We're Moving

As you know, the Counseling Center and Administrative area has been in a bit of a construction limbo, but that is soon coming to an end! This week the new counseling center and administrative space is expected to be finished with construction and ready for us to start moving in. Obviously this is both exciting and a little bit hectic.

Although the construction is done, there are still some elements that are going to need to be finished over the weeks ahead (like getting doors for some of the counselor offices). But it is exciting that we are one step closer. They should begin moving furniture into our new spaces soon and then over the following few days we will move all of the other stuff out of the current counseling center and administrative areas and into the new spaces. We will have control over the timing of some aspects and just working to be flexible on other parts. But, I can tell you that the construction people would ideally like for us to be completely out of our current (old) space no later than Sunday because next Monday morning they want to begin demolition of our space to make way for the new library!

So why does that matter to you? Well, if you need something from me this week, you may need to be flexible about where to go to find me. If my computer is still in my old office, I will likely continue working out of that space. But once all of the technology stuff (computer and phone) are moved to the new space then that will be where you will find me... and honestly, because it has all been under construction I don't really even know how to tell you to find me there. So I anticipate we will post signs and you can always ask a secretary or other staff member and we will all figure it out together.

Remember, every step of construction progress is one step closer to construction being totally completed and that is GREAT news!

PreACT Registration

Registration for the Pre-ACT is now open!

There are a few things to know that might help you decide if you are interested in taking the Pre-ACT or not.

1. The test is open to sophomores and juniors only.

2. There is a cost to sign up for the Pre-ACT.  The charge is $19.

3. The Pre-ACT is the practice test for the ACT.  (This year, Juniors will be taking the SAT at WKHS for free in March.  If you decide you want to take the ACT instead, you will have to sign up and take that on a Saturday national test date instead.)

4. The Pre-ACT is a paper/ pencil test.  (The actual ACT is offered both paper/ pencil or digitally, but more students and more national testing sites administer it as a paper/ pencil test so that is what we are doing for the practice test too.)

5. Taking both the PSAT and the Pre-ACT is a great way for students to experience both tests and be able to compare them to see which one you like better.  If you know which test you feel more comfortable with (and which one you scored better on for the practice tests) that can help you decide which one you would want to focus your test prep on for the actual ACT/ SAT admissions tests.

6. The Pre-ACT will be offered to Kilbourne students on Wednesday, November 5th.

7. The PreACT also includes a career component to help students identify career interests and potential career fields to explore.

8. There is a LIMIT to the number of students who can take the Pre-ACT at Kilbourne on November 5th!  Space will be limited to the first 200 registrants.  (This is important because, for comparison sake, we have over 400 students signed up to take the PSAT.  So, we have half of the number of seats available for the Pre-ACT which means if you are interested in signing up you will want to register soon.)

9. Registration is completed through your MyPaymentsPlus account.

If you have any questions or need any help getting signed up for the Pre-ACT, don't hesitate to stop by and see me!

College Essays

Seniors, how is essay writing going? I have been talking to lots of students over the past few weeks about their essay topics and I want to point out that the most important goal of your essay is for admissions representatives to learn something about YOU!

So as you continue working on your essay, step back and look at your writing again – did they learn something about you that they wouldn’t have known prior to reading your essay?  I tend to frustrate students a lot when they come in with their drafts and before I even look at it I ask, "What am I going to learn about you when I read this?" If you don't have a good answer to that as you start writing then I strongly encourage you to pause and reflect before you keep writing.  You have to write with the end in mind when drafting college essays and the end is that the college admissions representative is going to learn something about you.

And then, for some more college essay insight, I read a lot of college articles and blogs and this Counselors' Corner blog post, A Word About College Essay Styles, by Patrick O'Connor jumped out at me and I loved it so much I want to share it with you as well.

A Word About College Essay Styles

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

Students, you amaze me. You love to share your opinions. I know this, because you share them everywhere—Chattersnap, Gramphoto, and all the rest of those social media sites I know nothing about, other than you use them because you love to talk about yourselves.

Except when it comes to college essays. 

If I asked you for 650 words on your impressions of Permission to Dance, you’d go on for weeks. But colleges want 650 words about your favorite place in the world, and you say things like “The library. Gotta love that big dictionary.”

Permission denied.

Your college wants you to come to campus, talk with them for three hours, eat lunch, and go home. If they did admissions that way, they’d probably get great students—and by the time they were done interviewing everyone, each of those students would be 45 years old.

So you aren’t writing essays—you’re having a conversation, except you’re putting what you have to say on paper. That means you’ll want to do this:

Stop guessing. When a college asks “Name a problem you’d like to solve”, there’s no one right answer for everybody. Cure cancer? Great. The need for your mother to work three jobs? Absolutely. The squeak in your garage door? That can work, too—as long as it means something to you, and you can convey that meaning. This isn’t Algebra; you get to decide what the answer is, and why it makes sense. Put it down on paper, put the commas in the right place, and you’re good to go.

Tell a story. Remember the time you told your best friend about the first concert you went to, or the best pizza you ever ate? You were on fire at the end of the story, genuinely excited at the chance to share part of your life with them. That’s how you should feel once you’re done writing a college essay. This isn’t a speech you give to thousands of people; it’s a story that means something to you, and you’re telling it to someone who really wants to hear it. Save the speech; tell the tale.

Head or heart? Some students think the key to a great essay is to pack it with facts that make you sound like a brainiac, while others say the college will only beg you to come if they need a whole box of tissues to get through your essay. Life is a little of both, and so are college essays. Show the colleges what you think about, and why it means something to you. This will let them know you’re past the drama and trauma of teenagehood, and eager to embrace the tasks of becoming a thoughtful, caring adult.

Answer the question. If the college asks “Who do you admire?” and they still don’t know your answer once they’ve read your essay, you’ve given them one more reason to reject you. Ducking the question may work in Washington, but it doesn’t play well in admissions offices. If they want to know, you need to tell them.

Your goal is to write an essay that sounds so much like a conversation, they’ll be surprised you aren’t in the room with them when they’re finished reading it.

Kind of like Gramphoto. But with words.

Homecoming Week

Student council coordinates spirit week themes for the entire week leading up to the homecoming football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday.  This is a great way that students can support Kilbourne and show your school spirit.

Monday - PJ Day (because you didn't really want to get dressed up in real clothes on a Monday, right?)

Tuesday - Adam Sandler Day

Wednesday - Pink Out Day

Thursday - Jersey/ College Day

Friday - USA Day

It is important to remember that your attire for all of these days is still required to abide by the requirements of the student dress code.

In addition to the spirit themed dress, this week will also feature:

- Friday afternoon will feature a Pep Rally.  In order to allow for the whole school to participate in the afternoon pep rally, we will have a modified bell schedule for Friday.

- Friday night is, of course, the football game and will include the introduction of the Homecoming Court at 6:40pm.

- Dance out in the Stadium on Saturday night.

Clearly, it will be a BUSY and Fun-Filled week ahead.  I hope you will make the most of embracing the energy and excitement of the high school festivities.

Congratulations

Every year when juniors take the PSAT they are also being considered for academic recognition and scholarships because the PSAT is the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. This year 2 of "my" students received high levels of recognition and deserve to be celebrated.

John Battle was named a National Merit Semifinalist and Joe Adrian was recognized as a Commended Scholar.

Congratulations to John and Joe for these academic recognitions! I am proud of you both.

Careers in Healthcare

Are you interested in pursuing a career in healthcare? Is it something you have thought about, but don't know a ton about beyond your desire to work in a medical field and help people? A lot of students end up in that place and so they default to thinking that they want to be a doctor or a nurse. Both of which are incredible professions, but there are SO MANY more options that you can choose from.

The Cleveland Clinic has created the Cleveland Clinic Connected Career Rounds which are cool videos (or live sessions) that students can watch to learn more about different healthcare related careers. I have watched several of them and they are really well done. In the videos you will see a range of different people who work in a select aspect of healthcare and how they all work together for the good of a patient. Information about their career path, education requirements, and job growth is all included in each presentation.

Check out their website for more information: https://healthcareedu.ccf.org/course/view.php?id=542

Additionally, I know that some students are VERY focused on wanting to become a doctor in the future. Did you know that there are some programs that are known as "Early Assurance Programs" where you can be accepted (assuming you maintain strong grades in college) to med school as a high school student? 

Ohio University has an EAP program where you can attend and complete your undergraduate degree at 1 of 7 different colleges with the assurance of being able to be accepted into the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This is a highly competitive program. Students that are interested can learn more here: https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/med-admissions/apply/eap 

Parent Lunch & Learn

Parents, the WKHS Counselors will be kicking off our quarterly Lunch & Learn series this Friday over zoom and we hope you will join us!  

For each Lunch & Learn session we will share information about a specific topic for 15-20 minutes and allow 10-15 minutes to address any questions you have about the topic so that in just 30 short minutes of your time, parents/ guardians will walk away more aware about that topic and hope it impacts their kids.

Each lunch and learn session will run from 12-12:30pm over zoom so that parents can grab their lunch to eat while tuning in to learn about the topic of the month.  We will post the zoom link on the Counselor website the day of the workshop and it will also be emailed to all WKHS parents.

This Friday's topic is discussing the new ACT/ SAT.  This will be a great session for parents wanting to learn more about the college admissions tests and for creating a testing plan for students.

I hope to see you online Friday, September 26th at noon for this year's series kick-off.

Class Switch Reminders

Just a quick reminder that this week marks 6 weeks of us being in school. Wednesday is 6 weeks and that is also the deadline for students to request to have any of your classes taken with pass/ fail grading or to drop a class without it appearing on your transcript. 

Please note that you cannot drop a class if you don't have above the recommended courses. (So, if you have 7 classes currently, you could drop 1 to take you down to 6, but if you only have 6 classes right now then you cannot drop a class until the semester.) 

The pass/ fail grading form and course drop forms are on the counselor website in the academic section. 

Some students have asked about changing levels to move from Honors or AP classes to regular classes and yes, that is still allowed, but I would strongly encourage you to make that transition soon if it is needed as your grades in the current class will go with you to your new class. The form for level changes is also on the counselor website.

If you have any questions about pass/ fail grading, course changes, or level changes, feel free to stop and see me.

Recommendation Letters

I have a love/ hate relationship with recommendation letters.  When they are needed, I am more than happy to write them for my students and I love taking the time to try to show you off and make sure the colleges know just how lucky they will be to have you as a part of their campus.  But there is so much confusion that surrounds rec letters and I really do hate when teachers or I are asked to write letters that never go anywhere at all.  Many colleges have moved away from requiring letters of recommendation - in part because all students will pick teachers that like them to write letters on their behalf and so the letters often sound similar and therefore it doesn't really help them to differentiate between the students.  So, your very first step connected to recommendation letters is to figure out if the colleges you are considering will actually need any letters of recommendation - and if they don't then you just saved yourself and your teacher a lot of time.

There are some colleges that will want a recommendation letter and others that will want multiple letters.  You will want to look specifically at what they are asking for you to provide.  Some colleges will require teacher recommendation letters, some counselor letters, others may be open to coaches, bosses, religious leaders or other adults who know you well, and yes, some may even want multiple letters.  Each college gets to make up their own mind and determine what information they want to have as a part of your application package.  OSU, for example, does not require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 88,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Harvard, on the other hand, will require 2 teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation. After reviewing the college websites, if you are still having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see me and I can try to help you figure it out.

If you find that you do need recommendation letters, you have some work to do.  First, give some thought about who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or community representatives writing letters or do they want them to come from academic teachers? If it requires that the letters come from teachers can it be from any subject area or are they only open to the core subjects of English, math, science, and social studies? Are you looking at a career in a specific area that a teacher at WKHS can write about your strengths in that field? For example, if you are considering majoring in Spanish perhaps a recommendation letter from one of your Spanish teachers would be appropriate. What teachers know you best? Who can speak to your work ethic and classroom contributions? If possible, it is often ideal to show your strengths across multiple subjects, so if you have a few teachers to pick from and 2 are math and 1 is science perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 science teacher rather than the 2 math teachers simply to show that diversity. Remember, in recommendation letters from teachers the colleges are asking for information about you as a student and your potential for handling the academic rigors of college.

Once you have figured out the teacher or teachers that you want to ask for a recommendation (if needed) it is then time to ASK them if they are willing to write a letter for you. It is really important to be reasonable in the amount of time that you are allowing them to have to write your letter. (Think at least 30 days - preferably more!) They are very busy with their classroom work and grading homework and papers and of course life in general and many teachers are often bombarded by students requesting recommendations. If a teacher is unable to write a recommendation letter for you – either because they don’t feel that they know you well enough to write a strong letter or because they have too much on their plate, don’t take it personally, simply ask another teacher. You will be thankful that you didn’t force them to write the letter because it wouldn’t be as solid of a recommendation letter if they were rushed or only had vague highlights to discuss.

After you have asked a teacher to write a letter on your behalf (and they agreed), then you will want to provide them with the teacher recommendation letter forms that can be found on the www.wkhscounselors.com website.  You will also need to be sure to invite your teachers electronically if you are applying through Common App.  It is rare that you will need any of your recommendation letters as a hard copy, but if that is the case you are responsible for providing your teacher with an envelope addressed to the appropriate college.  Please be sure that you have indicated to your teachers your application deadline.  You can submit your application through Common App even if your teachers have not uploaded their recommendation letter, but your application packet will not be complete until all parts (including the rec letters) have arrived at the college.

If you are applying to schools that do not need teacher recommendation letters, please do not waste your teacher's time by asking them to write a letter. Also, only ask the number of teachers that you need recommendations from - so if you are applying to two schools and both need 1 teacher recommendation letter, just ask one teacher to write a letter that will be used for both schools. You do not need to ask for more letters in case one is "better" than another - if you are not sure the teacher will write a positive letter for you, then you need to pick someone else. If you trust the teacher enough to ask them to write the letter, then you should trust them enough to be able to send their letter (without seeing it) to the college.  In fact, you should not be reading your recommendation letters - they are supposed to be confidential.

For those students that will need a counselor recommendation, please be aware that I write the letters on a first come first serve basis. It is the only way I know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when I have so many to write because unlike with teachers, if your college requires a counselor recommendation letter you don't have a choice about who you are asking to write your letter.  So please, watch your deadlines and try to help me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give me at least 30 days to write your rec letter.  Also, there is a Counselor Recommendation Letter supplement form that we ask each student to fill out and a Parent Brag sheet that we ask you to have your parents complete and turn back in to me to use when writing your letter.  Please, be detailed and thoughtful when completing these forms because I want to be able to showcase you in the best way possible.  Each of you are unique and have wonderful qualities that you will bring to a campus, but when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so I need stories and examples to help give people a true image of you and to make it more than just what they can read about you in your application. Once you have turned in your 2 forms, I will add your name to my recommendation letter list.  Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards I would love to have that because this information can also be helpful when writing your recommendation letter.

Before I close I want to point out that the need for counselor recommendation letters is a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) to drop by my office throughout the year to allow me to get to know you better.  I sincerely want to know students of all ages so that I am more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things that you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

Buckeye Bridge

On Monday OSU and CSCC announced a new partnership effort that extends beyond their Preferred Pathways Program. This new initiative is called Buckeye Bridge.

The Buckeye Bridge program provides students with a tuition-free path to complete their Bachelor's degree at main campus of OSU after completing an Associate's degree at CSCC.

To qualify, students must:

• Be an Ohio resident
• Complete an Associate's degree at CSCC
• File a FAFSA annually, by the priority deadline
• Maintain full-time enrollment at OSU
• Have a family adjusted gross income (AGI) of $100,000 or less (as verified by FAFSA)

With over 1,000 students transferring from CSCC to OSU every year, this is an incredible new way to find a cost-effective way to earn your degree. In fact, their tag line says, "Two degrees for the affordable price of one." And the chance to have all of your tuition and fees covered at OSU while you finish your bachelor's degree is amazing. Students will be eligible for the Buckeye Bridge program for up to 8 semesters or through the completion of their first bachelor's degree.

Want to learn more? Check out the website for Buckeye Bridge.

AI and Applications

AI and the college application process can be a complex topic.

Here is the reality, AI can be very helpful in certain aspects, but it is just your starting point and it is not foolproof or the magic solution to admissions.  After all, you are NOT a robot, you are YOU and there is no one better at being you than YOU!

So, let's get the temptation out of the way first... can it write your entire college application essay for you?  No, of course not.  Yes, I get that this is tempting to just let one of the AI tools come up with an essay about you for the college, but it is going to lack your personality and your unique story.  Will it be gramatically correct?  Yes.  Will it answer the question prompted?  Certainly.  But is that enough?  Unfortunately, no.

So, how can you use AI effectively in the admissions process?  

- It is a great tool for searching for colleges.  You can tell it a particular area of the country, a major, an acceptance rate, and the clubs or organizations you're hoping to find in a college and AI can generate a list of potential colleges for you to investigate.

- It can be a resource for figuring out how to tackle some aspects of the application.  For example, if you type in something like, "can you help me complete the activities section on Common App?" it will give you a step by step process which can be useful.

- It can help make revisions to your essays or condense something you have written down into the word count required.  As with edits made by your parents, your English teacher, or anyone else who helps review your essay draft, it is important to make sure that in the end the essay still sounds like you.  You don't want something that has been so revised to the point that it doesn't even sound like something you'd actually say, think or feel.

- You can even use AI to help brainstorm ideas on good topics based on your characteristics and values that you want to share with the college.

One of the presentations that I attended talked about how unbelievably exponential the growth of AI has been from an industry perspective.  So this is definitely a field that is growing and changing rapidly and how it will influence college applications will grow and change just as quickly.

Right now, some colleges are saying that they don't anticipate knowing if students are using AI to create their essays, but others say that they are leaning heavily on the ethical statements students commit to when submitting their application that this application is their words, their creation and their own voice.  Some even stated that if they were to find out later that the essay was AI generated, then they would hold revoking the acceptance as a viable option. And some colleges have even shared that they are no longer considering the essay as an evaluative component of the application, but will still be requiring it as a way to develop a wholistic view of the student.

When in doubt, remember that the best rule of thumb is if you wouldn't ask someone else to do it for you then you shouldn't ask AI to do it for you. Read the college policies and stance about AI carefully and be sure that what you are submitting will fall in line with their expectations.

Half Way

I wanted to give you a heads up/ reminder on a few items for this week...

1. We are half-way through the first quarter. Can you believe it? This is a great time to pause and check your grades. How are you doing in your classes? Where do you need to step it up? What changes do you need to make in your homework routine or studying skills?

2. I am out of the building for a conference on Thursday and Friday of this week so if you need me this week, please try to stop by tomorrow or Wednesday.

3. Wednesday is another PACK period day.

4. College rep visits are continuing. The conference I am going to Thursday through Saturday is a national convention of college admissions counselors that is being held in Columbus so there are a TON of colleges that are going to be here this week and so many visits are also happening around this time. Check the counselor website and sign up to meet with the reps.

5. Don't forget that Sunday is the Columbus Suburban College Fair at Capital University. (Again, college reps are here for the conference Thursday through Saturday and then the college fair is on Sunday to align to their timing of being in town.) Don't miss the chance to meet them if you want to explore more colleges.

Lockdown Reflection

I have thought a lot about it and tried to decide what I wanted to say about the lockdown situation we had last week and part of me wanted to just not address it on my blog... but I also believe that my blog is the place where I try to reflect on all of the things happening at school and this was a big one.

Thursday was scary. 

It is scary to think that something bad could happen in our school. There is so much in our world that is negative, beyond our control, and overwhelming to even think about. And then, on Thursday, we were all forced to react to the possibility that the scariness of the rest of the world was happening at Kilbourne - a place we all love, feel safe in, and where we are surrounded by friends and classmates. 

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge that those feelings of fear you were feeling during the lockdown were (and are) valid and real.

I wish none of us had to know a world where scary, unpredictable things can happen. And yet we do. And so that is why we have drills, so that we can practice and think about what it would look like if a real crisis took place. Because I suspect that many of you, like me, weren't really thinking a lot at first - you were just moving and doing the things you have practiced during lockdown drills.

There is no doubt that everything didn't go as planned or expected. There isn't anything good in that except that we are now learning from it. At school we spend a lot of time encouraging students to fail forward, to try hard in your classes and when it all goes wrong, to figure out where things fell apart and work to correct that for the future. I promise, the WKHS administration are working hard to get the various people involved with aspects of the system that didn't work properly to make corrections and get it right so that you will feel even more safe and reassured that should something ever happen at WKHS the systems designed to help keep you protected will work.

You all know that there wasn't actually a crisis that caused the lockdown. But there could have been. And that is yet another reason why it is always so important to speak up if you see something that doesn't look or feel right. You don't want anything bad happening at your school or to you or your friends. We have to look out for one another, support one another, notice if something isn't right and work to fix it. 

If you are still feeling stressed and uneasy about last Thursday's lockdown, I want to remind you that my door is open to you and I am here to talk about those feelings with you. I am so thankful that this wasn't a true crisis and that we are able to process all of this together now with that knowledge. 

Character Strengths

I am always on the look out for new ideas and approaches that students can use to help launch them into their college essays. Essays can be tough for so many students because you aren't used to writing about yourself. And, although this isn't accurate, too many of you also tend to think that there isn't anything unique, interesting or engaging that you could write about.

Let me clear that up right here and now. YOU are the only you there is which makes you unique. YOU are interesting in how you think and what you enjoy. And YOU are engaging in how you live your life to put those interests into play. And even if you are overthinking this (as some of you are prone to do), remember that you can talk about any part of your life and share why that represents an important value or characteristic that helps to make you YOU.

I had heard about the VIA Character Strengths and decided to check it out. Interestingly, when I went to log in I found that I had made an account before and I could see my results, but I went ahead and took the survey again just to see what the process was like and how my results would compare. It was a free, easy process to complete. You go through a series of questions and identify how much or how little that represents you. Remember, with stuff like this, it is always better to try to truly differentiate your answers. The more in the middle you give for everything the less accurate the results tend to be in the end. After completing the questionnaire you will be able to download your VIA Character Strengths profile which gives you a ranked order of what you have identified as being your top strengths.

If you are feeling stuck with trying to identify what you could write about, perhaps doing some more self-reflection activities like the VIA Character Strengths questionnaire could help you come up with ideas on how those strengths show up in your life. If you're interested in checking it out, go to their website at: https://www.viacharacter.org/ 

Columbus Suburban College Fair

The Columbus Suburban College Fair is coming up a week from Sunday on Sunday, September 21st from 1:00 - 3:30pm at The Capital Center on Captial University's Campus (2360 E. Mound St., Columbus, OH 43209).  This is the largest local fall college fair and a great opportunity for our students.

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.

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.

All students are asked to register with Strive Scan by visiting www.strivefair.com because this will allow for you to have a bar code specific to you.  Then, when you are at the college fair next weekend and you talk to a college that interests you, they can simply scan your barcode and that will allow the college to know of your interest. I promise you, this is a MAJOR improvement over the days when students had to hand write out interest cards at each college table.

I encourage you to check out the Columbus Suburban College Fair information on the front page of the WKHS Counselor website for more information about this year's event.

A few other hints:

It can be useful to ask the same questions of each college so that you can compare them and their responses appropriately and I encourage you to 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 - I suggest a pen or pencil over a phone because even though your phones are amazing for the notes app, the impression it may give to colleges is that you're not engaged in what is happening and are side tracked and paying attention to your phone instead. It is a crazy event with so much happening, so 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?

When 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. One of the best college fair articles suggested, “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.”

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.  Good luck and happy college searching… I can’t wait to hear about the schools that spark your interest!

Build My Future

Have you considered a career in a construction related field? Build My Future is a field trip opportunity for current 10th, 11th and 12th graders to learn more about many different residential construction related careers.

These careers include: Roofing, Tiling, Excavating, Landscaping, Welding, Carpentry, Electrical, HVAC, Design, Window installation, Flooring, Architecture, Masonry, Exterior cladding, and Interior finishes.

Students will have the chance to participate in interactive labs with experts in the various fields and to learn more about the career paths available to you for the future.

The field trip will take place on October 1st. Space is limited and registration is open now. If you are interested, please be sure to sign up on the Interest Form that is on the front page of the Counselor Website.

Strength = Connection

This week is national suicide prevention awareness week. You have been/ will be hearing announcements daily to remind you that YOU MATTER! You matter to your family and friends. You matter to your teachers and classmates. You matter in our school and community. It is so easy to get caught in the lie that you are just a number, but you are so much more than that!

One of the greatest strengths that I love about Kilbourne and Worthington as a whole is how all of you show up for one another in times of struggle. We have witnessed that over and over again in big and small ways. Maybe it is giving a smile to someone in the hall or holding the door open for someone or encouraging and listening to a friend who is having a bad day. It is so easy to forget how much you are making a difference in the world around you, but you are having that impact.

Tomorrow there will be a PACK period during which time your teachers will be showing a video about the importance of suicide prevention. The reminder that we hope you take away is that if you are ever worried about a friend (or yourself), remember that help is available. You can ask about how your friend is doing, you can an adult and we can check in on the friend, or both!

Aside from the PACK period which is a district-wide initiative, the WKHS Counselors will also be in the commons during all of the lunch periods tomorrow with goodies and give-aways connected to suicide prevention and the 988 crisis line.

If you or someone you care about is ever in emotional distress or having thoughts of suicide, help is only three numbers away: 988. This is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available 24/7, free, and confidential. Since its launch in 2022, the Lifeline has supported more than 17.5 million people and answered more than 12 million calls. 

Our greatest strength is connection—reach out, lean in, and know you belong!

Application Deadline Terms

As you start through the college application process you will be exposed to a variety of new terms. One area that can be confusing is what all of the different application deadlines such as Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions mean.

Early Decision

The key to remember with Early Decision is that it is a final decision and a COMMITMENT! Applying to a school in this program is considered a contract between the student and the college. You can apply to only one school as an Early Decision school. If you are accepted, you are promising to withdraw all other applications. Few students will ultimately apply to a school Early Decision because you are promising to attend the school - without seeing their financial aid package - and most students are not 100% certain that they want to attend one particular school. If you are considering applying to a school under the Early Decision program, please stop in and talk to me.

Early Action

This is a non-binding option and significantly more students will apply to schools using this option. Early Action has an earlier application deadline and students will learn if they have been accepted to the school much earlier than regular decision dates. (Some schools will defer an admissions decision to the Regular Decision deadline if the student is on the bubble and they want to wait to see how the rest of the applications will look.) Early Action is not a contract and, as a student, you are not obligated to attend school at that institution.

Restrictive Early Action

This is a non-binding option that is much less common. Sometimes also called Single Choice Early Action, with Restrictive Early Action you are not locking yourself into attending the school if you get admitted like you would be doing with Early Decision, but you are communicating to the college that this is your number one choice school. If you apply Restrictive Early Action to a college then it means you cannot apply Early Action or Early Decision to any other private colleges.

Regular Decision

This is the deadline that is often publicized from colleges and it is the actual latest deadline to apply to that school. This means you are applying and will hear your decision on their regular time schedule. There are no commitments or early notifications. It is important to note that the Regular Admissions deadlines are often AFTER the deadline for scholarship consideration – which adds in a whole additional set of deadlines to watch, but that is a different story for another day.

Rolling Admissions

This means that the colleges look at each application as they arrive and they make a decision as they go. So, if you apply quickly to a school with rolling admissions you are generally going to receive your admissions decision quickly. Schools that function with a rolling admissions policy of evaluating applications will still generally have a regular decision deadline which is the final date that the college is willing to accept any applications for the fall class.

It is really important to be watching your deadlines carefully – I can’t stress that enough! If you are struggling to find the deadlines for different schools, please stop in to see me.

College Reps at WKHS

Every year college admissions representatives travel across the country to various high schools in order to meet with students and to talk about the opportunities available at their campus.  It always surprises me that more students are not flocking to these chances to meet with the admissions representatives.  Because even though you are technically there to learn about what they have to say about their school, perhaps even more importantly, you are expressing your interest and desire to attend their college! The admissions representatives who are traveling to the schools keep track of who they see. Many colleges can go back and tell you exactly how many times a student has come to tour campus, contacted the admissions office, or had an official interaction with a representative of the school. You never really know what can make a difference when it comes to admissions or getting a scholarship from a school, so if you are able to attend a meeting with a representative, it can only help you.  And, as if that isn't enough, at many colleges the regional representatives who make the visits are also the ones reading your applications and making admissions decision recommendations.  You have the chance to make a positive impression on them when they are at Kilbourne.  My hope, above all, is that the impression they leave WKHS with is that when you apply they don't look back and think, "hmm, they weren't even interested enough to come and meet with me when I was at their school."

College reps will start their visits at Kilbourne this week.  We have a list of the upcoming college visits posted in the Upcoming Events calendar on the Counselor website so that you can see which schools are coming to WKHS.  There are about 50 schools already scheduled day one includes some big interest schools such as Miami University (Ohio) and Dartmouth. If there are schools that you'd like to meet with, please be sure to sign up on the google sheet within the event calendar and then write down the dates and times so that you don't forget to come to the Counseling Center.  When you get there, a secretary will introduce you to the admissions representative and after your meeting with them is over the secretary will give you a pass to return back to class.

Juniors and Seniors have unlimited opportunities to attend these sessions. Please be reasonable though. If a visit is scheduled during a time when you have class, you should get your teacher’s approval in advance of attending the information session. You are responsible for all missed work and teachers are not supposed to excuse you from tests, quizzes, or labs. 

Freshmen and Sophomores are also invited to attend the sessions with the college representatives, but are limited to participating in the visits during your lunch or Academic Prep periods. 

These are great opportunities to talk directly with the college admissions representatives so please take advantage of their visits!  While meeting with a representative cannot replace the actual experience of walking on campus, seeing the people, and experiencing the classes, it can be a very important piece of your information gathering process. 

Life is all about choices

At the start of every school year I spend a lot of time talking with students about class selection and, for seniors, about college selections for where they will apply. There can be many hard choices involved with deciding what classes are most important to you when you also want to have lunch with friends or the opportunity to sleep in during 1st period. But I actually believe that wrestling with those decisions is great practice for the bigger choices that you'll have for the rest of your life.

Every time you say "yes" to something in your life, it also means you are saying "no" to something else. What do I mean by that? If I choose to say yes to scrolling through social media on my phone, then I am choosing to say no to going to bed earlier and getting more sleep. If I choose to say yes to sleeping in, then I am also choosing to say no to getting up and moving my body before school so that I am more focused throughout the day. If I choose to say yes to going out to eat for lunch every day, then I am choosing to say no to sticking to my budget of what I can afford.

I intentionally picked 3 examples that were saying yes to something I'd enjoy when the consequence is something I probably need more of and tend to neglect. But life choices aren't always that clear cut.

For example, I can say yes to going to college at College A, but that means I am saying no to all of the other colleges that I might like as well. I can say yes to taking a class that sounds interesting to explore for my future, but at the same time I might have to say no to continue in a class that I have been involved with for a long time and that can feel scary. Or perhaps it is being forced to say yes to one extracurricular activity over another even though you wish you'd have time for both.

There are so many different aspects that can come into play. Sometimes the choice is between what you want now and what you want in the future. Sometimes the choice is between 2 unknowns. Sometimes the choice is simply to trust yourself and step forward with faith in your ability to make decisions. You're getting lots of opportunities to practice making decisions now and that will only help you as you move forward into the future. So please focus on trying to make the best decisions you can now in the little decisions so that you will have confidence in your ability to make the bigger decisions as they arise. And remember, it can be hard to say no to something that you'd enjoy, but you are giving yourself other great opportunities with all of the Yes's that you choose.

Common App Workshop Reminder

Seniors, just a quick reminder that tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:45am is our final Common App 101 Workshop.  Please be sure to bring your laptop or chromebook with you because you will be working on your actual Common App application during the time together.  We will be holding this work session in Room 201 and look forward to seeing you bright and early tomorrow morning!

PSAT Registration

The PSAT is the practice test for the SAT and the qualifying exam for the National Merit Scholarship Competition. This test will be administered free of charge here at WKHS on October 14, 2025.

This is a great opportunity for students to begin to assess their progress toward college and career readiness standards. All junior students are strongly encouraged to take this test free of charge and it is also open for sophomores as well.

Students can register for the PSAT at bit.ly/PSATsignup25.  The deadline to register is September 12 at 3:20pm.

If students would like to practice and prepare for the PSAT, CollegeBoard and the KHAN Academy are offering a free supplemental practice tests. Information for this can be obtained online at https://www.khanacademy.org/sat and https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/practice

September 1st

I hope you had a great long weekend and had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather. It will be nice to have a shorter week ahead. But what I found myself thinking multiple times throughout the day today was, "I can't believe it is September 1st!" Obviously just the way the first few weeks of school have already flown past, but also realizing that some of the seniors have college application deadlines that are 6 weeks to 2 months away is mind-boggling.

Because time always gets away from us, I want to remind you that it is important to start working on your applications now. Here are a few steps you can take this week to help yourself be more prepared for your application deadlines.

1. Log into Common App and fill out the "easy" parts. Just go ahead and knock that out. You likely did a lot of the easy questions in the main Common App section during the Common App 101 workshop, but we didn't spend time on the individual college sections and that is important to work on as well.

2. Start brainstorming your essay ideas. This likely starts by figuring out how many essays you're going to need and what aspects of yourself you are going to show in the various prompts. Remember, you can come meet with me if you want to talk through some of what you're thinking as you're looking at your essay requirements.

3. In the Recommenders and FERPA section of your Common App, go ahead and assign me as your counselor. Please be sure to spell my name and email address correctly when you submit that.

4. Fill out your transcript release form on the Counselor Website. This is an easy step that is required for each college and so you might as well just knock that part out of the way now.

5. Figure out if any of your colleges want a recommendation letter and, if so, how many they want and from whom. Then it is time to ASK those people if they'd be willing and able to write a letter on your behalf. 

If you feel like you're making progress on those 5 items and want more steps, please just stop by and see me and I can give you a personalized step-by-step list of other application items that you can start working on now.