College Reps visiting WKHS

Did you know that many college admissions representatives come to WKHS in order to visit with you? Stop for a moment and think about that – the schools are paying someone to come to Kilbourne in order to meet with you and showcase the opportunities available at their college. The visits to WKHS kick off next week and more colleges continue to submit requests to spend time in the building visiting with our students so the list is constantly changing and growing.

While meeting with a representative cannot replace the actual experience of walking on campus, seeing the people, and experiencing the classes, it can be a very important piece of your information gathering process. Possibly even more importantly, you are expressing your interest and desire to attend their college! The admissions representatives who are traveling to the schools keep track of who they see. Many colleges can go back and tell you exactly how many times a student has come to tour campus, contacted the admissions office, or had an official interaction with a representative of the school. You never really know what can make a difference when it comes to admissions or getting a scholarship from a school, so if you are able to attend a meeting with a representative, it can only help you.

We have a list of the upcoming college visits posted in the Upcoming Events calendar on the Counselor website so that you can see which schools are coming to WKHS. If there are schools that you'd like to meet with, please be sure to write down the dates and times and come to the Counseling Center.  When you get there, a secretary will introduce you to the admissions representative and after your meeting with them is over they will give you a pass to return back to class.

Juniors and Seniors have unlimited opportunities to attend these sessions. Please be reasonable though. If a visit is scheduled during a time when you have class, you should get your teacher’s approval in advance of attending the information session. You are responsible for all missed work and teachers are not supposed to excuse you from tests, quizzes, or labs. 

Freshmen and Sophomores are also invited to attend the sessions with the college representatives, but are limited to participating in the visits during your lunch or Academic Prep periods. 

These are great opportunities to talk directly with the college admissions representatives so please take advantage of their visits!

Class Rank

Thank you to all of the Senior students and parents who joined us online for last night's college information presentation!  I want to highlight a couple of the topics over the next week or so on my blog just to reinforce the information you heard in the presentation.

The first is regarding Class Rank.

When completing college applications you will find that most colleges will ask “What is your class rank?” and if they can’t get you to give them an exact rank they might also ask you for a percentile ranking. (Some schools may not ask you and may ask on the counselor form that I am required to complete for you.) The official answer is “We Do Not Rank.”

That is what I write on all of the forms that I complete for you and what you should indicate on your application – UNLESS you are one of the students with a grade point average of a 4.0 or higher for your high school career. If you have greater than a 4.0, then you are automatically ranked #1 in the class. (So yes, that would mean that there are multiple Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores ranked first in their respective class.)

As you already know, WKHS is an academically competitive high school and we would not want a class ranking to hurt you in any way. For example, a GPA at WKHS might rank in the top 20% , but at a less competitive school the same GPA might rank in the top 5 or 10%. So, unless you have a 4.0 or better, do yourself a favor and write “Do Not Rank” when completing your applications.

Grade Point Average (GPA)

Grade Point Averages (GPA's) are a big part of high school lingo... and yet some students might not  know how grade point averages are computed.  Your transcript is a record consisting of every high school class you have ever taken and the grade you earned in each class. 

The "easy" explanation for how your GPA is calculated is that every class you take at WKHS taught by a Kilbourne teacher or a CC+ instructor with traditional grading is computed into your GPA.  Some students begin taking high school courses while still in middle school.  Those grades will appear on your transcript, but they are not calculated into your GPA.  This is done to assist you because many times middle school students haven't recognized the impact that their grades have on their high school GPA and the long-term impact on their future college applications.  Additionally, any classes that you pass that were taken as pass/ fail appear on your transcript but will not be calculated in your GPA.

All regular and honors classes are unweighted which means that they are all based on a 4.0 scale.  AP, IB and CC+ courses are weighted on a scale of 1.25.  Below is a chart that shows how GPA is calculated.

Letter Grades	Percentage	GPA Scale	AP/ IB Weighted Calculation	AP/ IB Weighted GPA
A	90 – 100%	4.0	4.0 x 1.25	5.00
B	80 – 89%	3.0	3.0 x 1.25	3.75
C	70 – 79%	2.0	2.0 x 1.25	2.50
D	60 – 69%	1.0	1.0 x 1.25	1.25
F	0 – 59%
S	Satisfactory
P	Passing

All classes are granted credit based upon the semester.  This means that when you pass the 1st semester you have earned that credit and it is computed into your grade point average.  Each semester class is worth 1/2 a credit excluding physical education courses which are worth 1/4 a credit.  So, if you earn a B in the first semester of English 1 and a C in the first semester of Physical Science, then your GPA for these two semesters of classes would equal a 2.5.  Plusses and Minuses in your grades are still calculated based upon the base grade as we don't have different GPA weights for a B+ vs a B or B-.

It is important to know that some students have taken classes at other schools and are transferring their credit to WKHS.  Those classes will also appear on your transcript with the grades, but are not computed into your GPA.  This is because your Kilbourne GPA will just reflect your Kilbourne classes - any classes you took in another district or an online school will have the GPA that you earned at that school.  So, for example, if you transferred to WKHS from a surrounding district, your classes and grades will be transferred over to Kilbourne, but they won't be included in your Kilbourne GPA.  This means that students will not have a grade point average until after they have completed a semester at WKHS.  The reason that this is important is that some students have transferred from schools that have different grading scales and it doesn't allow equitable comparisons.  When students are applying to college you will submit both of your transcripts so that they have the complete picture of your grade point average.

You can see a copy of your transcript on Infinite Campus and it also shows your grade point average.  If you have any questions about your GPA, stop by and see me.

Parent Lunch & Learn Series

Last year we tested out hosting zoom lunch and learn workshops for parents once a quarter and they were very well received.  As a result, we have increased our offerings and, throughout the year, we will be hosting a series of 7 Lunch & Learns for our parents.  All of the sessions will take place from 12-12:30.

These workshops are very brief 30 minute zoom meetings where we will spend about half of that time sharing information with parents about a specific topic and then the remaining time will allow us to answer your questions.  The zoom link will be emailed to all parents the morning of the Lunch & Learn and it will also be posted on the WKHS Counselor website.

The first session kicks off this Friday, September 2nd.  Our topic will be Coming up with a Test Prep Plan (PSAT/ PreACT).

Additional dates and topics are:

October 14th: What to do if my child has a D or an F

November 11th: Honors Diploma

January 13th: Understanding the Graduation Requirements

March 17th: Mental Health Support

April 21st: College Admissions Tests (ACT/ SAT)

May 5th: Career Exploration

We hope parents will save these dates and join us for the sessions!

CC+ Classes Begin

Just a reminder to all students who are taking a CSCC class through CC+, your classes begin this week!  These classes meet for 2 periods, but only twice a week.  So, those of you who are taking English Comp 1, you will have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.  If you are taking Psychology or Ethics, you will have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There are no CC+ classes on Fridays.

As we have talked about in the past, you will still have work to do for your college classes outside of your designated class time and those non-meeting days are an ideal time to stay disciplined at using for work time on those courses.

One important suggestion - because your CSCC professors will all use your CSCC email, I would strongly suggest you set up the automatic forward option on your emails to send it to a gmail account which you check regularly or set up your CSCC account to your phone.  Check out the details on CSCC's website for more information on how to do that.

Good luck as your start your college classes!

Pack Periods

A lot of new students and parents ask about a homeroom period and we don't have a traditional homeroom for students.  However, approximately every other week, on Wednesdays, you will have an extended 2nd period class for a Pack Period.

The Pack Period is a time for students and staff members to forge stronger connections, share important information, and to build on student success skills for learning and for life.

We are on a different bell schedule to give you an extra 24 minutes to be in the Pack Period.  This means each class is 3 minutes shorter - so your 2nd period class will begin 3 minutes earlier than normal (a really important point to be aware of if you are a student with late arrival and no class during 1st period so that you're not late to 2nd period on Pack Period days.)

Your first Pack Period starts this coming Wednesday.  I know that the Counselors are looking forward to learning more about you during this Pack Period and administrators and the rest of the teachers responsible for creating the Pack Period content are also seeking your input.

We Love Worthington Schools

Last week at a meeting with the whole district, Dr. Bowers and other district leaders focused on why we love Worthington Schools.  As I sat there listening, I thought my answer was VERY simple...

I love Worthington Schools because of "my kids."

The students at WKHS are incredible and as I start my 17th year at Kilbourne (yes, I really am that old), I have had well over 1,000 students move through these walls as a part of my caseload.  But each of you - current and former - are not just a number of a caseload to me.  You are not just students, you are my kids.  That is how I think of you and how I refer to you.  You are and will always be a part of my heart.  So, I hope that you will know that I love Worthington schools because of each of YOU!

I have also been thinking about how much I hope that YOU also love Worthington Schools and Kilbourne in particular.  It is my hope that you will take ownership and responsibility for Kilbourne as being YOUR school.  That you will strive every day to make sure we have a welcoming and accepting environment where all students will feel valued and appreciated.  Most of all, I hope that when you think of why you love Worthington that you will think of Kilbourne as a place where you WANT to be.  

With tomorrow being "rivalry week" between the two Worthington teams as WKHS and TWHS prepare to compete in football, remember that how you act is a reflection of Kilbourne... so have fun, but make sure anyone who walks away from the game thinks about how impressive the students at Kilbourne are because I want them to see you in the same incredible way that I see you.