Let's Try This Again

Have you missed me?  I am so sorry for dropping off the planet with regards to blogging.  As you may have realized if you tried to stop by and see me last week - I was sick with the flu and in addition to missing multiple days of school I was sleeping a ton.  Thankfully I am feeling better and will return to blogging regularly.  I hope you enjoyed the long weekend!  Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and catching up.

Office Workers

Office workers play a vital role in the smooth operation of the counseling center.  They frequently help us by delivering passes to the students we need to see throughout the day and sometimes they help us with other special projects.  Most days they even have time to work on their homework.

The office workers earn community service hours for their volunteer commitment.  Many students feel this is an easy way to earn service hours because it is completed during the school day.

Personally, I love having my students among those serving as office workers because it allows me to get to know them better.  During the first semester I was fortunate enough to have 2 of my students working as office workers - Danielle Barker and Katie DiMauro. 

Many students are not able to continue working as office workers both semesters and so many of the class periods have openings for 1 or 2 office workers.  If you are interested in giving up your academic prep, options or lunch periods to sign up as an office worker, please stop by the counseling center to pick up an application.  It is important to have strong grades in your classes because working as an office worker will require you to give up the time that you normally would have been able to dedicate to studying.  I would love to have more of "my" students working as office workers during 2nd semester, so please consider this possibility.

Danielle and Katie-  Thank you for your dedication and commitment to helping as office workers!  I appreciate your time and energy to help us with anything that we needed.  Your positive attitudes and generous kindness often brightened my day.  I am grateful that this provided me the chance to get to know you each better.  Your responsibility and dependability are admirable traits.  Thanks again for your help!

New Website!

I am SO EXCITED!!!!

The Kilbourne Counselor website - www.wkhscounselors.com - has been completely revamped!  This has been a huge project and we have worked for the last few months to get the website up and running.  Our goal was to make sure that the information you and your families might want or need would be accessible to you on our website any time you wanted it.

There is no way I can thank Mr. Robert Estice, dad of Hana and a Phoenix Middle School teacher, for all of his hard work, assistance, encouragement, and dedication to making this new website a reality!  If you know Mr. Estice, please express your appreciation for helping to make this site available to you.

Now, please, Please, PLEASE, I am begging you - go and check out the website!  There is so much information that is now available to you and I can't wait to hear what you think of the website's new look.

A Fresh Start

Today started 2nd semester.  Can you believe we are already half way through the school year?  For seniors, you are in your LAST semester of high school!  For the rest of the student body, you are another semester closer to being finished.  :-)

One of the best parts about functioning on a semester system is that you get to start fresh.  As of today, you are not behind in ANY of your classes.  You are able to create new goals, take new steps, and focus on achieving whatever goals you have set for yourself.  It doesn't matter if you did great 1st semester or if it was a disaster.  You start over today.  This semester is in front of you for you to make of it whatever you want to see happen.  You are in control.

So, as we start this new semester, please take a moment and make sure that you are ready to hit the ground running.  Clean out your bookbag, organize your notes, get new supplies if needed, find your planner and start filling it out (see me if you need a new planner), and make the most out of each day in front of you.  I am excited to see what you will accomplish in the classroom and beyond over the next few months.  As always, if you need help in your classes, please reach out to your teachers, utilize the support from the Academic Assistants, and see me for additional resources.

It is going to be a great semester and I hope you are excited to have a fresh start!

And, for your 1st week back to have 2 days off is pretty crazy, but enjoy the "cold" day tomorrow!  :-)

Snow Day!

Are you enjoying your snow day?!  What a treat - you didn't even have a day back to school this year before the extra day off for a snow day.  (Remember, last year you were back for 1 day and then had a snow day the following day...)  :-)

I hope you are enjoying this bonus day.  I am sitting here getting caught up on some school related reading and enjoying a fire in my fireplace.  A great way to spend the day!

Even though we didn't have school today, I wanted to make sure that all senior students and parents are aware that the Financial Aid presentation scheduled for tonight is still ON!  We will still be having the presentation tonight at 7pm in the WKHS Auditorium.  This is your opportunity to learn from financial aid expert, Faith Phillips, and I hope to see you all there tonight!

Also, just a reminder about the the fact that we begin a new semester tomorrow.  That means that some of your classes may have changed.  Don't forget to print out a copy of your schedule from Infinite Campus so that you will know where you are going.  If something has happened and you find that you are scheduled for the wrong class and need to make a change, don't forget that you will need to fill out and get your parent's signature on the add/ drop form before I can make a change to your schedule.  You can pick up these forms in the counseling center or you can download it off of the WKHS Counselor website.  As always, you only have the first 3 days of the semester to add into a new class.

Enjoy the rest of your snow day!  I will see you tomorrow!

Financial Aid Night

Now that we have passed the 1st of the year it is officially Financial Aid Season!

To help you with the college financial aid process we will have a Financial Aid Meeting for parents at 7:00pm tomorrow (Tuesday, January 6th) in the WKHS Auditorium.  We are fortunate enough to have Faith Phillips, a financial aid director for OSU Newark and COTC, sharing her expertise with our parents and students.  She always has useful insight and is able to present it in engaging ways that will help you in completing your financial aid application.

There is also an event known as “College Goal Sunday” which is Sunday, February 8th at 2:00pm where financial aid administrators will provide free expert help in completing the FAFSA forms. To find locations and to register you can visit http://www.ohiocollegegoalsunday.org/.

Excited to See You

Can you believe it is already time to go back to school?  Ok, well, technically you have one more day of vacation, but your teachers and I will all be back to the real world tomorrow.  The alarm will be painful in the morning.  :-)  I hope that you have had a great break.  I am excited to see you and catch up on how things have gone during your break.  I was able to see some of you briefly yesterday during the WKHS vs TWHS basketball game.  While the outcome of the game on the court was a heart-breaker, off the court it was an awesome game!  I was so proud of Grayson Biglin who organized (with the help from some of his friends) a fundraiser called Coaches vs Cancer.  I loved the support he received from the student body as he spoke and it still gives me chills thinking about the standing ovation he received (led by our students).  I am always so impressed by our students and the class you showed in supporting one of your fellow students made me unbelievably proud.  In case there was any question, I believe that Kilbourne students are the best!  Thank you for the way you carry yourself and for helping me to look forward to being back at school with all of you!  Enjoy your last day of vacation!