Honors Diploma

For some students, earning an Honors Diploma is an important goal. I have to be honest, this is not a factor for the colleges because the honors diploma recognition isn't granted until you graduate so colleges are not considering it when making their admissions decisions. The requirements for the honors diploma listed below are established by the state department of education.

To receive an honors diploma you need to fulfill 7 of the following 8 criteria:

- English: 4 units
- Math: 4 units (including Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 or equivalent and another higher level course or a four-year sequence of courses that contain equivalent content - obviously the names of these courses will be changing with the common core implementation)
- Science: 4 units (including Physics and Chemistry)
- Social Studies: 4 units
- Foreign Language: 3 units (including at least 2 units in each language studied)
- Fine Arts: 1 unit
- Grade Point Average: 3.5 on a 4.0 scale
- ACT/ SAT Score (excluding scores from the writing sections): 27 ACT/ 1210 SAT

One of the areas that I have noticed as a trend of some students falling short of meeting the honors diploma requirements is in science. This is because some students have decided to take a different AP Science course instead of taking physics. The other area where students frequently don't meet the designated standard is with the 4 credits of Social Studies since only 3 credits are required. Don't forget, it would still be possible to earn an honors diploma if you were missing one of these, but you will need to make sure you fulfill all of the remaining criterion.

High Anxiety

It seems to me that many of you are feeling very anxious about picking classes for next year. The number of e-mails and voicemail messages from parents, not to mention all of you who are stopping down to try to see me, provide a pretty solid indication that there is a lot of concern about registering for classes.

Let me try to put your mind at ease on a few issues. Yes, you do need to register online by the end of the day tomorrow, but I will also be double checking all of your classes and meeting with every student individually. We will be able to make any changes that are determined to be necessary at the time of our meeting or throughout the month.

Some people are hoping to set up appointments in addition to the individual meetings. I promise that I am more than happy to meet with you and we will work to find a time that is convenient, but it doesn't need to be before you register online because I can still go into the system and make changes to class requests throughout this month. Please go ahead and register with your best guess on classes that you would like to take and then when we are able to meet if changes are needed I can make them at that time.

I hope that eases your mind a little bit to know that it is not completely locked in stone after you submit your requests online! I am here to help you, but I do beg for you to try to be patient with me because having more than 300 students it is challenging to get to everyone all at the same time.

Finding Balance

Hopefully you are ready to request your classes (or have already done so) online. When you are considering which classes you want to take it is really important to try to find a balance. You want to challenge yourself with courses that will push you and help prepare you for the future. At the same time you want to remember that it is high school and you need to be realistic about your expectations of yourself. There is a balance that should be sought - between too many "easy" classes and too many "hard" classes. You know yourself best and what you can handle so while it is an honor to have every teacher recommend you for AP classes it doesn't mean that it would be the ideal situation to load your schedule with all AP classes. If you are struggling to find that balance, please talk to your parents about the classes you are considering and stop down to see me so that we can discuss it.

Graduation Requirements

When picking out your classes it is helpful to start with the end goal in mind - Graduation! It is important to be aware of the graduation requirements as you plan your course selection.  And if you can't remember what classes you have already completed, please check out your transcript on Infinite Campus - it has now been updated with your 1st semester grades!  (You can find it in the Reports section.)

Here are the academic courses that students must complete toward your graduation requirements:- 4 credits of English (Speech is no longer required to be one of these classes, but it is still an option)
- 4 credits of Math
- 3 credits of Science
- 3 credits of Social Studies (which includes 1/2 a credit of Government)
- 1/2 a credit of Physical Education (2 classes, each worth 1/4 credit)
- 1/2 a credit of Health
- 5 credits of Electives
- All students must have had a year's worth of fine art coursework between grades 7 - 12
- All students must also complete a Financial Literacy course
- 20 total credits

A few notes to help you understand some of the details of these requirements:
-  The senior English classes must meet a combination of Reading and Writing courses.  You can take a year-long class called Contemporary Voices that will meet both the reading and writing requirements or you can select two semester courses to meet the requirement.  The reading classes include Science Fiction, Great Books and African-American Literature.  The writing classes include Senior Composition, Advanced Composition, Creative Writing, Journalism, Advanced Journalism, Speech, Comm Tech, and Advanced Comm Tech.

-  If you plan on utilizing the PE waiver, the 1/2 credit of PE will not be required, but another elective credit in any subject area will be required.

-  A year equivalency of fine art is required between grades 7 - 12.  This means that, for example, students who took a semester of art in middle school will need 1 more semester of art during high school to fulfill this requirement.  Fine art classes include art, music, or theater classes.  Also, for what it is worth, students who take classes at the DACC or are in the PLTW program are exempt from the fine art graduation requirement.

-  The Financial Literacy course requirement can be met through a variety of different classes in different areas.  Personal Financial Management (business class), Financial Algebra (math class), and Economics & Financial Literacy and the IB History classes (social studies classes) all meet this requirement.  Current juniors (soon to be seniors) who took US History during their Sophomore Year have already fulfilled this requirement as a component of your US History class.

No School

As everyone probably already knows, we do not have school tomorrow due to the extreme cold.  I'm excited about the fact that school has already been called off so that we can sleep in without setting an alarm.  Probably even more exciting is that we can stay inside where it is warm!  :-)

The bad news about tomorrow's cancellation is that the junior meetings which were scheduled for tomorrow will now be rescheduled.  I have sent e-mails to all of the families who had signed up for meetings tomorrow with alternative dates. Please check your e-mail if this impacts you.

Curriculum night has been rescheduled for Thursday night.  Unfortunately I will not be able to attend because I am taking a counseling ethics course that meets Thursday evening.  One of the nice aspects about curriculum night is that there is a great deal of flexibility in the evening with the opportunity to move through and hear different presentations that appeal to you.  If you have questions about particular classes or course sequences, this is a great night to be able to get your questions answered.  And, while you are in the building perhaps you will want to check out the Wrestling match or the Theater production in the BlackBox as both of those events will also be taking place on Thursday night.

The online registration is open.  Just a quick reminder based upon a couple of questions I received today:
- You will not need to click any buttons to "submit" your selections - they will be saved automatically as you make your selections.
- Academic prep and options are only able to be selected once even if you want it for the whole year.  This is an issue with the way the computer reads the classes, but I will be able to fix it when I review your classes.  Just make sure you let me know when we are meeting.
- During our designated meeting time, you will need to bring in your course selection sheet (with all of your teacher recommendations signed and your parent's signature) along with the printout of the courses that you requested using the Infinite Campus system (also signed by your parent).

As more questions come in over the next few days I will probably have more updates to pass along.  Don't hesitate to let me know if you come across any issues or concerns.

Reminders about Registration

Don't forget, tomorrow the online registration system will open and all Kilbourne students will have one week
to submit your course requests using the online system.  As mentioned last week, you will log into Infinite Campus in order to select your classes and your selections will be saved automatically.

Don't forget, when you are signing up for classes you should be thinking about your total number of classes for each semester (freshmen and sophomores should be signing up for at least 6 classes each semester and juniors should sign up to take at least 5 classes during each semester of your senior year.)  That would equal 24 units in the online system.  Hopefully the "units" vs. "credits" system won't be too confusing.  Make sure you select alternates that you like.  If for some reason you didn't select enough classes, when we meet I will look at that and we can move some of your alternates up to your regular requests at that time.

Also, tomorrow night is Curriculum Night.  I know that the temperatures are expected to fall rapidly tomorrow night, but at least for now the hope is that we will still be able to get Curriculum night in as scheduled.  Should the weather prohibit Curriculum night from continuing as scheduled, a district e-mail blast will be sent and I will also try to get a post on here announcing the cancellation.

There shouldn't be any problems with the online system since this is the 2nd year we have used it, but if you have any problems, please be sure to stop and see me or e-mail me so that I can try to figure it out.

Junior Students and Parents

Juniors, are you excited? Finally, a post that is completely about you! :-) Each year as we begin the process for registering for next year's classes, I offer up the opportunity to meet for a 30 minute time block with every junior student and his/ her parents, if the parents are interested in joining us. I have set aside several days for these individual junior meetings - Tuesday, January 28th (7:30am-7:30pm), Monday, February 3rd - a late start day so plan times accordingly- (9:00am - 4:30pm), Thursday, February 6th (3:30pm - 9:00pm) and Friday, February 7th (9:00am - 7:00pm). They will be hectic days with back-to-back meetings, but I love the chance to meet with you and your parents to talk about the classes you have selected for your senior year and what your plans are for life after high school. I sent an e-mail out to your parents early this week, so talk it over with them and pick out a date and time that will work well with your schedule so that we can set up a meeting time.  If I haven't heard back from your family about setting up a meeting, I will assign you a time for us to meet.  Don't forget, please make sure you complete your online registration before our meeting!

Office Workers

Office workers play a vital role in the smooth operation of the counseling center.  They frequently help us by delivering passes to the students we need to see throughout the day and sometimes they help us with other special projects.  Although it isn't every day, they often have time to work on their homework.

The office workers earn community service hours for their volunteer commitment.  Many students feel this is an easy way to earn service hours because it is completed during the school day.

Personally, I love having my students among those serving as office workers because it allows me to get to know them better.  During the first semester we had awesome office workers (pictured above), but sadly, NONE of them were my students.  :-(

Many students are not able to continue working as office workers both semesters and so many of the class periods have openings for 1 or 2 office workers.  If you are interested in giving up your academic prep, options or lunch periods to help as an office worker, please stop by the counseling center to complete an application.  It is important to have strong grades in your classes because working as an office worker will require you to give up some of the time that you normally would have been able to dedicate to studying.  I would really love to have more of "my" students working as office workers during 2nd semester, so please consider this possibility!

Registration

As you heard yesterday during homeroom, all students currently in grades 9, 10, or 11 will use the online registration system to select the classes you would like to take next year.

Over the next few days your teachers should continue reviewing the different classes offered within their departments as well as talking with you individually about the courses they would recommend for you to take next year. Please be sure to carry your registration materials with you so that you can get your teacher signatures on the course selection sheet/ recommendation form and you can make any notes about other classes of interest. If you'd like to hear more in depth information directly from the teachers who teach particular courses, please set up a time to talk to the teacher. Let me know if you need help finding a teacher during one of their off-periods.  I also encourage you and your parents to come to Curriculum Night next Monday, January 27th at 7:00pm to learn more.

After you have determined which courses you would like to take, please talk it over with your parents and then log in and register. (The online registration system will open Monday after you have received your teacher recommendations.) You will register when you log into infinite campus with your username and password.  If you have any problems using the online registration system, please stop in and let me know so that I can try to fix it.  After you have completed your online registration, make sure you print your requested courses and have your parents sign it.

Don't forget to save your signed course recommendation forms! You *MUST* turn those in along with the requested courses page during your meeting with me.  Freshmen will meet with me during Science classes on February 4th, Sophomores will meet with me during US History classes on February 5th, and Juniors will meet with me during your individually scheduled appointments. 

Juniors, I sent an e-mail to your parents inviting them to attend our meeting.  If your parents aren't interested or able to attend, I will assign you a meeting time and you will receive an appointment slip. Please don't lose your appointment slips since they are your only reminder and your pass if you need to leave class. 

Don't forget that your classes need to be submitted online before our meeting! (Don't worry, we can still make changes if necessary.)

Talent Show

Tonight was the Talent Show.  Held each year to raise money for a cause, this year's talent show was designated for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of Drew George.  It is always so amazing to see the talent of our students on display.

Congratulations to my students who were a part of the Talent Show: Anne Dargenio, Grayson Brown, Bailey Andrews, the field hockey girls (including Lauren Hedges, Addy Boyles, Gabrielle Dendinger, Abby Souder, and Brittany Ayers), Josh Blake, Maggie Barrie, Danielle Barker and Alex Brothers.

I am impressed by all of you and your commitment and passion.  Thank you for having the courage to share your gifts as a part of this special fundraiser!

1400 Posts

I started this blog six and a half years ago to serve as a way to provide my students and their parents with updates on information that I thought would be useful to you.  Today is my 1400^th post!  That is hard for me to believe.  When I first started this blog I was beginning my 2^nd year at WKHS.  In all honesty, that seems like a very long time ago!  :-)  Maintaining the blog and trying to make sure that I updated it regularly has definitely been a labor of love.  Over the years my hope was that by using this resource as a way to share a balance of information that would allow you to gain timely updates related to things happening at school, celebrate the successes of my students, provide information about topics from all of the different domains – academic, college/ career, and personal/ social, and also sharing some information about me. 

I want you to know that I am always learning and trying to read more to make sure that I can share the most updated information with you.  My hope is that this blog has become a resource which you have been able to find relevant information that applies to your life.

Today, while I am enjoying the day off, I am also reflecting on my commitment to sharing timely information with you.  I will continue to strive to update this blog with information that I think you will find helpful, but if you have any suggestions, I encourage you to let me know so that I can make sure that this is a beneficial resource.

I hope you have enjoyed the long weekend!  See you at school tomorrow.

College Search Articles

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend!  Perhaps you will spend some of the extra time exploring college
options and working to find those that will be a good fit for you.  Here are a few articles that are related to the college search that might help you.

Evaluating a college’s learning disability services

Debunking 10 common college myths

Determining College Fit and Value


The Common Data Set Part 1: Where college guides get their numbers


The Common Data Set Part 2: Discovering a treasure chest of college information

Pros/ Cons of Going to a State School vs Out of State School

Why Perfect Students Don’t Get Accepted


New requirement for FAFSA applicants

3 tips for choosing a college for those who can’t even decide what to eat for dinner

My mom is my R.A.: 10 perks of being a commuter student

List of colleges that meet 100% of financial need

Should you choose a public or private college?

Questions to ask your campus tour guide

6 questions to ask yourself when choosing a college

Believe in the right fit

You may be applying to a private school, but should you go there?

January Students of the Month

Congratulations to the 28 students who were honored yesterday morning as Students of the Month. Kilbourne students can only be selected to receive this recognition once in their high school career.

A special congratulations to "my" students who were honored. This includes Left to Right (Front Row): Micah Vincent, Erin Dieringer, Alexis Bryant and (Back Row): Jonathan Blake, Eaman Abay, Robyn Du, and Madeline Case.  I'm proud of you all!

College Decisions

As more and more students begin hearing from colleges I thought it might be helpful to know some of the most common terms you will see in response letters from colleges. Below are some of the more common college related terms/ phrases for admissions decisions. If you receive a letter and are uncertain what something means, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly.

- Accepted: Congratulations - they are inviting you to join and be a part of their college/ university

- Declined/ Rejected/ Not Accepted: For whatever reason the college did not feel that you would be a good fit. While it is understandably disappointing, please remember that there are lots of colleges and universities out there so don’t give up on finding a good match.

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list.

I also need to remind you that colleges typically don't send that information to the school and we do try to keep track of everyone's admission's decisions.  So, please stop by and let me know as you hear back from each school.

Last Day to Add Classes

A quick reminder that tomorrow (Thursday, January 16th) is the last day to add a 2nd semester class to your schedule. Please make sure that you bring in the form (which you may have picked up from the counseling center or you can download from the WKHS Counselor Website) signed by your parents indicating that they support your class change request.

Remind 101

Some of you may be familiar with Remind 101, a communication tool that a few teachers are currently using.  The WKHS counselors have also established an account to serve as a quick and easy way for you and your parents to receive important announcements, information, deadlines, etc. from the counseling department as a text message sent directly to your cell phone.

If you would like to subscribe, send a text to 614-328-9546 with the appropriate code below:

For the class of 2014, text @wkhs2014

For the class of 2015, text @wkhs2015

For the class of 2016, text @wkhs2016

For the class of 2017, text @wkhs2017

If you have siblings at WKHS, your parents can sign up to receive messages from more than one class by sending a separate text for each one.

Please note that this is not a real phone number. We will be sending the texts from a website, not a cell phone, so the number cannot receive phone calls or reply texts (other than the one it asks you to send when you are signing up). If you need to speak me or have questions about any of the texts sent, you will need to contact me directly.

Also, while this is a free service on our end, all regular text messaging rates through your phone company will apply.

I encourage you to sign up for this additional communication tool and hope you will subscribe.  

Think carefully if you're changing your schedule

The first three days of each new semester are typically filled with countless students coming by to see if they can change their schedules.  I need to remind you to think twice before you try to make any changes.

Colleges frequently tell us the importance of seeing students maintain their challenging schedules - especially during their senior years!  A strong senior year schedule (and doing well in it) is one of the best predictors of a student's success in college.  Not only is it important to colleges because that is what they were expecting you to take, but it also shows them that you have the dedication to stick to your commitments when times get tough.  This is critical for colleges, but also a valuable life skill.  If you back away from any challenge, then you never really know what you can achieve. 

If you are a senior and you are considering changing your schedule, I want to make sure you are communicating with your college BEFORE you make any changes!  This is essential!  Colleges have the right to take away your acceptance if you make changes from what you had indicated on your application.  Two years ago I had a student who wanted to make a relatively minor change from one senior English class to a different one.  When she contacted her colleges of choice, she had two colleges that were not in favor of her making this change and after several discussions they indicated that if she wrote a letter outlining why she was making this adjustment to her schedule and how she anticipated it helping her in the future that they would take that into consideration.  Fortunately, for this individual she was still accepted to her first choice college and it all worked out well, but had she not communicated in advance and followed it up in writing, I am not confident that the outcome would have been the same.  Trust me, I am not making this up when I am telling you that I don't think you should be making changes - I am just trying to look out for you.

Now, please let me clarify, this is not true 100% of the time!  If you are struggling with your academic load, then you should make adjustments!  For students who are having a difficult time academically (F's, D's or even low C's), you need to make changes!  I don't know what those changes will be for you - hopefully it is an adjustment to your approach, time management and studying strategies, but if that is not a realistic option, then you need to change your course load.  Colleges want you to take appropriately challenging classes - in other words, classes that push you, but where you can still achieve success. 

A slightly different aspect of when I believe you need to think twice about the courses you are taking is for those students who are too overloaded.  You may be doing relatively well in all of your classes, but if you are struggling emotionally, are stressed 95% of the time (or in some of your cases even more than that), are not sleeping, or, are just barely managing to keep your head above water, then I believe you should consider adjusting your courses.  This is particularly true if you know that your second semester has commitments (such as a spring sport or a new job) that you haven't been juggling with the rest of your commitments so far this year.  Perhaps it doesn't mean you need to change your schedule, but something will need to change because your emotional and personal well being is of the utmost importance!

Good luck in your new semester classes!

Important Reminders

Congratulations, you made it through the 1st semester!  A few reminders as we head into 2nd semester:

1. You have Monday off!  Your teachers will be working to finalize all of your 2nd quarter, exam and 1st semester grades.  Enjoy sleeping in tomorrow.  I'm jealous!  :-)

 

2.  Print your schedules!  Unless every class you are taking is a year-long course, your schedule is probably changing on Tuesday.  As a result, please make sure that you have the updated copy of your classes and the rooms where your classes will meet.  You can log into Infinite Campus to print your new schedule.

3.  Remember that all schedule changes require a parent signature.  Often times students will try to change their semester long classes as we go into the new semester.  Perhaps your elective interests have changed, but understand that we cannot overload a class and I cannot magically make a class appear in the master schedule where it isn't offered.  I strongly encourage you to at least give your new classes a chance before you decide to request a change.  If you know now or after next Tuesday that you want to make a change to your schedule, you can download the course change request forms from the academic section of the WKHS Counselor Website or you can pick up a copy from the bookshelves in the counseling center.

4.  Get Organized!  The extra day off gives you the perfect opportunity to sort through all of your schoolwork from the first semester.  What do you need to keep?  What can be recycled?  What needs to be filed and saved for future reference?  Do you need new folders?  Do you need more pencils, paper, binders?  Get organized now so that you start fresh for the new semester.  It is much easier to work to stay organized than it is to try to catch back up if you start off in a hole.

5.  Last, but certainly not least - tomorrow night is the Financial Aid night!  This is the night that we rescheduled it for following last week's cancellation due to the weather.  Students and parents who are interested in figuring out more information about paying for college are strongly encouraged to attend.  The presentation will be held in the WKHS Auditorium at 7pm.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Enjoy tomorrow!

Financial Aid Night Rescheduled

Today we were able to finalize when the financial aid night could be rescheduled.  It will be held this coming Monday, January 13th at 7:00pm in the WKHS auditorium.  As I have mentioned previously, this evening will be a great opportunity for seniors and especially for parents to gain a better understanding of the FAFSA and the process for applying for financial aid.  Our guest speaker is Faith Phillips, Director of Financial Aid at OSU Newark and COTC.  I hope you will be able to join us for this informative evening.

ACT Reminder

Juniors, the best time to start taking the ACT is this semester.  The deadline to register for the February ACT is coming up this Friday, January 10th.  If you would like to sign up to take the ACT in February, please make sure you register this week.  You register directly on the ACT website - go to www.act.org and you will be able to sign up for the test date and location that appeals most to you.

Reflecting on the Past

This has been an interesting way to start the year off.  While relaxing and enjoying these bonus days, I have also been thinking a lot about the past year.  Reflecting on the past is always an important part of moving ahead.  The one word that kept coming to mind was lucky.  I am so incredibly lucky to have this job, to be able to work with all of you, and to try to make a difference in some small way.  The reality is that I have been blessed so much more than I could ever find words to describe.  (And that applies not only in school, but also in life.)  Of course, my life isn’t perfect – none of us have a perfect existence, but the reality is I am so lucky to be happy and healthy.  Each year as I work with students I see you struggle to figure out who you are and who you want to become in the future.  I hope that whatever path you take, that you will find joy, happiness, love and fulfillment.  I am grateful that you allow me to be a part of your high school journey.  Over break as well as on our first day back, I had the chance to reconnect with former students and I am proud of all that each of them are accomplishing in their lives and I am grateful that they continue to stay in touch no matter how many years it has been since they walked the halls as students at WKHS.  This opportunity to reconnect with past students also left me feeling lucky – to know that what I do every day matters.  So, as I head into 2014 I am going to try to focus on being more grateful for all of the little things.  And while I am sure that finding gratitude can be hard some days (think of the days when everyone just wants to complain about their schedule), the daily visits, the successes when you overcome an obstacle that has been challenging you, and the chance to celebrate in your accomplishments will far outweigh any days that can wear on me and so I am lucky and for 2014 I hope to approach each day with an attitude of gratitude.  Thanks for joining me in this journey!  I hope 2014 is everything you are hoping it will be in your life.

Financial Aid Night Postponed

With the extreme cold they have not only cancelled school for tomorrow, but also all activities in the buildings
including the financial aid night.  So, the financial aid night has been postponed and we are currently working on rescheduling the presentation.  As soon as we have the date finalized, I will let you know.  For now, please be sure to stay warm tomorrow and enjoy the extra day off.

Closed Tomorrow

OK, ignore my post from earlier tonight.  We don't have school tomorrow due to the extremely cold weather.  So, please stay warm and know that there will NOT be a PSAT/ PLAN workshop tomorrow.  Enjoy the extra long weekend!

Reminders for Tomorrow

No, sorry, I have no idea if we are going to have school tomorrow.  It is the question on everyone's mind and I hope that a decision is able to be made yet tonight.  Unfortunately, as I have told many of you when we are talking in my office - I am not a mind reader.  So, I am not sure if the cold weather will keep us at home or not.  That is definitely a question that will be answered by people far above my pay grade.  :-)

If we are at school, I wanted to remind you and your parents that we have the PSAT/ PLAN Workshop tomorrow morning at 7:45am.  We have a guest speaker from the Princeton Review who will review information to better help you understand your PSAT scores.  We (counselors) have also prepared information to help you understand your PLAN scores.  Please be sure to bring your score report(s) with you to the workshop!

For the 9th and 12th graders who, most likely, did not take the PSAT or PLAN tests, tomorrow is scheduled to be a Late Start day which means you will not start school until 9:10am.

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend!  If we are in school tomorrow, please dress warm!  And this definitely means you should wear a winter coat... I know that there are a lot of students who skip wearing a coat because they don't want to deal with the inconvenience.  I genuinely hope that you all have a winter coat.  If any of you do not have a coat, I hope you will please let me know.  Although it will not help for tomorrow, we will do what we can to help make sure you have a coat to stay warm on these brutally cold days.

(And, FYI, I have put off posting this blog post for as long as I could waiting to see if we would get word about school being in session.)

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 now that we have 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 and the FAFSA must be completed each year. 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 Tuesday, January 7th. There is also an event known as “College Goal Sunday” which is Sunday, February 9th 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/.

2 Hour Delay

2 posts in 1 day - but I wanted to make sure that you heard the latest news...
We have a 2 hour delay tomorrow due to the weather!

The combination of the bad roads, cold temperatures and blowing wind has led the district to call for a 2-hour delay.  Classes will begin at 9:45am.

Below is the bell schedule:

1st Period: 9:45 - 10:20
2nd Period: 10:35 - 11:00
3rd Period (and announcements): 11:05 - 11:45
4th Period: 11:50 - 12:25
5th Period: 12:30 - 1:05
6th Period: 1:10 - 1:45
7th Period: 1:50 - 2:25
8th Period: 2:30 - 3:05

Also, today a large number of students left notes that they want to make schedule changes for the 2nd semester.  Remember that you need to bring an add/ drop form signed by your parents if you want me to make any changes.  (You can pick up a form from the bookshelf in the front of the counseling center or download a copy from the WKHS Counselor website - www.wkhscounselors.com - in the academic area.

Alumni "Extravaganza"

Today approximately 25 of Worthington Kilbourne's alumni came back to share their experiences and insights with our current Kilbourne students.  It was wonderful to welcome these students back to the school.  

Hearing about what they are doing now, what college has been like for them and their plans for the future  was touching.  I can vividly remember talking to some of my former students about their dream careers when they were in high school and to know that today they are making progress toward those goals or that they have even already achieved their dreams was incredibly powerful.

I also enjoyed hearing about their reflections about how WKHS prepared them for the next stages of their lives.  One student after the next talked about how their experiences at Kilbourne helped them succeed in college.

The graduates also shared thoughts about successfully balancing the responsibilities and freedoms of college including the academics, social, and personal aspects.

I was particularly thankful for the 13 alumni who were formerly my students that participated in today's panel discussions.  A huge thank you to (left to right): Andy Gottesman, Keeler Callahan, Sam Johnson, Chad Ellwood, Nick Bortolani, Josh Cook, Carly Cameron, Ethan Dixius, Naomi Barker, Hannah Vincent, Brittany Hammond, Will Campbell and Roy Greim!  Being able to visit briefly and catch up with each of you was the perfect way to kick off the new year.  Good luck to each of you in the exciting opportunities ahead of you in the future!  Thanks again for presenting to our students today.

Back to Reality

Well, it is January 1st.  Hard to believe.  For seniors, today marks another major college application deadline and I was relieved that I didn't see any e-mails that you were in a panic about submitting your applications in time.  For all of us, today is also the final day of our winter break and tomorrow we are back to reality with a bright and early start of school.  Getting up early may be a struggle (definitely for me) but at least we have the "Alumni Extravaganza" event to look forward to during the day.  In case you haven't heard the news, the IB Business class has been planning an event to bring back alumni to share their thoughts and experiences related to college and choosing careers.

I have started notes about my thoughts and reflections on 2013 and still plan on sharing them with you, but that will have to wait for a later blog post.  For now, Happy New Year and I will see you tomorrow!