Some "Elf" Fun

Last Thursday was the WKHS Staff Holiday lunch and Miss Schwartz made a cute Elf cut-out that we then had in our offices on Friday for students who stopped by for an Elf picture.

Below are some of the great Elf pictures...

Abel Araya and Harrison Bassani

Amy Davidson and Kevin Mack

Bethany Biron and Becca Alexander

Brooke Dahn and Will Campbell

Bryant Bechtel and Brandon Best

Dino Bianco and Michael Frizzi

Erin Bland and Deion Clay

Jordan Brown and Sarah Capella

Katherine Hyatt Hawkins and Andrew Nardella

Kaytee Ambrozich and Emily Bright

Sachi Oshima and Roy Greim

Sam Johnson and Clay Hedges

Shannon Donovan and Zac Eanes

Some of my former students and the WKHS staff got in on the fun too...

Chris M. and Ken G.

Joey C. and Mitch A.

Mrs. Gratz and Mr. Dunaway

College Admissions Q & A's

The New York Times asked a panel of four college admissions officers to answer questions this week about the college admissions process. There is a wealth of information in their responses to questions I hear often in my office.

The admissions representatives who answered questions about everything from essays to standardized tests to what they consider when evaluating student aplications to recommendation letters and more include:

Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., which in 2007 had 5,275 undergraduates and 6,083 graduate and professional students.

Bruce Poch, Vice President and Dean of Admissions at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., which has an enrollment of 1,520 students.

Steven Syverson, Vice President for Enrollment and the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., which has 1,429 full-time undergraduates.

Bruce Walker, Vice Provost and Director of Admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, a public university with 11,000 graduate and 39,000 undergraduate students.

Spend some time reading through the information that these individuals shared - it will be well worth your time.

I hope you enjoyed your first day of winter break! I will continue to post during our days off, but it will not be as frequently as I will be enjoying time with my family.

What a Nightmare!

Applying to colleges can be challenging and overwhelming. Waiting to hear back from the colleges to find out if you have been accepted or not has the potential to be frustrating and nerve-wracking. Hearing that you have been accepted is obviously thrilling.

Except when it's not.

I just read a story that is featured in the Chicago Tribune that Northwestern University accidentally sent an e-mail to 50 graduate (not undergraduate so you don't have to worry) students who were applying to their business program notifying them of their acceptance only to have those same students log onto the school website and realize that they were, in fact, actually rejected.

I can't even imagine! Talk about a nightmare and rollercoaster of emotions for the students. Let's hope we don't face any of those issues with YOUR college applications!

On a side "fun" note - Miss Schwartz made a really cute Elf decoration for the staff holiday lunch that was held today. (It is one of those things where you stand behind the picture and stick your head through the cut-out and you are "magically" transformed into an elf.) :-) She will have it for students to come in and have their pictures taken tomorrow and I would love to post any "elf" pictures of my students... so be sure to stop by and let me take a quick picture.

The Countdown...

The countdown is on... we have just 12 days of school left this quarter before semester exams. I *know* some (or maybe all) of you don't want to hear this, but it is REALLY important that you start studying now for exams. Today I skimmed through the interim grade reports and was sad to see how many people are struggling. If your grades are not where they should be at this point in time, please make use of the resources available to you - the academic assistants in room 209 and, most importantly, your teachers. I am also here to help you with studying strategies and tips if needed. For many students, your final grade for the semester will come down to how you finish out this quarter and how well you do on semester exams. Please don't neglect this opportunity to make the most of the remaining time and use winter break as a chance to start reviewing for exams.

PS - Hope you enjoyed the two hour delay this morning! :-)

If Wishing Made It So...

I am pretty sure that nearly every student who stopped by to chat today mentioned the same thought which is the desire to have a snow day, or at the VERY least a delay tomorrow. :-) Don't get me wrong, I am 100% with you and would LOVE to be able to sleep in tomorrow. The roads are definitely icy tonight so maybe our wishes for tomorrow will come true. :-) Either way, please be careful - know that the roads are bad and take it easy.

ACT and SAT Practice

People often ask me how they should study for the ACT and SAT tests. There are a lot of free alternatives and I encourage you to check them out. Last week we were sent information about two free opportunities that I wanted to pass along to you. Both are provided by Kaplan which is a test prep company so while I am sure these are free for you, please also be aware that they will probably use the connection to solicit you to participate in one of their test prep programs.

The first as using their free ACT or SAT QuizBank. Located online you can take quizzes to practice different questions. Visit their website to sign up for their QuizBank.

The second opportunity is an actual practice test. In fact, they will be offering a free practice SAT and a free practice ACT. Both tests will be administered at Thomas Worthington High School and it allows you to experience a more realistic testing environment and they provide analysis of your test results. Students must sign up for the practice tests in advance on their website.

The Practice SAT will be held at TWHS on Saturday, January 10th from 8am - 12pm.

The Practice ACT will be held at TWHS on Saturday, January 24th from 8am - 12pm.

I hope these opportunities are helpful to all of you who are beginning to worry about the college admissions tests. Please also know that there are plenty of other free opportunities that you can take advantage of online including sample questions on the ACT and SAT websites.

Things To Do

I admit it... I am a list maker. I have lists for just about everything you could imagine. I just finished creating a list of things I *MUST* accomplish before we leave on break (only 5 more days!) - not to mention the list I already have at school of the "other" things I need to do. I also have a list of things to do while in Kentucky visiting my sister's family over Christmas, a list of "to do's" for the remainder of break when I am back at home, lists for other upcoming school related projects, and even a list for "when I have time." So, as you can see, I could probably benefit from having a list of all of my lists. :-)

The reason that I am mentioning it, is that lists work for me, but everyone needs some sort of a system to help keep your thoughts organized. It is much more difficult and demanding to try to hold something in your head than it is to refer back to it on paper. I heard once that your head is a good place to have ideas not to hold them and I believe that makes sense. It doesn't require a lot of time, but the payoffs are large as long as you stick with it. Personally, I love being able to cross something off my list knowing that I had achieved a goal - no matter how small.

As you start thinking about the end of the semester, please work on staying focused and organized. What do you need to do to make sure that you end this quarter successfuly? What about preparing for exams? There is still plenty of time left to make improvements, but you need to start now. If lists are not your way to stay organized, that is OK, but find a system that works and use it.

Thank You Notes

A thank you note is a simple enough idea - let someone else know that you appreciate them. I don't know about you, but a lot of times I am terrible at writing thank you notes. It doesn't mean that my gratitude is any less, but... and that is where everything falls apart. If I don't express my gratitude to the person who has been a positive influence in my life or who has done something nice for me or gone out of their way to help me, then how do they know how much I appreciate it? See the problem?

And I am pretty confident that many of you face the same problem. So I want to remind you of the importance of thank you notes. They do not have to be long or flowery - simply thank the person who has helped you. This is especially important for teachers who have written recommendation letters for you. Many people do not realize the time and effort it takes to write a good recommendation letter. If you didn't thank your teachers at the time they wrote your recommendation letters, perhaps now - as you finish as we come to the end of 2008 - is the perfect time! Thank them for their help and support in your college application process. It is important to make sure that they know how much you appreciate their help along the way. It won't take you a long time, but it will certainly mean a lot to them.

Before I close this post, I want to be very clear - I am NOT talking about writing to me! I do NOT need nor am I in any way hinting, asking for, or needing you to write a thank you note to me! I just figured we could all use a reminder in the importance of writing thank you notes and expressing our gratitude for those around us. Have a great weekend!

A College View

Tonight as I was searching online I found another website that might be interesting to many of you who are beginning or continuing your college search...

www.collegeclicktv.com

They feature a wide range of short video clips on over 200 different college campuses and there is a lot of other interesting and helpful information on their website. So, if you are working to expand or narrow down your college list, you might find that a little time on this website is helpful. The videos that I glanced at were useful (in my opinion) in that you gain glimpses of actual life moments on campus - they are not the college pre-approved footage or just another look around the campus, but rather it appears they literally took a camera onto various campuses and stopped people for their input.

Please know that nothing can ultimately replace a visit onto the campus to see the school and interact with the people first hand, but that is not always practical when you are considering a large number of schools. And, of course, don't forget that if you do go and visit a campus that I would like you to take a picture for the "Oh the Places You'll Go" display outside of my office.

Also, for any students who are off during 3rd period... next Thursday, December 18th, a former WKHS student (John Coleman) who is now a sophomore at University of Miami (in Florida) will be at WKHS to talk about his experiences being at "the U" and he will also be able to answer questions about what it is like to go to school far from home (advantages & disadvantages), what the transition from high school to college is like and how to best prepare for the adjustment, and any other general college related questions you might have for him. If you are in class during 3rd period, but are interested in the University of Miami, you can complete the permission slip and (with teacher approval) attend his session.

Applications, Applications, and More Applications

It would appear that many of you have you been busy over the last few weeks working on college applications - and therefore I am swamped with my portion of the paperwork for all of your applications to each of your colleges. They are moving along. I promise I am doing the best I can to turn everything around as quickly as possible.

The biggest hold up for the vast majority of the applications still in my office are not having teacher recommendations. Let me take this opportunity to remind you that YOU are responsible for making sure that your teachers have submitted their recommendation letters. It is essential that the teachers know exactly how many letters are needed, for which schools, and that they have any and all forms that need to be filled out in addition to their letters. Any delays in getting this information (or forms) to your teachers results in a delay of your application materials being mailed. Please follow up with your teachers about recommendation letters if you turned in an application that required a recommendation letter and indicated that your teacher would be providing the letter directly to me.

Also, don't forget, if you would like to review your application's progress at WKHS you can do this by logging onto PrepHQ. We document when it was received in the office and when it was mailed. As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Basics of Borrowing

Perhaps you have already noticed this announcement on the Welcome page of PrepHQ, but I wanted to make sure that everyone interested was aware of this opportunity.

NACAC, the National Association of College Admissions Counselors, is offering a free webinar open to all interested students and parents to discuss the basics of borrowing for college.

As you know, higher college costs and troubling economic factors are forcing students and their parents to borrow more money to earn a college degree. But how much is too much to borrow? What types of loans are available? What types of scholarships are available? What happens when you borrow, but don't finish college? Or you can't repay the loan?

Participate in this free webinar tomorrow, December 9th, at 1:00pm EST.

Hear student loan experts break down the process of applying for aid, types of loans and how to fill out the FAFSA, and determine how much students/families can afford to borrow, the details of student loan repayment, and much more.

A panel of experts will respond to questions during the webinar.

Register now

If you have additional questions please visit the NACAC website.

Socratic Society

Congratulations to the 32 students that were inducted to the Socratic Society on Friday! The Socratic Society is intended to recognize students for outstanding commitment to one or more of the Socratic principles - lifelong learning, integrity, compassion, scholarship, and personal effort.

I was very proud to watch as 11 of "my" students were inducted into the Socratic Society during a ceremony last Friday. These students included (in alphabetical order): Matt Adams, Timi Ademodi, Sarah Bear, James Beiswenger, Ross Belkofer, Jordan Brown, Alexandra Cassens, Brooke Dahn, Sarah Hanson, Clayton Hedges, and Katherine Hyatt Hawkins. (Matt Adams is not pictured...)

Congratulations to every individual recognized and thank you for the impressive way you carry yourselves each day!

By the way - don't forget - you have a late start day tomorrow - enjoy sleeping in... I'm so jealous! :-)

Friday News

Tomorrow, Friday, December 5th I will be out of the building until sometime during 6th period in order to attend the Ohio Association of Financial Aid Administrators meeting. With financial need being such a significant issue - especially this year - and with the new FAFSA changes I anticipate that the meeting will be very informative. I will be back for the afternoon though, so please stop by and say hi before the weekend!

Also, tomorrow is also the LAST day for seniors to order their caps and gowns without a late fee. Visit Herff Jones to order your items online.

PLAN Test

This post feels a bit repetitive to my last update, but I wanted to share that the PLAN Test results from November have now also arrived and are available for students to pick up in the Counseling Center. Remember, the PLAN Test is the practice ACT and it has a lot of great information about careers so be sure to check that out to see where your interests and abilities are for various future fields.

PSAT Results

The PSAT Results for those students who took the test in October have arrived at WKHS. Please stop by the Counseling and Career Center before or after school, during your options or lunch periods to pick up your test booklet and results sheet.

For those who are trying to figure out what their scores mean, a good "rule of thumb" for looking at the scores is to add a 0 to the end of each score. So, for example, if you have a 45 for the math section, then it will be like a 450 on the actual SAT. Adding the math and verbal sections together give you a guesstimate for your score out of 1600 and if you add all three sections together it compares your score based upon a 2400 scale.

When reviewing your results be certain to pay close attention to the information at the bottom of the page for feedback and suggestions on areas to study in order to improve your scores in the future.