October Updates from the AHS Counseling Department
Happy October! While stores have been selling us Halloween candy since, like, August, we are now only officially arriving into trick-or-treat season. Our school spirit this September was excellent and the word is that the Homecoming Dance set a new unofficial school record for most attendees! We love students working hard during the week but also enjoying themselves (safely!) when it's time to have fun. At the dance it seemed like everyone was having a great time and celebrating together.
Here are some updates from the AHS Counseling department this month... as always, we hope this is helpful!
* Monday, October 3rd - TONIGHT! - we are hosting a Financial Aid Night for seniors and families in the AHS Auditorium at 7:30pm. An expert from MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) will be speaking to students and families about the entire financial aid process as well as will be available for questions. Our speaker works at a local private college in their financial aid office, so has particular expertise from that end of the process. While this program is geared for families applying for financial aid this year, families of younger students may want to attend to get information early in the process.
* Sign up for College Visits for your X-Block! Admission reps from colleges are visiting AHS to speak with students and give you inside information about their college, and how to get in! Here are the upcoming visits. Register now!
Thursday, October 6th: State University of New York-Oswego (SUNY Oswego)
Friday, October 7th: Mitchell College
Friday, October 7th: UMass-Amherst (Auditorium)
Tuesday, October 11th: Stonehill College
Tuesday, October 11th: College of the Holy Cross
Wednesday, October 12th: University of Connecticut (UConn)
Thursday, October 13th: Roger Williams University
Friday, October 14th: UMass-Lowell
Tuesday, October 18th: Providence College
Wednesday, October 19th: Keene State College
Thursday, October 20th: Eastern Nazarene College
Friday, October 21st: Western New England University
Tuesday, October 25th: Saint Anselm's College
Wednesday, October 26th: Southern New Hampshire University
Thursday, October 27th: Roger Williams University
Friday, October 28th: High Point University
* The PSAT will be held on Saturday, October 15th at AHS for those who have registered. Students are expected to arrive at 7:45am to the main lobby. There will be signs indicating which classroom you will be taking the test in. You will need to bring two #2 pencils as well as a calculator for the math section. For more information on what you need to prepare for the test, consult your PSAT testing guide. If you did not pick yours up, come get it in the Counseling Office!
* Upcoming SAT/ACT dates:
SAT: 11/5, 12/3, 3/11, 5/6, 6/3 - https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/registration/dates-deadlines
ACT: 10/22, 12/10, 2/11, 4/15, 6/10, 7/15 - https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/registration.html
* For any students planning on registering for the DIGITAL SAT option, when you register it is important that you indicate on the registration that you will be using your own personal device and NOT a school computer. Tech support at the College Board has indicated that because we are not the test site that students are testing at, they should be using their own personal devices. College Board will not permit students to download their testing app onto our school computers.
* SENIORS if you are planning on attending college and need financial aid, you need to complete the FAFSA application and send it to the colleges. The earlier this is completed the better as colleges do have deadlines for financial aid applications as well. The FAFSA can be found at https://studentaid.gov/. Some colleges also require the CSS Profile. Typically these are private, more expensive schools. The CSS Profile can be found at https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/. The list of colleges that require the profile is here: https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx
* Local scholarships can be found in your Naviance account! Click on "Colleges" at the top, then on "Scholarship Search" on the right-hand side. As the year goes on, more and more scholarships will be listed as many scholarships don't become "live" until second semester. Most local scholarships are only available for seniors, but underclassmen may want to take a look to plan for the future! For national scholarships, visit Fastweb.com, cappex.com, goingmerry.com, or https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/bigfuture-scholarships.
* Seminars are in full swing! Counselors have been having small group seminars with seniors as well as started seminars in freshmen wellness classes. Juniors, you're next: we plan on starting junior seminars right around Thanksgiving time (term two).
* Make sure you are paying attention to your mental health! As the days get shorter and the temperature gets colder, it will be important to do those things that keep you in a good space mentally. What kind of things lower your stress or anxiety? Everyone should have at least one go-to thing that they can do to get them in a better place. (Students, when in the building I highly recommend giving Huxley a pat during break or during lunch... he loves it too).