College Admissions Decisions

College admissions decisions are already starting to come in for some students. Every senior looks forward to receiving college acceptance letters. It is an exciting time and reassures you 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 to hear about your status on if you have been accepted or not until sometime in March. 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.)

Counselor Website

I mention the Kilbourne Counselor website often, but I still feel like it deserves to have a post all of it's own.  When we created the counselor website we wanted to provide students and parents with an easy, one-stop place, to get as many of the resources and information answers that you regularly need.  

Have you visited www.wkhscounselors.com lately?  

We work really hard to keep the website current and so it is updated on a regular basis – often daily.  The site features information about succeeding academically, college/ career pursuits, and personal/ social information resources.  So often people ask me questions and I point them to the website for the answer because it is the easiest place to find the information over waiting until you are back at school and going and finding the paper version of the forms, etc.

Take a moment and check it out and please be sure to bookmark the site so that you can refer back to it often.  And, if there is anything that you think it should include but don’t see on the site, please let me know so that we can add it.

Of course, I have to acknowledge that none of the counselors are very website savvy and so while I have literally read a "Joomla for Dummies" book to try to help create the website, none of what you see would be possible without the expertise, know-how, dedication and countless hours of time that Mr. Estice from Phoenix Middle School (and Sasha's dad) has contributed.

Volunteering

Have you been donating your time toward community service?  Some students love finding opportunities to serve others and some have great intentions of wanting to help others, but struggle to find options for how they can get involved in meaningful ways.

As you begin applying to college and searching for scholarships there are many times that questions come up about what community service experiences you have had. And, even if not asked directly, if you had memorable experiences they can often be used to support your essay responses.

Your volunteer work doesn’t have to be a huge project or consist of thousands of hours of time – what is important is to get involved!  No matter what year you are, now is a great time to start working on volunteering – the experiences will help you in the long run.

Community service opportunities are as different as each individual who decides they want to help make a difference in the world around them. The sky is the limit and I encourage you to find something that inspires you.

Some volunteer ideas that could help get you started could include – community beautification projects (cleaning up parks or areas of the city), helping elderly neighbors, visiting nursing homes to perform music or talk with residents, homeless outreach, helping at the library, packing groceries for a food bank, assisting at the humane society or other animal shelters, wrapping and handing out gifts to those less fortunate, organizing and attending holiday parties for kids or the poor that would usually have nothing to celebrate, serving in a project for those who are disabled or ill (such as Make a Wish, A Kid Again, Adventures for Wish Kids, or the Special Olympics), fundraising or recruitment events, becoming the champion for a cause and helping with awareness (Diabetes, Cancer, Organ Donation), and the list literally goes on and on. Also, don’t forget that there are several co-curricular groups at WKHS that focus on community service such as Interact Club, REACH club, Project MORE and Wolves for Cubs and you are encouraged to look into those opportunities as well.  Also, if you are trying to volunteer during the school day at WKHS, don't forget that every semester we are looking for office workers to help out in the Counseling Center.

I am anxious to hear your community service stories and the ways you are working to make a difference!

Photos on Campus Visits

Over Thanksgiving break I spent time talking with my niece about making college visits.  I know that many of you are combining your holiday trips with visits to campuses.  If you are planning on making visits to a college campus, I encourage you to try to arrange with the admissions office the opportunity to participate in their information session and taking a formal tour.  Sometimes, especially during breaks, colleges will have limited availability for these sessions and tours.  As a result I encourage you to work on your visit plans early and try to register with the colleges so that you can make the most out of your experience on campus.  While you are at the college, I also want to ask you to please, take a picture of YOU somewhere on campus!  It doesn't have to be near a campus sign (although that is definitely a popular option).  I would like to have a copy of your campus visit photo - you can email it to me and I will print it out and post it on the "Oh the Places You'll Go" board during your senior year.

Countdown to Exams

The countdown is on... you have just 16 days of school left before semester exams begin. That means that you have 16 school days left in the 2nd quarter.  16 days to make sure your quarter grades are where they need to be prior to exams.  And yes, while I *know* some (or maybe all) of you don't want to hear this, with only 16 days left, it is also REALLY important that you start studying now for exams. 

Please take a critical look at where you stand in each of your classes and what you need to do to finish out the quarter and begin fully preparing for exams.  If your grades are not where they should be at this point in time, please make use of the resources available to you - the academic assistants in room 209 and, most importantly, your teachers. I am also here to help you with studying strategies and tips if needed. For many students, your final grade for the semester will come down to how you finish out this quarter and how well you do on semester exams. Please don't neglect this opportunity to make the most of the remaining time.

Pre-ACT Scores Released

Your Pre-ACT scores are already back!  I know that many of you picked up your scores before Thanksgiving, but if you haven't had a chance to do so, please be sure to stop by the Counseling Center to pick them up.  You can pick up your score sheets during your lunch periods or before or after school from any of the secretaries at the front of the counseling center. 

One nice feature of the PreACT is that you will get your test booklet and the score summary written report.  You can use this information to help you determine what you did well on and what you want to improve on in the future.

Don't forget, these are just practice tests so they are giving you an indication of where you might expect to score on the actual ACT and you can use your results to help guide you in preparing to achieve college readiness.

I hope your scores were what you were expecting (or perhaps even better).  If you have any questions don't hesitate to stop by and see me.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I have so much to be thankful for today and every day.  I hope you know that you are part of what I am grateful for and that I am thankful that you are in my life!  As I pause to give thanks I wanted to share a few of my Thanksgiving thankful thoughts with all of you.

I am thankful for:

- Lexi.  If you know me at all you know how thankful I am for the unconditional love, sweet morning snuggles, and crazy fun and laughter of playing keep away with her toys that she brings to my life each day.  She has filled a place in my heart that I didn't even realize was empty and she is pure, genuine love in action form with a wet nose and a wagging tail.
- My Family.  We are so lucky to be gathered together this holiday weekend.  Like my students who have divorced parents, my family will be splitting time between both of my parents homes for Thanksgiving.  (Which means lots of eating!)  I am particularly grateful for my niece Carly and my nephews Colton and Brady.  They always make me smile and I love being able to spend time with them.
- My mom's cooking.  Technically, I suppose this should still be under my family, but I was thinking about all the ways that my mom shows her love for us and her cooking is one example.  We are so spoiled - she takes care of the entire holiday meal each year and I love that we have the same Thanksgiving meal each year.  (Honestly, most years I don't even ask if she wants me to bring anything and this year I at least put out the offer - she just laughed and said no.  Thank God!)  :-)
-  My job.  I am so lucky to have a job that is rewarding, fulfilling, and that never gets boring.  No two days are alike and it is always exciting to see what will happen with each new day.
-  My students.  Let's be honest, the reason I love my job is because I have the best students!  I am so fortunate to be a part of your lives.  The fact that you choose to talk to me during difficult days and include me in your celebration on happy days means far more than you can imagine.  I consider it an honor to work with you and I learn so much from you.
-  The families of my students.  Not only do students welcome me into their lives, but many families do so as well.  The words of encouragement and appreciation you share mean a great deal to me.
- My friends.  I have many friends, but even more importantly are the small group that make up my "true friends" - those people who I can count on no matter what.  They bring such joy and love to my life.
-  My coworkers.  I am lucky to work with people who I consider friends.  They listen, support, encourage and believe in me.  I trust them without question and I am a better person and a better counselor because of them.  (Not to mention that they also love on, spoil, and help with Lexi at school every day too.)
-  My health.  I am aware of just how fortunate I am to be blessed with good health.  There are so many of my friends, students and their families that have been dealing with their own medical difficulties which helps me realize just how lucky I am to be healthy and reminds me that I shouldn’t take it for granted.
-  My former students.  There is no way that I can express how much it means to me when former students keep in touch.  E-mails, calls, text messages, or visits when they are home - each are priceless gifts to my heart.  I am so thankful that these students choose to stay in touch even though there is nothing that I can do for them anymore.
-  Generosity and compassion in action.  It is so inspiring to see acts of kindness, generosity and compassion being demonstrated in big or small ways.  I love seeing it directed toward those most in need and also appreciate the times when it has been shown to me as well.
-  Stability.  I am so fortunate to live a stable life.  I have a solid foundation of faith, food on my table, a roof over my head, the ability to take hot showers, and a warm bed to sleep in each night.  There are so many people in our world who pray for the things I tend to take for granted.
-  Freedom.  I am so blessed to live in this country and am thankful for all the men and women who have sacrificed so much to maintain our freedom.

It is a long list, but quite honestly, if I gave you more specifics this list would continue on and on because I am so blessed.  I hope that today you will find time to reflect on what you are grateful for this Thanksgiving.  And, if your life is feeling pretty rough and you don't have much to be thankful for, please know that you are in my prayers and that I hope things will improve.

Have a great day and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Everyone has a Story

Hooray!  We made it to Thanksgiving break!

I wanted to express my gratitude to all of my students who allow me to share in your lives in big or small ways.  It means so much that you will allow me to walk beside you during the excitement of celebratory moments or during the tear-filled moments of heartache and disappointment.  By opening up your lives to me, each of you has impacted my life in ways you can't even imagine and I am incredibly thankful.

In a lot of ways, this welcoming into the lives of my students was on display with the recent "Everyone has a Story" project.  You do have stories and it is a privilege when I can know about and share in those experiences with you.  Over the last few weeks 10 students (5 of which were "my" kids) shared their stories not just with me, but with the whole school.  I am so thankful for and impressed by the courage demonstrated by each of them.  A huge thank you to: Joclyn Blake, Jack Begley, Maddie Reeve, Noah Spaulding-Schecter, Grace Karlock, Zach Richardson, Bobby Hilligoss, Harley Davidson, Blair Andrews, and Maxim Estevez-Curtis. 

But I'd also like to remind you that even though your story wasn't shared publicly, it doesn't mean that it is any less important.  You deserve to have people around you to support and care for you every day no matter what you are experiencing.  And it might not be bad things!  You can have wonderful things happening like college acceptances or new boyfriend/ girlfriends in your life which can fill you with excitement and that too deserves to have people care about it just like you are excited and care about it.

Now that we have hit Thanksgiving break and this project is wrapping up, my hope is that you will still try to find the courage to share your own story with me, with other adults you trust, or with the people in your life who mean the most to you.  I also hope that you will always remember the power you have to help make a positive difference in the lives of those around you by listening and caring.  Every day, you make a difference!  I get to see and hear about it from your friends and peers all of the time, but often you don't even realize the impact you are having on those around you.  So let me remind you that you DO make a difference!

Please be careful over this Thanksgiving Break!  If you are traveling, I hope you have a safe trip.  If you are staying in town, I hope you are able to relax some.  No matter what, I hope you will know that I am thankful for you and wishing you the most wonderful Thanksgiving holiday imaginable.

Organization System

I love the sentiment that your head is a good place to have ideas, but not the place to hold ideas and I believe that makes sense. I have been talking with a lot of students lately about the fact that I need to write everything down.  It would be impossible to remember everything that I need to keep track of if I didn't write it all down.

What works for me is making lists.  It doesn't have to be making a list (although I would argue that there is great joy in being able to cross something off once you have accomplished it), 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.  It doesn't require a lot of time, but the payoffs are large as long as you stick with it. 

As you start thinking about the end of the semester, please work on staying focused and organized. What do you need to do to make sure that you end this quarter successfully? 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.

Figure out what you need to do, gather your materials from the semester and organize them, prepare now so that as you are studying you already have your resources at your fingertips and don't have to waste time searching through everything and above all, organize yourself so that you can apply yourself completely to the end of the semester.

(And, for the record, if your bookbag looks like this one, PLEASE, stop everything now and get organized!)

How was your day?

How was your day?  Was it a good day?  A bad day?  A just ok, blah, day?  How do you know?

Really... how do you know?

What are you looking at within yourself to help define what type of a day you had?  I get it, we often answer without giving a lot of thought to how the day was and that can lead us to lumping together the whole of the day into simple terms - good, fine, bad, hard, ok, etc.

But you are so much more complex than that and so are your days.  There are certainly good moments - perhaps when you got a strong grade on a test and bad moments - like when you spilled food on your pants at lunch.  And yes, some days it feels like everything is going right and your hard work is completely paying off or days when it seems as if nothing you do is good enough and it all just snowballs into a major mess.

The reality is though, I'd love to have you start really paying attention to yourself and noting how you are feeling and how you know that you are feeling that way.  If you are anxious, how do you know that?  Do you get a fluttering in your stomach, tension in your arms, shaking in your legs?  It is the same concept of paying attention to the signals your body sends to you when you are hungry.  You know that you are hungry, but how do you know that?  As the commercials for Snicker's candy bars point out - sometimes we don't realize it and we just get grumpy and mean when we are hungry which is absolutely possible.  That is just another reason why it is important to know and recognize the signs that our body gives us to let us know that we are feeling some way - hungry, tired, angry, sad, happy, anxious, or excited.

If you can start identifying how you feel, then you can identify the why behind it and decide if you want to make choices to build upon those feelings or to make changes to shift away from them.

Additionally, I hope that if you are asked about your day by your parents or teachers or friends or me that you will actually pause for a moment and evaluate your whole day and not just the feeling or sensation that you are experiencing in that moment (although that feeling is valid and important).  There are two key questions I try to keep in mind when planning and reflecting on my days and perhaps they will help you as well...

1. What good do I plan to do today?
2. What good did I accomplish today?

I know that as teenagers sometimes it feels like everything is happening to you, but you have so much power and so much of an ability to make a positive impact and I hope that you harness that power to be intentional about doing good and taking pride as you look back on the good which you accomplished during the day.  The kindness you show others may have taken just a moment, but you may never fully know the impact that it had on someone else's life.

Speaking for myself, I don't know that I am always great about accomplishing as much good as I hope and plan for each day, but I can promise you the desire and drive to continue trying helps motivate me for each new day ahead.

Delaware Area Career Center

Today was a field trip to the Delaware Area Career Center. As a reminder, don't forget that even if attending the career center, WKHS students are always WKHS students. With most programs you will have the option of attending the career center for full days (where you would take your lab coursework which counts as elective credits and your academic courses all at the career center) or for half days (where you only take the lab coursework at the career center and then return to WKHS for the other half of the day for your academic classes). You will graduate from Worthington Kilbourne and continue to participate on our athletic teams - even if you decide that you want to attend the career center for the full day. 

I strongly encourage you to check out the programs because the hands on opportunities to learn something new while also gaining your required elective credits can be a very appealing option! If you didn't have the chance to participate in today's field trip there is a second look day trip on December 12th. There is also an Open House that you and your parents can attend on December 6th.  Any students interested in making this visit should stop by the WKHS Counseling & Career Center to pick up a permission slip from the secretaries. Permission slips must be submitted in advance in order to make arrangements for your visit.

For those of you who participated in the field trip today, don't forget that the application for attending DACC next school year is now open on their website and while the priority deadline isn't until the beginning of January, I strongly suggest that you apply before we all leave for winter break so that all components of your application are able to be completed by me and the school so that your application gets full consideration.

College Recruited Athletics

Yesterday, we celebrated as Amber signed her letter of intent to participate in college athletics.  For those of you who might be planning or hoping to follow that same path to be recruited as varsity athletes in college, there are things you need to know about how your academics will influence your college options.

If you are hoping to be a recruited athlete, it is important to be aware of the restrictions on when athletes can be contacted by coaches as well as when it is acceptable for you to reach out to college coaches.  Additionally, the emphasis on academics is critical and so the NCAA and the NAIA both require student athletes to register to determine their academic/ athletic eligibility.

The website for NCAA Eligibility is: www.eligibilitycenter.org

The website for NAIA Eligibility is: http://www.playnaia.org/

NAIA Requirements:

Must meet 2 out of 3 requirements in addition to graduating from high school

• Minimum GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale
• Minimum test score of 18 composite score on the ACT or 860 on the SAT (excluding writing section) – They do not superscore
• Graduation in the top 50% of your high school class

You must submit test scores directly from the testing agencies.  Their number is 9876.

Students must submit a transcript after graduation.  Only 1 transcript is needed and should be sent after graduation unless you qualify for an “Early Decision.”  To be eligible for an early decision students must have the minimum test scores and have earned at least a 3.0 GPA after junior year or at least a 2.5 GPA after first semester of senior year.  If you will qualify for an early decision, you may send your transcript early and you will receive an eligibility determination before you graduate from high school.

Registration fee: $80

NCAA Requirements:

The NCAA requirements are a bit more complex because there are different requirements depending upon which division a student hopes to play in during college.

Please look carefully at what your requirements will be depending on your anticipated division of play.  (Division 3 does not require eligibility approval for participation.)

ACT scores used to determine eligibility are the sum of the individual scores (English, math, reading and science – not composite) and the SAT is the sum of the critical reading and math sections.  Writing scores are not used.  They do superscore (taking highest scores from each area added together rather than just using the highest from 1 testing date.)

You must submit test scores directly from the testing agencies.  Their number is 9999.

One of the key components to understand with NCAA requirements is that they compute your Core GPA instead of looking at your Kilbourne GPA.  Core GPA is made up of just your core classes – English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Foreign Language classes.  Please double check the list of NCAA approved courses on the NCAA website as not all Kilbourne classes in the core areas are NCAA approved.

Registration fee: $80

They will require that you submit your transcript after your junior year and again after you graduate from high school.

Online classes (such as credit recovery) cannot count for core classes.

Attached is the worksheet you can use to calculate your core GPA.  

Division 1:

• 16 core classes
• 4 English
• 3 Math
• 2 Science
• 1 additional credit in either English, Math or Science
• 2 Social Studies
• 4 Additional years of Core Classes (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, or Foreign Language)
• 10 of the 16 core classes must be completed prior to the start of the senior year and 7 of these 10 must be in English, Math and Science.
• The 10 classes completed before the start of senior year are locked in for GPA calculation of core GPA.
• Minimum GPA and minimum test scores based upon sliding scale
• Lowest GPA is 2.3 to fully qualify
• Students with a 2.0 GPA may qualify for an academic redshirt

Division 2:

• 16 core classes
• 3 English
• 2 Math
• 2 Science
• 3 additional credit in either English, Math or Science
• 2 Social Studies
• 4 Additional years of Core Classes (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, or Foreign Language)
• Minimum GPA is 2.0
• Minimum test scores is ACT sum score of 68 or SAT sum score of 820.

If you have questions about college athletic participation, please feel free to see me, your coaches, or Mr. Todd in the athletic office.

Letter of Intent

This afternoon Amber Beals signed her national letter of intent to play volleyball at the University of Michigan. Family members, friends, teammates, and coaches attended the signing ceremony to show their support of Amber and to celebrate this great accomplishment with her. Amber shared some heartfelt remarks and signed the form representing her commitment to play volleyball for Michigan, but this day was more of a celebration of all the years of hard work and dedication that she has invested in volleyball to maximize her abilities. Congratulations Amber! I am so proud of you and wish you nothing but the best at Michigan!

Searching for Careers

Is there a question that instills more paralyzing uncertainty for most high school students than "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  I doubt it.  

The reality is that most high school students are so caught up in the moments of today that it is hard to imagine what you will do for the rest of your lives.  Additionally, you don't always know all of the different types of careers that are out there that you can consider - for many of you, the careers you will some day have may not even exist today.  So, please, don't worry if you have no clue what you'd like to do some day.

However not knowing yet doesn't mean that it isn't important and helpful to start exploring different career fields and considering different jobs that might be a good fit with your strengths, needs, and interests.

Here are 2 great websites with information about different careers that are great places to begin your exploration about career options available:

Occupational Outlook Handbook: The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is revised every two years.

O*Net (Occupational Information Network): source providing comprehensive information on key attributes and characteristics of workers and occupations. This site also includes a Skills Search section for students to complete as a self-assessment.

Enjoy exploring these different sites and learning about careers and opportunities available in your future!

Holiday Help

Holidays can bring a great deal of joy and holiday spirit and this is most evident each year as I watch our school come together each year to help families in need with the “Adopt a Child” campaign (which kicks off one week from today).  It is heart-warming to see our student body unite to help brighten the holiday for families experiencing financial and emotional stress is one of the greatest gifts you can give and helping others is often the best way to help make you feel better too.

However, for some students it is hard to focus on trying to brighten the holiday for other families when you are worrying about what you will have for Thanksgiving dinner or how you will eat during winter break.  I hope I can suggest some resources that you (or maybe a friend of yours) could use.  

Below is a short list of places where you may be able to get help.

- One of the local churches, Worthington Presbyterian Church, is providing WKHS with all of the food for Thanksgiving meals so that we can distribute them to some of our families in need.  If you need help with a Thanksgiving meal, please contact me ASAP so that I can try to see if I can arrange for a meal for you.

-  Community Cares Backpack Program:

     A group of dedicated, compassionate and incredibly thoughtful Worthington mom's do a variety of things to help our school community through the Activity Club.  One of those programs is to provide backpacks of food that students can take home with them over the weekend to add a little extra to their family's food supplies.  Every other week, we receive several backpacks that we can distribute.  If this resource is something that would be helpful for you, please let me know so that I can add you onto the list for future backpacks.  Please note that while this is provided by WKHS mom's, it is still confidential - they provide the backpacks to us and we distribute the bags to our students in need.

- WKHS Community Cares Closet:
     The Activity Club also stocks a closet of toiletries and other items that any WKHS family in need can access.  There are a wide range of items available for you to take home with you including shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, soap, feminine hygeine products, lotion, deodorant, shaving cream, and more.  The closet is located in the Counseling Center and I am happy to show you where it is so that you can take whatever supplies you need.  Please note that if there are specific items you were searching for that might be out of stock when you stop by the community mom's are constantly refilling the closet and if you let me know what item you were hoping to access, I can make sure that they know it is currently out of stock and let you know once it has been added again.

- Worthington Resource Pantry: www.worthingtonresourcepantry.org   614-985-1766

     Located at 6700 Huntley Rd., Columbus, OH 43229, the Worthington Resource Pantry provides families in our community with food and other resources of support.  Their hours are Mondays 10 - 2, Wednesdays 3 - 7, and the 3rd & 4th Saturdays of the month from 10 - 12.  

-  Dublin Food Pantry: www.dublinfoodpantry.org

     If you live in the 43016 zip code you could also utilize the Dublin Food Pantry.

-  Faith Mission: 

     If you are in need of a free meal, please join Faith Mission at the Community Kitchen (245 N. Grant Ave.) during the following times. Breakfast: Men – 6:30 – 7:15 (8:30 – 9:30 on weekends and holidays) Women and families – 7:30 – 8:15   Lunch: Women and families – 11:30 – 12:15 Men – 12:30 – 1:30   Dinner: Women and families – 5:30 – 6:15 Men – 6:45 – 7:45  See more at: http://www.lssnetworkofhope.org/faithmission/services/  They also have a food pantry.

-  Kroger Community Pantry:

     The Kroger Community Pantry is run in partnership with Mid-Ohio Food Bank.  The Kroger Community Pantry is located at 3960 Brookham Dr., Grove City.  Current hours are on Tuesdays from 10 – 3pm, Wednesdays from 5:30 – 7:30pm, Thursdays from 11 - 2pm, Fridays from 8 – 2pm, and Saturdays from 8 – 1pm.  Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to posted closing time.  Also, because the pantry relies on volunteers to remain open, the pantry may close earlier than posted times. Please call 614-317-9487 before you arrive to hear any changes to the schedule.  https://www.midohiofoodbank.org/get-help/

-  Hands On Central Ohio: http://handsoncentralohio.org    By phone: 211

     Hands on Central Ohio is an organization dedicated to connecting those in need with resources.  Information about Thanksgiving meals for those who need them can be found at: https://211centralohio.org/MatchList.aspx?k;;0;;N;0;573603;Thanksgiving%20Meals;Thanksgiving;Partial;570443 

      And they also have information about Christmas food and gifts that can be found by clicking on Holiday/ Winter Programs at: https://211centralohio.org/Subcategory.aspx?;;0;;N;0;765534;Seasonal%20Services

-  Regular Monthly Meals:

     You may already know this because we have this resource is available year-round and is featured on the WKHS Counselor website, but several local churches provide meals to anyone in the community needing assistance.  This page highlights where and when these meals are available to families in need. 

I am fully aware that all needs are not just related to food/ toiletries.  Here are a few resources if you have additional needs.

-  Charity Newsies   http://www.charitynewsies.com/getting-help/

     Charity Newsies is an organization that provides clothing to students in need.  A parent/ legal guardian needs to arrange for the clothing to be provided, but they can provide a complete set of clothing needs for each student that qualifies and needs it.

-  Salvation Army:  Food and Toys

     Perhaps you have seen the red kettles that appear each year - these donations are used to help provide food and gifts for families in need.  Information about their Christmas assistance program is available here: http://co.salvationarmy.org/CentralOhio/christmas-assistance

     Registration for assistance will take place this week (Week of November 12th) and the week after Thanksgiving (Week of November 26th).  Specific details about times and locations as well as required documentation are available on the Salvation Army's website.  Once families have registered for food and toy assistance, you will then be able to pick up your toys and holiday meal the week before Christmas.  If you have questions, you can contact them at 614-358-2622.

-  2 Hands:  Specific Needs

     This online resource helps connect Ohio families in need with those who are willing and able to help.  Families indicate their specific needs on the website and then others volunteer to help meet those needs.  Information about this resource is available at: http://www.2hands.org/online-christmas-help/in-ohio.php

-  Single Parents Alliance of America

     I heard that this organization also had resources to help support individuals who qualify, but I will be honest, I am not sure what those resources include.  It is worth looking into though if you are a single parent to see if it might be of help.  http://www.spaoa.org/splash/?gclid=CPTnge_tg8kCFQktaQodF9sNpA

As always, please stop by and talk if you are having problems this holiday season. If you need food, clothing or just want to talk about some struggles you are having, my door is open for you. I hope you are able to relax and enjoy this holiday season.

Veteran's Day

I know that we celebrated Veteran's Day at WKHS last Monday ahead of today's official holiday.  It is a holiday that holds a special place in my heart.  I have such a high level of respect and appreciation for all of the men and women who make, and have made, the decision to serve our nation in the military.  Right now we have so many WKHS graduates who are serving in the military and no matter if they are in boot camp or already serving overseas it is a good reminder of how courageous so many of our students are in making decisions for the good of our country.  Personally, my mind can't help but go to my grandfather and his friends who served in WWII and knowing how much the war impacted their lives.  My grandfather has always been one of my heroes and his friends were like family to me too and so today, and every day, I am thankful for them.  I wish I expressed my gratitude to them more while they were all still alive, but I also hope that all of the men and women who are and have ever made the decision to serve our nation know the depth of thankfulness that people, like me, hold for their service.

Missing College Application Items

This week I have received so many emails from seniors in a panic about the notifications they have received from colleges about additional requirements needed to complete their applications.

There are things that you have to know and take care of related to your applications - transcripts and test scores are two of the big ones that seem to be causing the most problem at this point.  See, the challenge is that colleges know these are components that many students forget so as soon as they download your application, many colleges automatically generate an email to remind you about needing to send them.

So what do you do if you get one of these notification letters?

The first step is to stop and ask yourself - did you request your transcript?  That means, did you fill out the blue transcript release form for us?  If you did, and the application was through Common App or SendEDU you can log onto the websites to verify that your transcript was sent and on what day it was submitted.  If you applied through a college that doesn't use Common App or SendEDU, you should have received an email from Mrs. McDaniel when your transcript was submitted or you can stop in to see her to make sure you had requested your transcript, paid your $1 and that it was sent.

For your test scores, it is often harder to recall off the top of your head if you had submitted your scores or not since you signed up for 4 free scores to go to colleges when you registered for the tests.  So, I suggest that you log into the ACT and SAT websites and double check that your test scores were sent to every college where you are applying.

Colleges get really back-logged at peak application times and so it can take them several weeks to get all of the various components of applications matched up and processed and updated on their computer systems.  So, if your materials were sent in within the last 2-3 weeks and you can see that your materials were submitted, then you can relax because it just means that their system is backed up.  You can continue double checking on the college website to verify that they have everything.  If you are reaching the end of the 3rd week and they still don't show that they have everything, then you can give them a call to double check the status of your materials.  Like I said, chances are they just haven't made it there yet, but there are times where materials can get lost in the mail or filed in the wrong area.  If your transcript needs sent again, we can help you work to take care of that, but first make sure that it is really missing.

Sleep

I had hoped that last weekend and the extra hour of sleep connected to the time change would have meant that we would all feel well rested and ready for the week ahead... but that certainly wasn't how it played out.  Each day I repeatedly heard the same sentiments as I typically hear in most weeks with students proclaiming, "I'm so tired!" or "I need a nap!" or "I can barely stay awake!" and the reality is that most of you are sleep deprived.

The pace of our society tends to have people running in a million directions and so sleep is somehow pushed to the back-burner, but teens in particular need more sleep than even adults and yet you are stretched just as thin.  I know that getting more sleep is definitely easier said than done.  You have homework, sports, jobs, clubs, community service, time with family and friends, and hopefully some personal time to spend relaxing or doing the hobbies and activities that are meaningful and rejuvenating to you.  But when sleep becomes less of a priority and you become more and more exhausted, research has shown that it has a significant, negative effect on your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

I know that it isn't easy to just say, "yes I need to get more sleep" and then have it happen, but I hope you will consider what small step you could take this week to try to increase how much sleep you can get each night - even if it is just an additional 30 minutes.  The steps you might elect to take will be different for each student and your commitments, but the effort to invest into your own well-being will be worth it!

I hope you have a great weekend with lots of time to rest!

So Much to Celebrate

There have been a lot of wonderful things happening over the last week that are worthy of celebration.

Last Friday morning was the first Socratic Society induction ceremony of the year.  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! (Alphabetically): Owen Alderman, Ella Bally, Kaleigh Brophy, Aidan Cameron, Jordan Castelli, Karen Chavez, Aaron Chen, Devin Coons, Chris Coppel, Jack Corcoran, Ryan Cox, Gavin Crozier, Ethan Emami, Walker Evans and Sami Fink. I am proud of each of you!

Additionally, last Friday I had the opportunity to go and see one of my students, Maxim Estevez-Curtis, perform in her Senior Solo.  Maxim has been studying viola for years and worked extensively to prepare for her performance with her solo accompanied by an orchestra.  It was incredible to see her talent on display and all of the love and support she received.

And finally, the entire Worthington School District is celebrating that both Issue 9 and Issue 10 passed yesterday.  This will help our district to meet the needs of the students now and in the future.  For me, I want to say Thank You to all of the voters who helped to keep our district strong.

Pre-ACT Reminders

If you are taking the Pre-ACT tomorrow, you will report directly to the gymnasium when you arrive to school in the morning. You will need to bring your student id with you in order to check in. You will also need a number 2 pencil (no mechanical pencils allowed), a calculator, and I would recommend a watch. The test will begin promptly by 7:45 and you will finish testing at the start of 5th period.  (If you have lunch 4th period we will be sure you have time to eat and give you pass to go to 5th period.)

I was very happy to see so many of my students signed up to be taking practice test for the ACT and I wish you all good luck!  I hope it will be a meaningful practice opportunity for you in preparation for when you take the actual ACT in the future.

Good luck on the test!

Notes for This Week

This is a pretty crazy week ahead with lots of things I'd like to make sure you are aware of including my limited availability.

Tuesday is the Pre-ACT so I will be busy with test administration for most of the day.

Tuesday is also Election Day!  I believe that everyone living in the Worthington School District has hopefully heard about the fact that there is are two school issues on the ballot for November's election. Issues 9 and 10 are essential for our schools to continue functioning in an effective manner for all current and future students. Now, I realize that the majority of the students reading this blog are under 18, so this post is really more of a reminder to encourage your parents and your extended family and friends who live in the district to vote in support of Issues 9 and 10. Obviously, for all of the students over 18, hopefully you have already registered to vote so that you can have a say in the future of the schools.

Wednesday we will be hosting a special presentation called "Listen, Lucy" during 5th period.  If you have lunch, prep or options during 5th period I hope you will plan to attend the program in the auditorium.  I know there are several classes who will also be bringing their students to hear the presentation about reducing the stigma related to mental health and seeking support when needed.

Thursday and Friday I will be out of the building all day both days for a statewide counselor conference.  (And yes, the goal is to have Lexi at school so for those of you who have complained LOUDLY the last time I was out for a conference when I didn't bring her to school before I went to my meeting, please know that I have heard you and will make sure that I get her to and from school with a little help from the other staff at WKHS.)

With it being a pretty hectic week, please try to plan ahead if you know you need to meet with me about something and aim for either Monday or Wednesday.  And, one last time, please don't forget to vote this week!