Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

All of you who know me or have ever stepped in my office and looked at all the pictures are aware that my family means the world to me, especially my niece and nephew. New Year's Eve is particularly important to me - not because it marks the end another (hopefully) productive year, but because it is my niece's birthday. Today Carly turned 9 years old! She is such a special little girl and she has a gift for brightening my day. Last month, for my birthday, Carly surprised me by wearing a shirt that read "My Aunt is my BFF" as you can see in this picture. I think the fact that I am able to spend so much time with my sister's family is why I love winter break so much.

As 2011 comes to a close, I hope you will look back with pride over your accomplishments from the past year and look forward to the future with hope and possibility. Tonight, as you are celebrating the new year, please remember to stay safe and be smart!

Twitter

WKHS now has a twitter account! This will be used as a way to communicate with students and families. The hope is that we will be able to celebrate the successes of students and share current updates in a timely manner. Please follow @WKHSWolves for the latest news and information from WKHS!

For the record, no, it does not mean that I will no longer be updating my blog - it is just another format to share information and updates with all of you!

Break Check-In

Are you enjoying your break? It is hard to believe we are half way through! I have been having a great time so far and it feels like time is moving so fast and there are still a million things on my “to do” list that I had hoped to accomplish before we start back to school.

Yet, I know that many times people get through the first part of break and then feel like time moves too slow. If you are a student who isn’t feeling productive and you are wondering what you could consider doing to be productive with the remainder of your break, I have a few ideas for you.

Study! I know, you don’t want to hear that, but with just 5 school days remaining before exams, you really should be using your time now to better prepare for your exams. Review key concepts, figure out what you don’t know so that you can seek help from your teachers for clarification, and develop a study plan to make sure you are prepared for each exam.

Sleep! You like seeing this idea much better than the last one, right?!? :-) Don’t worry, I do too. Studying is work and sleep is restful. You need sleep and so many of you don’t get enough sleep that now is an ideal time to try to get into a good sleep routine. Unfortunately, I suspect that many of you are like me in that you are sleeping more, but necessarily on a good sleep schedule. It will be important before we start back to school that you try to get the sleep schedule closer to a more realistic time so that you aren’t hurting quite as bad as you will be when you have spent all day sleeping until 12 or 1 (or later) in the afternoon and suddenly have to be sitting in class and paying attention at 7:45 in the morning.

Help others. Volunteering your time to make a positive impact is a great way to use your time during the break. There are many organizations in need of willing hands and hearts to make a difference. You might even be able to convince your friends to join you in the community service outreach which will make it more fun to spend time with your friends while also helping others.

Be productive. Use this time wisely to check a few items off your own to do list. How organized are you? Do you need to go through your bookbag (that thing sitting in the corner that you haven’t touched since you tossed it there last Wednesday) and sort through your papers? Do you need new folders? Do you need to hole-punch your papers to put them into your binders? What else can you accomplish that will make your life a little easier down the road? Clean your room? Explore colleges? Organize your closet? Apply for scholarships? Write thank you notes? Investigate career options? Read the book you have been wanting to read? Finally finish your college applications? You get the idea – basically think about the things you know that you should do and try to knock a few of the items off your list.

Celebrate family. There is so much hustle and bustle leading up to the holidays that everyone tends to be running in a million different directions. It is a nice idea to try to slow down and enjoy being with your family and finding joy in the small moments. Surprise your mom and ask her to watch a movie with you (without an ulterior motive). Shock your sibling by inviting him/ her to play a game with you. Impress your dad by doing something unexpected that will help him out without being asked. You get the idea, but those simple moments can make a big difference and are the moments we will remember years from now rather than what the gifts that you unwrapped this year.

Here are two other articles with ideas for winter break: (and for the record, the first included sleep on their list too!) :-)
How I hope we spend our holiday break


Celebrate Holidays through Community Service

News and Notes

A variety of different quick updates for you...

Those students involved in the choir program at WKHS are probably aware that Mr. Griffin's wife has been very ill as she battled cancer. Sadly, she passed away on Friday and her family including Mr. Griffin, Emma (a junior at WKHS) and Calvin (a 2007 WKHS graduate) will be joining together with extended family and friends to celebrate her life during a special memorial service tomorrow afternoon. The service will be at 1:00 in the WKHS Auditorium on Wednesday, December 28th. Students and families who would like to pay their respects to the Griffin family are invited to attend. Here is a link to Mrs. Griffin's obituary from the Columbus Dispatch.

The school e-mail is down this week, but will hopfully be back up by Thursday or Friday. I wanted to make sure that you were aware of the fact that I am unable to read e-mails sent to me at school this week until the e-mail system is back up.

ACT scores are now available! For those students who took the December 10th ACT, your scores are available to see online today. I hope you did well!

And finally, an article that might interest you - New Tools for Predicting Success in College

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful day surrounded by your family and friends. I am fortunate enough to be able to celebrate with my sister's family and my niece and nephew are on cloud 9! Last night at church the message was so powerful and meaningful - to remember what is truly precious and to cherish those moments and memories. Today I have been focused on those special moments - my nephew waking up and telling me that I make a very good stuffed animal, my niece making me a potholder, and the hugs, giggles, and love that have filled the day. I have also been thinking about the other precious gifts in my life and I want you to know that in addition to my family and friends, I am grateful for being able to work with each of you on a daily basis. You will never know how much it means to me that I am able to walk through this journey with you and how much joy you bring to my days. Thank you!

Winter Break

Hooray! We reached winter break! I don't know about you, but it seems like the last few weeks have been a major sprint. I hope you have plans to relax and enjoy the upcoming days off.

I hope you enjoy the holidays with your family and that you stay safe with any travels that you have planned throughout the break. Also, I wanted to let you know that I will not be blogging as consistently over break as this is a vacation for me too. :-)

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your holiday fun after we get back to school. Again, have a great break!

Tomorrow's Schedule

I also wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that we are on a modified bell schedule tomorrow for the Holiday Assembly. You will go to the assembly with your 3rd period class.


Below is the breakdown for each period:

1st Period: 7:45 - 8:30
2nd Period: 8:35 - 9:20
3rd Period: 9:25 - 11:00
4th Period: 11:05 - 11:49
5th Period: 11:54 - 12:38
6th Period: 12:43 - 1:27
7th Period: 1:32 - 2:16
8th Period: 2:21 - 3:05

And last but not least, I also wanted to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all those students and families whose holiday started tonight!

Cap and Gown Orders

Seniors, did you order your cap and gown? Commencement is just over 5 months away and the list of students who have not yet ordered their cap and gown is unbelievable. Initially, the deadline to order your cap and gown was this Wednesday, but the list is so long that they decided to extend the deadline. You now have until mid-January to be able to order your cap and gown before the late fees ($50!) will be added to the regular fees. If you are among the many students who haven't placed your order, please visit Herff Jones to order your cap and gown online today!

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 2 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 you end this quarter successfuly? What about preparing for exams? There is still 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.

Financial Aid

As seniors are finishing up their college applications, many are now turning their eyes toward their financial aid options.

Most students will need to fill out the FAFSA form (FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and it is essential to meet the deadlines established by your colleges of choice to determine what amount of aid they can offer. (For example, many deadlines will be February 15th.) So this is definitely not something you can put off once we hit the first of the year. There are some people who will automatically assume that they do not qualify for financial aid and it is important not to make assumptions and to read the fine print from the colleges carefully as there are some colleges that won't offer any financial packages (including merit scholarships) without having a FAFSA on file. Additionally, there are some colleges that will require students to complete the CSS Profile. Specific questions about each college's requirements and deadlines should be addressed to the financial aid offices at each respective college.

The way financial need is determined is taking the “Cost of Attendance” (which includes tuition, fees, room, board, books, and other miscellaneous expenses) and then subtracting from that the “Expected Family Contribution” and the remaining difference is what is known as your “Financial Need.”

The financial aid administrators remind us that usually people do not agree with their Estimated Family Contribution, but it is the same for everyone so it is fair across the board.

For what it is worth, it is also important to know that it depends upon each school as to whether they guarantee to meet your entire financial need with a financial aid offer. You can usually find this information on the college financial aid website.

If you are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or the parent of a student in one of these grades, you may be interested in using the FAFSA4caster which provides an estimated Expected Family Contribution to give you an idea of what you might qualify for regarding federal aid including grants.

When you are completing the FAFSA application, please remember that this is a FREE application – do not pay to have someone help you fill it out as there are plenty of opportunities to get free assistance to complete it if you need it. You will also want to make sure that you are using the correct website – http://www.fafsa.gov/ – (do not use .com as that is a site that has a fee.)

You can request your PIN number now, but please make sure you save it and keep it in a safe place for future use as this will be your permanent PIN number. Parents, you will also need your own PIN number unless you have one that you have utilized with older students as it is the same PIN number for all of your children.

When you are filling out the FAFSA form please pay attention to who they are asking for information about – the beginning of the form is all about the student and later it is about the parents. This can be confusing if your parents are helping you fill out the form because it says “you and your” so sometimes parents will accidentally put their information in rather than putting in the student information.

If your parents are divorced, you will use the parent with whom you live with the majority of the time. You fill out the form based upon your “household” so anyone living in that household and under that roof are included in your FAFSA. So, for example, if your parents are divorced and you live with your mom who is remarried then your FAFSA application will include the information from your mom and your step-dad.

Please remember that you cannot fill out your FAFSA forms until after January 1st. You will need your tax information as well as your parents tax information. If you cannot get the tax information completed early enough to meet the deadlines from the colleges, then be sure to use estimated numbers and then go back and revise the information once you have the actual data.

To help you with the college financial aid process we will have a financial aid meeting for students and parents at 7:00pm at WKHS on Thursday, January 5th.There is also an event known as “College Goal Sunday” which is Sunday, February 12th where financial aid administrators will provide free expert help in completing the FAFSA forms. To find locations and to register you can visit http://www.ohiocollegegoalsunday.org/.

PSAT and PLAN Test Results

Your scores have arrived! Any students who took the PSAT and PLAN tests in October can pick up your score reports from the Counseling Center beginning tomorrow. You can pick up your score sheets during your lunch periods from either of the secretaries at the front of the counseling center. If you have questions about your scores, feel free to come and see me and we can take a look together, but I will say that the score sheets have a lot of useful information and tips as well as information that we have available on the counselor website - http://www.wkhscounselors.com/.

Don't forget, these are just practice tests so they are giving you a general indication of where you might expect to score if you were taking the ACT or SAT with no additional preparation or review.

Interim Reports

Interim grades were released on Friday. Have you been on e-Sembler to see the most updated information about where you stand in your classes? It is hard to believe that we have just 13 days of school left before semester exams!

I randomly checked some grades this weekend and was sad to see how many students 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 study 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.

Don't forget, it is the semester grade (and not the quarter grade) which appears on your transcript and impacts your grade point average. That being said, it is your quarter grades which will determine eligibility for the winter and spring sports seasons. Please be sure that you are doing everything possible to put yourself in the best situation for getting the grades you want for the quarter and semester!

Arsenic & Old Lace

Last night I attended the WKHS production of Arsenic and Old Lace. I was so impressed! Everyone involved in the play did a fantastic job. It was funny and at one point I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. Many of "my" students were a part of this show including Jimmy Barbin and Josh Cook who had leading roles. Jey Bukkapatnam was the stage manager and also had a role in the show. Jordan Birch was another actor in the show. Additionally, behind the scenes, many individuals were a part of building the set and helping with various aspects that make the play a success. My students who participated in these aspects included Robyn Du, Zoie Banes, Dustin Black, Adele Buchbinder and Rosalyn Chen. Congratulations to everyone involved in the play - it was truly outstanding!

I had intended to post earlier in the day and remind everyone to try to attend tonight's final show, but somehow the day got away from me. We are very fortunate to have such talented students who put together such outstanding shows, so if you have never seen a play or the musical, I strongly encourage you to make plans to attend the next show (which I think is the musical).

On a separate note, I hope that everyone who took the ACT today felt like it went well!

Guaranteed

Yesterday Ashland University announced that they would guarantee that students who attend their school and meet specific requirements WILL graduate in 4 years or else they are able to continue until it is completed free of charge. This is a similiar plan that Baldwin Wallace had announced earlier this year. As I had talked about in a previous blog, knowing how long it will probably take to graduate from college is an important factor when determining college costs that can be detected.

This article from the Dispatch talks about Ashland's new guarantee.

College Admissions Decisions

College admissions decisions are already starting to come in for some students. Every senior looks forward to receiving their college acceptance letters. It is an exciting time and reassures that there is more ahead. Depending upon the schools where you are applying, it is possible that you will hear back quickly or you may be waiting until sometime in March to find out if you have been accepted. I do ask that as you begin receiving your acceptance or, sadly, even rejection letters, to please keep me informed about the decisions. For the vast majority of the colleges, the only way I know about your admissions decision is if you share the information with me.

Remember, the only way to receive an acceptance letter is to actually APPLY to the college! (Just a friendly little reminder for those of you who are struggling to get your applications finished.) :-)

DACC Open House

Just a quick heads up that tonight, Thursday, December 8th is the Open House at the Delaware Area Career Center. The open house will run from 5:00 - 8:00pm. Any students (and their parents) that are interested in learning more about the range of opportunities available at the career center should consider the opportunity to visit the career center. Being able to see the labs first hand, talk to the instructors, and meet students who are currently attending the Delaware Area Career Center, is truly the best way to decide if earning your elective credits at the career center is a good option for your future. I hope you will take advantage of this open house opportunity if you are interested!

Socratic Society

Last Friday morning 36 students were inducted into the Socratic Society. Staff members are given the opportunity to recognize students for excellence in one or more of the core socratic values of Scholarship, Integrity, Personal Effort, Compassion, or Lifelong Learning. Students are only eligible to be selected for this honor one time during their high school career.
A special congratulations to "my" students who were among those recognized this month! (Left to Right): Mariah Minichello, Hannah Vincent, Emily Cantrell, Tori Eger, Nia Brown and Alex Allison. Also, I had several students who are not pictured, but were inducted on Friday: Janae' Calhoun, Michael Dillow and Kevin Doerr. I am proud of each of you!

Patience...

Let me start off by acknowledging that I am *NOT* the most patient person on the planet!
I know that it can be frustrating waiting for something to happen. Waiting to hear news. Waiting for the next phase of your life. Waiting... waiting... and still more waiting. But the reality is you need to be patient.

Right now colleges are completely overwhelmed and back-logged with applications that they have been receiving. After you have submitted your application and all of the required paperwork it takes the college time to get everything processed and updated in their computer. To make things even more confusing, many colleges are also automatically generating letters that they are sending home to students to remind you that you need to send your transcript and test scores and a recommendation letter. People tend to panic when they see that notice and want to send the materials again. Colleges do not want that happening as it will simply back up their system even more. This is a very common occurance at this time of year, but it does create a lot of panic in homes of seniors across the country!

Try to be patient and do not panic. If you get one of these letters (from any college) take a moment and double check - did you mail your official transcript to this particular school? Did you request to have your official test results sent to the college from the ACT/ SAT websites? Did your teachers complete their recommendation letters?

If your transcript was mailed within the last 2-3 weeks, then take a deep breath and relax knowing that it is likely just because their system is backed up. Continue double checking on the college website (most will give you access to see your application status) and see if they have everything. If you are nearing the end of the 3rd week and they still don't have all of your items, then you should give them a call to double check. Chances are they just haven't made it there and into their system yet, but there are times where things get lost in the mail or filed in the wrong area. If items need to be sent again then we can work together to take care of that, but first make sure that they really are missing it.

As always, swing by my office to see me if you have any questions.

Application Reality Check

December 1st was a major college application deadline, but it is certainly not the last deadline. Many students arrived in my office in a panic at the end of last week fearing that they had missed their only opportunity to apply to college. I want to assure you that there is still plenty of time to apply to college, but you definitely need to be working on the applications now. So, let's do a quick reality check on where you should be for the application process (if you are a senior)...

- Your need to request your transcript for any colleges with application deadlines before January 1st by December 15th and don't forget to pick up your transcript and mail it to the college.

- If your college forms required a recommendation letter then you should have turned in the parent brag sheet and counselor recommendation supplement forms to me by now. (I have the rec letters written for everyone who had submitted their paperwork prior to this week.)

- If your college applications require a teacher recommendation letter then you should have asked your teacher for a rec letter and provided them a resume or the recommendation request form with information sheet completed.

- If you are still working with January or February deadlines then you should be working on editing the drafts of your essays to perfect them before the deadline.

Hopefully that falls in line with where you are in the application process... and it is even better if you are ahead of the game and have submitted your paperwork in advance or already submitted your applications! Some of you have started hearing back from your colleges, don't forget that we are tracking that information, so please keep me posted as you receive the college admissions decisions from each school.

Planning Ahead

I hope you had a nice weekend! It's hard to believe that we have just 2 and a half weeks left before winter break. As you are busy in your classes trying to get everything wrapped up before the quarter ends, I wanted to give you a heads up about my schedule because there are several days when I will not be available.

I assume you already recall that you have a late start day tomorrow. (I'm jealous that you get to sleep in!) I will be around all day, so even though you have shortened periods, if you need anything, please stop by. Late start days always tend to be slower days as far as students stopping in to visit.

The days that I will be out of the building start on Friday. I have a financial aid conference to attend on Friday so I will not be available. And then next week I will be out on both Monday and Tuesday for a meeting at central office.

Remember, if you ever have an emergency and I am not available, you can always see one of the other counselors. If it is not an emergency, then please try to either plan ahead and stop in to see me this week before Friday or else wait until next Wednesday to check in with me.

College Admissions Interviews

Some colleges offer the opportunity for prospective students to participate in an interview with an admissions counselor or an alumni representative as a component of the application process. If you are looking at a school which requires an interview – don’t panic!

It is important to relax and be yourself. This is your opportunity to shine. Display your personality and allow your interests and passions to be expressed.

In addition to answering their questions, don’t be afraid to ask any questions you have about the school. Be sure to complete some research ahead of time so that you are not asking questions you easily could have found by visiting their website.

If there is anything about yourself that you want to be sure that the admissions representatives understand – unique circumstances, experiences, or special traits that they might not ask about don’t hesitate to offer up this information. This is your one opportunity to actually discuss these areas with a real person. By bringing up these topics, it may spur them to ask additional questions that you will be able to answer. If you want to talk more before your interview, don't hesitate to stop by and see me.

And, hopefully it goes without saying, but remember that first impressions are important – so be polite, smile, dress appropriately and arrive on time for your interview!

Here are some additional articles about college interviews that I found that I thought you might appreciate:

Do college admissions interviews matter?


College Interviews – Start practicing early


Nine tips for mastering alumni interviews