Schedule Changes

Every year the week between schedule pick up days to the first days of the school year are filled with students asking about making changes to their schedules. I am happy to try to help facilitate schedule change requests, but I need to make sure you know a few things...

1. We are not authorized to make any teacher changes.  Sorry.  I can't move you from one teacher to another teacher's class.  I know that we all have favorite teachers from previous years or teachers that our siblings had that we hoped to have too.  I get it, but the administration works really hard to balance all schedules with timing and course sections and they don't want us to undermine that work by making things unbalanced. 

2. I cannot overload classes.  If a class is full, there is no way for me to add you into the class. Think about it, you know how packed many of the classes are and how many desks are in the room.  Each teacher and each period can only have so many students.

3. You need to have your graduation requirement classes. Obviously a big end goal of your classes is to graduate and so those take priority over every other request.

4. If the classes you have requested are during 1st or 8th period then I cannot give you 1st or 8th period off.  I'm sorry.  I know that a lot of juniors and seniors hope for late arrival or early release, but the only way the master schedule works when the administrators build it is for classes to be spread across all 8 periods.  They focus on eliminating as many conflicts as possible and so that sometimes means a class that is only offered once per day ends up being in 1st or 8th period.

5. I know that a lot of times the hopes and expectations aren't in alignment with what the reality is when you first see your schedule.  Pause and give yourself a little bit of time to process through it.  It can be hard when you think that you're the only one in a particular lunch (I promise you're not) or that you don't have any classes with your friends. Every year I end up encouraging kids to just go to class and give it a try and see who else is in their classes and they realize that a friend they had classes with a year or two ago is also in that class and they are given the chance to rekindle the friendship again. Just don't panic when you see your schedule.

6. If you want to change levels from AP/ IB/ Honors classes that had summer work to other classes without summer work, remember that you are still responsible for completing those summer assignments and the grade will go with you into the new class. (So if you're doing all of that work for the class, are you sure you really don't want to just stick with the class you had requested a few months ago?)

7. If you want to request a schedule change, stop and see me after you pick up your schedule - I will be in one of the classrooms upstairs during the schedule pick up times and am happy to meet with you. Come see me!

Schedule Pick Up

Is anyone else feeling a little overwhelmed by the fact that school starts next week? Somehow I suspect it isn't just me! I'd imagine it will start to feel real that summer is coming to a close when you come to pick up your schedules this week.

Due to the ongoing construction at WKHS, schedule pick up will look a little bit different than past years in that it will all take place on the 2nd floor and it will be held during the evening so that we aren't in the way of the construction workers.

The process is paperless again this year which means that your emergency medical information, health forms, and athletic forms need to be updated online BEFORE coming through the schedule pick up lines.  Those forms will all be on the Worthington Schools website (not counselor website).

Students and families are invited to come pick up your schedules, get your school pictures taken, and navigate all of the other stations (such as textbook pick up, vision & hearing screening, etc) on Wednesday, August 6th and Thursday, August 7th from 5-7:30pm.

When possible, they would ideally like for 9th and 11th graders to come on the 6th and 10th and 12th graders to come on the 7th, but if your schedule prohibts you from attending on your preferred date, please know that you can come on either evening.

Sorry, I can't email out copies ahead of time. And I know that every year there are questions about what you should do if you are not available to attend on your designated schedule pick up time. If you will not be able to attend either of the designated days/ times, then you will not be able to pick up your your books or get your student ID made until the 1st day of school, but schedules will be available online starting Monday, August 11th or you're welcome to come to school on either Monday the 11th or Tuesday, August 12th from 1:00 - 3:00pm.  (No morning pick up's on those dates though because we are all in mandatory meetings both mornings.)

Each year schedule pick up days are two of the craziest days for me, but I am looking forward to seeing you!

Common App

Here we go! It is August, Common App is live and for seniors who are planning to apply to 4-year colleges, this is a big deal. 

Common App is the website that over 1,000 colleges have joined together to allow students to use this joint platform to be able to apply to all of their colleges with equal consideration as those who might apply to their schools through other application avenues.

Common App is a great resource that nearly all seniors who are applying to 4-year colleges will end up using for one or more of their college applications. The counselors at WKHS are dedicated to helping support you with the Common App and we want to make sure that you don't end up making some of the most frequent mistakes while filling out your application. As a result, we are holding 3 separate Common App 101 Workshops where senior students are invited to come to Kilbourne with your laptop or Chromebook and we will walk through Common App together. You will literally work on your own Common Application while we are going through the time together.

This is one of our most highly attended events which is why we have 3 separate sessions scheduled so that you can find the one that will work best in your schedule. Because we are going to be in Room 201 and space is limited, it is important that you register for the session that you want to attend so that we can make sure everyone is able to have space to attend.

The 3 workshops are scheduled for:

• Monday, August 11th at 1:30pm
• Wednesday, August 13th at 10:30am (this won't be a good option for students who are serving as Link Leaders)
• Thursday, September 4th at 7:45am

Here is the link to sign up.