The Power to Make a Difference

A few days ago I read this "Dear Abby" letter in the newspaper and it has stuck with me. Since I keep thinking back to it I decided it would be appropriate to share with all of you.

Dear Abby: With Halloween approaching, I would like to share a young man's act of kindness that will stay with me forever.

In October 2005, my lively and energetic 7-year-old son, Matthew, was found to have a rare brain tumor. After successfully completing treatment, he was back to his old self and happily making plans for the summer. Unfortunately, by the following summer his tumor was growing back, and there was nothing that the doctors could do.

One evening in July, we ordered a pizza to be delivered. Matthew told me that for Halloween he wanted to dress like a pizza deliveryman and asked whether he could talk to the man when he came to the house.

Because of the tumor, Matthew's speech was difficult to understand. His right side was paralyzed, and his body was swollen from steroids, so I was concerned about how the person would react. I was hesitant but agreed.

When the deliveryman arrived, I was shocked to see how young he was. I told him my son was sick but wanted to meet him because he wanted to dress like a pizza deliveryman for Halloween.
Without hesitation, the young man came in and talked to Matthew about his job. He even gave Matthew his name tag to wear as part of his costume on Halloween.

I was so impressed with him. He wasn't taken aback by my son's appearance, as so many of our adult friends had been, and he made Matthew so happy.

Matthew was in the hospital by Halloween, but he wore the man's pin on his hospital gown. It was my son's last Halloween, and I'm thankful that this young man was so caring and considerate. His name is Jeff, and his kindness should be an example to everyone.
-- Linda in Massachusetts

Dear Linda: Please accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your son.

Your letter touched my heart. Thank you for writing to remind my readers and me what a difference a simple act of kindness can make in the life of another person.

Never doubt that you have the power to make a difference in the life of someone else. I am confident that you already are making an impact - often without even knowing it - but remember, the smallest gestures often leave the biggest impact.

Career Fair Madness

It's madness... really, it is... and with just 9 days left until the career fair I am definitely feeling the pressure to get everything pulled together.

In case you missed it, next Thursday, November 6th, WKHS will be hosting a Career Fair during the school day. Students will be released out of class to attend and will have the opportunity to walk around and talk with representatives from approximately 200 different careers who have been kind enough to volunteer their time that morning. I believe it is going to be a great day and a wonderful opportunity for all of you to meet and interact with professionals and learn more about their jobs and how they ended up in these positions. It is my sincere hope that you make the most of your time - remember, it is your future, plus, many colleges will want to know not only what you have selected for your intended major, but also why that field interests you. The information you learn at the career fair may help guide you.

Many of my students have been wonderful in helping with preparing for the career fair. Looking ahead to next week I believe that the night before the career fair as well as the morning of the career fair will be times that I need additional volunteers. If you are interested in helping, please stop by and let me know.

On Wednesday, November 5th we will be setting up the tables and materials throughout the first floor. The shifts we are looking for volunteers to help include:
- 4:00 to 5:30pm

- 5:30 to 7:00pm

- 8:00 to 9:30pm

On Thursday, November 6th we also need volunteers to assist as the career professionals arrive by escorting them to their tables and showing them the location of their hospitality room. With nearly 200 people arriving in 30 minutes it will be a rush and so we will need many willing helpers. This shift would be 6:45am to 7:45am. (And yes, I would need for you to be there and ready to go BY 6:45... so if you are not a morning person this might not be the best idea...)

We will also need students to help with cleaning up after the event by taking down the tables and signs, etc. Because this would also mean that you are missing class time my guess is that there will be lots of students willing to help on this shift. As a result, we will be opening this opportunity up first to those students who volunteer on a different shift the day before or the morning of the career fair.

Once again, if you are willing to help by participating on any of the shifts please stop by my office to sign up. I am going to put a sign-up sheet on the clipboard outside of my office so if I am busy you will still be able to sign up if you are able to help. Thanks!

Also, I have been putting in some crazy hours trying to get ready for the career fair (plus I had my family in town for the weekend) so I have been slacking a bit on the updates - I am sorry and I promise that after the career fair is over next week I will return to a more regular updating schedule. :-) Thanks for understanding!

Deadlines

Just a friendly reminder to watch your deadlines. It is really important that you stay organized and submit all application materials to colleges prior to their designated deadlines. There are several schools that have scholarship deadlines of November 1st. (This means that if you want to be considered for the maximum scholarship offering that you need to apply by November 1st.) Other schools have November 15th, December 3rd, December 15th, or even later deadlines, but because every school is different it is really important that you stay on top of this and meet the requirements with plenty of time. If you have a college application with a November 1st deadline and you have not seen me already, please be sure to come in Monday!

Don't forget, it also takes us time at WKHS to process all of the applications so you need to allow plenty of time to turn your application around and get it back to the college. Some schools (like OSU) hold firm to the requirement that their deadline doesn't just mean that the application has been received by that date, but that all supporting documentation is also in their hands by that particular date. This means that they also need to have your transcript, School Report Form, and official ACT/ SAT test scores prior to the deadline date. All the more reason to watch this closely and give us plenty of time to get your materials to the college.

If you are having trouble figuring out the deadlines, stop down to see me and we can look it up together.

Congratulations to the football team for their stunning victory over TWHS tonight! Good luck to Sam Dixius as he runs in the cross country regional championships tomorrow and to the guys soccer team as they head into district finals tomorrow.

For What It's Worth...

Tomorrow's football game has been the talk of the school and I hope that it is a great game (with a Wolves victory, of course) and that everyone is on their best and most appropriate behavior. But what I actually want to mention to you - especially the upperclassmen - is that if you are scheduled to take the ACT on Saturday morning, you really need to focus on taking that test!

Yes, I understand that this is a big game and that it is exciting to have the first ever in-district football game...

Yes, I understand that it is a Friday night...

Yes, I understand that after the game people will come back to WKHS for Senior Tackle and then celebrate the win...

But NO it is not an excuse to blow off Saturday's ACT!

So, please, think about going home after the game and unwinding quickly so that you can get a good night of sleep before the test. Get up, eat breakfast, concentrate on doing your best on the test, and then after all of that is over - celebrate the victory on Saturday.

PLAN Test

Attention Sophomores (and any interested Freshmen):

PLAN Test Date: November 3, 2008

Location: WKHS

Time: 7:30 – 11:00am (but you must arrive before 7:30 to sign in)

Cost: $10.00 (checks payable to WKHS)

The PLAN Test is the practice test for the ACT. This test is not an option for juniors so it is very important to take it during your sophomore year. You can register now in the Counseling and Career Center.

The content of the PLAN test is closely tied to that of the ACT achievement test, which is used for college entrance and placement decisions. It covers the same subjects and gives you estimated ACT scores. This test is only a practice test; therefore, it will not appear on your transcript.

The PLAN test has many benefits. It can help you get started in thinking and planning for life after high school. It will show you areas you may need extra help. The results can also be used to help focus your test preparation to improve your ACT scores. In my opinion, the MOST valuable aspect is that the PLAN test is that it includes a career component that helps identify career interests and possible career fields. The number of students who have no idea what they might want to do some day is scary and this is one way to help come up with some ideas.

It is important to note that this test is being offered during the Late Start Day. This means that you will need to arrive at school at the regularly scheduled time via your own transportation as busses will be following the late start schedule. In addition to the late start time, you will miss the first 2 classes of the late-start day.

Weekend Wrap Up

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. I did with the slight exception being that most of my weekend was spent working on recommendation letters. In case I haven't mentioned it, I really do love the time I am able to spend talking with the students "interviewing" them for more details before I sit down and write the recommendation letters, but the process of actually writing the letters... well, not quite feeling the love. :-) I am making progress though and before I go to sleep tonight I will be more than half way through all of the letters that I need to write this year. So we can be happy about that fact at least.

It was a great long weekend for many of the WKHS athletic teams with football, mens and womens soccer, and volleyball all racking up at least one victory. Congratulations!

My highlight of the weekend came on Friday morning when I had a chance to join the group of Driven Student Leaders at their retreat/ meeting. There were 11 students (4 of which were "my students" - Alyssa Biron, CW Boyles, Clay Hedges, and Katherine Hyatt-Hawkins) and I loved being able to talk with them. (They had a pretty relaxed setting as you'll see below which made for easy discussions.) Perhaps one of the most special aspects of my visit was the welcome sign that was awaiting me. Thanks Katherine and Clay!

I hope by now that you have realized that once you are "my students" you will always be "my student" and therefore special to me. So, I am very excited and proud of two of my "former" students ran and successfully completed the Columbus Marathon today. Congratulations to Phil Bunting and Alex DiBartola! I am very proud of you!

Hope you had a great weekend and I will look forward to seeing you tomorrow... after you get to sleep in and enjoy your late start! :-)

School Day Reminders

A couple of quick reminders for you...

1st - No School Tomorrow! It is Central Ohio Teacher's Association day which means there are meetings that teachers can attend for everyone in the area so you can sleep in tomorrow.

2nd - Monday, October 20th, is a Late Start Day! You are lucky enough to be able to sleep in again which should make for quite a nice long weekend.

Hope you have a great weekend! Good luck to all of the athletes competing over the weekend - especially because so many of the teams are now in tournament play!