College Data

When students are searching for a college, digging into data isn't always high on the list of things to do. It is much more fun to explore the campus and meet with a professor and decide that this is "THE" school for you. And yet the data has a valuable story to share as well.

What do I mean?

Think about Retention Data. Information regarding retention rates means how many students who start at the college on the first day of their freshman year come back the following year. This is important to know because it gives you an idea of how happy and successful students are on the campus. Students that get accepted and go only to find that they are completely over their heads at the school might not have built the study and organization skills needed to be successful and so they might not return for the next year. Or students may attend thinking every day would be fun and forget that there is a lot of work involved with college too and so they might elect not to return to school because they didn't enjoy it as much as they had hoped. Sometimes it is because the college is not a good fit for them after all. And so if you notice that a college has a low retention rate it doesn't mean you won't like the school, but it may be a reason to pause and really look in depth to make sure you are going to be happy and successful at the college.

Another critical piece of data is how long it will take you to graduate. Most of the WKHS graduating students anticipate that they will be in college for 4 years. And that would be great. But that doesn't always work out for students in the long run. This can be due to a range of factors including how easy or difficult it is to get the necessary classes for graduation.

The https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ website provides user friendly tools to search for colleges and explore their data.

Cap & Gown Orders

Seniors, don't forget, the deadline to order your cap and gown at the discounted rate is October 31st.

You will go to Buckeye Scholastic's website in order to place your order.

Buckeye Scholastic has a ton of options that students can select of various specialty items such as announcements and frames. We have had many students ask what is REQUIRED to be ordered - that would be the Cap, Gown, Tassel and Stole package. (No keepsake tassel required.) So the total cost for that package is $42.95.

If you have a cap and gown that a sibling wore in the last few years that is the right size for you to wear, that is totally fine! All you need to do is order the package that is the graduation tassel and stole.

It's so wild that it's time to be taking care of all of these official graduation related tasks!

Keep Up...

One of my students told me that in her family they go with the concept of "It's better to keep up than catch up." And ever since hearing that it has stuck with me. It's a catchy phrase and totally true. When we end up in a hole and have to spend time digging out of a hole, it is really challenging to catch up and we feel as if we are perpetually behind. For me, this weekend served as a reset and I hope it did for you too.

As you head into the 2nd quarter, my hope is that you will try to keep up. And, to be totally honest, I hope that I am able to keep up too. But if you find that you are struggling to keep up, I hope this Missing Assignment Recovery Plan article will be helpful to you.

End of First Quarter

Do you feel like this school year is going unbelievably fast? Today marked the end of the first quarter. This is an important point for you to pause and reflect. Remember, quarter grades are not included on your transcript - just semester grades. This means that you have reached the half-way point in earning the grades that will be on your transcript.

Some of the questions you should ask yourself include: Are you where you want to be? If you are not, what do you need to do different to turn things around? If you need ideas for how you can improve your grades, I strongly encourage you to meet individually with your teacher. You should also take advantage of the help available from the academic assistants in the Teaching and Learning Center (which is located in room 205). You are also welcome to stop by and talk to your school counselor and we can try to brainstorm some ideas to help.

If you are happy with your current progress, congratulations! Make sure you think about what you have done that has been helpful to your success and continue to put forward those same actions.

Enjoy your long weekend!

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!