this phrase can be a game-changer to prevent you from jumping to conclusions because it also opens you up to recognizing that there may be other possible stories.  

So, if we look at the examples again…

     The teacher might not like you, but it could be that the teacher is not feeling well, that he/ she is not having a good day, that the teacher had just answered the question when you weren’t paying attention, or something else.

     The people sitting near you may be talking about you, but they may be talking about someone behind you, they may be talking about something they saw online or heard in the hallway, or they could be completely unaware that they are even looking in your direction.

     And the person who likes you hopefully does notice and like you back, but it is also possible they are just being polite, they were smiling at someone else, or they were smiling about something they had just remembered, heard or saw on their phone.

And so, here is the reality, you don’t know.  You don’t know what was happening from the other person’s perspective – you only know what you interpret it as and it is very possible that your interpretation is wrong.  So, the next time you are ready to jump to a conclusion about something, try to remember that this is the story you are telling yourself and that there are other possible stories.

I know that sometimes it can be hard to see this when it is in your own life, but when you see it happening in someone else’s life or even on TV shows or movies it can often be easier to recognize.  It is hard to pick something that everyone has seen, but I suspect most of you have probably seen the movie Hitch starring Will Smith.  In the movie, people jump to conclusions about Hitch’s intentions based upon the stories they are telling themselves.  But the reality was that there were other possible stories and one of the other stories is what was actually happening.  So, if you are having trouble to recognize the stories you tell yourself in your own life and opening yourself up to the other possible stories, then at least start looking for it in other settings.  

It is a great skill to learn and can make a positive difference in your life.

Also, a quick reminder that tomorrow night is the Planning for College Night for junior students and parents at 7pm in the Auditorium.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night.

Impressive Students

The students at WKHS never cease to impress me with all of their remarkable accomplishments, areas of involvement, awards, and activities. Below are a few of my students who deserve recognition.

 Braydon Biehn was recognized as a National Merit Commended Scholar.

Asa Compton was recognized as a National Merit Commended Scholar.

7 of my students were among those recognized as October Students of the Month.  Pictured (L to R): Max Cole, John Cuozzo, Jacob Fisher, Sasha Estice, Aidan Arthur, Cole Archual, and not pictured Averie Eckstein.  

 Sasha Estice was recognized for receiving a National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award.

 Madeline Allen was recognized for receiving a National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Award.

 Shaydon Baker was a Senior Homecoming Attendant.

Reghan Beerman was a Senior Homecoming Attendant.

Congratulations to each of you!  I am proud of you for the positive impact that you have on our school and community.  I consider myself fortunate to know and work with you.

Pre-ACT

Pre-ACT Test Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Location: WKHS Gym
Time: 7:30am (check-in) beginning promptly at 7:45am
Cost: $14.00 (checks payable to WKHS)

The Pre-ACT is the practice test for the ACT. This test is an option for freshmen, sophomores or juniors.  The content of the Pre-ACT is closely tied to that of the ACT achievement test, which is used for college entrance and placement decisions. It covers the same subjects and gives you estimated ACT scores.

The Pre-ACT has many benefits. It can help you get started in thinking about and planning for life after high school. It will show you areas where you may want to seek extra help. The results can also be used to help focus your test preparation to improve your ACT scores. Additionally, one of the other valuable aspects is that the Pre-ACT test includes a career component that helps identify career interests and possible career fields. For all of the students who have no idea what they might want to do some day this is one way to help come up with some ideas.

It is only a practice test; therefore, your score will not appear on your transcript.

Students can register for the test in the WKHS Counseling and Career Center from October 21st - November 8th.

Why THIS college?

Why do you like a particular college?  What is it about the school that made it stand out to you and left you with the impression that this would be a good place for you to spend your collegiate years?

Hopefully, you have an idea about what you'd answer for both of those questions for each school that you are including on your list of schools where you are going to apply.  And, let me clear - you should like something about every college that you are considering and you should feel good about each of the schools if you are applying there!  If not, then you need to rethink your college list.

In addition to mattering for deciding where you are going to apply, your answers to these questions are essential when you are trying to answer college-specific essay questions.  Some colleges will ask applicants to answer supplemental essay questions and often one of these questions relates to what you like about their school.  They may phrase it in different ways, but the bottom line is that they are trying to determine why you believe their school is a good fit for you.

Remember, the admissions officers who work for the school already think their school is great and they know about the wonderful opportunities available so you need to take it beyond saying that they have a great location, outstanding professors, impressive reputation, and wonderful weather.  You need to take it to the next level by identifying specific aspects at the school where you can see yourself contributing to the school and offerings that you plan to take advantage of while you are in college.  Ultimately this still an essay about you and how you fit at the college with the opportunities that they provide, but you have to really think about both you and the college - think of it as an essay about why you're perfect for each other.

I have been reviewing these essays with lots of students lately and probably the biggest challenge has been in making sure that the student balances making sure that the essay still shares how they fit with the college with making it specific to THAT college.  This is important because if you could swap out the name of the college and it still applies then it isn't doing a good job of answering the question.  

In case you don't want to take it from me, here is a blog post from Tulane University that gives additional highlights for answering this essay question:

The "Why College X" essay

The College Essay Guy also has detailed information about answering this question

Good luck in searching for the right college fit for you and for conveying why it's a good fit in your essays.  As always, if you are struggling with what you want to say, please stop by to see me so that we can brainstorm it together.

Jack Fitch

It is always hard when I learn of a former student who has died too young.  Such was the case this week when we learned that Jack Fitch, a 2016 WKHS graduate had died in a car accident.  Jack attended the Delaware Area Career Center and was in the Daily Living Skills program at WKHS.  He was currently a student at Hocking College.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is grieving for Jack.

Here is a link to his obituary and the video created in his memory.

I would like to remind all of my students that you are important to me, that I care about you and want only the best for you. Remember that there are always people (like me) who are ready and willing to lend a hand so if you need someone to talk to, please know I'm here to listen.

On a completely separate note, good luck to the Girls Water Polo team who advanced to the Final 4 in the State Tournament.  They play in the State Semifinals game tomorrow at 1:10 and hopefully will advance to the state finals at 6pm down in Cincinnati.  Good luck!

End of 1st Quarter

I don't know about you, but I have been looking forward to this long weekend for weeks.  I hope you are excited about the extra time to yourself.  But I also hope you are equally excited about the fact that you have successfully completed the first quarter of the school year.

By the middle of next week your quarter grades will all be updated in Infinite Campus so that you and your parents can review your progress so far.  Remember, quarter grades are not reported on your transcript so these grades don't directly change your GPA.  However, your first quarter grade, second quarter grade, and exam grade will all be combined together to create your semester grade which will then be added to your transcript.

Now that you have completed your first quarter, it is important that you spend a few minutes reflecting on how the quarter went.  Are your grades where you want them to be?  If so, that is great!  Congratulations!  Keep up the great work.  If they are not, it is time to figure out what needs to change.  You have to do something different if you want a different result.  So many times when I am having this conversation with students they will tell me that they are going to work harder.  While I appreciate the sentiment, I have to be honest, I don't think it is about working harder... I'd rather you work smarter.  What are small adjustments you can make that will have a big impact?

Some ideas of small things that can result in big changes would include:
- Working with the academic assistants in the Teaching and Learning Center (Room 209) to get more help in reviewing your homework assignments and studying for your tests.
- Asking teachers for help when you don't understand a concept rather than just trying to figure it out on your own.
- Spending 10 minutes every day to review the notes you took in class that day.
- Actually studying for tests and quizzes.  (If you don't know how to study, you are not alone... there are lots of test strategies available for review on the WKHS Counselor website.)
- If you are struggling to stay focused in class, find ways to focus better - that might be asking to switch where you sit, it might mean getting more sleep so that you are awake enough to focus, or it could mean you need to get rid of the distractions (your phone, the stress that is happening somewhere else in your life, etc.).
- Improve your note taking and focus on making sure you are getting all of the key points.  (If you aren't sure if you have been taking good notes or not, look at a recent test and then look back at your notes - were the concepts that were covered on the test included in the information you wrote down as notes - if so, great, if not, your note taking probably needs to improve.)
- Do your homework every day.  This is practice that your teachers want you to do to help prepare for the tests.

If you are going to make college visits during the long weekend, please be sure to take a picture on campus for us to post on the Oh The Place's You'll go board.

And for all of you, no matter if you are staying home or will travel during the weekend, I hope you have a safe and enjoyable time.

College Planning Night

Save the date!  One week from today, on Wednesday, October 23rd the WKHS Counseling department will be hosting a Student and Parent College Planning Information Night. This presentation is for juniors and is one of the most important nights that we provide. The students and parents who attended this meeting in the past have expressed how much this helped them get started and move forward with the college search process and developed a better understanding of what to expect along the way.  The meeting will cover searching for colleges, exploring careers, ACT/ SAT and testing plans, making college visits, how colleges evaluate applicants, what you can be doing now to prepare for college applications and so much more. The meeting is at 7:00pm in the auditorium. 

I hope you will plan to attend! And yes, I want you to bring your parents to this meeting and no, I don't want you to just send your parents instead... this is YOUR future and you are responsible for deciding what direction you will take.

PSAT Reminders

Don't forget - tomorrow is the day when many Kilbourne sophomores and juniors, as well as many other students around the country, will take the PSAT.  

If you are one of the students who will be taking the PSAT, you will report directly to the gymnasiums when you arrive to school on Wednesday morning.  Check in begins at 7:15am and you will need to bring your student id with you in order to check in.  Please plan on leaving your book bag and your cell phone (turned off) in your locker.

You will also need to bring number 2 pencils (no mechanical pencils allowed), a calculator, an eraser, and I would recommend a watch.  (Obviously, you cannot use your phones or the like for timing.)  The test will begin promptly at 7:45 and you will finish testing during 4th period.

Remember, you won't be able to have water at your table.  As you know, the temperature in the building varies greatly.  So because we don't know what to expect in the gym, I strongly encourage that you dress in layers so that you can add a sweatshirt or take it off depending on how hot or cold you might be during testing.

As a reminder for all of the other students - I will be helping to administer the PSAT tomorrow, so I will not be available to meet with you.  Sorry.  (Hopefully things will run smooth and we will get the test process cleaned up and boxed to submit in time that I can be available to meet with you near the end of the day.)

Parent/ Teacher Conferences

Parent/ Teacher conferences are coming up in the next few weeks.  Conferences will be held on Wednesday, October 23rd from 5:00 - 9:00pm and on Monday, October 28^th from 3:30 - 7:30pm.  Each conference will be scheduled in 15 minute time blocks.  Conferences allow parents the chance to learn about your student’s classroom performance from the teachers, it allows the opportunity for you to ask questions and they provide an opportunity to build a dialogue with the teachers regarding any thoughts and concerns you might have.

Parents, if you are interested in arranging to meet with one of your son or daughter’s teachers during conferences, as of this morning the online system will be up and running for you to register for a meeting slot.  Conferences will be scheduled as people sign up for them, so if you want to make sure you have times that work well for you, I strongly encourage you to register right away.  

Please follow the steps below to register for a parent/ teacher conference:

- Follow this link to take you to the conference scheduler:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/Worthington_Kilbourne_High_School 

-  Click on the teacher you would like to meet with for a conference.

-  Sign up by entering your child's last name, first name, your name and your e-mail address and then click Submit.

-  The next screen will direct you to check your e-mail inbox for a message with the subject "Select Date/ Team for Teacher Conference Now."

-  Open the e-mail and click on the link to select a conference time.  If you do not receive an e-mail, please check your junk/ spam folder.  Please note, you MUST follow the link in the e-mail in order to complete the sign-up process.

-  The link will take you to a Time Picker.  Available time slots will appear on this page.  If there are no available appointments that suit your schedule, please e-mail the teacher directly to set up an alternate meeting time.

-  After submitting your time slot, you will be prompted to finish, schedule another appointment for the same student or register another student.  Once you have completed your reservations, you will receive an e-mail confirming the date and time of your conferences and a link by which you can make changes to your date or time if you need to do so.

If you have any problems using the online conference registration system, please contact Sharon DeSantis at WKHS.  She can be reached by e-mail at sdesantis@wscloud.org or by phone at 614-450-6400.

Career Thoughts for Future

What do you want to be when you grow up? When you were little perhaps it was a professional athlete, a superhero, or a famous entertainer. Chances are that now that you are in high school you have started re-thinking some of your potential career choices. While there is still a lot of uncertainty and you will, in all likelihood based upon the statistics, change career paths in the future, it is time to start figuring out what you might like to be when you grow up.

I *know* you hate it when I say this, but the reality is that you need to know yourself and follow your passions. If you love what you do and you are willing to work hard then you will be able to find success. Everyone has their own unique gifts and talents and it is imperative that you determine what career will best meet your needs. This means you have to figure out what is important to you and how you can incorporate that into your life. For example, for those who love sports it can be hard to imagine life without athletics and, many times, these individuals will pick (at least initially) careers that involve sports - athletic training, sports management, sports marketing, etc. This might be the perfect combination - but truthfully, it might not be a good fit. Knowing yourself and knowing what you have a passion for is important in determining what characteristics of a job will be best suited for you. In this example, the sports minded person might pick a career that involves teamwork where groups of people work closely together to reach a common goal. Or, if you decide that you are not going to be able to fulfill one of your life's passions through your career, then it is important that you still honor that influence in some other way - perhaps playing on an adult recreational team or coaching a youth sport team. While this example deals with sports the same concept applies to any of your interests and passions - art, music, learning.

So, while I am not asking you to abandon your dreams of fame and fortune as the professional athlete, superhero, or entertainer, I am asking you to start thinking seriously about what will make you happy, what is important to you, and how a career can help meet your needs and goals in life.  

One important career related opportunity available to students is participating in one of the programs at the Delaware Area Career Center.  I wanted to remind all sophomore students interested in participating in the field trip to the Delaware Area Career Center on Friday, November 22nd that your permission slips are due back to the secretaries in the Counseling Center by Thursday! I realize that this is a month before the actual field trip, but the Career Center needs to organize the visits based upon the programs that you want to see. If you are even remotely considering applying for admission to the DACC, or interested in exploring the types of things that someone in the careers that are addressed at the career center do as a part of their jobs, I strongly encourage you to join us for the field trip!

College Fair Reminder

Did you notice that most of the staff were decked out in college shirts yesterday?  I'm the mean mom who even forced Lexi to wear a "college cape" all day to help serve as a reminder that tomorrow, Sunday, October 13th from 1:00 - 3:30pm is the Columbus Suburban College Fair at Westerville Central High School.  This is the largest, local fall college fair and a great opportunity for our students.

If you have never been to a college fair before, I admit that it often feels like mass chaos.  But it is also the opportunity for you to gain a lot of useful information from a large number of schools in a short period of time.  

The good news is that college fairs give you a chance to meet with admissions representatives in person. They are all gathered together in one place in order to meet you and to answer your questions. Many schools also keep track of the number of interactions/ meetings you have with their admissions representatives during your search and application process so that they can gauge your interest level in their school. To help make this process easier for you, this year all students are asked to pre-register by texting MASCOT to 75644.  After you do that you will receive a reply text with a link.  Go to the link and fill out your information.  You will only need to do that one time.  Then, at the college fair, you will be able to share your information with any of the colleges that interest you.

Be prepared before you get to the college fair. Know that there will be far more schools than you are interested in or can even truly take in during one afternoon, so it is useful to come up with a list of colleges that you would be interested in learning more about by doing a search that looks for different criteria that seems to be a good fit for you. With that list in hand you now have a starting point for the colleges that you would like to talk to during the fair.

It can be useful to ask the same questions of each college so that you can compare them and their responses appropriately. The National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) has suggestions of questions and I encourage you to also consider thinking about the things you most want to know about the school and can’t find in a brochure or website. Everyone is different so your questions are going to be different depending upon your interests, but if you are really interested in playing a club sport in college, you might want to ask about their club/ intramural program and the numbers of students that participate. You may want to ask what the top 2 or 3 majors are on campus as that will give you an idea of what most of the students are interested in studying. If you are undecided about what you would like to study, it would be a great idea to ask them what support and services are available to help students in exploring different majors.

Take something with you to be able to jot some notes on and also a pen or pencil. It is a crazy event with so much happening that if you don’t write it down as you go you won’t remember much after the fact. The admissions representatives are giving you a small look of the college – what do you think following each glimpse?

While you are walking through the college fair with the list of schools that you want to talk to don’t forget to leave some time for browsing – you may realize that a school you had not previously considered has just what you are looking for in a college. It can be easy for us to get caught in the cycle of only looking at specific schools because that is what “everyone” else is considering.

Ideally, you will be able to avoid getting caught up in the crowds and confusion so that you don’t walk away from the college fair with a lot of brochures, but no real ideas or impressions about which colleges most interest you. At the end of the college fair you will likely have a bag filled with information about colleges. As the “Faring Well at College Fairs” article says, “Don’t succumb to the temptation of just piling all those brochures in some obscure corner of your bedroom. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a day or two away from the college search. Then get out all of those brochures, along with the notes you took at the fair, and read through them. You may find that some colleges aren’t as interesting as you first thought. Others only look better the more you research them.”
Take a deep breath, relax, and try not to get too overwhelmed.  Good luck and happy college searching… I can’t wait to hear about the schools that spark your interest!

Emotional Health

I love reading lots of different websites, blogs, and other sources for gaining information that can help me both personally and professionally.  One of the people who I really appreciate the daily email newsletters is Brian Kight.  He sends out brief emails (or texts) on Daily Discipline which primarily look at discipline, focus and skill.  He had sent out a message back in July that I have revisited many times and today I thought you might like it as well.  Here is what he had to say:

Emotional Health Starts with Self-Awareness.

Emotions are indicators.  There's a reason you feel the way you do.  Emotions are trying their best to point your attention to those reasons.  How you feel is the primary experience, but why you feel it is the primary importance.  Sometimes the experience of an emotion is so fast, intense, or disorienting that you never honestly evaluate the reason you feel the way you do.

For every emotion, there's a reason you feel the way you do and that reason matters.  Self-awareness reveals the source fueling your feelings.

Embrace the chase.  Do the work.


I loved the message.  It is easy to just feel something and either stuff it inside or react without pausing to figure out what is really going on in and for you, but that is where the richness lies and where the growth can happen.  Hopefully you are paying attention to your emotions and what they are trying to teach you each day.

If you are interested in getting Brian Kight's messages or reading more of what types of things he shares you can check out his website about these daily discipline messages.

College App Progress

Seniors, are you done with your college applications?  And by done, I mean DONE.  Totally, completely done... as in all essays written, applications submitted, transcripts requested, recommendation letters completed, fees paid, and test scores sent.

There are a handful of you who can honestly answer YES!  Those students are kicked back, relaxing and loving the fact that they are through the stress of applying.

But for most of you... I suspect even just reading that list of steps that you need to be sure you have completed is making you feel overwhelmed.  This post is a reminder for you...

Tomorrow, during your lunch periods the counselors will be in Room 201 (right across from the drop in lab) to help students with your applications.  We can help give you a focused place to work, review your common app information and check for common mistakes, point you in the right direction for requesting your transcript, review your essays, and answer whatever questions you might have.  Unless you are truly and completely done with your applications, you should be spending your lunch period with us tomorrow working on the applications.  Taking it one step at a time and making use of moments, like this, which are available to you is how you will get through your applications.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow during your lunch period!

Early Decision

Seniors are in very different places regarding where they are at with the college application process. Some of you have barely given a thought to where all you want to apply (for the record, this worries me, so if you are in that situation, please come talk to me). Others have already received their acceptances and are ready to kick back and enjoy senior year. The vast majority are somewhere in between the two extremes.

While I am always happy to help you in any way possible, there are some decisions that are for you and your family to make. For example, what schools you apply to and when you apply (assuming it is before the deadline) is entirely up to you. The other issue that has been weighing heavily on the minds of some students and their parents is the choice about if they should apply under Early Decision. Remember, as I explained previously, Early Decision is binding. If you are not 100% sure if you want to go to that school, then the choice about should you apply early decision or not is actually quite easy - no. Because it is a binding decision, you cannot wait and see and take more time to decide, so if you are not completely sure about your desire to attend that school, then applying early decision would not be a wise decision. The other aspect that you and your family must seriously consider is the financial impact that attending the school could involve as you are making a commitment to attend the school and that you will withdraw your applications at all of your other schools. This means you will not be able to compare financial aid packages to see which school will provide the best offer. 

Some of you may be wondering what the advantage is to applying Early Decision. Aside from getting your admissions decision earlier, there is a definite advantage at some schools where applying as an early decision student increases your potential to be accepted at the school. This is, in part, due to the fact that it eliminates the concern from the college's side of if you will choose to actually come to their college in the future or not.  The data on how many of their accepted students actually end up coming and attending their college in the future is one of the factors that impacts college rankings and therefore it is an important predictor for colleges. 

Remember, if you plan on applying early decision, I need to know ahead of time because there is a form I must sign off on indicating that I have talked to you and your parents to confirm that I have reviewed with you the binding nature of applying early decision.

Columbus Suburban College Fair

For students who are just starting the process to begin thinking about where they might want to apply to college in the future, college fairs can provide the perfect opportunity to interact with a large number of college admissions officers all in one setting.  Granted, this will just be a quick snapshot, but it is a great chance for 9th - 11th graders to begin the process of thinking about what you are seeking in a college and identifying schools which might be a good fit for what you're hoping to find.  (And it is a great way to expand your horizons well beyond the awareness of the most common colleges you have heard your siblings or friends talk about.)

The Columbus Suburban College Fair is one week from today - Sunday, October 13th from 1:00 - 3:30pm at Westerville Central High School.  This is the largest, local fall college fair and a great opportunity for our students.

One important thing for students and parents to know is that we now ask all students to pre-register with your information prior to the college fair.  I promise you, this proces will save you a ton of time at the actual college fair when you don't have to repeatedly write out all of your information for every single college that you are interested in getting more information from - instead you will just be able to text your personal code to them and they will automatically receive your information.

The way you will pre-register is to:
1. Text MASCOT to 75644
2. There will be a reply text.  Complete the student profile at the link provided in the reply text ONE time.

Then, at the college fair, each college will have a 4 digit code and you will text their code to 75644 if you are interested in their college.

Homecoming

This was a fun week of Homecoming festivities (including last night's football win) and it will be topped off tonight with the dance.  Have fun as you get all dressed up and I hope you enjoy the pictures, dinner and the dance.  Most of all, please stay safe and make good choices! I will be at the dance so if you have any problems, don't hesitate to let me know.