Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I hope you had a good day. I don't know if it is just me, but halloween isn't nearly as much fun as it would be if there were little kids around, but hopefully you were able to make some little kids really happy as you passed out candy to them and complimented their costumes. This picture is of my niece and nephew in their halloween costumes for this year. Carly is a leopard and Colton is a shark. They are too cute! :-) I know, I am biased, but still...

Today also marks the start of the 2nd quarter. Remember, it is very important that you focus on making the most out of every day in your classes. As you are aware, it is the semester grade that ultimately matters and counts on your transcripts. So, with most classes, you have 60% of your grade remaining. (40% from the 2nd quarter and 20% from the semester exam)

It is important to start the quarter strong. Get organized and work on staying organized all quarter. This is important because you need to make the most of the opportunity to have a fresh start with each new grading period. Additionally, I strongly encourage you to take time to reflect on your progress during the 1st quarter. Did it go as well as you had hoped or planned? Did you put forth your best effort? It is important to consider what went worked and continue doing those same things moving forward. Then, as you identify what didn't go as well as you had hoped, be sure to adjust what isn't working so that you don't continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

And one other reminder, for any of you who are interested in participating in the field trip to the Delaware Area Career Center, don't forget to return your permission slips to Mrs. Windisch in the Counseling Center tomorrow! (They were due today, but she is still able to accept them if you get it to her right away.)

Net Price Calculator and Financial Aid Related

As of this weekend, every college will now feature a net price calculator on their website. This is in an effort to help provide students and parents with the information needed to make more educated decisions and choices about what they can expect to pay for a college education at each school. Now, I will forewarn you that not every net price calculator is the same and some are more detailed than others. Why does this matter? Well, if it is very specific and takes all of the different factors into consideration that the financial aid office will be looking at when creating your financial aid package, then you are likely to get a better picture of what your estimated aid might be, but if it is a more simplistic calculator then there could be more variance when compared to your actual aid package.

Without a doubt, college is very expensive and so trying to figure out the best ways to be able to finance your education is an important factor to consider in your college search and selection process. Below are a range of articles related to net price calculators, scholarships and financial aid that might interest you.

Get out your net-price calculator

Look to parents’ employers for college scholarships

Discover scholarships just for men

Make your extracurricular activities pay off

Colleges increasingly look for applicants who can pay full price

The Net-price calculator: Financial aid game changer?

The Myth of the “Full Ride” Athletic Scholarship

Consider these 8 scholarships for aspiring writers

10 Twitter handles to help with your scholarship search

Be Moneywise: Choose the right college to attend

How calculators can help counselors help students

Tips on finding and securing scholarships

Schedule Reminder

This past week was pretty crazy schedule wise for me since I was out of the building for half the week helping as a part of the crisis recovery team at McCord Middle School. I appreciate all of your patience because I know it is hard when you were trying to see me and I wasn't available.

I wanted to give you a heads up and reminders about this coming week's schedule...

- Monday (October 31st) is a late start day. This is when your teachers will be working to finalize your 1st quarter grades. Hard to believe that we are already a fourth of the way through this school year!

- Tuesday is November 1st. Some of the seniors have college deadlines for November 1st. If you are one of them, please be certain that you have submitted all of your application materials to the college by the end of the day Tuesday.

- I will be out of the building on Thursday and Friday (November 3rd and 4th) for a statewide counselors conference. So, if you need to see me, please plan on coming in on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Parent/ Teacher Conferences

Parent/ Teacher conferences will be held on the evenings of Monday, November 7th and Thursday, November 10th. There is an online system to allow parents to set up appointments to meet with teachers.

To access the system, visit the portal at http://www.worthington-portal.org/ and log in using the same parent e-mail address and password that is used to access grades through e-Sembler. Click on menu, go up to “My Account” and then “Child Records Access.” Select the high school student you wish to schedule and under applications, choose student options and press the “Launch” button. You will then click on “Schedule Teacher Conference.”

Select the day you wish to schedule the conference. (Active tab is white.) The day you are scheduling is listed about the course names. All available times have a button in the time slot which will allow you to select it. Select the time by course and teacher that you wish to schedule and click the “Schedule Teacher Conference” tab. Your scheduled conferences will appear in a list below. You will also have the option of deleting or printing your conferences.

I realize that the directions sound confusing, but having seen the system, I promise you that it is not nearly as confusing as it sounds. Conference times are available on a first-come, first-serve basis so I strongly encourage you to log in and schedule your appointments as soon as possible.

If you do not have a valid e-mail address, please call 450-6400 for assistance. If you cannot recall your password to access the system, please go to the portal and click the “Request Password” option in the bottom left of the log in screen. Your password will be emailed to you from Computer Services within the hour if the e-mail you submit matches the email in the student’s profile.

A Crisis Reminder

Today the students and staff at McCord Middle School learned that one of their 8th grade students had died. All of the WKHS counselors went across the street to help out on this difficult day and so, as you can imagine, my mind has been very crisis focused. I thought this might be a good time to review the importance of communication when crisis situations occur. It is important, as a school counselor, to be aware of any major incidents that impact students from the school as soon as possible so that we can help prepare an appropriate response. For the record, I tend to check my e-mails over weekends, holidays, and the summer for any critical incidents, but I do not check my school voicemail, so the best way to pass along important timely news is e-mail. Obviously, my hope is that this information is never needed and that we will not face any crisis situations in the future, but I also know that it is better safe than sorry.

Deadlines are Real

Deadlines are real! Often times I worry that the tendency we have in high school to set a deadline and then extend it or accept late materials creates a major problem when it comes to college applications and the rest of the world. The reality is that outside of high school, deadlines are real. If they say you need to have something done by a particular day, then it is essential that you have it done by that day. College applications fit into this strict rule so this is your 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 1st, 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 and see me!

I'd like to remind you that college applications is just 1 piece of my job as a high school counselor. I am more than happy to help you by writing recommendation letters if they are needed by your school, but you must give me at least 30 days notice before you need the letter! Being able to outline, draft, edit and revise each letter is important so that I can share all the great things you will bring to the college.

Don't forget, it also takes us 3 days at WKHS to process your transcript release so you need to allow plenty of time pick up your transcript and then mail it 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 and official ACT/ SAT test scores prior to the deadline date.

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

Impressive Students

The students at WKHS never cease to impress me with all of their remarkable accomplishments, areas of involvement, awards, and activities. Below are a few of my students who deserve recognition.
Mariah Minichello, awarded OCC Academic League Leadership Award
Nick Darby, National Merit Semi-finalist
Cole Doran, National Merit Commended Scholar

Sean Baumgardner, Kristen Barone, and Grayson Biglin, Homecoming Court Attendants
Steven Borchers, Eagle Scout Award
Arthur Ding, Eagle Scout Award

Congratulations to each of you!