Career Dreams

Last week I had the Question of the Day asking what job you wanted to have when you were little.  I loved all of the different answers I heard in response which included everything from working at McDonalds to being a professional athlete to working in a lab and lots of other ideas. Chances are that now that you are in high school you have started re-thinking some of your potential career choices. While there is still a lot of uncertainty and, if the statistics are accurate, you will, in all likelihood, change career paths in the future, it is time to start figuring out what you MIGHT like to be when you grow up.

I *know* you hate it when adults say this, but the reality is that you need to know yourself and what matters to you. If you love what you do and you are willing to work hard then you will be able to find success. Everyone has their own unique gifts and talents and it is imperative that you determine what career will best meet your needs. This means you have to figure out what is important to you and how you can incorporate that into your life. 

For example, for those who love sports it can be hard to imagine life without athletics and, many times, these individuals will pick (at least initially) careers that involve sports - athletic training, sports management, sports marketing, etc. This might be the perfect combination - or maybe not. Knowing yourself and knowing what you have a passion for is important in determining what characteristics of a job will be best suited for you. In this example, the sports minded person might pick a career that involves teamwork where groups of people work closely together to reach a common goal. Or, if you decide that you are not going to be able to fulfill one of your life's passions through your career, then it is important that you still honor that influence in some other way - perhaps playing on an adult recreational team or coaching a youth sport team. While this example deals with sports the same concept applies to any of your interests and passions - art, music, learning.

So, while I am not asking you to abandon your dreams of fame and fortune as the professional athlete, superhero, or yes, even McDonald's employee, I am asking you to start thinking seriously about what will make you happy, what is important to you, and how a career can help meet your needs and goals in life. 

Choose Your Bottom

I'm sure you have heard the phrases about people hitting rock bottom.  And most of the time when I hear people talking about getting to those low places in their life they speak of it as if they can't get any worse.  Nothing else could go wrong beyond what has already happened.  And then, at that point, they are ready to make a change.

Here is the reality... for some people, that is absolutely how this has to work because many of us (1) don't like change, (2) find comfort in the familiar even if it is all falling apart around us, and (3) don't want to admit that we are struggling.

But the good news is that this does NOT have to be the way it works!  We all have the power to pick our bottom.  To say, this is as low as I can let myself go or get.  Know though, that making this change will require ACTION and COURAGE!  But, you have that inside of you and you CAN do this!  You can decide that enough is enough and that you are ready to make changes any time you want.  

I don't know about you, but I think that is a really encouraging thought.  I like control and being able to take some sense of control over my own life is a helpful thought for me.  But, that is also when fear and complacency can set in because if I want this to be the lowest that I get in my life then I am going to have to DO something DIFFERENT!  This might mean making different choices.  It could mean asking for help.  Perhaps it means spending time with new people.  Everyone's circumstances and areas of concern are different, but by digging deep inside yourself to find the courage to take action, change is possible and your life and the challenges you are facing can improve.

And, in case you are out there reading this and thinking, "that sounds nice Miss Abbott, but, no, I can't fix the fact that my mom is sick or my grandpa died."  And you are right.  There are absolutely heart-breaking events that will always cross our paths.  This is a part of life and it is not fair and it is hard, but you can get through even those difficult days by finding ways to take better care of yourself, by learning new coping strategies, by sharing your sadness with others so you aren't left feeling quite so alone in it all.

So my question for you today is how much lower do you need to go before you decide to make a change?  I know it can be scary to try something new or to admit that you need help, but the benefits can be beyond what you could imagine.  For example, I watched a video last weekend which included a high school boy who was really struggling in some of his classes.  He didn't like most of his teachers and he was challenged to do something new and different.  He was asked by one of his mentors to pick out the class where he was struggling the most, where he didn't feel connected to the teacher and to walk up to that teacher and say that he was struggling and didn't feel connected to the class or the teacher and that he wanted to change it.  I was floored as I heard this awkwardly phrased conversation play out.  But the reality is the boy said that being real and honest with his teacher had changed everything and now if he had problems in any class or with stuff outside of school he knew that he could always go to that teacher and that he was now one of his favorite people and biggest supporters in his life.  All because he had the COURAGE to take ACTION and make a CHANGE.  He decided that he was done with his classes and grades getting worse so he established his bottom and he did something different.  Never doubt that you can do that too!

It's helpful to keep in mind that no matter how low your bottom might be, once you are at your bottom, there is nowhere to go but up.  And if you are needing help or support in that climb back up, remember that I am here for you!

Important Reminders

I wanted to make sure that all of you were aware that the last date to drop a 1st semester course without having it appear on your transcript this coming Monday, October 12th. That is also the last date to submit a request to have a 1st semester class graded on a pass/ fail scale instead of the standard scoring. Please make sure that your requests for these options are turned into the counseling center before the school day ends on the 12th.

I also wanted to give you and your parents a heads up that Parent/ Teacher Conferences are coming up next week.  Conferences will all be completed virtually so I strongly encourage students to participate in the conference meetings along with your parents.  You can help your mom/ dad/ guardian log in through zoom to meet with your teacher in this virtual setting and talk about your progress in classes so far, your goals, your struggles, and seek suggestions for making sure you make the most out of every day in your classes.  Conferences will be on Monday from 3:30-7:30pm and on Wednesday from 5-9pm.  Your parents will receive information from the administrators about how to sign up for conferences.

Junior Planning for College Night

Save the date!  Next week, on Monday, October 12th and on Wednesday, October 14th the WKHS Counseling department will be hosting a virtual Junior Student and Parent College Planning Information Night. The presentations will be the same on both evenings in order to try to give students and parents options about which meeting will work best with your schedule.  This is one of the most important nights we provide and students and parents who attended this meeting in the past have expressed how much this helped them get started and move forward with the college search process and developed a better understanding of what to expect along the way.  Topics that will be covered include searching for colleges, exploring careers, ACT/ SAT and testing plans, making college visits, how colleges evaluate applicants, what you can be doing now to prepare for college applications and so much more. The zoom meeting link will be emailed to students and parents and posted on Schoology later this week.  The Monday, October 12th meeting will be at 6:00pm and the Wednesday, October 14th meeting is at 7:00pm. 

I hope you will plan to virtually attend! And yes, I want you to watch with your parents and no, I don't want you to just make your parents watch instead... this is YOUR future and you are responsible for deciding what direction you will take.

Recommendation Letters

Well, here we are... exactly 4 weeks until many of the seniors will be hitting their first deadline for college applications.  (Please be aware though that there are MANY colleges that have earlier deadlines than November 1st so be sure to check the deadlines for your intended colleges.)

One month out is a key time to check in on where you are with your applications and especially with your recommendation letters.  I talked about rec letters and the importance of double checking to see if your desired colleges require them or not a few weeks ago so I will not go through all of that again.  However, I do want to remind you that you need to give your teachers or me 30 days to write your recommendation letters.  So, that means that if I do not already have your Counselor Recommendation Supplement Form and your Parent Brag Sheet, then I need those from you ASAP!  The same would go for your core teachers who you have asked to write a letter on your behalf.  There is a teacher recommendation letter form that you should have given to them already, but if you haven't, then please make sure you take care of that TOMORROW when you are in the building!

Each of these forms can be found on the Counselor Website or on the bookshelf in the front of the Counseling Center.

Hopefully you are also reaching the editing stages of your college essays.  This, like recommendation letters, takes time.  So, don't short change yourself by putting this off until the last possible moment.  You will want to read through and edit your essay a few times before you start getting feedback from others.  Remember that I am willing to review your essays as is Mrs. Elliott in 209 and your English teachers.  But just like with recommendation letters, because the essay revision process takes time for your English teachers to give you feedback, you will want to make sure that you are giving them plenty of time.  That will then allow you to take their input, make adjustments as needed, and seek more edit suggestions so that you are ultimately submitting the best representation of YOU to the college that you can with your essay.

This month is going to go by FAST!  So please, don't hesitate to let me know if you need any help or support.

Lots of Articles

I keep a running list of articles that I think would be good to share with students and parents in a word document.  I have been trying to post some of the articles with various blogs and it has been successful in getting me from 11 pages down to 8 pages of articles, but the reality is that all of these articles have interesting topics and helpful tips and they aren't doing you any good if they are just saved on my computer.  So, its the weekend and perhaps you are looking for an educational diversion or maybe you will want to save this post to look at on your independent learning days to scroll through the list and see which ones might resonate with you... but here is a long list of articles on a wide range of topics.  Happy reading!

College essay - More Ways to Say Why

FAFSA opens Oct 1 and it's more important than ever to apply ASAP

Uncomfortably Comfortable Owning the Admissions Process

College Virtual Tours - compiled by Rebecca Chabrow, M.A. with assistance from Collegewise

Letters of Recommendation for College

College Advice Getting Great Recommendations

Before you yell at your school counselor

Perfect ACT Score Stories

Don't make these common errors on the FAFSA

Colleges that meet full need

10 Certificate programs that pay well

10 Sites to Kick off your Scholarship Search

5 Myths about athletic scholarships

Financial Aid Appeal Letter

Colleges can revoke admissions offers

Extracurricular Activities during Pandemic

The truth about extracurricular activities and highly selective colleges

Science of Learning: Marijuana, Achievement and the Teen Brain

Learning Mindfulness Centered on kindness to oneself and others

Biofeedback to calm your brain

Breathing Techniques

How making kindness a priority benefits kids

12 strategies for building resilience

 

How to change your habits one mindful moment at a time

Easy thing you can do to get a happier brain right now – (Please note that some of these are not feasible options to use with Coronavirus)

Feeling Insecure?  6 tips to quiet negative thoughts

 

8 ways you’re making your anxiety worse

How to help your anxious brain focus

 

FAFSA

The FAFSA opens today (October 1st).  The government and colleges have moved FAFSA's opening date and due dates up in order to give students and families more time to be able to have their financial aid offers and consider the implications when making the decision about which college will be the best fit financially.  The FAFSA for current high school seniors will be based upon the 2019 tax returns.  You can access the FAFSA here:  https://fafsa.ed.gov/

When students and parents are completing the FAFSA, you will each need to have an FSAID number.  This number will allow you to electronically sign your FAFSA and in the future it would let you sign promissory notes as well as complete future FAFSA's.

The student and parent will each create their own separate numbers.  You cannot use the same e-mail addresses for the creation of the numbers so if you don't have an e-mail address and have been using your parents e-mail in the past then this is the ideal time to create your own e-mail account.

You will make your own challenge questions to help you access your number if you forget it in the future so it is important to write down those challenge questions and answers to make sure you will remember it down the road.  I recommend that students and parents make a folder related to FAFSA where you store all of this information so that you will always have it when you might need it.

If you forget to create an FSAID number prior to completing your FAFSA, it will still have a link for you to be able to go back and create one, but ideally you should create it ahead of time.

Here is a link to create your FSAID numbers:  https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm

To help you with the college financial aid process we typically host a Financial Aid Meeting, but in light of COVID that isn't possible this year.  We are fortunate enough though that Faith Phillips, a financial aid director for OSU Newark and COTC, and our typical guest presenter was still willing to share her expertise with our parents and students.  She graciously agreed to create a video about the FAFSA that will help you in completing your financial aid application and we have posted it on the Counselor Website for you to access starting today!