Free Flu Vaccines

I hate getting sick. I don't like missing out on time at school or doing activities that I enjoy. Plus, being ill and not feeling good is certainly no fun! One of the best ways to try to prevent getting sick is to get your annual flu vaccine.

The Columbus Public Health Department will be at Kilbourne providing free flu vaccines to all interested students and staff. This will take place on Friday, October 23rd from 8:30am-12:00pm.

In order to take advantage of this free opportunity, students must have your parent's consent. Students can pick up consent forms in the WKHS Health Office or families can utilize the online registration:Flu Vaccine Clinic Registration

Junior Testing Timeline

Great job today to all of the students who took the PSAT! I suspect many of you walked away from the test thinking, "my brain hurts" or "that was a lot" and we want to assure you that this is a normal reaction. Taking the practice tests helps you to start building up the stamina for when you have to try to focus and take the full ACT/ SAT in the future.

The reality is that students should not anticipate taking the ACT or SAT just one time. Both ACT and SAT have shared reports about how much students improve on their test scores by repeating the tests more than once. For example, CollegeBoard (who runs the SAT), recently shared data with us that the average score for students who participated in the school day testing was 906. For those students who then repeated the test a second time, their average score improved to 1166. So if you go into your college admissions testing experience knowing that you will be taking the tests multiple times it may help to decrease your stress and increase your confidence.

Junior students and parents will hear more about this recommended testing timeline during tomorrow night's Planning for College Information night. (7pm in the auditorium - we look forward to seeing you there!) But we wanted to give you a quick overview of it tonight as well.

1. Hopefully you took the PSAT today which is the practice test for the SAT and it is also the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarships.

2. At the end of this month, take the Pre-ACT. This will be during the school day on Friday, October 30th. It is the practice test for the ACT and it is a great, inexpensive way to practice for the ACT.

3. Use your PSAT results and Pre-ACT results to look at your own individual strengths and weaknesses and develop a testing plan for which test you scored higher on and what areas you need to study/ review to improve your scores for when taking the actual ACT/ SAT.

4. In December, consider strongly taking the ACT or SAT. You don't have to take the test in December, but it's a good chance to take one of the college admissions tests. If you are planning on focusing on the ACT, another great reason of taking the ACT in December is that you can also order your score questions and answers with the test which would allow you to review how you answered and what the right score is which can help better prepare you for the future tests.

4. In March, take the SAT. This will be during the school day on Tuesday, March 2nd and is the FREE test opportunity that all juniors will get to take.

After that, depending on how you have scored you can determine the rest of your testing plan.  There will be more opportunities to test in the spring and summer as well as the early part of the fall during your senior year.

If you have any questions about these testing opportunities or why we are making these recommendations, come to the Junior Night presentation tomorrow night where we will talk about this and so much more!

Good luck on the PSAT

Don't forget - tomorrow is the day when many Kilbourne sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT.  

If you are one of the students who will be taking the PSAT, you will report directly to your testing location at your designated testing time.  (For most juniors, that will be the gym in the morning- 8:30 check in for an 8:40 start.  For most sophomores, that will be the gym in the afternoon - 11:45 check in for a 12:00 start.)  You will need to bring your student id with you in order to check in.  One of my most important reminders is do NOT forget your FULLY CHARGED district issued chromebook!  If you haven't already opened and launched BlueBook to make sure that it is updated and working properly, I strongly encourage you to do that tonight before you get to testing tomorrow. 

As with every standardized test, you will not be allowed to have your cell phone or smart watch on you at any time during testing.  With the test being digital, I would still encourage you to bring a calculator if you like using a traditional calculator better than the digital one online, a writing utensil to use with the scratch paper you will be given, and I would recommend a normal watch if you prefer to track timing on your own. 

You will be able to have water and a snack under your table for easy access during breaks, but you cannot eat or drink at all during the test.  As you know, the temperature in the building varies greatly.  So because we don't know what to expect in the gym, I strongly encourage that you dress in layers so that you can add a sweatshirt or take it off depending on how hot or cold you might be during testing.  As with normal school days, you are not allowed to put up a hood during testing - this is a school rule, but more importantly, it is also a testing rule you must follow. Additionally, you are not allowed to wear hats during the test either.

If you haven't already watched this short (less than 3 minute) video about the digital PSAT, I would strongly recommend that you review it. Knowing ways that you can flag a question, eliminate options, etc will only help you tomorrow when you are testing.

To those of you who will be testing, get a good night's sleep, be sure to eat breakfast and good luck testing tomorrow!

What do you want to be someday?

This past week I had a "question of the day" in my office for students asking about their memories of when they were little and what they had wanted to be someday when they grew up. I heard lots of unique answers - astronaut, professional athlete, teacher, nurse, doctor, actress and more. It's fun to dream about what you'll be some day when you are little. When you hit high school, those dreams can start to feel like pressure. And we definitely don't want that to be the case!

Yes, of course, as you hit high school, it is important to start considering your future goals and dreams. But we would encourage you to think of it more as a hypothesis... something you can test out and compare to the facts and see if it continues to hold true. And, at the same time, to know that it is ok to have an idea for now about what you think you'd like to do, but that as time continues moving forward and you learn more about yourself, the world, and careers available to you, that it is also ok to change your mind and adjust your goals. Just like from when you were little to today and your ideas about what you wanted to be when you grow up.

There are lots of opportunities and experiences that we put in front of you to help you explore options so that you can test out various ideas to find those which fit you best. This week happens to be important dates for several career related items.

1. All freshmen will complete your YouScience career aptitude assessments during your core classes at school on Tuesday. This is a great opportunity to learn more about yourself, your own personal strengths, and how you can potentially leverage your strengths into areas of interest and passion for your future careers.
2. All sophomores who are interested in attending the Delaware Area Career Center field trip have until Thursday to sign up using the link on the handout from DACC and to fill out and return your completed signed permission slip. If you have lost your copy of the permission slip handout, please stop by the counseling center as there are extra copies available on the black shelves on the left of the front lobby in the counseling center.
3. Juniors and Seniors are invited to TWHS at 6pm on Wednesday night for the Pre-Apprenticeship night presentation. This will give you and your parents information about getting involved with the various programs Worthington has partnerships with for current high school students.
4. And, finally, all 10th through 12th graders are invited to take the ASVAB which is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. While this is a test that the military uses similar to the ACT, it is also a helpful career assessment even for those students who are not interested in a career in the military. Additionally, please know that earning a high enough score on the ASVAB can be a replacement option for one of the honors diploma categories for students who have that as a personal goal. The ASVAB will be offered at WKHS on Friday, October 23rd so students are encouraged to register to take the test this week if you are interested.

So if you are a student thinking, "I have no clue what I want to do some day" know that is totally ok and try to take advantage of some of these opportunities to start exploring ideas and see what jobs are of more or less interest to you and you can gradually start narrowing your search down to areas that appeal to you most.

Net Price Calculator

Yesterday several of the counselors were out of the building for a meeting about Financial Aid. My head is still swimming with information that they shared, but I want to remind students of every grade about the benefits of using the Net Price Calculator.

Every college features a net price calculator on their website. This requirement is in an effort to help provide students and parents with the information needed to make more informed decisions and choices about what they can expect to pay for a college education at each school. Now, I will forewarn you that not every net price calculator is the same and some are more detailed than others. Why does this matter? Well, if it is very specific and takes all of the different factors into consideration that the financial aid office will be looking at when creating your financial aid package, then you are likely to get a better picture of what your estimated aid might be, but if it is a more simplistic calculator then there could be more variance when compared to your actual aid package. Plus, of course, the accuracy of the information that you submit will determine the accuracy of the information that you receive back.

Without a doubt, college is very expensive and so trying to figure out the best ways to be able to finance your education is an important factor to consider in your college search and selection process. We hope this tool will be useful to you as you investigate schools.

Don't forget, tomorrow from 1-3pm is the Columbus Suburban College Fair at Otterbein University. It's a great opportunity to meet with a lot of college admissions professionals in a short period of time!

Schedule a Campus Visit

We have a long weekend coming up next weekend as all students have Friday October 16th off from school. And then a few weeks later, you also have Tuesday, November 3rd off of school for election day. Why am I pointing that out today? Because those are two GREAT days to consider making visits to colleges for students in every grade!

Both of the days that we are off, the colleges will be in session which means you don't have to worry about missing out on school content AND you get to visit the colleges while students are on campus. This is a win-win opportunity for students and families because making college visits while classes are in session gives you a more accurate feel for campus life, learning experiences, and how you could possibly picture yourself (or not) at that college in the future.

Even if you are thinking that you want to go to colleges that are far away and can't make a trip on such short notice to visit them with these two days off, I'd suggest you spend some time at local area colleges. In central Ohio we are lucky that there are so many schools within a very short drive that you can visit. Why would you visit a college that you're not particularly interested in attending? Because it will help you to gain insight and awareness into what opportunities are available to you on campuses, it will make you a smarter consumer when you go to visit your top choice colleges, and you just might be surprised and you could even fall in love with a school you didn't think would be a fit for you.

If you want to make a college visit on October 16th or on November 3rd, we strongly encourage that students talk to your parents about what your plan would be and then the students should contact the colleges to set up the visit including the admissions office information session and the campus tour.

Juniors Planning for College Night

Next week, on Wednesday, October 14th the WKHS Counseling department will be hosting a Student and Parent College Planning Information Night. Historically, this presentation has received some of the best feedback out of all of the information nights we host. The students and parents who attended this meeting in the past have expressed how much this helped them get started and move forward with the college search process and developed a better understanding of what to expect along the way. The meeting is primarily targeted at juniors, but sophomores and freshmen are welcome to attend if interested. The meeting will take place at 7:00pm in the Auditorium.

We hope you will plan to attend! And yes, we want you to bring your parents to this meeting and no, we don't want you to just send your parents instead... this is YOUR future and you are responsible for deciding what direction you will take. Please RSVP so we know how many people to expect.