Winter Break

I don't know about you, but I am relieved that we have reached winter break. I do find it a bit scary that we are nearly 1/2 way through the school year though. Does it seem to be flying past for you too? I hope you have plans to relax and enjoy the upcoming days off. I am nearly finished with my shopping (thank goodness because I hate to shop!), but have not started wrapping gifts or writing Christmas cards yet. (Guess you know what I will be doing over the next few days...) :-) With the craziness of the exam schedule, I didn't get to wish you all the best for the holidays. I hope you enjoy it with your family and are safe throughout the break. 

Also, FYI - I will only blog a few times over the holidays, as this is a vacation for me too. :-) Looking forward to hearing all about your holiday fun after we get back to school. Again, have a great break!

Early Decision & Early Action Decisions

This week many students across the country (and at WKHS) who applied to colleges under the Early Decision and Early Action plans will be receiving their admissions decisions. Plus, all of the students who applied to schools with rolling admissions are continuing to hear back from the colleges about their admissions status. This can be a very stressful time for high school seniors - family, friends, and other people who hear that you are a senior automatically ask, "Where are you going to college" and so when you are waiting for or receiving your admissions decision it can be a bit overwhelming. I wanted to remind you that it is important to find a balance between hopes and expectations. 

Not only is this important when you are waiting for your own admissions decisions, but it is also essential that you keep in mind that your friends are facing the same worries. While it is normal to be curious to find out if someone in your class was accepted to a particular college, please remember that it could be very hard for your friend to announce to everyone that they had not been accepted. As a general rule, allow your friends and classmates to inform you of their admissions decisions on their own rather than asking them if they have heard yet. Trust me, if they receive acceptances they are going to share the good news in their own time. This is also a good time for me to remind all of you that we track the college decisions - so as you hear back from your schools, please stop in and share the update with me too.

Feeling anxious?

How was the first day of exams? Were you feeling anxious? Test Anxiety can be common for students - especially with exams since they have such a significant influence on your semester grades. The best strategy to prevent test anxiety is being prepared. It is much more likely that you will be anxious and struggle with feeling overwhelmed if you have not adequately studied and prepared for the test. Unfortunately, for some students, you can be well-prepared, but still struggle with anxiety.

There are a wide range of strategies you can use to help deal with anxiety:

- Research has indicated that spending several minutes before a test to write about your feelings will help decrease test anxiety and improve test scores. The University of Chicago researchers “believe worrying competes for computing power in the brain’s ‘working,’ or short-term memory.”

- Practice putting yourself in testing situations when studying. The more you get used to the experience and feelings of testing the less anxious you will feel when in the actual test.

- Just before the test, avoid talking about the test material with your friends. Chances are fixating on the test material and talking about it with your friends right before the test will only make you more anxious.

- Approach the test with a positive attitude. Don’t go into the test expecting the worst to happen. You can remind yourself that you have studied and know the material.

- Avoid distractions so that you can focus on the test and not on what other students are doing. Do not compare yourself with others and how they are doing on the test.

- Take a deep breath, relax, and do the best you can.

I should also mention that smart testing strategies like getting a good night of sleep, eating breakfast, having all of your required materials (pen, pencil, calculator, scratch paper, etc), getting regular exercise, and giving yourself plenty of time to get to your test on time will also benefit you as a whole and in testing situations.

Don't forget - I am around (and so is Lexi) if you want try to decompress some from your feelings of anxiety.

Good luck in the next two days of exams!

Good Luck on Exams

I just wanted to wish all of you good luck on your exams tomorrow (and the rest of the week.) Good luck with your last minute studying, get a good night's sleep and then tomorrow, relax, eat a good breakfast, take a deep breath and do your best on each exam!  

Remember, you don't have to be THE best, as long as you do YOUR best!

As always, I will be anxious to hear how things go for you on your exams - so stop in and say hi to share an update (and, of course, you can pick up a piece of candy too.) :-)

Concordance Tables

As a school counselor I receive questions about the ACT and SAT all the time - one of the most common is how do you figure out how the scores compare to one another... right now the question of the week seems to be, which test did I do better on when comparing the PSAT and Pre-ACT results.

But how do you know which test you did "better" on? You can see what scores would be most comparable by using the concordance tables. These tables can help students (and colleges) compare scores for students across the different tests. I'll be honest - these tables can seem a little confusing at first, but if you read the information on the pages prior to the tables then you will understand them. These tables will allow you to compare your new SAT scores with the old SAT scores and with the ACT scores.

Additionally, the CollegeBoard has created an SAT Score Converter mobile app and online tool which will allow you to compare your scores.

Try not to get stressed out about the college admissions tests... I know it can be frustrating, but remember it is only one piece to the puzzle that the colleges will be considering when evaluating students!

PSAT and Pre-ACT Scores

Your scores have arrived! Any students who took the PSAT in October and the Pre-ACT tests in November can see your scores tomorrow!

The PSAT scores are only being offered electronically.  This means that you will log into your CollegeBoard account to view and download your scores.  (Which is what you will do in the future when you take your SAT as well.)

You should receive an e-mail from CollegeBoard notifying you that your scores are accessible online tomorrow (December 12th).  Even if you didn't receive an e-mail from CollegeBoard you can still access your scores.

Go to the CollegeBoard website and select the PSAT test you took - 9th graders should select "PSAT 8/9" and 10th and 11th graders should select "PSAT/ NMSQT and PSAT 10" from the choices across the top.  https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/ 

Once you are on the website in the middle of the page it will have an area for getting your scores.  If you already have an account, you can sign in using your username and password.  For many of you, you may not have an account yet so you will need to create one.  Next to the "Sign In" button there is a "Sign Up" spot - select that and then create your account.

After doing that you will be able to access your scores.

One of the best parts about the PSAT is that CollegeBoard has partnered with Khan Academy to use your scores to make a personalized practice plan.  This is a fantastic option and I strongly encourage you to use it.  If you have questions about this FREE option you can visit the Khan Academy website at: https://www.khanacademy.org/sat

For what it is worth, last year I remember that it took some students and parents multiple attempts of accessing the website to be able to see the scores - for example some said that it said no scores were available, but after refreshing a few times the scores eventually showed up.  CollegeBoard was having some technical issues due to the high demand of people trying to view their scores.  Hopefully that won't be an issue this year, but I figured I would mention it in case you run into any problems.

The Pre-ACT scores have written score reports that can be picked in the Counseling Center beginning tomorrow. You can pick up your score sheets during your lunch periods  or before or after school from any of the secretaries at the front of the counseling center. 

Now that you have your scores, you may be wondering what they mean.  The score sheets are a wealth of information so it can take some time to digest it all, but the counselor website can help give you additional information, tips and links to better understand your scores.   http://www.wkhscounselors.com/. 

Don't forget, these are just practice tests so they are giving you an indication of where you might expect to score on the ACT or SAT and you can use your results to help guide you in preparing to achieve college readiness.


I hope your scores were what you were expecting (or perhaps even better).  If you have any questions don't hesitate to stop by and see me.

Student Recognition

As you know, yesterday was the annual holiday assembly.  Many of my students showcased their leadership and talents as a part of the ceremony.

Erin Cheung helped as a Master of Ceremony.  It was incredible to hear of the incredible generosity of our student body to help make the holidays brighter for some of the families in our community.

Joey Ambrozich, Alexa Burke, Jordan Castelli, Anna Chen, Devin Coons, Katie Coppel, Brooke Coverdale, Charlie Cox, Maddie Domecq, Kassandra Dyer, and Wesley Engle were a part of the band which performed.

Maxim Estevez-Curtis, Cassidy Crouch, Nick Contreras, and Dylan Buford sang in the ceremony.

And last, but not least, Aaron Chen, Alex Contreras, Nick Conreras, Maxim Estevez-Curtis, Faith Falgiano, Maddy Allen, Elizabeth Cantrell and Mitchell Delma were in the Orchestra.

It was a wonderful celebration of your generosity and the positive impact you are making in the school and community!

While today was a public celebration that all students were able to enjoy, student recognition events happen every month, but are usually just for the individuals being recognized and their family members.  I have been VERY far behind in recognizing "my" students who have been celebrated in this way...

Back in November, a Socratic Society ceremony was held and William Alban, Kayla Beals, Lauren Byrne, Nick Clay, Jocelyn Elder, Justin English, Betsey Fisher, and Nate Skidmore were all inducted into the Socratic Society!

And, last week, was the most recent Student of the Month Ceremony and Kelli Dale and Amy Flores were among the students honored.

For both Socratic Society and student of the Month, these are recognitions that students may only receive once in their entire high school career.

Congratulations to everyone who has been recognized or was a part of yesterday's ceremony.  I am so proud to work with you all!