ACT and SAT Dates & Deadlines

Many students plan on taking the ACT or the SAT this fall.  If you are planning on taking one of these college admissions tests, it is important to register online prior to the designated deadlines.  For your convenience, here are the upcoming test dates and deadlines for each test:

ACT:
- September 10th - Register by August 5th
- October 22nd - Register by September 16th
- December 10th - Register by November 4th

SAT:
- October 1st - Register by September 1st
- November 5th - Register by October 7th
- December 3rd - Register by November 3rd

Don't forget, you will need to register for the tests online at the individual testing company websites.

ACT - www.actstudent.org

SAT - www.collegeboard.org

2 months later

Graduation day for the Class of 2016 was 2 months ago today.  I cannot believe it has been 2 months since you walked across the stage, received your diploma and officially became WKHS alumni.  Some of you have already headed off to college, full time employment or the military and others are preparing for that next step in the coming weeks.  I wanted to take a moment to congratulate all of you one last time and thank you for allowing me to join you on your journey through high school.  I know that there are great things ahead of you and I cannot wait to see the impact you have on our world.  And while you are probably moving on in your mind and not interested in looking back at "old" pictures - below are some pictures of my students on graduation day.

My favorite tradition at WKHS takes place during the graduation ceremony when students are able to receive their diplomas from a staff member (teacher, coach, counselor, etc.) who has been a significant part of their lives between their Kindergarten through 12th grade years.  I can assure you that this is an honor to the staff members that are selected and I believe it makes graduation more memorable because you have someone special to share in your graduation ceremony.

This year I was touched and humbled by the fact that I was selected to present diplomas to 5 of my students (pictured L to R): Bailey Andrews, Macala Dietz, Michael Bell, Amy Du, and Loryn Dave.

Bailey, Macala, Mike, Amy and Loryn~ Thank you so much for allowing me to have the honor of presenting you with your diplomas, but more importantly, thank you for giving me the chance to share in your lives.  It didn't matter if I knew you for 1 year or for 4 years, each of you stands out for your commitment and your ability to overcome obstacles.  I am proud of you for what you have accomplished, but this is only the start.  Each of you have the talent to achieve anything you set your minds to, but more importantly you have the heart and courage that will carry you far.  Always trust in yourselves and know that you were destined to make an impact and you are already doing just that - I know because you have impacted my life in more ways than you can even imagine.  I already miss you, but I am genuinely excited for the wonderful opportunities ahead of you.  Thank you again for allowing me to share in your graduation ceremony.  It means more to me than you know and I will never forget that moment, but more importantly I will never forget YOU!  Good luck in college.  Love, Miss Abbott

And, as promised, here are some pictures of all of "my" graduates.  I am proud of you all and I hope you will keep in touch in the future!

Senior Summer Productivity

Personally, I find that I need to structure my summer time or else I can waste a day away and not have any idea where the time went. I am particularly anxious to hear (and see) how productive all of the seniors have been this summer. Earlier this year, when we met for your individual meetings as well as in the large junior student & parent meeting we talked about some of the things you could (and ideally should) be working on this summer to prepare yourself for the college application process.

We talked about researching colleges, making college visits, asking teachers for recommendation letters, organizing your list of high school activities and awards (into resume format or at least a list), narrowing down your college list so that you have a solid final list about where you plan to apply when we start school next month, organizing all of your intended colleges so that you know their deadline dates and what materials you will need for applying, reading, doing any prep-work for the ACT/ SAT that you still wanted/ needed to do, working on your essay questions, volunteering, looking for scholarships, and, if applicable, completing all of your summer coursework for AP, IB or Honors classes. 

It is a pretty demanding list and a lot of times students think they'll have "more time" to work on it "later" when it isn't summer and they are back in a school mindset. Please remember, that once you start your classes you will have teachers demanding homework, over 7 hours of your day spent in school, plus athletics and other activities occupying your time.  Quite simply, there is no better time!

College Visits

One common summertime activity for many students and parents is making college visits.  While traveling this summer for family vacations, I hope you stopped by the local colleges and explored their campuses.  Even if it isn't a school that you are considering, it is always beneficial to see a variety of different college environments to get a feel for the options available to you in the future.  And, even if you are not traveling over break, there is still plenty of time left that you can explore nearby colleges on a day when you are feeling bored and wondering what you're going to do with your time.  Remember, even if you are not interested in attending college at one of the central Ohio colleges, the experience of visiting campuses will still help shape your view and knowledge for evaluating other colleges.  It probably goes without saying, but please remember that I would like your picture from somewhere on EACH campus that you visit!

Getting College Insight

Summer is a great time to be able to ask questions of your friends who are home from college about what their experience has been like. Types of questions you might want to consider asking include:

- What did they like best about college? Least?
- What best prepared them for college?
- Did their college search give them an accurate picture of what college would really be like?
- Are there particular things they would recommend that you look at or consider when researching schools?
- How large are the majority of their classes? Biggest class? Smallest?
- What activities did they get involved in on campus?
- Was it easy to make friends at school?
- If they could go back and repeat their high school years over again, would they have done anything different? Would they still have made the same choices about where to apply and attend?

Those are just a few ideas to get you started. It is really important to keep in mind that just because a school was the right college for your friends or your siblings it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be the right fit for you.

In my experience, students are always more than happy to spend some time talking about their first year (or two) of college. Take full advantage of the opportunity - it really might help guide you in your own college search, or, at the very least, hopefully it will motivate you to start exploring colleges for yourself.

Volunteering

Have you been productive this summer? Have you accomplished any of the goals that you had hoped to achieve? I had pretty lofty expectations for some of the things that I had hoped to accomplish this summer and I certainly haven't made it through all of the items on my "to do list," but I continue trying to check items off the list. One of the great goals I know that many of you had this summer was to make a difference in the community by volunteering your time, talents, and skills. Have you enjoyed your volunteer experiences so far? If you haven't thought much about volunteering, there is still time to get involved!

Career Related Earning Potential

Believe it or not, life isn't all about how much money you make. You want to find a career that you will love and find rewarding. But, that being said, many students want to make sure that they are selecting a college major that will lead them to a career field that can provide a secure financial future.  The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce has done in depth research on the Economic Value of College Majors.  Their website has fascinating information that you can sort through including looking at different states as well as different majors.  Check it out if you are interested in exploring more about careers and majors that might be good options for your future.