Online Learning Option

I have heard from some students and parents who have questions related to the online learning option for the coming school year and so I wanted to at least touch on a few of the points here for all of you with the disclaimer that if you have more questions, I strongly encourage you to participate in the live webinar this coming Tuesday (July 28th) or the Monday after that (August 3rd) both at 7pm.

Here is the reality... for some students, being back at school full day without it being a guaranteed healthy and safe manner is not a good option.  If you have health issues, if your parents or siblings have health issues, if you see your grandparents or other family members on a regular basis and they are elderly or have health issues, then you could put them at risk by possibly being exposed at school and taking the virus home with you.  I can promise you that at school we will be doing everything we can to make things as safe as possible, but sadly there aren't any guarantees as soon as you are out and about in public and interacting with others (that is the case at school or the store, etc.).  So, that is why the district wanted to provide every student and family with another choice that would allow you (and your families) to have a guaranteed safe option.

I believe that the students and families with health concerns were probably the people the district was primarily focused on as they were looking at developing online options, but I know that is not the only group that might benefit from this alternative.  There is no doubt that for some students, structure and routine, consistency and predictability, flexibility in timing of day and one format of instruction would be a better option than the anticipated Hybrid opening that Worthington is anticipating.  Let me clarify, I don't believe that the online learning option is the best alternative for everyone, there are some students that will struggle immensely without ever having any face-to-face contact with a teacher that they know.  But it is an important place for students and families to really take a serious look at yourself and your comfort levels to determine if the online learning choice is something you should consider or not.

A few things you will likely want to know...

- It is a full semester commitment.  So, if you decide now that you are going to use the online learning choice, you can't decide in October that you want to come back to Kilbourne.  You'd have to finish out the semester online and then in January you could return to WKHS.

- Like College Credit Plus classes, the district is offering the online option to students free of charge, but if you don't pass your classes then you must repay the district $250 for each class not successfully completed.  (As long as you pass all of your classes there is no fee to you.)

- You can technically blend some specialized classes (CC+ and fine art classes - music, visual arts and performing arts) by taking the online course option, but then coming to WKHS just for those select courses.  However, please note that you would have to be able to provide your own transportation since you wouldn't be at WKHS for the whole day. 

- AP and IB classes are NOT options for taking at WKHS while also doing the online school, but the online program does include AP classes.

- The grades will appear on your transcript as being a transfer credit, but the grades earned will still be calculated into your Worthington GPA.

- Students are still Worthington students and you are still allowed to participate in any sports, extracurricular clubs or activities, and other after-school functions.

I am pointing out several of these points because I know that many students and families read the intial draft that came out about the online program and several changes were released later, but if you missed those, then this might be information you want to know so that you can explore all of your options.

Selfishly, I hope that everyone is back at WKHS because I miss you and I miss seeing you in person even if it will be behind a mask.  But, I also am not crazy and I know that for so many students this is an option that you really need to be considering.  And yes, I am even thinking of some of my night-owls in saying that because learning at 7:30am has never been your srong suit ;-) but my biggest hope is that every student and family will make the best option for you.

The deadline to sign up for the online learning option is August 10th.

More information, including the Zoom links to the upcoming information meetings, are all featured on the district website at: https://www.worthington.k12.oh.us/Page/4288  Just scroll down and look for the Worthington Online Learning Academy portion of the page.

Alphabet Breakdown

We are working to balance the caseload of students assigned to each counselor and will be doing a phased in adjustment to the alphabet distribution.  As a result, that means that we have to adjust the alphabet breakdown for each counselor.  This means that some students will have to change counselors.  We work really hard to try to limit this and, in fact, this new breakdown takes into account student alphabet distribution all the way back through 5th grade so the new alignment will last us for many years.  We decided that all of the juniors and seniors will stay with the same counselor since we have had two years to start building a relationship and connection together.  And the incoming freshmen won't really know a difference.  However, for the sophomores, we did have to make some changes and I will be losing a handful of my sophomores.  This wasn't a decision we made lightly, but our caseloads had become drastically unbalanced and it isn't fair to students who want to see us when our time is divided among even more students. All of the counselors are committed to making sure we make this transition for students and families as smooth as possible. 

For your reference, below is the alphabet breakdown for Juniors and Seniors (unchanged):
A – Fl:  Miss Abbott
Fm – L:  Mrs. Gratz
M – R:  Mrs. Mann
S – Z:  Mrs. Lord

And, then this is the new alphabet breakdown for Freshmen and Sophomores:
A-D: Miss Abbott
E - Ko: Mrs. Gratz
Kr - Ri: Mrs. Mann
Ro- Z: Mrs.  Lord

Please note that if you have an older sibling who is currently IN the high school (sorry, not alumni), then we are continuing to keep you with the same counselor as your older sibling so that parents only have one counselor to communicate with about any issues or concerns.

AP Scores Released

As of this morning at 8am, scores for those students who took one (or more) of the Advanced Placement Tests in May should be available online. Many students assume that we know your scores in the counseling office, but we do not know how you did on the test unless you share that information with us. 

To access your scores log in using your college board account information.  (If you don’t have a college board account, you will need to create one.)

A lot of times students are curious about the policy various colleges have on how they grant credit based upon the AP scores. CollegeBoard maintains a searchable list for the college's policies.

Many WKHS students who took AP Lang were hoping to be able to use their scores to move directly to English 2367 (Comp 2) with CSCC next school year.  Please make sure you have scored a 3 or higher on the AP Lang test in order for this to be an option.  If I need to adjust your schedule to add you into Composition 1 because you didn't get the 3 as you had anticipated, or if you put Comp 1 into your schedule "just in case" and earned the 3 please let me know so that I can adjust your schedule and remove the class that you no longer need.  (Also, don't forget that you will need to send your test results to the CSCC CC+ office so that they know you have met the prerequisites to jump directly to Composition 2.)

Good luck!  I hope you find that you earned the scores you were hoping for when you tested!

IB Congratulations

As pretty much every student at WKHS knows, those who are taking the full IB Diploma program are under immense academic pressure during their last two years of high school.  Rigorous classes, few off periods, and lots of academic demands beyond the class requirements and all of it is for the hope of scoring well enough on the various assessments to earn the IB Diploma.  They just announced last weekend that ALL 11 of the WKHS students who completed the full IB Diploma program were successful in earning the diploma.  This is a HUGE accomplishment!

I am particularly proud of "my" students who were among those that worked so hard to earn their IB Diplomas including: Madeline Allen, Sasha Bomser, Sasha Estice, and Sydney Zulich!

Summer Assignments

Did you know that many of the advanced/ honors classes require students to complete work over the summer?  The teachers recognize that this last quarter has been daunting for all of you and so they have tried to cut back on the summer requirements as much as possible, but many classes do still have assignments that you will need to finish before the start of the school year.

Students who are enrolled in classes with summer learning expectations should have received an email from your teacher to notify you of this assignment, but we also have the information posted for you on the WKHS Counselor website.  www.wkhscounselors.com - it is at the top of the home page for your easy reference.

Some of the classes will have access links to Google Classroom assignments and electronic textbooks, but others will ask that you make arrangements to pick up a textbook from Mrs. Dominach at WKHS.  You can email her at jdominach@wscloud.org in order to make arrangements for when you can meet her at school to get your necessary text books.

Recommendation Letters

Recommendation letters are a time consuming process requiring a great deal of thought and effort. Class of 2021, as you finalize the list of schools where you will be applying next fall, it is important to determine if you are going to need a recommendation letter from a teacher (or two). Many of the Ohio schools - Ohio State University, OU, BGSU, Kent State, etc. do not require teacher recommendations.  Because rec letters are a time consuming process, if the colleges where you are applying do not require recommendations, then do not waste your teacher's time by requesting letters that won't be needed or used!  In addition to seeing IF your intended colleges even want recommendation letters, it is also important that you look at WHO the college would like to see the letters from - typically they will ask for a core teacher (ideally that you have had recently) and/ or they may ask for a letter from me as your school counselor.

If you are applying to schools that need recommendation letters, it is very helpful and beneficial to the teachers (and to me for that matter) if you can give them as much time as possible to write your recommendation letters. That means, if you know now that you are going to be applying to a school which needs a teacher rec letter, then I would suggest that you reach out to them now and ask if they would be willing to write a letter on your behalf.  That would allow them to have the option of using time this summer to write your recommendation letter.  And, even if they don't write it during the summer, you are at least at the top of their rec letter writing order.

After you ask your teacher(s), you will want to provide them with information that can help them as they write your letter and we have a form you can use for that purpose. There are also 2 forms that you would use if you need a Counselor Rec Letter (1 for you to fill out and 1 for your parents to complete.  We have all of these handouts on the WKHS Counselor website that you can use for this purpose. (The Recommendation Letter section can be found in the College Category of the website.)  Additionally, if you want to provide your teacher (or me) with a copy of your resume or activities, that is also great, but not necessary.  I will also tell you that one GREAT resource that teachers or I can use when writing recommendation letters is the Discussion Guide from YouScience.  So, if you have already completed your YouScience tests, consider sharing that guide with your recommenders and if you have continued to procrastinate on doing the YouScience assessment, there is no better time than now to get that done!  

I know that it was a really weird end to the school year and start of the summer, but I would also like to take this time to remind you that you need to be working on finalizing a list of where you plan on applying to college!

Here are some other resources/ articles related to recommendation letters.

How to ask for a recommendation letter


How to ask for a letter of recommendation for college


College Advice: Getting Great Recommendations  (This is actually from 2018, but ran again a few months ago as the tips are still applicable.)

I also want to take a moment and point out that with so many colleges going test-optional, all of the other components such as your strength of schedule, activities, leadership, recommendation letters and especially your essay are going to be even more critical than ever!  By the way - OSU has now changed their policy and will allow students to apply without considering test scores.  And ACT has announced that they are adding more testing dates in additional weekends in September and October to give more students the chance to test before college deadlines.  The testing uncertainty is just one more reminder of the craziness we are facing right now.