Saturday, April 30, 2016
AP and IB Exams
Friday, April 29, 2016
Personal/ Social Articles
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Career Related
Here are some articles that may help you as you consider your future career choices:
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Senior Reminders
- Caps and Gowns: You should have picked up your Cap and Gown already. If you forgot to order your cap and gown, please stop by the counseling center to get the phone number for National Recognition Products and call to place your order right away! Don't forget, if you had planned on using an older sibling's cap and gown, you need to be sure that your sibling graduated within the last few years because prior to that there was a different style.
- Diploma Presenter Form: If you plan on asking someone to present you with your diploma at graduation - the deadline for submitting your presenter request form to the co-curricular office was (technically) April 15th, but you can still turn in your form if you forgot to submit it. I love the fact that you all have this opportunity as a way to make graduation an even more memorable experience. If you do not select someone to give you your diploma, an administrator from WKHS, central office or a school board member will present your diploma to you.
- Senior Pictures: I sincerely hope that you have already taken care of submitting your senior picture to Mrs. Mullen so that they can be included in the Yearbook. If you didn't get your picture taken, please see Mrs. Mullen right away to make alternate arrangements.
- National College Decision Day: I believe most of you are well aware of the fact that May 1st is national college decision day. The colleges have all united in the fact that they will not require you to make decisions about where you will attend prior to May 1st, but this is one of the deadlines that is firm. As you are aware, through the college application process each college has their own timeline and often have different application deadlines, financial aid deadlines, and announce their admission decisions at different times, but May 1st is a universal deadline among all colleges requiring students to declare their decision. Please remember that this not only means that you have informed the college of your choice that you intend to attend their college, but it also typically includes submitting a deposit. As you reach the final hours of your decision making window, if you need to talk out your choice with someone, please feel free to stop in and talk to me. You can, of course, also use my books and the resources that I have in my office to help guide your decision making.
- Mandatory Graduation Form: Included in the senior packet that was mailed to your house was a mandatory graduation form. This is a required form that you must return no later than May 2nd. This form not only outlines your college decisions and scholarships received, but it also allows you to indicate where you would like your final transcript to be mailed after graduation. The information collected about colleges and scholarships will be used when putting together the information for Senior Recognition Night and when they are creating the graduation program so it is very important that the information is accurate! (For example, in the past a student called one scholarship by the wrong name and the parents were upset that it was listed wrong, so please double check to give the correct details.) If students do not complete the survey the school will not have anything to list in the commencement program, so please take a few minutes and complete the form!
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
The "business" of college
It is hard to find high school students who haven't started receiving mail from colleges - especially if you have ever taken the PSAT, ACT, SAT or attended a college fair. At first it is often a rush of excitement to learn about different colleges and I know that lots of students will pour over the different brochures, booklets, or information packets. In time though most students get frustrated and overwhelmed by just how much mail comes from all of the different colleges. This is a perfect reminder that colleges are a business and they are marketing themselves as a result. When you get the mail from the colleges take a few minutes and look it over - remember, they are not saying you will be accepted, but it can help give you an idea about the characteristics and features that are most important to you in selecting the college that is best for you. Go ahead and keep any that look particularly appealing to you, but don't worry about throwing the rest away.Aside from the onslaught of mail you are receiving, take some time to explore colleges which you think will be a good fit for YOU! Need help figuring out more about colleges in general, the college search and the application process, perhaps these articles will help you:
Monday, April 25, 2016
Time is Running Out!
Seniors have just 18 days of
school remaining and underclassmen have 22 days (including the 3 exam
days) before summer break.
Obviously that means every moment counts if you are not doing well in your classes and you are trying to pull off a passing grade for the semester. It is essential that you spend the remaining weeks taking care of your classes so that you do not jeopardize your future.
The truth is that this last month of the school year is
essential for many WKHS students.
For seniors, I realize that there is a rampant
case of senioritis running through the school, but I must remind you that next
year most of you will be heading to college. You have already received your
acceptance letters and decided where you will be attending school next year so
it seems like your grades this last semester don't really matter... except
they do! You must submit a final transcript to your college. If you go
back and read the acceptance letters that the colleges sent to you, you will
notice the fine print that points out that they can turn you down if you don't
maintain the level of grades that they expect from you and your past
performance. Last year schools did turn away hundreds of students and I can't
even imagine how hard it was for a student to believe they knew where they
would be attending to suddenly find out that they could no longer attend there because
they blew off school during their final semester. The other comment I
hear from seniors often is that school doesn't matter now, but that next year,
in college, when it matters they will turn it around and try. Well, while I
would love to believe you (and I hope you are right), the reality is that it
isn't always that easy. Bad
habits are hard to break. Next year there won't be anyone bugging you about turning in
homework or reminding you that a paper or project is due next week. They won't
accept late papers. Most teachers won't check attendance and they don't care if
you want to throw your money away by not attending class. It is your
introduction to the real world. At WKHS if you show up late to class and get a
tardy or two you end up with a detention. In the real world, if you show up
late for work you get fired. At WKHS if you can't manage to turn in a paper or
project on time teachers take points off and it might hurt your grade, but in
the real world the devastation of not following through and meeting
the expectations of your boss are much more serious. I know, you think I am
just nagging and I promise that I am not trying to lecture you, but I am
worried. The last few weeks of high school need to be a time to practice
developing some good habits. For many of you, you have taken a long enough
break at the beginning of this quarter. Spend time studying. Work on your
organization skills. Practice taking better notes. All of those things will
help you in college and in the future.
For the underclassmen... it is far too early for
you to be claiming senioritis (although I heard that from quite a few students
recently). The classes that you are taking now will impact
your grades and grade point average. Having
a higher grade point average doesn't guarantee you admission to the school of
your dreams, but it does provide you with more options. For most of your
classes - you need it to meet graduation requirements. (Even your elective
classes as you need multiple credits of electives to graduate.) It always
surprises me when students give up at this point in the year. I don't
understand it. If I was faced with the option of working really hard for the
last 4 weeks of school and kicking butt on the exams or taking the class for an
entire semester (or year) again over the summer or next year there is no
question that I would apply myself now. That is what so many of you need to do.
Stop and think about it for a moment. Your 3rd quarter grade was worth 40% of
your semester grade. This quarter's grade is worth another 40% of your semester
grade and your final exam makes up the remaining 20%. That means that with your
exam and this quarter you are dealing with 60% of your total points for the
semester. Hopefully you realize that this also means that you can still pass,
but you must commit yourself now and not let a single point
slip by without trying to earn it. Every
point matters! Talk to your teachers, get input from
them on what you need to do differently in order to turn things around in your
classes. Please, don't wait until it is too late. If you have already realized
that there is no way to pass the class and your teacher agrees that there is no
hope, please come and see me so that we can talk about what your plan is to
make up the class. Are you going to take it during the summer? Are you going to
take it next year? If you are taking it next year does that bump out any of
your other classes because you are now missing the requirements? There is a
great deal to consider. If you aren't going to be able to pass one class,
please work hard to make sure that you pass all of the others. As soon as you
realize that one class is a lost cause it doesn't mean that all of the others
are gone too. Try to use your time wisely and put more effort into the ones
that still have hope. Feel free to stop in and talk to me if you need help
developing a plan on how to focus your energy and effort to passing your
classes.
Believe me, I do understand that it is hard to focus right
now. And yes, I admit that I don't always want to get up and come to school
when there are other things that sound more appealing for the day. But we only
have one today and the decisions we make today have a much bigger influence
than we can imagine. Make the most of today!
Academics are essential and these related articles may
interest you:
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Articles - Rejections and Wait Lists
Dealing with rejections:
Wait List Articles:
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