Ask.

Tomorrow at school the counselors will be in the Commons and in the front of the school to participate in a Suicide Prevention Awareness day. We are hopeful that all students will join us!

This month is Suicide Prevention Month. This link takes you to a short 3 minute video clip with information related to suicide. It's intended audience is for the parents of teens, but it applies to kids too. I am going to ask you to stop now and watch it. Please.

We recognize that the video is simple, but wow does it hit on so many of the key messages related to suicide. Most of all, the importance of asking. The feeling of being alone with your thoughts, your feelings, your loneliness, your hurt, your pain, and not being able to see any way out is a key risk factor for teens having thoughts of suicide. So ask. Ask the people around you, "Are you ok?" Ask, "Are you having thoughts of killing yourself?" Ask, "How are you feeling?" And then listen.

If the answer is yes, then it is time to act. Get your family member or friend support and help. Something needs to change in his/ her life so that they don't have to feel this way. And if they say no, but your gut instinct is that something is wrong - trust yourself and still seek support. You know the people in your life best. You know when something is wrong with your friend. You know when they are hurting or not acting like themselves. There is never any harm in pulling more support into their life... and it may truly end up saving their life!

If someone is in immediate danger of taking his/ her own life, please call 911 or go directly to an Emergency Room. If you aren't sure of the level of danger, you can also call or text 988 which is the Suicide and Crisis Hotline. It is available free of charge, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have concerns about a friend while you are at school, please come and see your counselor or one of the other counselors at WKHS. We are here to help! What you and your friend are going through matters to us and you could be helping to save their life by speaking up. And tomorrow is the perfect day to ask, to engage in the conversation to help prevent suicide. We can all make a difference by joining forces together and showing up for those around us.

Financial Aid Night

Seniors, you and your parents have probably already heard that the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) will release for you to begin completing on October 1st.

To help you with the college financial aid process we will have a Financial Aid Meeting coming up on Wednesday, September 30th at 7:00pm 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.

Because the FAFSA tends to create a lot of questions, this is likely an important night for senior families - even if you have older siblings who have been through the FAFSA process before. We hope you will make plans to join us on September 30th!

Interim Reports

Can you believe we are at the half-way point of the first quarter? In many ways it feels like we just got started. As you are hopefully aware, you and your parents have the opportunity to check your grades on an ongoing basis. But, if you haven't started checking your greats yet this year, since we are about halfway through, this is the time when you are able to get a good feel for how you are doing in each of your classes. We strongly suggest that you take a look at your grades and make sure you are on track for the quarter.

As a reminder to you and your parents, Infinite Campus is the system that has your schedule, attendance, grades, and transcripts. Your teachers are updating their grades at least once a week so that you can check and have an ongoing update for how you are doing in each class. This continual information provides you with the chance to celebrate if you are doing well and to identify what you might need to change if you are not meeting your own expectations for the goals you had set at the beginning of the school year.

Infinite Campus has a free app that is very easy for students and parents to use and is a great tool for staying up to date on your progress. If you are interested in downloading and using the free Infinite Campus app, you will need to know that the District Code is: YCWTRL

Ohio Direct Admissions

As seniors, one of the most common steps that students complete is applying to colleges and then waiting to see if the colleges will accept you. This year, for the first time ever, Ohio has introduced a Direct Admissions program. What is this? It is essentially a flipping of the script.

With Ohio Direct Admissions, Ohio colleges will reach out to Ohio seniors with offers of admission and then the Ohio seniors who receive these offers will choose which ones to accept for ongoing interest.

It is an interesting concept that has been introduced with success in several other states already. Students are under no obligation or commitment to say yes to any of the colleges that offer you admissions without your application.

In Ohio there are 9 main campuses of public colleges, 27 private colleges, and all of the public branch campuses and community colleges that will be participating in the Ohio Direct Admission program.

If students do not want to have their high school data to be considered for matching with the colleges, you have the option to have your information withheld by Opting Out. The deadline to do this is this Friday, September 25th.

Check out the Ohio Department of Higher Education website for more information about Ohio's Direct Admission program.

Welcome to Worthington

Each year we are lucky enough to welcome students who are moving into the WKHS area as new students. This morning we hosted a welcome breakfast to make sure that all of our new students knew how thankful we are to have them at Kilbourne. It was fun to hear a little bit about the schools where students have attended previously and the things that they like about WKHS already... for example, the food, friendly students, and later start time are definite favorites. The new students come from as close as cities around Ohio to many different states and countries from around the world. Kilbourne is better because of each student who walks our halls and we hope you will join us in welcoming these new students if you see them in your classes or lunch periods.

That's So You

Writing your college essay is often one of the most stressful aspects of the college application for students, but it is actually one of my favorite parts because it is your opportunity to shine. The college essay allows you the opportunity to showcase who you are and all of the wonderful traits that you will bring to your future college community.

All too often students will tell us that they don't have anything unique or that makes them stand out from all of the other applicants, but I promise you that is WRONG! Each of you is different from all of your other classmates. You have your own activities that you enjoy, ways to relieve stress, things that make you smile or laugh and ways of thinking that are completely your own. Those differences may seem small or insignificant to you, but it is what makes you YOU and therefore it is precisely what the colleges want to learn about you in your essay.

In my family, we often laugh about "that's so you" stories. Those little things that each member of our family thinks or does that is "so them." Taking a walk for fun in below zero weather, breaking out in random song, making us laugh with silly words - all of these are but a few glimpses into the little elements that I love dearly about various members of my family. And my guess is, you could imagine why you might want to know more about them from just that simple snippet of information. Your essay is a chance for you to highlight one or more of your classic "so you" stories.  What are things you have done that are quintessentially you? If you are struggling to figure out what all this might include, don't hesitate to ask your parents, siblings, or friends to help you think of the things that you have done that they thought to themselves, "yep, that is so ___ (you)."

That's so you stories can make easy college essays because you get to highlight some aspect of your life that is unique to you and then as you reflect on it, the colleges end up learning about YOU which is their entire goal.

Careers in Healthcare

Are you interested in pursuing a career in healthcare? Is it something you have thought about, but don't know a ton about beyond your desire to work in a medical field and help people? A lot of students end up in that place and so they default to thinking that they want to be a doctor or a nurse. Both of which are incredible professions, but there are SO MANY more options that you can choose from.

The Cleveland Clinic has created the Cleveland Clinic Connected Career Rounds which are cool videos (or live sessions) that students can watch to learn more about different healthcare related careers. I have watched several of them and they are really well done. In the videos you will see a range of different people who work in a select aspect of healthcare and how they all work together for the good of a patient. Information about their career path, education requirements, and job growth is all included in each presentation.

Check out their website for more information: https://healthcareedu.ccf.org/course/view.php?id=645

Additionally, I know that some students are VERY focused on wanting to become a doctor in the future. Did you know that there are some programs that are known as "Early Assurance Programs" where you can be accepted (assuming you maintain strong grades in college) to med school as a high school student? 

Ohio University has an EAP program where you can attend and complete your undergraduate degree at 1 of 7 different colleges with the assurance of being able to be accepted into the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This is a highly competitive program. Students that are interested can learn more here: https://www.ohio.edu/medicine/med-admissions/apply/eap