Rec Letters

Recommendation letters tend to create a lot of stress, headaches, and confusion for students, but the anxiety and drama over rec letters is not necessary!

Personally, one of my absolute FAVORITE parts of my job is the time that I get to spend sitting down, one on one, with each of my students to talk about your entire high school experience as a whole and listening to the stories you share when I am "interviewing" you to get information to write your recommendation letter. I find your stories fascinating, your insight remarkable, and quite often your humor to be very entertaining. Of course, I will also admit that the excitement goes away pretty quick when you walk out the door and I am left with pages full of notes and the actual letters to write. (Talking = Very Happy... Writing = Not so much...)

While the seniors are certainly the students who are more focused on the need for recommendation letters, it is also a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) to drop by my office throughout the year to allow me to get to know you better. I sincerely want to hear about the things you are involved in and are accomplishing during high school. Plus, I am pretty good at saving random tidbits of information that I see or learn about you that might help me "someday" when I need to write your recommendation.

For the seniors, have you started looking at your college applications to see if they require recommendation letters from me or from your teachers? Some schools will require it and some will not. OSU, for example, does NOT require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 22,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Miami University, on the other hand, will require a rec letter from a teacher or from me. If you are having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see me and I can try to help you figure it out.

If you do need recommendation letters, give some thought ahead of time to who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or advisors writing letters or do they want them to come from academic teachers? If it requires that the letters come from teachers, can it be from any subject area or are they only looking for the core subjects of English, math, science, and social studies? Are you looking at a career in a specific area that a teacher at WKHS can write about your strengths in that field? For example, if you are considering majoring in Spanish perhaps a recommendation letter from one of your Spanish teachers would be appropriate. What teachers know you best? Who can speak to your work ethic and classroom contributions? If you need multiple teacher recommendations, when possible it is ideal to show your strengths across multiple subjects, so if you have a few teachers to pick from and 2 are math and 1 is science perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 science teacher rather than the 2 math teachers simply to show that diversity. Remember, in recommendation letters from teachers, the colleges are asking for information about you as a student and your potential for handling the academic rigors of college.

Once you have figured out the teacher or teachers that you want to ask for a recommendation (if needed) it is then time to ASK them if they are willing to write a letter for you. It is really important to be reasonable in the amount of time that you are allowing them to have to write your letter. (Think 30 days or more!) They are very busy with their classroom work and grading homework and papers and of course life in general and many teachers are often bombarded by students requesting recommendations. If a teacher is unable to write a recommendation letter for you – either because they don’t feel that they know you well enough to write a strong letter or because they have too much on their plate, don’t take it personally, simply ask another teacher. You will be thankful that you didn’t force them to write the letter because it wouldn’t be as solid of a recommendation letter if they were rushed or only had vague highlights to discuss. If you are applying to schools that do not need teacher recommendation letters, please do not waste your teacher's time by asking them to write a letter. Also, only ask the number of teachers that you need recommendations from - so if you are applying to two schools and both need 1 teacher recommendation letter, just ask one teacher to write a letter that will be used for both schools. You do not need to ask for more letters in case one is "better" than another - if you are not sure the teacher will write a positive letter for you, then you need to pick someone else. If you trust the teacher enough to ask them to write the letter, then you should trust them enough to be able to send their letter (without seeing it) to the college.

In the Counseling and Career Center and on PrepHQ in the Shared Files area we have a form you can use to ask your teachers to write a recommendation for you. It is also helpful to provide a resume or the type of information which is frequently seen on a resume to your teachers. (To make this easier, if you don’t have a resume, there is a recommendation information sheet on the back of the recommendation request form just mentioned.) It is also really important to specify the number of letters that you need, for which schools, and to provide envelopes as well as any forms required by the schools for the teachers to complete. (For example, the common application has a 2 page form for the teachers in addition to their recommendation letter. If your teacher is not completing their common app recommendation electronically then you need to print this form and give it to your teacher.)

Once your teacher has completed his/ her recommendation letter they will either give it directly to me to add into your application packet when we mail it or they will give it to you to bring to me. You are the one ultimately responsible for making sure that the recommendation letter is submitted to me, so if you are unsure if your teacher has provided me with the letter, stop down to see me.

If a counselor recommendation is required it is beneficial to come and see me as soon as you realize it so that we can set up a time to meet. (Yes, I do require EVERY student that I am going to write a recommendation letter for to actually come in and TALK to me… but the good news is that I do NOT make you write out the short answer essays!) I write the letters on a first come first serve basis. It is the only way I know how to be fair. Writing recommendation letters is a very time consuming process taking multiple hours per letter which adds up quickly. So please, watch your deadlines and try to help me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have plenty of time. The reason recommendation letters take so long is that each letter should (hopefully) capture the essence of you – and each of you are very different. Remember, when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so I need stories and examples to help give admissions officers a better understanding of who you are and what you can bring to their campus. Plus, it needs to be more than just what they can read about you in your application. While I do not ask you to complete the short answer essays, that are on the "Counselor Supplement Sheet," I do ask that you have your parents complete a "Parent Brag Sheet" and provide me with a list of activities. (You can use the same form that you gave to your teachers if you do not have a resume or list already created.)

So, for the next few months, if you are curious about how I will be spending my "free" time - the answer is writing recommendation letters. Thankfully, I will also be balancing that out with lots of time talking to each of you and getting to know you better... and I am REALLY looking forward to that!

PSAT

The PSAT (practice SAT) will be administered at WKHS on Wednesday, October 14th. Registration for the test starts tomorrow and will continue until Monday, October 12th. Juniors and interested Sophomores can register in the Counseling and Career Center by bringing in a check for $15.00 made out to WKHS. This is an important practice test for the SAT and it is also the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship competition. Even if you took the test as a Sophomore you should re-take the test as a Junior!

College Application Process

Did you have a nice day off today? We were in meetings all day so I am definitely jealous that you were able to sleep in for a while. I am excited to have my sister and her family (including my niece and nephew) in town visiting this weekend! With the long weekend, I am guessing that some seniors are working on college applications and I wanted to give you a few reminders:

- You should apply online unless you have some paperwork (like fee waivers) that require you to submit a paper application.

- Please remember though that an essay is an essay and you should take the time to actually work on writing a strong essay, have it edited and reviewed by multiple people before copying and pasting it into your online application.

- After you submit the application you will print out any papers that you need me to complete on your behalf.

- Fill out a yellow Transcript Release Form and turn it in with the form for me to complete and your $2.00 transcript fee to Mrs. Hoyt (Registrar) or one of the Counseling Center Secretaries.
By doing all of this together rather than sending your transcript and then later realizing that you also needed to submit the counselor form you can be certain that the college will receive all of your materials together which helps make sure that it will be filed appropriately so that they can make a decision on your application.

- After you have submitted your application you may also need to verify that your official test scores were sent from the testing organization (ACT/ SAT) directly to the college. If you did not have them sent to that particular school then you will need to pay the fee to have them sent if the college requires official scores from the testing agency.

- Then it is time to sit back and wait...

- When you hear back from your schools, please stop in to see me and let me know the admissions decision as this is something that we track.

College Application Deadlines

As you start through the college application process you will be exposed to a variety of new terms. One area that can be confusing is what all of the different application deadlines such as Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions mean.

Early Decision

The key to remember with Early Decision is that it is a final decision and a COMMITMENT! Applying to a school in this program is considered a contract between the student and the college. You can apply to only one school as an Early Decision school. If you are accepted, you are promising to withdraw all other applications. Few students will ultimately apply to a school Early Decision because you are promising to attend the school - without seeing their financial aid package - and most students are not 100% certain that they want to attend one particular school. If you are considering applying to a school under the Early Decision program, please stop in and talk to me.

Early Action

This is a non-binding option and significantly more students will apply to schools using this option. Early Action has an earlier application deadline and students will learn if they have been accepted to the school much earlier than regular decision dates. (Some schools will defer an admissions decision to the Regular Decision deadline if the student is on the bubble and they want to wait to see how the rest of the applications will look.) Early Action is not a contract and, as a student, you are not obligated to attend school at that institution.

Regular Decision

This is the deadline that you will generally see publicized from colleges as it is the most common. This means you are applying and will hear your decision on their regular time schedule. There are no commitments or early notifications. It is important to note that the Regular Admissions deadlines are often AFTER the deadline for scholarship consideration – which adds in a whole additional set of deadlines to watch, but that is a different story for another day.

Rolling Admissions

This means that the colleges look at each application as they arrive and they make a decision as they go. So, if you apply quickly to a school with rolling admissions you are generally going to receive your admissions decision quickly. Schools that function with a rolling admissions policy of evaluating applications will still generally have a regular decision deadline which is the final date that the college is willing to accept any applications for the fall class.

It is really important to be watching your deadlines carefully – I can’t stress that enough! If you are struggling to find the deadlines for different schools, please stop in to see me.

School Report Forms

Thank you to all of the students and parents that attended tonight's Senior College Night! Luckily the rain held off and we didn't get wet in the auditorium... although I am sure that would have been entertaining too. :-)

I was thinking about everything that I hit on tonight and realized that there was one area related to timing of turning in your school report forms that I didn't discuss. As a reminder, these forms are what most of the colleges will require that I complete for you. These forms have lots of different names - School Report Form, Counselor Report Form, High School Information Sheet, etc. They all ask some of the same basic information - what is your GPA, what classes are you taking, and many ask for my feedback on you as a student/ person. Like we discussed tonight, you will turn these forms in with your transcript release forms to Mrs. Hoyt and she will print your transcript and forward them on to me for completion.

What I forgot to mention was the timing related to turning in these forms... I need to ask you to hold onto these on your own rather than bringing them to me really far in advance. For a moment, I am going to ask you to do the math. I have about 100 seniors. Let's say that 85 of you apply to college. Of those 100 some will apply to 1 college, but others will apply to a dozen or more. So, let's guesstimate an average of 3 to 5 colleges per student. That would be approximately 250 to 425 forms that I need to keep track of vs. you keeping the couple of forms on your own and turning them in when it is time for me to actually complete them. You have a much better chance of keeping three forms organized than I do to keep several hundred organized. My goal is to turn around the application materials within a day or two of receiving them from Mrs. Hoyt. I make every effort to fill them out as soon as I receive them and then they will be on their way to your college. The biggest hold up in sending the applications is finding that they need a recommendation letter from me or holding them for a recommendation letter from a teacher.

To help make sure that your college application doesn't just sit on my desk, please pay attention to see if your college needs a counselor recommendation letter. I am more than happy to write the letter for you, but as I have mentioned, I write them in a first-come, first-serve basis in order to be fair, so if you turn in your forms and then when I am filling out your school report form I realize that you need a recommendation letter and we haven't met yet - your application is going to sit on my desk for a while until we can meet and I can write your letter. So, help me to help you by checking that out on your own in advance. If you aren't sure where to look, stop in and see me and we will figure it out together.

A special thank you to Evan Alexander, Molly Burton, David Busch, and Marissa Minichello for volunteering their time to help put together the folders for tonight's meeting!

Searching for a College

The Washington Post has an interesting story (Elite Schools Don't Make Elite People) regarding where well known people have attended college. One of my favorite sections of the Mathews article says, "So relax. Be happy about your chance to spend four years at any school, soaking up the wisdom of the world and deciding what kind of life you want. Those of you who become heroes will discover most of the qualities that made you so were already in your possession."

When you start the college search – the answer lies in you! I know, that sounds a bit cheesy, but it is true. Before you really start looking for the “right” school it is important to figure out what you want in a school and that can only be found by looking in yourself and determining what factors are most important to you.

For example, for some students distance from home may be a big deal. Being close can have it’s advantages – like being able to come home and have a free home cooked meal or a place to do your laundry and also not having to worry about flying half way across the country any time you would want to come home for a visit. Going to school at a college far from home can also have it’s advantages – often a different climate, a new experience and adventure where you can be independent, and no concerns about mom or dad just dropping in unexpectedly. And, of course, there are some students who will elect to find a school that is not too far and not too close. (Remember, that by communicating with your family about what you are looking for in a school you may find that a college outside of your comfort zone is still worth looking at because you and your parents may be able to reach some mutually agreed upon ground rules – so the concern that they might come see you or you might come home too often can be eliminated by talking about those issues up front.)

The size of a school is another factor for many students. Small, Medium, Large or somewhere in between – the challenge is that many students will say, “I don’t know” and that is where making a variety of visits to different sized schools can be advantageous. You can explore a small school and see if the experience of knowing lots of people on campus and in your classes is better for you than a medium or large school where you may have a class in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. As you visit the schools you may find that there are experiences or advantages that a larger school can provide that a smaller school can’t such as a wider variety of clubs or groups for students to be involved. The key is to figure out what size school fits you and then you can narrow your search to explore more schools in that range.

Other factors that often influence a student’s college decision will include the types of majors or programs offered at the school, their athletic programs – both collegiate sponsored and intramurals, the food, the dorms, the cost (but don’t necessarily eliminate potential colleges simply based upon cost because often the private schools are much more expensive, but also offer a much larger financial aid package to make it competitive and comparable to a public school), extra-curricular opportunities, and on and on.

Again, I cannot stress the point that everyone is different and what is best for one person is not necessarily the ideal school for someone else. All too often I listen to students who are only looking at the 2 or 3 schools that their best friend or sibling looked at rather than trying to find the school that fits best for them. Also, I truly believe that it is about being a good match – for both you and the college.

I know, it can be a bit intimidating to search for a school and to try to figure out what you really want in a college and for your future, but it is also supposed to be fun so try not to put too much pressure on yourself to find “perfection” and try to take a step back and figure out what will make you happy. It really can be fun, but I know it is also overwhelming so remember that I am here to support and help you in any way that I can.

Senior College Night

This Tuesday, September 22nd, at 7:30pm we will be holding the Senior Student and Parent College Night at WKHS. This is one of the most important meetings for senior students and parents to attend because there are so many college related questions that we will be able to answer.

We will be meeting with you in "smaller" groups - all of "my" students and parents will be meeting with just me and the other counselors will meet with their own groups of students and parents. We will have signs posted for where each group will be meeting, but I will have the auditorium this year so you can plan on heading directly there.

We will be reviewing the college search and application process, the procedures for submitting your items to WKHS and to the colleges, and other information you need to know. I really hope you will make every effort to attend… and yes, this is for you and your parents because this is YOUR life, so you need to be there as you are the one responsible for completing all of the work to get accepted into college. It is beneficial for your parents to also attend because they will be a very valuable asset in helping you through this process. And, trust me, your parents will appreciate having an overview of how this entire process will play out so bring them along with you so that they can get the information all at once with you.

I know that it is not always possible for every student and family to attend, but I hope you will try. Remember, I have over 100 seniors, so it becomes very challenging to try to repeat the same basic information and make sure everyone understands unless we all start with the same foundation of information. This evening will answer a lot of your basic questions and then we’ll figure out the rest together as the year continues. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday night!

Organization

The time to get organized is NOW! Yes, I realize that we are still at the very beginning of the year, but trust me, it is better to start off organized and just maintain it rather than to let things get completely out of control and then work on cleaning everything up in order to find that *one* item that you needed.

For some students, being organized comes easier than it does to others and the reality is that one system of staying organized doesn't always work for everyone else so you really need to think about what does or does not work for you. Sometimes the best way to figure out an organization strategy that will work for you is to stop and reflect back on what has NOT worked for you in the past. For example, if you are a person who always tries to keep things in binders, but then ends up with the little pocket areas in the front and the back of the binder stuffed to the breaking point then this system of organization really isn't working very well for you so it is probably time to try something different.

Stress is usually the outcome of not being organized. You forgot a homework assignment, can't find a paper that you need, or didn't realize that you were supposed to study for a test. By being organized you can help eliminate (or at least cut back a great deal on) stress. Let's be honest... you don't always like writing down all of your assignments in your planner, but there are so many other things going on in your day and such a wide variety of activities and events competing for your attention that it is hard to remember exactly which questions you were supposed to answer for homework for a particular class. Having one place where you write down the information that you are going to need to know and the deadlines are essential for good organization skills.

And, staying organized isn't just an important task when you are doing school work - this is also vital for your entire college application process and it will be important to you for the rest of your life.

As far as the college application process is concerned - most of you should be at the "getting organized" phase. Figure out and write down in one place all of the schools where you plan on applying. List out the other key pieces of information that you need to keep track of for that school - deadlines, recommendation letter needs, essays required, etc. Having one page with all of this information is not meant to stress you out - it is meant to be a way to elp you look easily at all of the things you need to do and by when and then you will be able to break it down into more manageable pieces in order to meet your goals/ deadlines. Also, you are hopefully organized enough to realize that the regular registration deadline for the October ACT is tomorrow!

As always, feel free to come by and talk if you need some help with organization strategies.

Wednesday Reminders

Since I tend to add the updates to my blog later in the evening I thought it might be helpful if I provided a few reminders about Wednesday just a bit early...

- Wednesday morning is a late-start day. Students will begin classes at 9:10am.

- Wednesday evening from 7:00 - 7:30 is the Freshman Parent Night officially welcoming the parents of the Class of 2013 to WKHS.

- Wednesday evening from 7:30 - 9:30 is the PTO Meet the Teacher Night. Parents will follow their student's schedules with 10 minute long classes providing the opportunity to meet the teachers and get a quick overview of the course. I strongly recommend that you give your parents a copy of your schedule... and if you are really nice, write down just your 1st semester classesfor them , in order, with room numbers and hints about the fastest way to get from one class to the next. They will have 5 minute passing time just like you do every day. :-)

The ACT

This weekend many seniors spent a few hours on Saturday morning taking the ACT. Now that the test is over it's time to sit back and wait for your scores. I thought you might be interested in learning more about the past scoring trends in the nation and in Ohio.

Last year the average composite ACT score in Ohio was a 21.7. This is the same score for the 2nd year in a row and up slightly from 5 years ago when the average composite in the state was a 21.4.

The average composite in the nation last year for the ACT was a 21.1.

43 Ohio students earned a perfect score (36) on the ACT Composite last year.

The average ACT essay writing score in Ohio (7) was slightly less than the national average (7.2).

All of the Ohio and national data is available here from ACT.

Battle of Hard Road

Did you miss me today? :-)

Tomorrow night is the annual "Battle of Hard Road" football game against Dublin Scioto High School. To help kick off the evening's festivities NBC 4 and their sports reporter, Omar Ruiz, will be sponsoring a "tailgate" for students beginning at 5:15pm. They will be providing a slice of pizza and pop to everyone that participates (so I'd strongly recommend getting there early). They will also be doing a live "Football Friday Night" feed for the 5:30pm news on TV so as many students who can be there to participate and support wolves would be appreciated. The WKHS band will also be there to provide music and set the mood. Should be a fun night. Good luck to the football team in tomorrow night's game!

E-Sembler

Now that we have another year underway I thought it might help to remind all of the students and parents that you can track your grades using e-Sembler. I know that all of you know what your username and password would be since you use them at school all the time, but parents who cannot remember their number can call Computer Services at 883-3130 and someone there can provide them with their password. If parents CHANGE an email address with the school, they will automatically be sent a new password by mail.

Below are highlights of a parent guide for accessing eSembler, in case your mom or dad need instructions about the process itself.

Parents can view student grades using the Worthington Portal – http://www.worthington-portal.org/

To login, use your entire email address and assigned password, and click Login. Remember the user id and password are case specific, so make sure you don’t have your CAPS lock on.

Once you’ve logged into the portal click the blue WS button in the lower left. Navigate to My Account.

First Step is to verify your child.
Type in provided Network ID (LAN ID) and press “verify”. The Network ID was provided to you in a letter from Worthington Schools. You may also obtain it from your student.

Click the Blue WS button again and then choose Childs Records Access and this screen will appear:

You may use the same list to access your child’s grades through eSembler:

Use the drop down menu to choose Secondary grades and press Launch.
This is “eSembler”.

You may click on each class to view assignments in detail.

Hope that helps! Remember, you are ultimately responsible for your keeping track of your own grades so don’t just leave it up to your parents!

News and Notes

Just a couple of random bits of information for you:

- This Thursday (9/10/09) I will be out of the building all day to attend the Ohio Association of College Admissions Counselors Articulation meeting at the University of Cincinnati. This is a meeting where all of the Ohio 2-year, 4-year public, and 4-year private colleges come together to share the latest news about their college application process, any noteworthy information about their schools, and any tips that we need to know to help you navigate the admissions process. So, if you need me this week, please plan to stop in tomorrow or Friday.

- Hopefully you have looked at the list of colleges coming to visit WKHS as they start up next week and we really want to make sure that you are taking advantage of this opportunity. You can register by clicking on "Sign Up" on PrepHQ. (See the post from last week for more details.)

- Related to the college visits to WKHS, we are in desperate need of parent volunteers to help with these visits. Parent volunteers simply attend the college information session along with any students that were interested in the visiting school to gather information for the secretaries to add to the college files in the Counseling and Career Center. Please know that you do NOT have to be the parent of the senior and your son/ daughter does NOT need to be interested in that particular school to be able to help us by volunteering to host the visit in the WKHS Counseling Center. If you are willing and able to help with ANY of the upcoming visits, please contact Bonnie Windisch at 883-2590.

- Don't forget, tomorrow is a homeroom day so we will be on a slightly modified bell schedule.

- Looking ahead, next Wednesday, September 16th is the Freshman Parent Night at 7:00pm followed by the Meet the Teacher Night which starts at 7:30pm. (This is also a late start day for students.)

- The Senior Student and Parent College Information Night is two weeks from today, September 22nd from 7:30 - 9:30pm. If you are a senior, PLEASE save the date so that you can attend!

The Ohio State University

Every year OSU is, far and away, the most frequently applied to college for WKHS students. This past Friday morning I attended the OSU breakfast to learn the latest in their admissions procedures and expectations. I thought you might be interested in learning some of these details:

- Rolling admissions timeline (which means you can start applying NOW!)
- They expect between 22,000 and 25,000 applications for admissions in fall 2010
- They will begin announcing decisions during the first week of December
- Admissions deadline: February 1, 2010
- Deadline to be considered for scholarships: December 1, 2009
- FAFSA Deadline: February 15, 2010
- Must send official test scores from the testing agencies and scores must be RECEIVED at OSU before the deadline date to be considered.
- Must have at least 1 writing score (from ACT or SAT)
- Selective admissions to main campus with a holistic review considering all factors in the application
- Open admission process for Ohio residents to regional campuses

- They WILL look at senior year! They shared with us that this year they did rescind an admission decision and have allowed others still to attend with conditions and asked for explanations from other students regarding their grades. Do NOT let this happen to you!

- Essay Question: Just 1 essay of 300 words – Why are you considering the Ohio State University? They want to know why OSU is a good fit for you and they are hoping to get creative and exciting responses. They want to learn more about you, how you think, and why you think you and OSU are a good connection. They pointed out that they will know if you are just going to the brochure or website and giving them information back and they also discussed how common it is for local students to think they know OSU well and yet it is typically just because of athletics and they are looking for more than that in the essay.

- Honors Program: Automatic consideration with application to OSU. Looking at Top 10% of high school class, greater than a 30 on the ACT or 1340+ (Math/ Critical Reading) on the SAT. About 22% of this year’s freshman class is in the Honors Program and their average test scores were 31.6 ACT/ 1440 SAT.
- If a student does not meet the above criteria for being an Honors student immediately can still apply to their college’s honors program after 2 quarters with a 3.4 or 3.5 grade point average.

- Scholars Program: Looking at students who were not eligible for the Honors program, but are in the top 20% of their class with a 27+ ACT or 1220+ SAT (Math/ Critical Reading). The scholars program is more theme based rather than being curriculum based and students can have any major and pick any of the 14 programs that interest them.

- Morrill Scholars Program: Scholarship program for minority students. Minimum requirements: 3.3 GPA, Top 20% graduating class, 23 ACT or 1070 SAT (CR & M), and also look at other factors such as leadership, commitment to diversity and community service. Application includes an essay and two recommendations. This year the students who received scholarships through the Morrill Scholars Program had an average GPA of 4.1 and an ACT of 26.9. They will look at applications on a rolling basis so the earlier you apply for admission the earlier you can receive the MSP application. Must apply by December 1st Scholarship deadline.

- In the past they had been accepting to have a matriculation (actual attendance) of between 6,000 and 6,100 kids. This past year they accepted a higher number anticipating actual attendance of about 6,300 students, but it looks as if they will have an even higher rate with approximately 6,500 to 6,600 students beginning this month.
- The 2009 enrollment at main campus has about 50% of the students being in the Top 10% of their high school graduating class and 86% in the top quarter of their high school class. The average ACT and SAT increased again with ACT being approximately 27.5 and SAT being about 1230. More than 93% of students exceeded the minimum requirements in math, science, and foreign language.

Follow the Directions!

I have to say that today’s topic is a lesson that can apply to lots of different circumstances throughout your life. From the time you were little you probably learned that there are always rules and consequences of not following those rules. Sometimes we don’t have any problem following the rules and sometimes… well, it isn’t always quite so easy to do *exactly* what we are supposed to do.

I can think of countless examples of this in my everyday life and many of them cross over into your life too – be at work/ school on time, don’t use cell phones on 2nd floor at school, drive the speed limit, etc. Some times these are easy and sometimes we may struggle even though the reality is – they really aren’t that difficult to obey.

OK, I am rambling – the basic point is that I’d like to remind you to follow the directions! In everything and in every way – there are consequences of not following directions. This applies to your school work and – for those of you who are seniors – your college and scholarship applications.

When teachers or applications ask you to write an essay of 250 words or less – keep your essay to that length. If they ask for a list – give them a list. If they ask a question – answer the question completely. The difference is often in the details! Please pay attention and do what they are asking you– you never want someone to have a reason to eliminate your hard work on a technicality. And yes, as far as college applications are concerned, even if they say it is optional or preferred that means they really want it that way, so just suck it up and do it their way. Remember, in class not following your teacher’s directions might result in a bad grade, but as you get out into the real world the consequences can be much more severe and have a lasting impact.

I recognize that this all seems very obvious, but at some point we all get tired and think, “oh well, this is good enough…” So remember I’m here if you need me to encourage you to push through and take it that one extra step. :-)

For Your Information

I wanted to let you know that I will be out of the office the vast majority of the day on Friday. I will be attending a meeting in the morning at the Ohio State University to get the latest updates on their college application process and expectations for this year's applicants. I hope to be back in the school briefly before having to head over to the Worthington Education Center for a meeting. So, if you need something before the long weekend, please be sure to stop in and see me tomorrow.

Don't forget if you did not get your picture taken during the schedule pick-up days that you need to do that tomorrow during your lunch periods! We need every student to get their picture taken - even if you do not intend to buy a copy of the picture - because they are used in the yearbook and the computer system at school. The photographers will be set up in the auditorium to take your pictures.