4 Year Colleges... Really?

How long will it take you to make it through college? Most people will quickly think to themselves "4 years" because most WKHS students are looking at 4-year colleges.

Unfortunately, that is not always the reality. While a college is a 4-year school, for many students it is not always realistic that their students will, in fact, graduate in 4-years. You may wonder why this matters now, but it is very important for you to look at the 4-year graduation rates when you are considering colleges for your future because the longer it takes you to graduate from high school, the more you will be taking on in costs for college as well as the longer it will take you to graduate and get out into the working world or to move on to grad school.

You can usually find the 4-year graduation rates on college websites, but it isn't always easily accessible. This is a link to a US Department of Education website called College Navigator where you can search for schools and then by looking at the retention/ graduation rate area you will be able to see the statistics for each school in an easily accessible way.

Each school's 4-year graduation rates should not be your sole factor in making a decision, but it is another piece of the puzzle to help you. You should use the information to help you ask more questions about why their graduation rates are so low. Is it because it is too difficult to schedule classes when you need, is it because the costs are too expensive, is it because students change majors too many times so they end up with a lot of classes that do not help them toward their major, etc.

Happy Searching as you look for the school that is the best fit for you and your future.

Be Patient

Let me start off by acknowledging that I am *NOT* the most patient person on the planet!

I know that it can be frustrating waiting for something to happen. Waiting to hear news. Waiting for the next phase of your life. Waiting... waiting... and still more waiting.

But the reality is you need to be patient.

Right now the colleges are completely overwhelmed and back-logged with applications that they have been receiving. For example, we received a notice from Miami today saying that they are at least two weeks behind on getting everything processed and updated in the computer. They were sending that notice to us because they are also automatically generating letters that they are sending home to students to remind you that you need to send your transcript and test scores and a recommendation letter. People tend to panic when they see that notice and want to send the materials again. They do not want that happening as that will simply back up their system even more. Miami is NOT the only one in this situation - this is a very common occurance at this time of year, but it does create a lot of panic in homes of seniors across the country.

Try to be patient. If you get one of these letters (from any college) take a moment and double check - did you send your transcript? Was it mailed? (You can check that by logging into PrepHQ and looking at the date that your transcript request was submitted to WKHS and the date we mailed it.) If it is still in the office, are we possibly missing some necessary item? For example, have your teachers written their recommendation letters? If it was mailed and it is within a 2-3 week timeframe of when your transcript was mailed, then take a deep breath and relax knowing that it is likely just because their system is backed up. Continue double checking on the college website (most will give you access to see your application status) and see if they have everything. If you are nearing the end of the 3rd week and they still don't have all of your items you can give them a call to double check. Chances are they just haven't made it there yet, but there are times where things get lost in the mail or filed in the wrong area. If items need to be sent again then we will work on taking care of that, but first make sure that they really are missing it.

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

November Students of Month

Last Friday 17 WKHS students were honored as November's Students of the Month! Students can only earn this recognition once during their high school career.

A special congratulations to "my" students who were honored as Students of the Month!

(Left to Right: Tim Davis, Krystin Burgess, Becca Amato, Tori Cardiel, and Zach Ellifritz.)

I am proud of you! Thank you for representing the best of Worthington Kilbourne High School.

Delaware Area Career Center

On Friday of last week the counselors had the opportunity to take all students interested in learning more about the Delaware Area Career Center up to the north and south campuses for a field trip/ visit. I picked to attend the north campus because a few of my other students are in programs up there and I wanted to try to see them. (I didn't realize that they don't all have to attend on the field trip days so I missed out on seeing some...)

I was excited though to be able to visit the construction lab and see Ben Adamescu and the success that he is having and the impressive accomplishments he has achieved while there. Ben took us out to see the fire training building that they helped to build and also the bobcat machine that they are trained to use... they teach the kids how to lift it "right" by filling the shovel full of water and then the kids work to raise it without getting water all over themselves. It was interesting.

(Above Ben shows another one of my students, Jennifer Anthony, and another WKHS student how to hammer nails successfully.)

After finishing my time in the construction lab I went to the Automotive Technology lab and was able to catch up with and see Tim Curry. It was great to see the projects, cars, and equipment that he has been working with at the DACC. And, of course, I enjoyed being able to talk to him and hearing about his internship that he has been doing this year!

(Tim shows students some of their specialized equipment.)

I am so incredibly proud of both Ben, Tim, and the rest of my students that are doing so well at the career center! (Their teachers all bragged about them too so it isn't just that I am biased about how impressive my students are in their accomplishments.) And, I was also so impressed to watch them both as they taught the student visitors. :-)

If you have ever given any consideration to attending the Delaware Area Career Center and have questions, please stop in and see me. You should also try to go up to the DACC with your parents for the Open House visits this Thursday (November 13th) evening.

We Survived!

It was a crazy week last week, but we survived it!

As expected, last week was exhausting, but also exciting. Thank you to everyone for bearing with me while I took a break from blogging as I was burning the candle at both ends trying to get ready for the career fair. I was very pleased with the career fair and will probably spend a few days of updates talking about it, but I want to get through all of the surveys to see what everyone else thought about it first.

There were a lot of great activities last week and I am looking forward to sharing pictures and summaries of them in the days ahead, but first, for today I want to share with you what I found in my office on Friday morning when I came to work.

Tuesday was my birthday and Thursday was the career fair which was "my project" and so three of my students plotted with Ms. Schwartz's help to celebrate both events by decorating my office.

As you can see, my office was covered with balloons, signs, streamers, candy, and even brownies. It was a very sweet and pleasant surprise.

Thanks Katherine, Clay, Shannon, and Ms. Schwartz! I appreciate it!

I guess great minds think alike because my mom sent flowers and my sister sent food to celebrate the career fair being done too. Very sweet.

Don't Forget

A few reminders...

- Don't forget that tomorrow is a Late Start Day! (Classes begin at 9:10am)

- Don't forget that tomorrow is the PLAN test! Sophomores and any Freshman signed up to take the test need to arrive at WKHS at 7:15am and will finish testing around 11:30am. To the rest of the students - I will be helping to administer the PLAN test along with the rest of the counselors so know that I won't be around until later in the day.

- Don't forget that Tuesday we don't have school because it is election day (and my birthday!)

- Don't forget that Thursday is the Career Fair... and I still need volunteers to help set up on Wednesday night and to help with greeting our professionals as they arrive bright and early on Thursday morning.

- Don't forget that Friday is the field trip to the Delaware Area Career Center.

- Hopefully you all remembered to set your clocks back, but if not, I guess this is another reminder. :-)

See you tomorrow!

Already November...

It doesn't seem possible that it is already November.

My niece and nephew had a great halloween in Kentucky and told me today that they have lots of candy in their belly... too cute! Carly was a "Glamour Girl" and Cole was "Thomas the Train."

They tried on their costumes while visiting. Above is Carly looking beautiful and below is Cole as Thomas the Train... he is showing off that the costume includes a built in pocket for his candy.

As I mentioned last weekend they came to town to visit and we had fun together. In addition to trying on their costumes - here are a couple of other pictures from our times together.

(Carly's baby doll had on a matching dress and Cole was helping his daddy fix my door.)

Switching gears... Today the guys soccer team competed in Regional Finals - unfortunately they ended up losing 1-0. I know it wasn't the way you wanted things to end, but I'm still proud of you for a great season!