End of First Quarter

Do you feel like this school year is going unbelievably fast? Today marked the end of the first quarter. This is an important point for you to pause and reflect. Remember, quarter grades are not included on your transcript - just semester grades. This means that you have reached the half-way point in earning the grades that will be on your transcript.

Some of the questions you should ask yourself include: Are you where you want to be? If you are not, what do you need to do different to turn things around? If you need ideas for how you can improve your grades, I strongly encourage you to meet individually with your teacher. You should also take advantage of the help available from the academic assistants in the Teaching and Learning Center (which is located in room 205). You are also welcome to stop by and talk to your school counselor and we can try to brainstorm some ideas to help.

If you are happy with your current progress, congratulations! Make sure you think about what you have done that has been helpful to your success and continue to put forward those same actions.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Delaware Area Career Center

When students enter 9th grade, many are excited about the different choices and opportunities available in high school. Unfortunately, the reality is that the first two years of high school really don't have all that many choices. There is, however, a great deal of flexibility as students reach their junior and senior years. One of those options includes the possibility of attending the Delaware Area Career Center.

Today all sophomores had a chance to listen to a presentation about the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) and the programs they have available for students. Attending DACC is a great opportunity to earn your elective credits in an area that interests you rather than taking electives that you are selecting simply because they will fill up your schedule.

It was interesting to hear about all of the different programs that are available for students. With over 25 different programs available, there are many unique experiences and opportunities available that can give you a jump start on a career and can also stand out to colleges. If you are interested in participating in the field trip to the DACC, please be sure to return your permission slip to the counseling center soon so that you don't lose the permission slip or forget. (Technically the deadline to return it is October 15th.) The field trip is scheduled for Friday, November 20th.

One thing to realize about the Career Center is that they partner with more than a dozen different high schools from across Central Ohio. So by attending the Career Center you have the chance to meet new people who have similar interests. Each student is still involved in the activities in their home school such as sports and clubs, but this just extends that network of friends and contacts. I will also point out that while it is a huge advantage to have that many different schools all working with the career center, it also means that the 25 spots available in each program are going to be competitive to apply and get a seat. As a result, if this program interests you, we encourage you to make your visit in November so you can apply right away after the field trip.

Course Adjustment Reminders

Just a quick reminder that this week marks 6 weeks of us being in school. Wednesday, September 30th is officially 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 end of the semester.)

The pass/ fail grading form and course drop forms are available for pick up in the front of the counseling center or you can download them forms from 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 even beyond the 6 week mark, but we 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 in the counseling center and on the counselor website.

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

Interim Reports

Can you believe we are at the half-way point of the first quarter? In many ways it feels like we just got started. As you are hopefully aware, you and your parents have the opportunity to check your grades on an ongoing basis. But, if you haven't started checking your greats yet this year, since we are about halfway through, this is the time when you are able to get a good feel for how you are doing in each of your classes. We strongly suggest that you take a look at your grades and make sure you are on track for the quarter.

As a reminder to you and your parents, Infinite Campus is the system that has your schedule, attendance, grades, and transcripts. Your teachers are updating their grades at least once a week so that you can check and have an ongoing update for how you are doing in each class. This continual information provides you with the chance to celebrate if you are doing well and to identify what you might need to change if you are not meeting your own expectations for the goals you had set at the beginning of the school year.

Infinite Campus has a free app that is very easy for students and parents to use and is a great tool for staying up to date on your progress. If you are interested in downloading and using the free Infinite Campus app, you will need to know that the District Code is: YCWTRL

Grade Point Average

Grade Point Averages (GPA's) are a big part of high school lingo... and yet some students might not  know how grade point averages are computed.  Your transcript is a record consisting of every high school class you have ever taken and the grade you earned in each class. 

The "easy" explanation for how your GPA is calculated is that every class you take at WKHS taught by a Kilbourne teacher or a CC+ instructor with traditional grading is computed into your GPA. Some students begin taking high school courses while still in middle school. Those grades will appear on your transcript, but they are not calculated into your GPA. This is done to assist you because many times middle school students haven't recognized the impact that their grades have on their high school GPA and the long-term impact on their future college applications. Additionally, any classes that you pass that were taken as pass/ fail appear on your transcript but will not be calculated in your GPA.

All regular and honors classes are unweighted which means that they are all based on a 4.0 scale.  AP, IB and CC+ courses are weighted on a scale of 1.25.  Below is a chart that shows how GPA is calculated.

Letter Grades	Percentage	GPA Scale	AP/ IB Weighted Calculation	AP/ IB Weighted GPA
A	90 – 100%	4.0	4.0 x 1.25	5.00
B	80 – 89%	3.0	3.0 x 1.25	3.75
C	70 – 79%	2.0	2.0 x 1.25	2.50
D	60 – 69%	1.0	1.0 x 1.25	1.25
F	0 – 59%	0.0
S	Satisfactory
P	Passing

All classes are granted credit based upon the semester.  This means that when you pass the 1st semester you have earned that credit and it is computed into your grade point average. Each semester class is worth 1/2 a credit excluding physical education courses which are worth 1/4 a credit.  So, if you earn a B in the first semester of English 1 and a C in the first semester of Physical Science, then your GPA for these two semesters of classes would equal a 2.5. Plusses and Minuses in your grades are still calculated based upon the base grade as we don't have different GPA weights for a B+ vs a B or B-.

It is important to know that some students have taken classes at other schools and are transferring their credit to WKHS. Those classes will also appear on your transcript with the grades, but are not computed into your GPA. This is because your Kilbourne GPA will just reflect your Kilbourne classes - any classes you took in another district or an online school will have the GPA that you earned at that school. So, for example, if you transferred to WKHS from a surrounding district, your classes and grades will be transferred over to Kilbourne, but they won't be included in your Kilbourne GPA. This means that students will not have a grade point average until after they have completed a semester at WKHS. The reason that this is important is that some students have transferred from schools that have different grading scales and it doesn't allow equitable comparisons. When students are applying to college you will submit both of your transcripts so that they have the complete picture of your grade point average.

You can see a copy of your transcript on Infinite Campus and it also shows your grade point average.  If you have any questions about your GPA, stop by and see us.

CC+ Classes Begin

Just a reminder to all students who are taking a CSCC class through CC+, your classes begin this week!  These classes meet for 2 periods, but only twice a week.  So, those of you who are taking English Comp 1 or Ethics, you will have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.  If you are taking Psychology, you will have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There are no CC+ class meetings on Fridays.

As we have talked about in the past, you will still have work to do for your college classes outside of your designated class time and those non-meeting days are an ideal time to stay disciplined at using for work time on those courses.

One important suggestion - because your CSCC professors will all use your CSCC email, we would strongly suggest you set up the automatic forward option on your emails to send it to a gmail account which you check regularly or set up your CSCC account to your phone.  Check out the details on CSCC's website for more information on how to do that.

Good luck as your start your college classes!

Last Day to Add Classes

Monday (August 24th) is the last day for students to add a year-long or first-semester class to their schedule. This is an important deadline to pay attention to for all students. You have 6 weeks to drop a class without it appearing on your transcript, but you can only drop a class if you will still have above the minimum required number of courses. If you have any questions about your particular situation and if you would or would not be able to add or drop a class, please stop in and see your counselor during your lunch or off period.

CC+ Reminders

We wanted to remind you that although the WKHS classes will all start this week, any of your CC+ classes that are not taught by a Kilbourne teacher have a later start date. This can get confusing at times which is why we attached a yellow information sheet to the schedules of all students enrolled in a Columbus State CC+ class. If you are taking Comp 1, Psychology, or Ethics at Kilbourne, those CSCC classes are taught by a CSCC professor. You will be on the same timeline for the semester as CSCC so your classes won't begin until August 31st. So that means you do not have to come to class for those specific classes until the week of the 31st.

In addition to the start date being different, we wanted to remind you that you have to have completed all of your Workday steps. Your class(es) will show up in Blackboard ahead of your start day.

Please note that if you are taking a COTC CC+ class, those courses (Pre Calculus and Calculus) are taught by our WKHS teachers and the academic calendar is the same as Kilbourne so you will start classes this week like everyone else.

Read the information sheet that was attached to your schedule and let me know if you have any questions!

Prepare for Success

This week we will start a new school year and it is important to put yourself in the best position possible to be successful.

The first step is to set your goals for the year. What are you hoping to accomplish? What do you need to do to reach these goals? It is often easier to dream big and, quite honestly, most of you could achieve any goal that you set your mind to, but it will take dedication and commitment.

Many of you are also out searching for new school supplies. As you buy your folders, binders, and notebooks, pause for a moment to think about what organization system tends to work best for you. Are you a "stuffer" who just stuffs papers into whatever happens to be available? If so, folders are probably best for you. If you are the type of person who wants to be able to combine notes from class with notes that you take from the book, you might gravitate toward a binder with loose-leaf paper rather than a spiral notebook. Whatever system you select, make sure it is one that will work for YOU.

Preparing for success is probably most closely connected to having an organization system for tracking your assignments. Perhaps you bought a planner or maybe you're hoping to use an app. It doesn't matter to me what type of an organization system you have selected, but it is essential that you pick something and commit yourself to using it.

This will be a great year! We hope you are looking forward to getting started (even though it means that summer is over and early mornings are beginning) and if you need help with setting reasonable goals or with organization, please don't hesitate to stop in and see us.

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. We are happy to try to help facilitate schedule change requests, but we need to make sure you know a few things...

1. We are not authorized to make any teacher changes.  Sorry.  We can't move you from one teacher to another teacher's class. We know that you all have favorite teachers from previous years or teachers that our siblings had that you hoped to have too. We 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. We cannot overload classes. If a class is full, there is no way for us 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 is only offered during 1st or 8th period then we cannot give you 1st or 8th period off. We're sorry. We know 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. We know a lot of times the hopes and expectations you had 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 (we promise you're not) or that you don't have any classes with your friends. Every year we 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 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 us after you pick up your schedule - we will be in our offices during the schedule pick up times and are happy to meet with you. Come see us!

Summer Assignments

It's hard to believe that we are about halfway through the summer already! We hope you have been enjoying your summer in spite of the hot, humid days we have right now. While you are likely trying to stay cool inside, this is a great time to reassess where you stand with your summer assignments (if you have any).

As you know, students taking many of the advanced classes (Honors, AP or IB courses) next year likely have summer work to complete for those classes. Hopefully you have started making progress on the work that is expected of you. It is important to remember that you are responsible for completing all summer work and that it will impact your grade in your class. In the past there have been times when students would procrastinate on completing their summer assignments and then decide at the last minute that they would drop out of the advanced course in favor of the non-advanced version (so, for example, dropping AP US History in favor of regular US History).  If you are planning on switching levels, it is really important that you make that change prior to Wednesday, July 15th. If you wait until after July 15th to decide that you want to change levels, you will still be responsible for completing the summer work because even if you change levels your summer assignment is a part of your academic record and so your grades on the summer assignments will go with you to the new class.

Hopefully you are feeling good about your summer assignments and what is expected of you. If you haven't started, we strongly encourage you to start working on it. If you have lost your summer assignments, please feel free to check out the WKHS Counselor website - www.wkhscouselors.com - as we have posted the assignments your teachers have submitted there as well.

And, for the record, if you do want to drop from an advanced course to a regular class, please just email your school counselor before the end of the day on Wednesday the 15th and we will make the change for you once we return to school. The date/time stamp on the email will allow us to know which students have dropped without needing to complete the summer work.

We hope you are enjoying your summer and hope that the 2nd half is relaxing, enjoyable and productive.

Summer School

Summer school in Worthington kicked off today and we are excited for all of our students who are going to be working hard to get back on track for graduation by taking advantage of the free summer school provided in Worthington! Remember, if you signed up for summer school you should be attending daily from 8-10 or 10-12 depending on your designated time window. You can work on your own outside of school as well to help you make progress in your classes faster.

If you failed a semester course and didn't get signed up for Worthington summer school, there is a waiting list for a seat, but use the email sent by your counselor to join the waiting list and as seats open up they will work to give you a chance to make up your credits as well.

At the same time, we know that many students are planning to do get-ahead credits during the summer in order to make room in your schedule for other classes that you are interested in taking. You can use any accredited school, but most often students use TRECA. Don't forget that the deadline to sign up for TRECA summer school is tomorrow, June 2nd at 4pm.

Summer School

If you fail a class in high school, you have to repeat that course before you can move on to the next level.  So, for example, if you fail Algebra 1 then you have to take Algebra 1 again before you move on to Geometry.  This is particularly challenging for students who fail English or Math since those courses each require 4 credits to graduate. If this applies to you, PLEASE be sure to sign up for Worthington Summer School ASAP! It will be held at WKHS, it is free and transportation is available if you need it. The way summer school registration works for credit recovery is that students are required to use a personalized email link for signing up for Worthington Summer School. The counselors are working to send links to all students who failed a class. We have sent out registration links to kids who failed 1st semester classes and, for 2nd semester, as we begin getting confirmation that students have failed a class this semester, we will send them out for this semester as well. (Please be aware that these emails come from a "no reply" email address and are sent to both the parent and the student so either of you can use it to register.)

Additionally, back in February when we were looking at your intended courses for next year many of you reported that you would be taking classes during the summer to get-ahead in your classes/ credits. That is completely acceptable - you just need to make sure you are taking your classes through an accredited school and then transferring that credit back to us by bringing in a copy of your transcript. Many students have found TRECA to be a cost effective alternative, but again, it can be any accredited school.

If something has changed in your plans and you will not be taking a class that you had previously indicated you were going to complete via summer school, please stop to see us or send us an email to let us know so we can adjust your schedule for next year.  (This goes with advanced classes and for classes you have failed.) We want to try to get as many of these adjustments made as possible before the school year ends so that your courses will be right in August when you pick up your schedule.

Exams & Test Anxiety

How are you feeling about final exams starting tomorrow?  It’s normal to feel a little bit nervous before and during a test. What is important is to learn how to deal with those anxieties so they do not become overwhelming. Below are a few key strategies for managing test anxiety that might be helpful to you during exams. If this is something that you struggle with, please feel free to stop in and see us so we can discuss additional ways to help manage your test anxieties now and in the future.

o Study. Being prepared is the single most effective way to help manage test anxiety. If you are confident that you know the material and have put forth your best effort to be prepared for the test, then you can relax and do the best you can.

o Learn from past quizzes and tests

o Ask the teacher for suggestions on how to best prepare for the upcoming test

o Don’t cram – that only adds to the stress and pressure of trying to “squeeze” everything in

o There are lots of study strategies available that can help students and we have a variety of ideas, so if you are interested, stop by and see us and we can talk about different techniques you can try to implement for various classes. There are also tips featured on the WKHS Counselor website.

- Stay Positive. Being confident and entering the test with a positive attitude will help you to achieve success. There are lots of strategies people use to help maintain a positive outlook –visualization (imaging yourself doing well on the test) and positive self-talk (we all talk to ourselves so instead of thinking that you are going to fail the test replace that self-talk with positive comments such as “I am prepared” or “this test will allow me to show how much I have learned”). Sometimes it is important to stay away from other people who tend to express their negative outlooks and opinions going into a test… those people who will just stress you out more with their panic about the test.

- Take care of yourself. I *know* that you hate hearing things like this, but it is important to take care of yourself. Get plenty of sleep so that you are well rested and mentally alert for the test. Eat a healthy meal (breakfast/ lunch) because you don’t want to be sitting in class focusing on food or listening to your stomach growl and you also don’t want to be coming down off a sugar or caffeine high and be dragging the rest of the testing period. Allowing yourself time to exercise is also important as it is a physical release of stress and can reinvigorate you for studying as you prepare for the test.

- Be a “smart” test taker. Don’t panic! Read the directions carefully. Take a deep breath to relax. Answer the questions to the best of your ability and if you don’t know an answer, skip the question to return to it later and continue on to other questions that you are more confident in answering. Budget your time, but don’t rush to be the first finished – this is not a race. Stay focused. (Focus on answering the question – don’t allow yourself to get off track and worry about your grade or how others are doing – just continue to refocus on answering the next question.) If you start to become overwhelmed with anxiety during the test, take a few slow deep breaths, relax your muscles and remember that you are in control of dealing with these feelings so just take it one step at a time.

- After you are finished, give yourself a short break from thinking about the test, but also don’t forget to consider what worked well and what could have gone better and then make changes accordingly for the future. If you were able to manage your anxiety effectively then you can continue practicing these skills for future tests. If some of the strategies were not effective, then you can try to adjust and adopt new strategies to help manage the anxiety.

Remember, it is also important to keep the test in perspective. It is actually quite rare that a single test will make or break you. (And yes, this even includes the End of Course Exams/ SAT/ ACT tests because you can always repeat these tests again in the future.) Good luck on your exams!

Don't forget - tomorrow you have 1st, 4th, and 7th period exams.

GPA Calculator

Many students are trying to guesstimate what they need to do in order to raise their grade point average. This link takes you to a GPA Calculator which will allow you to calculate what grades you would need to earn in order to achieve your desired GPA. (You will need to have your current GPA which you can find on your transcript in the documents area of Infinite Campus.) 

Summer Plans

Summer is a great time to relax and unwind from the hectic schedule of homework, studying and the general day to day expectations of school. But your summer shouldn’t just be wasted away into day after day of doing “nothing.” The summer is a perfect time to explore your passions, investigate your interests and indulge in fun activities that you might not have time for during the regular school year. As we have just a few days of school left in the year, we want to encourage you to start thinking about what you will do this summer to make sure that you have a productive summer and don’t spend the entire break being bored.

So, what are some ideas of how you can spend your summer? Consider taking a class (or two) in summer school. This is especially important if you are behind in credits and not doing well in school. Success rates of summer school completion are very high – in part because you are able to focus on just one subject at a time and you generally have smaller class sizes so the teacher can focus more one-on-one time with each student. If you are planning on taking a class in summer school it is important to sign up as soon as possible to make sure that you will not be closed out of the class of your choice.

Perhaps you are looking for ideas that do not involve more school… Summer vacation is a great time to expand your resume and pursue your passions by volunteering or working a summer job.  If you're still looking for summer job opportunities we have a page on the Counselor website highlighting some organizations who have reached out because they are seeking employees. And, with regards to volunteering, many students don’t know where to volunteer and the truth is the sky is the limit – anything that interests you has the potential for being a volunteer service project. Get creative in your approach! For ideas about existing needs for volunteers you can visit HandsOn Central Ohio.  

If you are starting to consider different careers, perhaps you have a family member or friends that would allow you to shadow them for a day or two on the job to see what their particular career is really like as this will help you determine if that career is truly of interest to you.

Current juniors (Soon to be Seniors) – this summer is going to be busy as you prepare for your senior year. Hopefully you are taking the time to visit colleges from your list and getting an idea of what you think about different schools. You can also begin drafting your college application essays and preparing for the ACT and SAT exams.

Of course, there is always spending quality time reconnecting with your family and friends, going on vacation, reading, and even attending camps or other formal activities which can be a part of the summer for many. If you are interested in learning about some of the camp opportunities - many of which are offered on college campuses, please be sure to check out the camp opportunities page on the WKHS Counselor website as we continue adding summer enrichment experiences to the site as we receive them.

The bottom line is try to be productive this summer – at the very least it will give you great stories to share next fall when people ask you what you did over the summer.

Exam Schedule

Tomorrow and Wednesday are exams for seniors, but we are following a normal bell schedule.  Next week, however, we will be on a very different schedule for exams for the rest of the student body.

Below is the schedule for the final exams:

Day One - Tuesday, May 19th:

8:40 - 10:35: 1st period exam
10:45 - 12:40: 4th period exam
12:40 - 1:20: Lunch
1:25 - 3:20: 7th period exam

Day Two - Wednesday, May 20th:
8:40 - 10:35: 2nd period exam
10:45 - 12:40: 5th period exam
12:40 - 1:20: Lunch
1:25 - 3:20: 8th period exam

Day Three - Thursday, May 21st:
8:40 - 10:35: 3rd period exam
10:45 - 12:40: 6th period exam
12:40 - 1:20: NO Lunch Provided!
1:25 - 3:20: Make-Up Exams

A couple of questions that tend to come up each year at exam time...

Yes, you are REQUIRED and EXPECTED to be in all of your classes during an exam. (Even if you don't have an actual exam, the teachers are going to be working with you on projects, papers, or other learning related to their course.)

No, you do NOT need to be in school during your scheduled lunch period or during your Options or Prep periods. (Which means, for example, that if you have 3rd period prep and 6th period lunch that you do not have to come to school at all on the 21st.)

Good luck studying and preparing for your exams.  (Hint, please start that process NOW if you haven't already.) There is information related to study strategies on the Counselor Website in case you need it.

Honors, AP, & IB Summer Work

Students who have signed up for some of the Honors, AP, and IB classes for next year will have work to complete this summer. These teachers have been working hard to prepare meaningful learning opportunities to help you get a jump start during the summer months. Please pay attention to your school email because teachers are likely emailing you information about the summer assignments.  

Some of those assignments will also require you to check out a textbook for the summer so be sure to do that before you leave school. The teachers are working to make sure that they are conveying information about how you will complete and submit your work, when those assignments are due, information about how to access any Google/ Schoology classrooms if they are using those for the summer, what to do if you have questions or need support, etc. We will also be posting copies of the summer assignments that teachers have shared with us on the Counselor website so you can have easy access to them on the website.

It is also important for all students to be aware that there is a drop deadline of July 15th for all AP and IB classes. Prior to July 15th, students can drop the classes without penalty. After July 15th, the summer assignments are still required and the grades for the summer work will be transferred into the new class you will be joining in place of your AP/ IB course. So, it is important that you know what you will need to do for next year, and it is also equally important that you start working on the assignments - at least enough to make sure you feel confident that you are going to enjoy the course - so you will know by July 15th if you feel like you are going to need to request to change out of that class.

If you are not sure if your class will have summer work, you can always reach out directly to the teachers of that subject (or even your current teachers in that subject) to find out.

Spring Cleaning

With the school year coming to an end and the rapid approach of your upcoming exams, you may decide to do some "spring cleaning" of your school materials. As you go through your bookbags and homework/ study areas there are a few things to keep in mind. Does your system work for you? Are you able to find everything you want and need without having to search? Do you spend more time organizing and looking for the piece of paper that you know has the answer than you do actually completing the project or assignment? Do you know what you want or need to save for the future? And yes, I am talking about more than just digging out of your room in case your parents decide to convert your room into a guest bedroom after you go to college... :-)

Keeping your notes organized and any study guides, equation summary sheets, as well as old tests and quizzes in a way that will allow you to pull upon that information in the future is very important. I can tell you from my experience in college, if I had not saved my notes from calculus in high school then there is no way I would have passed that class in college! Your notes can often be the most useful resource (assuming you take good notes each day) because you are re-writing the main topics in your own words and organizing the information in a manner that makes sense to you. Old study guides, tests and quizzes are all very useful when trying to study for an upcoming exam.

So, take a little time now to prepare for your upcoming final exams and (for the seniors) for college when you might want or need this information by getting organized today. If you need help with talking about some better strategies for organizing your materials, feel free to stop in and we can talk about some different ideas to see if one of them sounds like it could work for you.

Next Year's Schedule

Mrs. Travis (in partnership with the rest of the WKHS administrators) has been working on the master schedule for next year. They have determined where each class will be held during the school day to meet the most student requests possible. This includes running your requests through the computer to try to match as many of the requests as possible between what you had asked for and what is possible in the computers. As of this week, they have officially "locked" the master schedule into place. 

Unfortunately, now that the schedule is locked it becomes crazy for the counselors as we go through each of the schedules that didn't match and try to figure out if there is a solution and what possible options we can use to make a schedule fit together. We will spend hours pouring over schedules and will have to call down some of you to talk about back up choices based upon the conflicts in your schedule. This is never easy and we know it is disappointing when you don't get all of the classes that you wanted, so we promise that we are doing the best we can to make everything work together.

We are starting the process of calling kids down regarding conflicts. If in the coming days, you get an email or pass to come see us during your lunch, off period or between periods, we are asking you to please make every effort to come at the day and time we are calling for you so we can look at your schedule together. (And that specific timing is when we think we should be able to fit you in without making you wait for long.) You don't want us to be the one to make those tough choices for you so we really do need to meet and look at the options together.

Inevitably, when everyone hears that the schedule is locked, students will be curious about the schedule and what their classes will look like for next year. We are more than happy to talk about this with you, but not until all of the conflicts are resolved. So, we ask you to please be patient with us and wait until the last week of school (week of exams) to try to come and get a sneak peek at what your schedule will hopefully be for next year. (Full disclosure though, all schedules are 100% up for revision and changes based on whatever has to happen with the master schedule as the summer progresses.)