Earning Potential

Believe it or not, life isn't all about how much money you make. You want to find a career that you will love and find rewarding. But, that being said, many students want to make sure that they are selecting a college major that will lead them to a career field that can provide a secure financial future. This article highlights a recent study that was completed by Georgetown University regarding the Economic Value of College Majors. Check out the article for more information about the Top 10 majors with highest median earnings as well as the 10 majors with the lowest median earnings.

College Costs Increasing

College is expensive, but it is an investment toward your future. As expensive as college already is, many of the Ohio public colleges are currently looking at increasing the costs of attending for next year. Today's Dispatch has an article that highlights some of those increases (OSU, OU, University of Cincinnati, and Miami University are all included in the article).

Diploma Presenter

I love traditions! One of the traditions which I believe provides a great deal of meaning to the WKHS graduation ceremony is that every student is allowed to pick someone from their 12 years of education (teacher, coach, counselor, etc.) to present them with their diploma. I suspect that some students put a great deal of thought into picking who they would like to have as their diploma presenters and others quickly dash off the name of someone at the last second. No matter what, you have no idea how much that means to the person you select. Speaking for myself, this is truly one of the highest compliments I feel like I could ever receive.
This year I was touched and honored to be able to present 8 of “my” students with their diplomas. Pictured above (L to R) Back Row: Stephen Downard, Mark Bobson, Ethan Dixius, and Brian Aguirre and Front Row: Jada Earl, Wyatt Allread, Rachel Archambeau, and Michelle Colarossi. There simply are no words to explain what a huge honor this was for me! It was a thrill to be able to give a hug and offer my congratulations as I presented each student with their diploma. It was a memory I will cherish!

Stephen, Mark, Ethan, Brian, Jada, Wyatt, Rachel, and Michelle ~ thank you for allowing me to share in your graduation day! I am grateful that I had the privilege to know and work with you over the last few years. Thank you for making me smile and for letting me share in your lives! I am excited to see all that is ahead of you in the future! I hope you know how much I will miss you. Thanks again for allowing me to have the honor of presenting you with your diplomas - I will never forget it!

Lose the Training Wheels

This week when I was at school, I couldn't help but take a few moments to stop and watch the WKHS student volunteers working with kids with Down Syndrome as they learned to ride their bikes without training wheels. It was awesome to see the energy and enthusiasm you had as you cheered on and the kids in their quest to learn to ride their bike.

Today the Columbus Dispatch ran a story about the Lose the Training Wheels camp and one of my students, Jared Elliott, is even pictured in the slideshow.

Congratulations to all of the students who volunteered their time, energy and effort to help with this worthwhile cause! And, I strongly encourage more of you to consider getting involved next year - it looked like it was a fantastic week.

Summer School

There are a lot of productive ways you can spend your summer break. One option is summer school. On Friday, most of my day at school was spent reviewing the semester failures and for a lot of students, summer school is not just a good option it is essential! If you have failed a class or are trying to get ahead or you are hoping to create more room for elective courses in your schedule during the year, summer school is a great option.

I also noticed that there were a LOT of students who had told me during registration time that they planned on taking classes in summer school, but I didn’t see many of your names on the summer school list. It is very important that you let me know if your plans have changed and I need to rework your schedule. This is particularly important if you will no longer be taking a class required for graduation and I need to work it back into your schedule for next year.

If you are contemplating summer school there are a couple of pieces of information I would like you to be aware of:

1.) Sign up soon! The first session of summer school begins one week from Monday, but you should be signed up prior to that point. You register at the Worthington Education Center on Wilson Bridge Rd. Here is a link to the registration brochure.

2.) Summer school will be held at WKHS. (Some Wellness for Life – formerly called Phys Ed – courses are being offered at other locations and I believe that the WKHS Wellness courses are full.)

3.) Most classes run from 7:40am – Noon. That means that most days are like a week of school so you cannot miss a day – attendance is essential!

4.) The classes are just 3 weeks in length. The first session runs from June 20th to July 8th (with no school on July 4th). The second session runs from July 11th to July 28th.

5.) Most courses cost around $200. (Students on the free and reduced lunch program are allowed to attend for $50.)

6.) The first session of summer school correlates with the 1st session of the school year. So, if you failed a 1st semester of a course, then you would want to attend the 1st session of summer school.

7.) The second session of summer school correlates with the 2nd session of the school year. So, if you failed a 2nd semester of a course, then you would want to attend the 2nd session of summer school.

8.) There are some traditional classroom options with Worthington Summer School and also Worthington Online Summer School Credit Recovery. (Even if choosing the online option you still have to come to summer school daily and complete your work on the computers at the school.)

9.) One advantage of the online option is that students can take a semester class that they failed in a “different” session time. (This is very important to remember if you failed two classes during the same semester!) So, for example, if you failed both US History and BESS during the 2nd semester, then I would recommend that you sign up to take US History via Worthington online credit recovery during the 1st session of summer school and take BESS during the 2nd session of summer school.

10.) Students who failed one or more sections of the OGT may elect to re-take up to two sections of the OGT this summer. You must complete 10 hours of tutoring prior to taking the test though so it is important to log your hours so that you can take the test. If you are in this situation and need information about logging your hours, please contact me at school. You must also e-mail Mr. Sparks or notify the summer school office that you plan on testing and which test(s) you plan on taking so that they can order enough tests.

If you have any questions about which classes you should be taking during summer school, feel free to contact me (via phone or e-mail) before Thursday.

It's Officially Summer Break!

Congratulations! You have successfully completed another school year. I am sure that you are all breathing a sigh of relief that exams are over and that summer has finally started which means you get to sleep in tomorrow. (I am jealous!) Hopefully your exams went well and your grades for the 2nd semester will be strong.

Teachers will be in the building tomorrow working on finalizing grades and I will still be working through part of next week trying to readjust all of the schedules based upon failures and working to arrange for students to make up credits in summer school.

After next week I will still check e-mails routinely, but will not be in the school or checking voicemail messages. If you need to reach me e-mail is definitely the best option! As for the blog - I will still update it during the summer, but not as often. I am currently thinking about two updates a week, but we will see... I don't want you to get out of the habit of reading the blog, but I also don't want to bore you with mindless chatter.

Enjoy your summer!

One Day Remaining

You have just 1 day remaining in the school year! Granted, you still have 2 exams to wrap up, but the end is definitely within reach. :-)

I wanted to remind you that if you would like to see the tentative copy of your schedule for next year, you are welcome to stop by my office tomorrow and I can show you where it currently stands. I cannot provide you with a copy, nor can I guarantee that it will be exactly the same next year because changes in classes are still taking place, but it will give you a close feel for next year's schedule.

Also, I still have a lot of candy left in my candy jar and I'd really like for you to eat it all before the year ends - so when you stop by to check your schedule, don't forget to grab a piece of candy!