Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a great day today and that you aren't eating too much candy. :-) Is there such a thing? I was able to talk to my niece on the phone for a little bit tonight and she had fun trick-or-treating. She was a princess and my nephew was Superman. (He refuses to wear any hats so they had to find a costume that wouldn't involve his head or face... so Superman it was.) I will share pictures as soon as my sister is able to send them to me.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is already November and the end of the 1st nine weeks has arrived. Time is flying past. I know a lot of you are swamped with the end of the 9 weeks assignments and tests - hang in there - you've almost made it. I had a great time seeing some of the mousetrap cars in action yesterday! I know that they were a frustrating pain for many of you, but it was fun to watch.

Elite Eight!

The WKHS boys soccer team won their game tonight and have earned a spot in the Regional Finals game on Saturday night. The guys played well and dominated the entire game winning 4-0. Saturday's game will be held at Dublin Scioto High School. The Wolves will take on Hilliard Davidson. Good Luck guys! Congratulations on a great win tonight!

Helpful Reminders

Seniors - if you are applying to a four-year college the last deadline to take the SAT is tomorrow (October 30th) and the final deadline for the ACT is this Friday (November 2nd). These are the regular deadline dates for the upcoming December tests.

Sophomores - register for the PLAN test! The test is this Friday morning and it costs $10.00. As of today there were just under 90 students registered to take the test. Unless all 90 are "my" kids - this is WAY too low. Please, I strongly encourage you to take this test. I honestly believe that the ACT practice and the career search components will be useful to you in the future.

Everyone - The first nine weeks ends this Thursday, November 1st. Friday is a late start day. Report cards will be distributed during homerooms on the 9th.

I'd also like to take a moment to compliment the students who are members of the Kilbourne Band program for your outstanding concert tonight. It was very enjoyable. Your commitment and hard work was clear to everyone in the audience. Well done!

Champions!!

State, Regional, and District Championships were claimed by multiple Wolves today.

Congratulations to the WKHS Boys Water Polo Team who won the State Championship today with a victory over Mason! They won 4-3 at Mason's home pool. A special congratulations to Mitch, Joe, Brian, James, and Evan - (all "my" students). I had a chance to talk with Mitch after the game and he was so excited - he said it was absolutely incredible! Evidently Kilbourne's goalie played an amazing game. After the game everyone was going crazy and the coaches ended up in the water. Both games (tonight and last night) came down to the end and Mitch said that his Senior season couldn't have ended any better. Joe agreed and said that it was crazy and intense and that everyone not in the pool had lost their voices from yelling the whole game. What a thrilling win for the guys - and their 2nd state title! I am so happy for you all! Congratulations!

Congratulations to the WKHS Girls Water Polo Team who won the State Championship today in a thrilling overtime win against Upper Arlington! The girls won with a final score of 11-10! Upper Arlington had been the "favorite" to win states, but the Wolves took control and came out with a huge victory and the state title! Congratulations especially to Mackenzie, Alex B, Brooke, and Alex C.

Congratulations to John Batchelder who won a Regional Championship today in Cross Country! John passed a runner on the final stretch to win by about 1 second. Congratulations John and good luck running next week at States! (John will run at Scioto Downs Saturday afternoon.)

Congratulations to the WKHS Boys Soccer Team who won the District Championship today in a win over Pickerington Central (I think... it was definitely one of the Pickerington teams.) They won 3-1 and will play the winner of tonight's District final game between Thomas Worthington and Westerville Central on Tuesday night at 7pm at Dublin Coffman HS. A special congratulations to Phil, Joey, and Dan. (And since I don't usually post 2 updates in 1 day - be sure to read the update below about Phil.)

Dispatch Feature

Philip Bunting is featured today as the profile student in the "Going to School" series that the Dispatch writes weekly.

Phil talks about his family, his activities, and some of his goals for the future in the article. There is also a 2 minute video clip that highlights pieces of his interview, his soccer, and it also shows Phil playing the piano. Be sure to check it out as Phil represents Kilbourne well.

Senior Tackle and Water Polo Update

Tonight after the final football game, the Senior Football players participated in "Senior Tackle." This is the opportunity for each of the senior football players to enjoy one final moment of recognition surrounded by the people who mean the most of them. It was a very sweet tribute and was clearly meaningful to the athletes as well as everyone else who stayed to watch. Many of the seniors invited their family members, teammates, coaches, and friends to join them for their “final tackle.” Congratulations to “my” three seniors – Alex, Adam, and Tim. You had a great season.

Speaking of Congratulations… A huge congratulations goes out to the WKHS Water Polo teams! Both the guys and girls teams won their games tonight and will now compete tomorrow is the State Championship tournament in Mason, Ohio. (The guys had a great come-from-behind victory winning 10-9 after being down 9-1.) Good luck Wolves – we hope you bring home a State Title!

Prep HQ and the College Search

If you have not already logged in and started exploring PrepHQ and the wealth of knowledge that is available to you on this website… please stop reading this now and register for PrepHQ. (You need your student ID number to get started.)

OK, now that everyone has registered… let’s talk about one of the areas of PrepHQ that can be very useful for students and parents – the College Search component. When you are logged into the system you will see a menu of choices on the left side of the screen – click on “Colleges.”

This takes you to a page that features the upcoming college visits to WKHS (you can register to attend one by clicking in the area where it says “sign up” and then downloading a pass from the Shared Files area to have your teacher sign granting you permission to miss class so that you can attend the college meeting.) There is also a quick link section to the top 20 colleges WKHS students have applied to in the past. And you will find the “College Search” area.

In the College Search area you have a few choices. You can type in the name of a particular school that you are interested in learning more about or you can click on the green “Go to Search” bar to look for schools that would match your interests. If you decide to complete a search you will have three different areas of more specific information to enter in order to come up with the colleges are similar to what you are hoping to find.

When you find a school that you are interested in learning more about you can click on the name of the school and it will pull up a College Detail screen that provides a more detailed overview of the school. Some of the components featured includes the percent of people admitted, the average high school GPA, average test scores, costs, size, location, majors available, and sports offered. You can also review the total number of students and the percent of freshman that return each year. In the top right hand corner of the College Details page there is also a direct link to the college websites so that you can gather additional information about the potential school.

If the school is one that you want to keep on your radar or one to whom you will be applying, you can click on the “Add to My College List” bar in order to keep it in your “My Organizer” area for future reference.

Please keep your college list current. When we have scholarships or colleges arrange to come to WKHS for a visit, we look at the list of students who have expressed an interest in that particular school to decide if any of those individuals meet the eligibility requirements for different scholarships.

Merit Based and Need Based Aid

Paying for College is expensive! There is no question that higher education costs add up quickly and it can be confusing to try to figure out what all of the different terms related to financial aid really mean. This is just a brief overview to give you an idea of what you might see/ hear when you are looking at your options.

There are two broad categories of financial aid – Merit Based aid and Need Based aid.

Merit Based aid is what you think of when you think “Scholarships.” These are usually awarded to students based on academic achievements, leadership, athletics, special talents such as art or music, volunteerism, or other personal qualities that set you apart. These scholarships do not consider financial need. A significant portion of all merit-based aid comes directly from the college/ university. Some schools may require additional scholarship applications, essays, interviews, and many colleges will have earlier deadlines to be considered for their scholarships. It can be helpful to know that a lot of times the smaller, private colleges will have more money available for scholarships in order to help make attending their school competitive with the lower costs of the public colleges. Please also remember that there are scholarship offerings listed in PrepHQ. It is important to keep an eye out for unique scholarships that might apply to your personal situation. Last year I had a student who was able to qualify for an Italian heritage scholarship. Perhaps one of your grandparents won a purple heart or maybe you have time to write an essay for one of the other scholarship competitions… no matter what the situation, if you find a scholarship that you meet the criteria for go ahead and apply – you might be pleasantly surprised at the result and if you don’t, the answer is definitely a “no.”

Need Based aid is what you will sometimes hear people refer to as “Financial Aid” even though both Merit Based and Need Based aid technically fall under that one category. There are a variety of different Need Based aid programs. Grants are considered gift assistance – they give you money and you do not have to pay it back. Loans which can come from a wide variety of sources – the federal government, the college, and private banks is money that you are required to pay back. Work Study programs are on campus job opportunities that the government helps find that allows you to earn money for college through working on campus. The big difference between Merit Based and Need Based aid is that Need Based aid is that the type and amount of Need Based aid you will receive depends upon the amount of financial need you have.

And, yes, just to add to the confusion – there are some scholarships that will consider financial need as a criterion. They are still awarding the scholarship based upon some specific aspect of who you are it is just allowing them to narrow down the potential applicant pool.

One last important reminder - NEVER pay to be considered for a scholarship! That is a scam. Don't waste your money!

If you have any questions you can always call the financial aid offices of the schools where you are applying as they are true experts in the field. I am also happy to try to help in any way that I can.

Watch Your Deadlines!

Just a friendly reminder to watch your deadlines. It is really important that you stay organized and submit all application materials to colleges prior to their designated deadlines. There are several schools that have scholarship deadlines of November 1st. (This means that if you want to be considered for the maximum scholarship offering that you need to apply by November 1st.) Other schools have November 15th, December 3rd, December 15th, or even later deadlines, but because every school is different it is really important that you stay on top of this and meet the requirements with plenty of time.

Speaking of deadlines, don't forget that the last date for current seniors to take the ACT or SAT tests and have them considered for college applications is at the December test date. Registration deadlines are late next week so please take care of that if you have not taken your admissions test yet.

Don't forget, it also takes us time at WKHS to process all of the applications so you need to allow plenty of time to turn your application around and get it back to the college. Some schools (like OSU) hold firm to the requirement that their deadline doesn't just mean that the application has been received by that date, but that all supporting documentation is also in their hands by that particular date. This means that they also need to have your transcript, School Report Form, and official ACT/ SAT test scores prior to the deadline date. All the more reason to watch this closely and give us plenty of time to get your materials to the college.

If you are having trouble figuring out the deadlines, stop down to see me and we can look it up together.

The PLAN Test

Finally an update just for the Sophomores…

PLAN Test Date: November 2, 2007
Location: WKHS Auditorium
Time: 7:30 – 11:00am
Cost: $10.00 (checks payable to WKHS)

The PLAN Test is the practice test for the ACT. This test is not an option for juniors so it is very important to take it during your sophomore year. You can register starting today in the Counseling and Career Center.

The content of the PLAN test is closely tied to that of the ACT achievement test, which is used for college entrance and placement decisions. It covers the same subjects and gives you estimated ACT scores. This test is only a practice test; therefore, it will not appear on your transcript.

The PLAN test has many benefits. It can help you get started in thinking and planning for life after high school. It will show you areas you may need extra help. The results can also be used to help focus your test preparation to improve your ACT scores. In my opinion, the MOST valuable aspect is that the PLAN test is that it includes a career component that helps identify career interests and possible career fields. The number of students who have no idea what they might want to do some day is scary and this is one way to help come up with some ideas.

It is important to note that this test is being offered during the Late Start Day. This means that you will need to arrive at school at the regularly scheduled time via your own transportation as busses will be following the late start schedule. In addition to the late start time, you will miss the first 2 classes of the late-start day.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I hope you have been enjoying your long weekend. For many of the Seniors – I know that lots of you spent the extra time off making college visits and I am anxious to hear how they went. For everyone else – did you enjoy the extra day to sleep in and get stuff done? Rumor has it that lots of you had quite a bit of homework and papers to write over the long weekend. Hopefully you made progress getting through it all. :-)

As mentioned in my last update, there were lots of WKHS teams in action this weekend and it was definitely an impressive showing by the Wolves! The football game was a heart-breaking loss for senior night, but the guys will bounce back this coming Friday against Olentangy. Everyone else brought home victories over the weekend! Congratulations to the boys and girls water polo teams who are ranked 1st in their region after Friday and Saturday’s wins. Good luck next weekend at States! The boys/ girls soccer, volleyball, and boys/ girls cross country teams all advanced to the next level of tournament action.

Over the long weekend I also had a chance to catch up and chat with a few more of my former students. This is a new experience for me because prior to this year I had not been at the same school 2 years in a row. As a result, I have never had the experience of having students come back to visit. It means so much to see and hear all of the great things that they are experiencing at college and as they take steps toward their future dreams.

Well, I am off to enjoy the last day of the weekend! Hope you have a great day and I will see you all tomorrow!

Beware of Wolves Weekend

Woo Hoo! It's the weekend!

A lot of our WKHS Wolves are taking action in various sporting events over the long weekend. Good luck to the following teams (hopefully I'm not missing anyone!):

Girls Soccer - Tonight

Boys and Girls Water Polo - Friday Afternoon

Football - Friday Night (Senior Night and Final Home Game)

Boys and Girls Water Polo - Regional Finals - Saturday

Boys and Girls Cross Country - Saturday

Volleyball - Saturday

Boys Soccer - Saturday

Good luck to all of you! I hope it is a victorious weekend.

Hall of Fame!

My family received some exciting news last night…

My step-dad, Dave Hoover, is going to be inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame! This is a huge and well deserved honor. (Totally unbiased opinion… LOL!) A representative from the Coaches Association called him last night to share the big news. I think he was pleasantly surprised, but he is so humble that he said we could tell people, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone other than us…

So, let me brag about him for a minute…

He won the State Tournament in 1994 while coaching at Westerville North.
He won the State Tournament in 2005 while coaching at Canton McKinley.
He won the State Tournament AGAIN in 2006 while coaching at Canton McKinley.

I can’t even begin to list the total number of wins, district championships, and state final four appearances, but I can tell you he is a great coach and an even better person. I am so thankful he is in my life!

After the back-to-back state titles he retired from teaching and coaching and is now doing private basketball lessons, camps, and teaching math part time at a few area colleges near their home in Canton.

Here are a few pictures from his last game coaching…

(I meant to take a picture at the end of each quarter so that I would have the progression, but after the game was so caught up in the excitement and festivities that I forgot to take a picture… so this is the end of the 3rd quarter. You can tell that it was a pretty solid victory. The final score ended up being 63-33.)

Good Luck on PSAT!

One final reminder... tomorrow morning, Wednesday, October 17th, is the PSAT. Good luck to all of the Juniors and any of my Sophomores who will be taking the test. Get a good night sleep, don't forget to eat breakfast before school, take a deep breath, relax and then do your best. :-)

Juniors - you are going to be testing in the main gym. Sophomores - you will be in the aux gym. If you normally have lunch 4th period you will receive a pass to eat before heading back to class... so no need to worry that you won't get to eat lunch - it will just be a bit later than normal.

To all of my Sophomores and Seniors, please remember that due to the PSAT I will NOT be available until the last few periods of the day tomorrow. I believe that all of the Counseling Center staff will be working the PSAT so chances are the doors will be locked so you won't even be able to get to my office to leave a note. Your choices are essentially to stop down in the afternoon or else wait and come see me on Thursday.

Oh, The Places You'll Go... Again

I beg, plead, pester, annoy, or request (you can choose for yourself which word best fits…) nearly every student who walks through my door about pictures from college visits. And lately, it seems to be working! I have had quite a few students bring me pictures in the last few days and I LOVE IT!

I am so excited to watch the display coming together. I *know* a lot of you still have pictures – many of you have shown them to me on your cameras or phones, but that doesn’t help me in my quest to not only FILL the area outside of my office, but to EXPAND it to another wall… so, please, as you head out to make visits to colleges, don’t forget to snap a picture for me and then bring it in. I really do appreciate it!

Since I am talking about visits again I decided that I would share another picture of me on a college campus visit from this summer. This time it is from Kent State University.

Career Inventories

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I have asked that question only to have a look of panic cross your faces as you stare back at me. Some students know exactly what they want to do with their future, but many more are at a loss.

There are a lot of websites out there that can help you explore different careers and yesterday (while procrastinating on writing recommendation letters) I found one that I hadn’t seen before and I really liked it! It is the career exploration area on the OhioMentor website. There are a lot of really interesting self-inventories that you can complete on this website and it is all free of charge. For example, you can complete a career search, an interest finder, learning style assessments, values finders, and personality quizzes. The responses to your questions will then enable you to explore different careers that *might* fit with your interests and abilities.

Unfortunately, there is not a single test out there that you can take and magically find out that THIS is the single career meant for you. In fact, most people will transition through multiple jobs and possibly even different career fields in their lifetime. So, don’t panic, enjoy the search and try to learn something more about yourself along the way.

Also, since I was the one playing on the website I didn’t explore this option, but it appears that you can also permit me to have access to your results so that we can talk about them. I think all you need is my e-mail address (babbott@worthington.k12.oh.us). I’ll be interested to hear what you think about this site.

It’s a 4 day week at school this week! YEAH! And don’t forget Wednesday morning is the PSAT in the gymnasiums.

Memory Lane

Did you see any of the UK vs. LSU football game tonight?!? Wow! Kentucky knocked off the #1 team in the country in triple overtime! Very exciting.

I sat and watched the game hoping that they would win and remembering back to my last year working with the football team. We played Alabama and won in overtime (40-34) – it was the first time UK had won against Alabama in 75 years. To say that it was an exciting win is certainly an understatement. I’d guess that is what tonight’s game probably felt like for everyone on the field.

As soon as UK’s defense stopped LSU from scoring on 4th and goal I said, “there go the goal posts” only to have them show UK officials taking them down moments later so that the fans who were storming the field wouldn’t tear them down. I guess the intelligent side of me can say that was a smart thing – they are really expensive and it can be VERY dangerous, but I will never forget watching the mass chaos as the goal posts came down long ago after the UK/ Alabama game…

One of my absolute favorite memories from my time at UK was working on the sidelines helping one of the athletes who was cramping as we headed into overtime of that game and the fans started screaming out “Blue” from one side of the stadium only to have “White” screamed from the other side. I remember looking up at one of my friends, Mike, and locking eyes with him thinking that this was absolutely incredible! I still get goose-bumps thinking about it. Sorry, my words fail to capture the power of the moment, but trust me – it was amazing.

While the game (and this post) may not be that exciting for you – I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane!

Speaking of overtime wins… Congratulations to our own WKHS wolves and their victory in double overtime last night! Way to go guys!

(And for those of you sick of hearing about me… I promise, tomorrow I will have an educational post for you.) Have a great night!

Confidentiality

It is very important to me that I work to earn your trust every day. During high school there are times when you may feel that there is no one there to listen and I want to remind you that I am here for you. Please remember that what you say to me is confidential between us unless you are a risk to yourself or someone else in which case I am required to report it.

If you want to meet with me - just drop by my office! That is honestly the BEST way to meet with me. You don't need to schedule an appointment in advance. I'm generally around before and after school as well as during your lunch or academic prep/ option periods for you to stop in and chat. You don't need a big reason to come down and say Hi. I am happy to see you even if you just wanted to tell me how well or how poorly you did on a test that day. If I am busy meeting with another student or parent - you can stop back down or leave a pass for me. If I don't know who you are and you have left a pass that leads me to search for you in the commons please try to help me out and let me know that "you" are the student. (I know, not always easy, but if you left a pass and I haven't tracked you down that day or the following day, chances are I can't find you in the commons - so please come back!)

Don't forget I have candy and toys in my office - so it is always worth just stopping by to say hello. :-) Nope, I am not above bribery if it means that I get to know you all better. :-) Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

Reminders of Important Dates

Hi! I hope you had a great day. Just wanted to pass along some quick reminders of important upcoming dates...

Juniors and some sophomores: Don’t forget that you should register for the PSAT tomorrow! The PSAT will be next Wednesday, October 17th, during 1 – 4th periods.

Some juniors and seniors: If you still need to take and pass any section of the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) the retake dates are quickly approaching.

Monday, October 22nd: Reading;

Tuesday, October 23rd: Math;

Wednesday, October 24th: Writing;

Thursday, October 25th: Science;

Friday, October 26th: Social Studies

Please be sure to utilize the resources available to prepare for the OGT retakes. The Academic Assistants in Room 209 and your classroom subject teachers have resources that can be helpful in studying for the tests.

Seniors: Wow, I dropped in on the senior meeting today with the guy from Herff Jones talking to you about the graduation announcements. It doesn’t seem possible, but it will be here before you know it. Scary?!? (It is for me!) Time flies!

Sophomores: Looking ahead, PLAN test registration will begin October 22nd and the test is November 2nd during the late start time. More information about this test will be detailed in future blog.

Delaware Area Career Center

Today during Science classes the Sophomores had a chance to hear a presentation about the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC). Mrs. Riegel (former WKHS teacher who now works at the DACC) and about 10 student ambassadors (including Kathryn Berkman) who are currently attending programs sponsored by the DACC shared their experiences and stories with the students.

It was interesting to hear about all of the different programs that are available for students to explore. There are some unique experiences and opportunities available that can really stand out to colleges. Kathryn’s information about Teacher’s Academy as well as the young man from WKHS who talked about his work through the Zoo School were both very impressive.

Sophomores – if you are interested in participating in the field trip to the DACC, please be sure to bring in the permission slip signed by your parents and give it to Mrs. King in the Counseling and Career Center. She will also give you a teacher permission slip that must be completed before you can attend. The field trip is Thursday, November 8th. All completed permission slips are due back to the Counseling and Career Center no later than Friday, November 2nd.

NCAA Clearinghouse

If you are interested in participating in Division I or Division II athletics in college then it is necessary to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. Registration with the NCAA clearinghouse is usually completed in the spring of a student’s junior year.

As you will learn as you read on the NCAA Clearinghouse website, students must successfully complete 16 core classes in order to be eligible for Division I schools. These include 4 English, 3 Math (Algebra 1 or higher), 2 Sciences, 1 additional course in the area of English, Math or Science, 2 Social Studies, 4 additional years from any area listed above or foreign languages. The core class requirement for Division II schools remains at 14.

Grade point averages are calculated based upon meeting the core course requirements.

It may be useful to know that Communications Technology is NOT an NCAA clearinghouse approved core English class.

The NCAA Clearinghouse requires that students submit an ACT or SAT score directly from the testing company using the code 9999.

A summary for criteria in determining eligibility is available here.

My Job as an Aunt

How was your weekend? I hope you enjoyed it. I had a great weekend with my niece and nephew who came to town for a quick visit and wanted to share it with you. I have to admit that being an Aunt is the greatest “job” in the world! I love my niece and nephew and had a great weekend with them – even if they did run me ragged. (My sister and her husband were attending a wedding so I was on my own with the kids…)

Some of the highlights from my weekend:

- Yesterday morning Carly (my niece) wanted donuts so, of course, I had to oblige.
- Lunch: McDonalds
- We went to Thomas Worthington to watch the cross country races… Carly had fun cheering for the “big kids” and Cole (my nephew) just wanted to take off and run
- Dinner: McDonalds again – yes, AGAIN… as I explained to my sister who wasn’t thrilled with my willingness to feed her kids McD’s twice in a day – I am the Aunt and therefore it is my responsibility to spoil them sometimes and it is what they wanted!
- Last night I was entertained by Cole and his new Houdini like skills – he figured out how to climb out of his pack & play again and again instead of going to sleep
- We also had some really nice quality time with my grandparents


I also learned a few lessons while they were here…

1. I love Color Wonder markers! (My nephew is not *exactly* the best at keeping his artwork on paper – this stuff totally saved my house!)


2. If there is dirt ANYWHERE nearby – Cole finds it and plays in it



3. Kids are fun and exhausting



4. It takes a LONG time to get little kids ready to leave the house – especially the effort to put sunscreen on a 1 ½ year old!


I hope that your weekend was memorable. Enjoy sleeping in tomorrow morning. We’ll see you all at 9:30 for the start of 1st period!

Students of the Month

This morning 17 WKHS students were honored as October Students of the Month. The recognition as a Student of the Month can only be earned once during a student's high school career. 4 of these fine young men and women were "my" students. Congratulations to Mitch Anglin, Jennifer Barford, EB Brennan, and Alex Cameron. I am so proud of you all.

Pictured Left to Right: Alex, Jennifer, and Mitch. (EB had to miss the ceremony which is why she is not included in the picture.)

To everyone taking the SAT in the morning - Good Luck!

Have a great weekend!

Kilbourne News Updates

Did you miss me? I worked *really* late at school yesterday so I didn’t get home in time to update my blog. I figured you would give me a break… My goal is to update the site at least 5 of the 7 days a week, but I have been making a conscious effort to try to update 6 days a week. (Yes, I do like the theory of under-promise and over-perform!)

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend the first WKHS play of the new school year. It was very cute and I enjoyed it… even if it meant I had to miss Grey’s Anatomy.


A couple of school details for you:

Interims should be mailed home tomorrow. (Please, if you are struggling in a class, talk to your teachers and also with me to help create a plan for turning things around. Don’t let it get to the point where you cannot pass a class to suddenly start caring.)

Monday is a late-start day so you will be able to sleep in! (I am so jealous.)

Juniors, don’t forget that you can register now for the PSAT by bringing a check for $14.00 (payable to WKHS) to the Counseling and Career Center. The test is Wednesday, October 17th and you will miss your morning classes, but you are responsible for making up any missed work.

I understand quite a few of you attended the Columbus Suburban College Fair… did you meet representatives from any interesting schools?

Well, I am returning to the land of recommendation letters… again… See you tomorrow.

Getting the Most from College Fairs

Mass Chaos… Let’s be honest – that is what a college fair can feel like, but it is also the opportunity for you to gain a lot of useful information from a large number of schools in a short period of time.

So, if you are going to head out to the Columbus Suburban College Fair tomorrow (Wednesday) night here is some information that can hopefully help you. Take a deep breath, relax, and try not to get too overwhelmed.

The good news is that college fairs give you a chance to meet with admissions representatives in person. They are all gathered together in one place in order to meet you and to answer your questions. Many schools also keep track of the number of interactions/ meetings you have with their admissions representatives during your search and application process so that they can gauge your interest level in their school. As a component of this, and also a way to expand their mailing database, a large number of the college fair booths will have cards for you to fill out with your contact information and interests. If you want to save time you can create and print out address labels that include your name, address, phone number, e-mail, high school name, year of graduation, intended major(s), and extra-curricular activities of interest. You can then just put the label on the card instead of re-writing the exact same information at table after table for each college.

Be prepared before you get to the college fair. Know that there will be far more schools than you are interested in or can even truly take in during one evening, so it is useful to come up with a list of colleges that you would be interested in learning more about. You can use PrepHQ to help you create that list by doing a search that looks for different criteria that seems to be a good fit for you. With that list in hand you now have a starting point for the colleges that you would like to talk to during the fair.

It can be useful to ask the same questions of each college so that you can compare them and their responses appropriately. The National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) has a handout that you can use to help with questions and I encourage you to also consider thinking about the things you most want to know about the school and can’t find in a brochure or website. Everyone is different so your questions are going to be different depending upon your interests, but if you are really interested in playing a club sport in college, you might want to ask about their club/ intramural program and the numbers of students that participate. You may want to ask what the top 2 or 3 majors are on campus as that will give you an idea of what most of the students are interested in studying. If you are undecided about what you would like to study, it would be a great idea to ask them what support and services are available to help students in exploring different majors.

Take something with you to be able to jot some notes on and also a pen or pencil. It is a crazy event with so much happening that if you don’t write it down as you go you won’t remember much after the fact. The admissions representatives are giving you a small look of the college – what do you think following each glimpse?

When you are walking through the college fair with the list of schools that you want to talk to don’t forget to leave some time for browsing – you may realize that a school you hadn’t previously considered has just what you are looking for in a college. It can be easy for us to get caught in the cycle of only looking at specific schools because that is what “everyone” else is considering.

Ideally you will be able to avoid getting caught up in the crowds and confusion so that you don’t walk away from the college fair with a lot of brochures, but no real ideas or impressions about which colleges most interest you. At the end of the night you will likely have a bag filled with information about colleges. As the “Faring Well at College Fairs” article says, “Don’t succumb to the temptation of just piling all those brochures in some obscure corner of your bedroom. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a day or two away from the college search. Then get out all of those brochures, along with the notes you took at the fair, and read through them. You may find that some colleges aren’t as interesting as you first thought. Others only look better the more you research them.”

Good luck and happy college searching… I can’t wait to hear about the schools that spark your interest!

Lots of Random Updates for you:

I previously mentioned that registration for the PSAT was starting this week ($14.00 payable to WKHS) in the Counseling and Career Center. In that update I mentioned the PSAT prep program that I had read about on the College Admissions Counseling blog. The gentleman who maintains that blog sent me two additional PSAT prep sites so that I would be able to share them with you. The first (which should hopefully be obvious to you) is the CollegeBoard website. The second is the Test Prep Review. He said that on this website after completing a self assessment students can proceed to the self improvement directory that is linked at the bottom of the PSAT practice page. I don’t know about you, but I thought it was great that because I am updating this blog for all of you that someone was able to provide me with more information that can help you prepare for the PSAT!

If you still need to take the SAT, please remember that tomorrow (October 2nd) is the last day to register for the November test at regular rates. Please register NOW if you still need to take the test!

Don’t forget that tomorrow night (Tuesday) is the Minority/ Multicultural College Planning Night at WKHS from 6:30 – 8:30pm. Wednesday night is the Columbus Suburban College Fair at Otterbein. (Yes, I know that it is a bit of an overwhelming experience, but if you are lost and/or trying to figure out where to get started then this is a great first step.) Just to give you something to look forward to – tomorrow night I will update the blog with helpful hints for making the most of college fairs. :-) Bet you can't wait!

Recently we were also informed that West Virginia University at Morgantown has agreed to accept at West Virginia resident tuition rates, any Ohio resident who satisfies all regular admission requirements in 18 different programs. There is more information about this news in the WVU folder in the Counseling and Career Center.

OK, well, I am now off to write recommendation letters… or letter. I would be VERY happy to successfully write one tonight. Wish me luck…