AP Test Registration Reminder

If you are currently enrolled in an AP course, the deadline to sign up to take the end of course AP exam is next Friday, March 8th.  Taking the AP exam (and doing well) is how students have the opportunity to earn college credit for the classes you completed in high school.  Please remember that the colleges are responsible for establishing their own policies about what scores are required to be able to earn credits at their school.  The fee for each AP exam is $100 and must be submitted online by March 8th.  If you have lost your AP registration information, you can find it on the Worthington website at www.worthington.k12.oh.us and then you will find it in the Gifted Services area.  Your parents will register you for the test in the My Palyments Plus account.

College Visits During Spring Break

With about a week and a half of school left before spring break, many of you have already started focusing on what all you are hoping to do over break.  No matter what grade you are in and what plans you have already established for spring break, I'd like to encourage you to consider adding in at least one (if not more) college visits to your agenda.

For seniors, many colleges are in session during our break and so this is an ideal time to be able to visit the campuses of your top choices.  Being able to compare your college choices and to make sure that you are finding the school which will be your best fit before you the May 1st decision deadline is a helpful choice.  I strongly encourage you to try to sit in on at least one class to get a feel for the academic environment of the college.  You can also consider making an overnight visit at the colleges for a different opportunity that you have probably not had a chance to do thus far.

For freshmen through juniors, making college visits is a beneficial opportunity to start identifying what aspects you like most and least in a college.  You will have the chance to actually walk around on a campus and imagine yourself being there in the future.  People watch, explore opportunities, investigate academics, and engage with the admissions staff to help guide you in your future college application plans.  If you are planning to be in town, there are lots of local colleges that you can visit easily.  If you will be traveling over break, you can still make college visits wherever you find yourself during break.  Chances are good that there are colleges near or along your destination and even if it is not a school that you are considering for the future, it still gives you the chance to get another view of colleges... and this can be incredibly valuable in determining what it is you want or don't want in a school.

Also, as a reminder, students, you should be the ones arranging the visits with the admissions offices - especially if it is a college you are considering for the future.  Even if it isn't one you are thinking about, it is still good practice so once you know your family's plan, call or email the admissions office to arrange for the visit.

Academic Honors Night

Congratulations to all of the 359 students who were honored at tonight's Academic Honors ceremony. As a component of the award ceremony, students are presented with gold, silver, and bronze keys in recognition of their achievements in academic excellence.

Gold keys are awarded to students who have earned a cumulative GPA of a 3.5 or higher at the end of 7 full semesters. 30 of "my" students were among tonight's gold key recipients.

Silver keys are awarded to students with at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA at the end of 5 full semesters. 27 of "my" students received silver keys tonight.

Bronze Keys are awarded to students with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher at the end of 3 full semesters. 29 of "my" students were presented with bronze keys.

Congratulations to each of you for your academic commitment and achievements!

Managing College Mail

Yesterday I talked about the principle of Only Handling It Once to help you stay organized.  Would you like another example of where this principle can be helpful?  College Mail!  It is hard to find many high school students who have taken the PSAT, Pre-ACT, ACT or SAT that haven't started receiving mail from colleges. 

At first, when students start receiving letters from colleges there can be a rush of excitement to learn about different colleges. Lots of students will pour over the different brochures, booklets, or information packets sent from various colleges. 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 so they are marketing themselves to all potential candidates. 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 of that college so that you can compare them with what you are looking for in a college.  Go ahead and keep any mailings that look particularly appealing to you, but don't worry about throwing the rest away... after all, you won't suddenly decide you want to pour through stacks of college brochures later for schools that didn't appeal to you when you received the information the first time.

OHIO

OHIO - of course, it is the name of our great state, but it is also represents a saying - "Only Handle It Once."  This is an organization and time management saying that can be useful to use and adopt into our daily lives. 

The basic concept is that whatever you're dealing with such as a piece of paper or an email message that you should only handle it once.  For most of you, the ways that I see this playing out poorly is when you are working on assignments in class and you have notes, textbook, and a handout such as a lab paper out when the bell rings and instead of placing the notes and handout back where they belong students will grab the papers all mixed together and shove everything into their backpack before rushing off to their next class.  This happens in class after class throught any given day.  And then, as a result, you are forced to spend more time later sorting through all of the materials in order to re-organize and separate the information for each class.  Even though it may feel as if it would take a minute or two longer to put the material from the class into the appropriate folder before heading off to your next class, in the long run, only handling the material once will save you time.

Now, please let me clarify, that doesn't mean you should only spend one moment working on an assignment.  If it is something that you are working on in class that doesn't mean you don't still handle it and deal with it at home if the work needs to be completed for the next day of school.  It's just the organization side that will hopefully be streamlined.

Also, if you are working on some assignment, look at it and figure out if you have everything you need -for example, do you have the notes, resources such as textbook, posterboard or supplies for projects, if there is help that you need - for example, do you need to get clarification from a teacher or classmate or assistance from your parent on the work you are completing, or anything else that you'll need to successfully complete the assignment.  Gather those items ahead of time so that you don't end up wasting a bunch of time starting and stopping your work.

And while I know that you don't all spend a lot of time on emails, I can assure you that email is a part of your future and the Only Handle It Once strategy is a great approach for managing the "easy" emails.

So, as you go through these final 2 weeks before spring break I hope you will try to work towards establishing the positive organization strategy of OHIO and Only Handling It Once!

Seussical and Swimming

Seussical & Swimming may seem like a strange combination, but they actually have a lot in common.  That is because this weekend the Kilbourne Theater Department and the Kilbourne Girls Swim Team are both demonstrating the excellence of their talents.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend this year's musical - Seussical.  We have incredibly talented students and it was fun and exciting to see all of their hard work and dedication pay off. I had many students involved in the show.

Those who were featured on stage included: Joclyn Blake, Robbie Fadley, Gavin Crozier and Jacob Fisher.

While those who were showcased on the stage often get all the attention, the show wouldn't have been a success without the help of many behind the scenes.  This included: Kaleigh Brophy, Harley Davidson, Ashley Baker, Shawn Coon, Andrew Chidester, and members of the Stagecraft Class: Davis Bailey, Kinsley Capuano, and Tadrion Chapman.
And, of course, a musical wouldn't be possible without music and my students who were a part of the Pit Orchestra included: Madeline Allen, Audrey Boughton, Kurt Boker, and Brady Cloyd.

Congratulations to all of you on an outstanding musical!  If you didn't have a chance to see the show last night, I encourage you to try to make it to tonight's show - you won't be disappointed!


And then, let's talk about Swimming!  It is incredibly challenging to qualify for States in swimming and diving.  Not only did our girls 4x200 Free Relay team make it to states, but they performed so well yesterday that they qualified for the state finals.  This mighty fast team of athletes have put in countless hours and laps in the pool to reach this moment.

Congratulations to Haley Banner who qualified for the 4x200 relay and also individually in the 50 freestyle event.

Haley was on the 4x200 team with 2 other of "my" students: Nanami Campbell and Evie DeCarlo.  Also joining them was a student not in my alphabet: Lauren Richner.  Congratulations to all 4 of you and please know we are proud of you!

(Just in case anyone is wondering - there is a very specific reason that I only recognize my students on my blog.  That is because I have to work hard to make sure that I do not recognize any students in a public manner like this blog who do not have approval to have their information shared.  I keep close tabs on that for my students, but do not keep track for students outside of my alphabet breakdown.  So, that is why for things such as Seussical above I only talk about "my" kids even though there are so many other talented contributors.  I decided to mention the off-alpha swimmer because there was just 1 student being excluded from a 4x200 team and that didn't seem fair and her name has been publicized a great deal on social media and the paper as being a part of this state qualifying team so I felt confident that her name was an acceptable one to mention.)

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. Georgetown University consistently does research regarding the Economic Value of College Majors. Check out their website for more information.  For example you can explore earnings by state, explore majors, and compare the earnings for various positions. What you choose to do with your life will be influenced by many factors and I do want you to be financially stable in the future so I hope that reading their research will interest you.