This semester, 6 weeks is next Monday, February 16th, which, obviously, is a holiday. As a result, you have until 8am on Tuesday morning to drop your class or to switch to pass/ fail grading. The forms for both of these options are available in the front of the Counseling Center and on the Counselor website.
If you have no idea what colleges you might be interested in for the future, you can still make use of the long weekend by exploring colleges. You can, of course, begin your search online and try to find colleges that fit your interests, but more often than not, students tell me that they don't know what they want in a college. If that is you, then perhaps starting your college search by exploring some nearby campuses would be a valuable use of your time. As you walk around the campus, people watch and listen to the presentations by the college admissions representatives. From these observations and conversations you will begin to gain insight into various aspects of college life. These impressions will help you to start forming more of an idea about what you like and what you don't like in a college. These views will be extremely valuable to you as you start narrowing your college search.
And finally, a reminder that students should be the one to call the admissions offices to set up the college visits rather than having your parents do this for you. The good news is that many colleges have the visit appointments available online so you may be able to do it electronically, but if not the student should make the arrangements. Remember, you are trying to show the colleges that YOU are interested in their college and that you are mature and responsible enough to take this level of initiative.
A 4 day weekend is going to be great and we will be excited to hear about the various colleges you explore during the weekend and what your impressions are of the schools.
Here is a link to the state's explanation of the Honors Diploma requirements. If it is something you are working towards, please check the requirements and make sure you are planning your classes so that you can earn at least 7 of the 8 required components.
So why? Why do I care to watch when I don't know the athletes and for many of the sports, I don't even know the rules of what I am watching? Because, to me, it is about watching people chase their dreams. And yes, the vast majority of the competitors won't win the gold medal or hoist the Super Bowl trophy in the air at the end of the night, but they all dedicated themselves to a goal that at one time someone probably told them would never happen. And even if they don't win the ultimate prize as being the "best" I still believe that they have achieved their goals and therefore made it all worthwhile.
I suspect you have probably had similar experiences in your life. When you loved something or had a dream for yourself and your future. Maybe it was never so big as to be an Olympian or to play in a Super Bowl, but your own personal goal and dream for your life. I hope you never let anyone tell you that something is impossible. I hope that if you decide to shift your goal/ dream, it is because you have a new, better defined vision for yourself. And I hope that as you watch people chasing after their dreams you can pause, even privately in your own mind and heart, to cheer them on just as we all hope people will cheer for you as you take on your own challenges.
There is no question, these moments of glory - the standing on a podium or on the field getting applause can certainly feel good. But don't ever forget the hundreds of thousands of hours of work, commitment, dedication, and perseverance that was required before they ever reached this point in their lives. Your goals and dreams may (or may not) require that same level of commitment to achieve them and you might not have a crowd giving you a standing ovation when you reach the goal, but it doesn't mean it is any less meaningful if you set your mind to something and achieved it.
And, if you are not a sports fan, I get that too... hopefully if you end up finding yourself watching the Super Bowl or the Olympics you will find yourself inspired by the stories of the athletes, or captured by the creativity of the commercials, or at least able to enjoy some good food while you watch.
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.
If there are any older students who haven't completed the YouScience assessment, I encourage you to do so! There is truly a wealth of knowledge available to you. You can access your YouScience tool for free using the link in HelloID. And, if you have completed it, this is a great time to hop back in and look at your results again and think about possible future career paths and if there are any classes you might want to try out next year to explore an area of interest. And, for what it's worth, 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!
That means you need to have:
- Attended the presentation in person or watched the video on the Counselor website
- Applied to the college(s): Columbus State for English, Psychology, Ethics, Government, or Sociology and Central Ohio Technical College for Math (there are detailed directions to complete this step on the Counselor Website)
- Filled out the Intent to Participate form and full packet (for the CSCC packet, that will include having your Cougar ID number which will come to you via email sometime between 2 days and a week after you have applied.)
If you don't have those steps completed by the time we have your 1:1 meeting that is ok. We will put your desired CC+ classes in as alternates and change your schedule once you have turned your forms in to us. Remember, the drop-dead deadline for turning in the forms is set by the state as April 1st. But if you want your CC+ classes to be considered when the administrators work on building the master schedule to give you a chance of getting your desired classes, we need to get those forms ASAP, but no later than the end of February.
Admissions reps from over a hundred colleges will be available to speak one-to-one with students and parents about the college admissions process, including paying for college, admissions requirements, activities on campus and more. The fair also features information on gap year and pre-college summer programming.
Students who plan to attend should register for the National College Fair online at: https://www.nacacattend.org/26GreaterColumbus and this website also has more information to help you make the most of your time at the college fair.
Don't miss out on this great opportunity to learn more about colleges and finding the schools that will the best fit for you.
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