Transcript Requests

Seniors, one of the steps that is required when you leave WKHS and head off to college is to request for your transcripts to be sent to your intended college. You are just a few hours away from the deadline to declare where you will be attending and submit your enrollment deposit which means now is a great time to request your final transcript.

We have made the final transcript request process as simple as possible. The mandatory graduation form that you were emailed last week is the form that you will fill out to tell us where to send your transcript. It is also the form where you will request who you want to give you your diploma at graduation and to fill out some other questions and feedback to help us honor you at senior recognition night and to improve the school in the future.

The one aspect that tends to be confusing to students related to final transcripts is that if you are a senior who took College Credit Plus (CC+) classes through CSCC or COTC last year or this year, you also need to be sure to request for your CSCC and/ or COTC transcripts to be sent to your future college. This is not done by WKHS and so we cannot take care of this process for you - you must request it directly from CSCC and/ or COTC.

If you are going to continue at Columbus State, then you don't have to do anything with your CSCC transcript (they already have that), but you would need to send them your COTC transcript.

If you are going to a 4 year college, then you will need to send them both transcripts... and again, this is in addition to us at WKHS sending them your final high school transcript.

We have posted the links for how to send your CC+ transcripts on the Counselor website so if this is something that applies to you, please be sure to request to have them sent.  

Advisory Council

Do you have people that you trust and can turn to for advice, guidance and direction? People who you know are going to be able to point out areas where you might need to change so you can grow and improve? And people who can encourage, support and celebrate your successes with you?

I firmly believe that having a trusted circle of people in your life is valuable to our growth as humans. And I also think it is important to have that feedback for our school counseling program. This was the second year of having an Advisory Council to help give feedback and ideas to help guide our school counseling team to help make our program and services the most impactful for our students as possible.

This year our Advisory Council members included (in alphabetical order by last name): Erica Backhurst, Dan Beck, Esther Boatemah, Sarah Cain, Kate Campbell, Kristen Collins, Noemi Garcia, Kaylee Guadalupe, Roshi Jamshidi, Rick Kellner, Tania Leal, Stephanie Matson, Angie Pope, Daniel Robey, and Tara Schumacher. They are parents, students, teachers and administrators who gave up their time to help learn about our programs and offerings and provide feedback, suggestions and guidance.

The Advisory Council met 4 times throughout the year and each time I was nervous about if our agenda would meet the needs and expectations of the committee members. And after each meeting I walked away excited and energized about the input and suggestions that they were sharing with us. Our counseling team does not take for granted the help and expertise from each of these valued stakeholders. 

We met for the final time this year last week and unfortunately the fire alarm went off and we had to cut our time together short, but we did try to grab a quick picture with many of the advisory council members as we were leaving to exit the building. And since we didn't get to formally say it at the end of the meeting, I would like to offer it here - THANK YOU to all of the Advisory Council members for taking the time out of your busy lives to meet with us! We are so grateful for your partnership and we thank you for helping to make us stronger because of your input!

Making College Lists

Having a good, solid, balanced, reasonable college list that meets your needs academically, socially and financially is an essential part of the college application process. Juniors, it is time that you are actively working on building that perfect (for you) college list.

To support students and parents in this process we have 2 events coming up this week all focused on building your college lists.

• On Thursday, May 1st, we will host the final Junior Seminar of this year in Room 201 from 8:15-8:35am to talk about creating a balanced, strong college list.
• On Friday, May 2nd, we will hold the final Parent Lunch & Learn session of the year from 12:00-12:30pm over zoom. As always, this meeting link will be emailed out to families on Friday morning and the session will be recorded and posted to the counselor website if you are unable to join us live.

I hope that you will make plans to join us for these presentations!

YouScience

YouScience is a great assessment tool that lets you learn more about yourself while also highlighting careers that would be a good potential fit.

YouScience is a measure of aptitudes.  Aptitudes are your natural abilities to do things.  It is not about saying you are good at math or science - it is more about the specific strengths that cross over to various subject areas.

When you take this assessment it is all online so you can do it from any computer or chromebook.  The entire process from start to finish is about an hour and a half, but you can split it up over however many settings that works best for you.  The assessment consistents of a variety of different small computer challenges (also known as "brain games").  Each of these challenges is timed and you just do the best you can on each one of them.  When you start any of those timed tests, you have to finish that piece before you could stop and save to return later.

I took the assessment and was fascinated by all of the information it was able to say about me just from doing these fun tests.  At the end,you will receive an email with links to your results.  There were 3 main things I liked best about the results.  1, there is a multi-page personal summary that can be downloaded that talked about things that are easier or harder for you based upon your results.  2, there is a discussion summary guide which is a great resource to help you for use in recommendation letters, resumes and college essays.  3, the career specific information is interesting.  I really liked that the career information could be divided out so that you could look at it based upon which careers fit for people with your aptitudes, for careers with your interests, or for careers that overlap well with your aptitudes and interests.

Tomorrow, all 9th and 10th graders will be starting the YouScience assessment during your academic prep periods. If there are any 11th or 12th graders who want to take it, you are definitely welcome to do so - just be sure to stop and see me so I can give you an access code so that you don't have to pay to take it. I can't wait to hear about which brain games you thought were easier and which ones you thought were harder along, of course, with the results and what you think it says about you!

Mandatory Senior Graduation Form

Today, all seniors received an information link for the Senior Information Questionnaire that we need for you to complete and submit prior to May 2nd.

Every year, the graduating high school seniors have the option of picking a teacher, coach, administrator, counselor, secretary, or other Worthington staff member who has played a significant role in their lives to give them their diploma.  This is one of my favorite traditions at Kilbourne!  It is a way to make the graduation ceremony much more personal and memorable.  You will select your 1st choice and 2nd choice diploma presenters on the form.

The form also allows you to request where you want us to send your final transcript.  When you head off to college or enlist in the military, they will all want a copy of your final transcript to confirm that you did officially graduate.  The information you submit on the form is what will enable us to make sure we send your transcript to the appropriate location.

We are busy working on preparing for the senior recognition and commencement ceremonies and we need additional information from you in order to put together the programs!  As you complete the senior questionnaire you will be asked to list what scholarships you received and are accepting and how much they were worth.

And finally, the form also allows for you to share some thoughts about your reflections related to high school because we value the insight and perspectives that our seniors share each year.

These forms are due back ASAP, but no later than May 2nd.  

If you have updates/ changes after you have submitted your form - such as you received an additional scholarship, please email that new scholarship information to Mrs. Focht at afocht@wscloud.org.  We will try our best to include your updated scholarships in the program, but it is possible that information received after May 2nd may not be able to be included if the program.

ACT/ SAT Test Prep

Juniors, now that you have received your scores back from the school administration of the SAT it is time to come up with a plan for what comes next.  

Some of you may be perfectly content with your scores and not need to do anything else, but for many of you, I know that you are focused on improving your scores.  Statistically, many students are able to improve their scores when they repeat the tests because you are now familiar with the pace required to complete each section and what to expect from the tests.   As a result, I encourage you to consider signing up to take another college admission test this spring or summer.  You can take either the ACT or the SAT (or both).  If you're not sure which test you did better on and want to focus on re-taking, you can use the Concordance Table to compare your scores. Don't forget, while there are some test dates in the fall, you need to watch your timing so that you can get the tests completed before your earliest college application deadlines. Remember, a test prep plan is going to be important if you are applying to colleges that are no longer test-optional.

To register for the tests, please visit their websites.

ACT: www.act.org

SAT: www.collegeboard.com

And, yes, sorry, there are fees for the rest of the times you take the college admissions tests.  However, if you are a student who qualifies for free or reduced lunch, please stop to see me as I am able to help give you a fee waiver that can cover the cost of a test.

The other point we need to talk about is what you are going to DO between now and when you retake the test to help improve your scores.  There are a wide range of options that students can do to help improve their scores, but generally speaking if you don't do something different, you will typically not see a significant change in scores.  This list is in no way fully inclusive of all of your options, but it can help get you started on ideas...

- Look at your test and reflect back on what you remember from the test and review the areas that are weakest for you.

- Take free practice tests online.

- Use question of the day practice opportunities to regularly get adjusted to the types of questions you will see on the ACT/ SAT.

- Work with an individual tutor or sign up for a course.  These options will have a range of costs associated with them and so it is important to know that ACT and SAT will say that the best preparation is a rigorous curriculum.  However, many students have found that having someone that they are meeting with and having an appointment to work on preparing for the tests helps to hold them accountable so that they can master the strategies and truly show what they know when they take the tests.  We have many tutor resources available on the Counselor Website if you are interested and I also have business cards in my office from some of the tutors/ companies.

- Make use of websites such as Khan Academy that have free test prep sections.  The ACT and SAT websites also have resources and materials available for students to help prepare for their tests.

- Get one of the books with practice tests (you might even be able to find them at the library, but many students prefer to buy them so that they can write in the books).  

And that actually brings me to a key point that I hit on a little earlier - I can mention lots of different ideas and strategies, but these tests are so easy to procrastinate on and think "I'll work on that later..." but so often "later" becomes "never."  I know because I have been there.  So try to figure out what you are realistically going to be able to set up for yourself as a plan and then stick with it.  Have someone help hold you accountable and don't stop until you have reached your goals.

Good luck on your test preparation.  Most of all, don't stress about it - that will never help your scores, but do the best you can and it will pay off in the long run!

Free Healthcare Opportunities

There are certain healthcare related steps that all students must complete in order to comply with school requirements.

Probably most familiar to students and families is the sports physical.  Any student hoping to participate in band or a sport, must have a current, updated sports physical on file every year.  There are free sports physicals being offered by Grace Clinics on July 28th in Hilliard and on August 2nd in Delaware. You should text 740-816-7022 to schedule an appointment.

Additionally, the state requires all students to have an updated meningococcal vaccine by August of their senior year.  The requirement is that one dose of the Meningococcal (MenACWY) vaccine must be given on or after the age of 16.  Proof of vaccination is due prior to senior year by the State of Ohio.  In order to help students fulfill this requirement, a Free Vaccine Clinic will be held at WKHS this Friday, April 25th from 8:30am-12:30pm.  This is a free opportunity for students from the Columbus Public Health Department to get this requirement completed during a school day.  Parents do not need to be present, but a consent form is required.  Consent forms can be picked up from Nurse Julie in the health office at school. I hope you will take advantage of this free opportunity!

In addition to the Meningococcal vaccine, they will also be offering Influenza, Tdap, and HPV vaccines for free to students who want/ need them.

Any questions about the free vaccine clinic or the meningococcal vaccine requirement can be directed to WKHS Nurse Julie at jgarner@wscloud.org.