Making Your College Decision

May 1st is this Friday... which means this is a big week for students who are making their final college decision.  Yes, it is true that there are many colleges who have extended this deadline, but with so many still holding steady with May 1st as their deadline to commit to attend that college, it is imperitive that students and families double check to make sure you don't miss a deadline.  In other words, whatever your first deadline is for declaring your decision, that essentially, by default, becomes your deadline for all of the colleges.

If you are on the wait list at a college, please understand that in that situation, you will still commit to one of your other colleges and then if you are fortunate enough to be selected to move off the wait list you can decide if you will be changing your mind and switching to the school where you had been waitlisted.  But you do not want to wait and hope that you will be pulled off the wait list and not commit to any school unless you are intending to take a gap year between high school and college.

The reality is that the coronavirus is having an impact on students and where they are choosing to go to college.  You may be struggling with what you thought you had your mind set on and are now revisiting that decision in light of these changing times.  If that you is you, I know this is stressful, but you will get through it!

Some of the factors I have heard from students/ parents related to their college choice and covid-19 include:

• Changes in finances.  Family finances may be in a very different spot today than they were 6 months ago.  This may impact what you and your family are able to pay for college.  You can reach out to the financial aid office of your college and ask for them to reconsider your situation and see if an override and the possibility of additional aid is an option.  But, sadly, you are not the only family in this situation so that may/ may not be possible.
• Distance matters.  Many students are re-thinking how far away from home they are comfortable being with stressful times like this.  Students who had been planning to move far away are now considering that a flight away from home may not be something they are as comfortable with any more.  
• Transfer options.  Some students due to finances or fears of moving into dorms in the fall have indicated that they are now considering taking the transfer route and starting at Columbus State so that they can take classes cheaper and can also attend as a commuter student vs having to live in a dorm.

Here is the reality.  We don't really know what the future will hold.  Truthfully, we never have.  We just always took for granted that things would keep going in the ways it always has and so this has thrown all of us for a loop.  If you are weighing your options for those reasons or for others, that is completely understandable.  It is important to have frank, honest conversations as a family about what your plans are and how it will work for your specific circumstances.

If you have a college that is sticking to the May 1st deadline and you truly need more time to make your final decision, you can ask them if there would be an option to extend the deadline for you to make that choice, but understand that their answer may be no.  Remember, if you want to talk it through with me, I am still here and am happy to listen!

Plans...

I wanted to write this last night... but honestly, I was struggling with the news that we aren’t able to return to school for the end of the year the way I had hoped and planned.  I know that it's necessary and important for the health and well-being of each of you and for our community. I am thankful that we still get to engage electronically and that socially distant doesn’t mean completely cut off. And I am hopeful that new memories are being built and priorities are being realigned as families are spending more time together.  But even though I can think all of that and I truly believe all of that, I’m still just really sad. And I know that I am sad because of how fortunate I am... I am so lucky that I have a job I love so much that I desperately miss being there and seeing you all each day.

But, here’s my challenge... this isn’t about me. I mean, yes, of course it is because it’s impacting me too, but the main reason my heart is hurting so bad is for all of YOU!  For all you are missing, for all you’re sad about, for all the disappointments you’re experiencing, for the fears you are facing, for the uncertainty you are struggling to manage, for the anger and hurt you are encountering, and for whatever it is that YOU feel today.  We are all walking the same path but we experience it in very different ways.  In fact, today I have talked to several students who had already gone through the feelings I have been struggling with over the last 24 hours because they had already come to the conclusion that we wouldn’t get to return to the building and, as a result, they had already grieved that loss.  But, no matter where you are with your feelings, I firmly believe that we have to lean into our own feelings and emotions – even if they are difficult or heavy. We have to give ourselves the space and permission, and muster up the courage to fully feel whatever it is we are feeling. When you can name it and be present with it, then you can also heal from it.

And now, here I am... and still I have no perfect words for you. I will say that I began to gain some perspective in that I truly believe that while this is heartbreaking and sad, it is something we can and will get through. There are real problems- big, life changing, can never adjust, adapt, and overcome kinds of problems in our world today. And this is not one of them. We will still connect - it will just be remotely instead of in person. We will still honor our seniors and the difference they have made over the last four years. And we will somehow come through this changed, but stronger and more resilient. And wow, what a gift that will be from this pandemic.  And no, that new perspective didn’t fully take away my sadness, but I find it valuable to allow the emotions and feelings of both to sit side by side.  It isn’t either/ or – it is and.  Please know it is ok to be sad and to know that it will be ok. 

One of my personal self care strategies is trying to find the right picture quote for different situations.  The one that stuck out to me yesterday was, “Your purpose didn’t change, your plan did.”  And obviously that applies to me in that I believe my job is a huge part of my attempt to fulfill my purpose in life. But as I was reflecting on that concept it also made me think of how this applies to all of you too. You go to school to learn. You still attend school, but your plan of how that would look and feel has changed. You interact with friends and family members to celebrate how important they are in your life. And yet your plans of physically being together and hanging out have changed. And, for the seniors, of course you graduate to celebrate the accomplishments of 13 years of education, to recognize how much you have learned and grown, and to acknowledge the excitement of the future which is before you. But the plan for how the end of your senior year would look has been shifted. But the rest of that stuff… the purpose parts... those are the areas that matter!  And no matter how awry our plans go and how overwhelming and sad we may personally find it that our “plan” for 4th quarter of 2020 didn’t go the way we wanted, I know that good is still here too because it is within each of you!

So please, let me remind you... you still have a purpose!!! You matter to me, you matter to our school, you matter to our community. You are not alone. There are people, like me, who are still in your corner, caring and believing in you... and we will always be no more than a call, text or email away!

Failures

I keep having students talking about themselves as being failures.  And I have to tell you, that is not correct.  Failure is an Event, not a Person.  So often we get this concept messed up in our minds.  We tend to think that we are a failure when we fall short of a goal or dream that we had set for ourselves.  But here Is the reality, we are not a failure when we don’t achieve a goal.  We are human.  Having the mindset that we are going to be able to move forward, try new things, learn and grow without failing is not how life works.  What is a realistic expectation for ourselves is to learn from the mistakes we make and work to identify new ways to approach challenges.  So, please, if you find yourself falling into the mental trap of believing that you are a failure, try to remind yourself that failures are events and are NOT who you are as a person!

Senior Information Questionnaire

Today all of the seniors received an email about a mandatory senior questionnaire.  I heard feedback that some students laughed and said how can we make anything mandatory... and you're right.  But, this is a form you WANT to fill out.  

Every year, the graduating high school seniors have the option of picking a teacher, coach, administrator, counselor, secretary, or other Worthington staff member who has played a significant role in their lives to give them their diploma.  It is a way to make the graduation ceremony much more personal and memorable.  You will select your 1st choice and 2nd choice diploma presenters on the form.

The form also allows you to request where you want us to send your final transcript.  When you head off to college or enlist in the military, they will all want a copy of your final transcript to confirm that you did officially graduate.  The information you submit on the form is what will enable us to make sure we send your transcript to the appropriate location.

We are busy working on preparing for the commencement ceremony with the hope that it will still go on as planned on May 24th and we need additional information from you in order to put together the programs!  As you complete the senior questionnaire you will be asked to list what scholarships you received and are accepting and how much they were worth.

And finally, the form also allows for you to share some thoughts about your reflections related to high school because we value the insight and perspectives that our seniors share each year.

These forms are due back ASAP, but no later than May 1st.  

If you have updates/ changes after you have submitted your form - such as you received an additional scholarship, please email that new scholarship information to Mrs. Focht at afocht@wscloud.org.  We will try our best to include your updated scholarships in the program, but it is possible that information received after May 1st may not be able to be included if the program has already been printed.

If you can't locate the email, please visit the Counselor website for a link to the survey.

Senior College Lists

Every day more and more seniors are finalizing their plans for college and where they plan on attending after high school.  Have you seen the Instagram Site @wkhsclassof2020?  It is being put together by 2 WKHS Seniors who wanted to help honor the future plans of those within their class and the pictures and plans are amazing!  I love everything about it.  The kids who are creating the photos are also allowing the district to share the pictures and so you can also see them on the Kilbourne Twitter Feed and the Kilbourne Facebook page.  Soon we will also have it on the websites.  It is definitely worth looking at all of our incredible students in the Class of 2020 and what they are planning for their futures.  Seniors, if you are not on Instagram to send a DM to the students with your information and plans, you or your parents can email your photo and plans to wkhsclassof2020@gmail.com so that they can include you in the recognition.

As I was seeing all of the students sharing that they have finalized their plans it made me wonder how many have already notified their other colleges that they will NOT be attending.  I realize that when you are in the decision making process you are more focused on where you will be going than thinking about the schools that you have eliminated from the running, but it is still really important to make sure that all of your colleges know if you will NOT be coming there in the fall. 

This is important because it allows the college to plan for their upcoming student body and to know if they have room to accept other students off of their wait lists.  When you think about your friends or classmates who might be on the wait list for a school, you know that they are hoping to hear back as soon as possible.  There are other students all across the country in that same position.  If you tell a college that you will not be attending then they know they don't have to hold those slots available for you which can, potentially, give them the ability to pull more students off their wait lists.

Additionally, if you received scholarship offers from any of the colleges that you have eliminated from the running, this can also potentially allow the college to offer that money to other students which, again, can help people like your friends or classmates who might be hoping to attend a college, but are still trying to determine if it is financially feasible or not.

The colleges will not be angry with you for deciding that you won't be attending their school.  They know that this is a part of the process so please, take a few minutes to notify any of the colleges that you have decided FOR SURE are not in your future plans for next year.  I do want to clarify that if you are still debating between a few schools, I am not telling you to notify any of those possible schools yet - just those that you are no longer considering.

And, if you are not sure how to do this, please go back and look at the information you got with your admissions notification.  Often times the college will send you a postcard or tell you an email address to send notifications to if you will not be attending.  If a college did not do that, you can simply send an email to their admissions office to let them know that while you appreciate the offer of admission, you have decided to go a different route and will not be attending their college next year.

4th Quarter Grades

By now all students and parents should have received the email from the district about how Worthington will be handling grades during this time of remote learning.  This is a big deal and I want to make sure that all of my students are aware and fully understand how this will work. 

As you know, you had been at school for all of 3rd quarter and earned a grade for that quarter before everything in society got shut down and we were all told to stay at home.  But then the district had to figure out how they could help support students learning in this time of crisis and how the grading would work.  Ultimately, the decision was made to transition to a pass/ incomplete system for this quarter. 

There were a LOT of factors and a great deal of thought that went into this decision.  I am confident that it will be a fair system that will be good for all kids.  Let me tell you a little bit more about all of this and how it will work.  Obviously, right now you are still in school and you are (hopefully) doing your school work every day.  It is important that you receive meaningful feedback on your learning and to support your understanding, but the school district firmly believes grades should not be a reward or a punishment.  At a time when there is so much beyond your control, it is important to value the learning vs stressing about the particular grade that you earn in a class.  It is possible that for some of you, the biggest challenge you are experiencing is being bored right now.  But other students - your friends, classmates and peers at WKHS - will be facing other circumstances that are more difficult.  They may deal with being sick, having a family member that is sick, have responsibilities helping with younger siblings, have difficulty accessing reliable technology to access the online material, etc.  Truly, the list is endless when one starts looking at all of the dynamics some of our students are trying to juggle while also trying to learn.  That is why the grading system is set up to be a Pass/ Incomplete... because we don't want to unfairly punish a student who might have some of those circumstances preventing them from keeping up with their work.

So what happens if you get an incomplete?  You, your parents and your teacher will develop a specific intervention and learning plan that you will have the summer and, if needed, into the first quarter of next year, to be able to make up the missing work so that you can change your incomplete to a pass.  This allows flexibility for students who might have been sick to work during the summer when they are no longer ill.  If technology was the roadblock, then working in the summer once libraries reopen or even next fall when we are back at school will allow the freedom and flexibility to make that possible.  The bottom line - you need to do the work!  You will either do it now or you will do it later, but we are committed to helping you to be successful in furthering your learning even while we are not together in the building.

Normally, your 2nd semester grade would be made up of your 3rd quarter grade, your 4th quarter grade, and your semester exam.  The district has cancelled all semester exams so your semester grade will now be an average between your 3rd and 4th quarter grades and that letter grade will be on your final transcript.  For averaging purposes, a "P" will equal 4 points (like an A) for regular classes and it will equal 5 points (like an A) for AP/ IB classes.  An Incomplete "I" during the 4th quarter would equal an "I" on your transcript until you get that grade up to passing and then you will earn your average letter grade.

One other significant issue that I need to make sure you are aware of with regards to Incompletes. While Worthington schools is dedicated to giving you the time needed to make sure you are able to earn the credit and pass your classes, the Ohio High School Athletic Association would NOT count Incompletes towards credit earned to be eligible for sports in the fall!  This means, you must earn "P" grades in at least 5 half-credit classes during the 4th quarter to be eligible to participate in sports or marching band next fall!  This is all the more reason that, if you are currently healthy and in a position where you can access your school work and get it done, that you take advantage of this time and complete as much of your work to the best of your ability now so that if you end up getting sick in a few weeks or family responsibilities start to weigh heavily on you down the road, that you will not end up finding yourself in a position where you missed out on being able to earn the "P" grade this quarter to be eligible for the fall.

Please note, CC+ classes are under the rules of the college and so your grade that will be reflected on your high school transcript is whatever grade you earn in your CC+ class.  Please be checking with your individual college about their rules, guidelines and expectations because some partner colleges are also allowing students to change some classes to Pass/ Fail and others are not.  The CC+ classes are college classes so you must follow the colleges guidelines and timing expectations and we just reflect whatever you earned with the college on your transcript.

This truly is the best, most well-thought through system that was possible for looking out for the good of all students while also being reasonable about the fact that remote learning is hard!  So, be patient with yourself, but be consistent!  Keep working hard every day on your school work and you will get there!  As always, if you have questions, about how grades will work, please let me know!

Be Kind to Yourself

Do you ever fall into the mindset of believing that every good thing that happens to you is a result of luck, but every bad thing that happens is what you really deserve?  It is a common challenge for people who struggle with feeling like they are never good enough.

It can be difficult to be kind to yourself, but it is important to avoid mentally or physically beating yourself down for where you are at this time.  Life is already hard enough without punishing yourself even more.   You don't have to be better than other people.  You just have to be YOU because you are good enough - just as you are!

Common App Essays

The Common Application is an application website that many colleges use allowing students to fill out one application that can then be submitted to various colleges and is one of the primary methods that students will utilize when applying to college.  They have already announced that their essay question prompts for next year will remain the same as they were for this year.  

I will be honest, for many students starting by looking at the essay questions will limit your thoughts on possible stories you can share, but I know many students like that approach all the same.  So, Juniors, you can take a look at these prompts and start brainstorming what your answers might be for each question.  After you list your thoughts for each question, look at which response best allows you to tell the story of who you are and will be the best introduction of you to the admissions committee.  Then it is time to start drafting and editing and drafting some more.  :-)  Don't forget, we will also be holding a college essay brainstorming workshop during the late-start testing time on April 21st to help you get moving in this process.

Students who utilize the common app will be asked to select and answer one question in 250-650 words.  (Please don't worry about word count on your first draft - it is always MUCH easier to cut words than it is to try to add more in later.)

Below are the common app essay questions to help you get started: 

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback or failure.  How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and new understanding of yourself or others.

6.  Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time.  Why does it captivate you?  What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

7.  Share an essay on any topic of your choice.  It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Video for Seniors

WKHS staff created a video to honor our Class of 2020 seniors and to remind them that we miss them and our hearts are with them!  Check it out at: https://youtu.be/_TCUXZYtVVs

Local Scholarships

Normally I am able to write on my blog about whatever questions I am getting from student's at school each day.  Today's topic is definitely the most asked question for the last few days even from afar!

What do you do with the local scholarships that were initially due to be turned into the school by today?

The answer is both simplistic and complicated.  You need to go back onto the Counselor Website where you first found the scholarships and look at each scholarship that you plan to submit an application for consideration.  On each page there are updated instructions for where you should forward your application.  Some of them are open to students emailing applications or mailing them to them by the 6th.  Others need you to mail them.  But each scholarship provider elected their own steps and so you need to follow what they have determined.

Sorry that it is a little more complicated than normal - we typically try to streamline the process by letting you turn them in to us and then we get them distributed, but that just isn't possible this year.  Our hope is that with each organization still generously providing scholarships that the option of students submitting their applications directly to the organizations will make the process as easy as we can have it under the circumstances.

Thanks for your patience as we worked the details out for all of the applications!  And a huge thank you to all of the scholarship providing partners who have been incredibly patient and flexible as we had to make adjustments.  We appreciate their support of the Class of 2020!