April Updates From the AHS Counseling Department

April showers bring May flowers... and sometimes rainbows too!  Springtime is here and it is a wonderful time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.  Great for your mental as well as physical health.  We are in the home stretch of the school year, and April is a fairly short month: only 14 school days in the entire month of April.  Make sure you make them all count!  Here are some updates from the AHS Counseling Department.  We hope you find this information helpful!


🌈 Term three ends on Thursday, April 6th.  Be sure to complete any outstanding assignments and do what you can to raise your grade.  Also, be ready to get off to a good start for term four!  A great way to improve your grades are to sign up for your teachers' X-block offerings for extra help.  Pro tip: sign into iPass on Sunday night to review your current grades, then sign into Flextime and sign up to meet with whichever teacher is your lowest grade.  Do that every week, targeting whichever is your lowest grade.  Your grades will RISE!

🌈 The Counseling Department are hosting quite a few upcoming X-block offerings:

Tuesday, April 4th: University of Connecticut

Tuesday, April 4th: Financial Literacy - Debt Management

Wednesday, April 5th: Financial Literacy - Taxes

Thursday, April 6th: Financial Literacy - Budgeting

Tuesday, April 11th: University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Tuesday, April 25th: SUNY Binghamton

Additionally, every Friday we offer puzzles and games... a great way to wind down the week!

🌈 Sophomore seminars are in full swing!  Counselors are visiting sophomore Wellness classes to deliver our curriculum to all sophomores.  The focus is on career development.  Before you can start really researching your post-high school plan junior year, you need to do some exploration into possible career options for yourself.  Below is a sneak peak at the slideshow we use when teaching this curriculum.  Take a look!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18eM1gFct3k6B0ydjrNIgHS0_oMQmlYC3nR9TyDV9Ufs/edit?usp=sharing

🌈 Junior seminars are wrapping up... we started them way back in November!  Now juniors should be having individual conversations with their counselor doing independent research into what their options and opportunities are.  Take a look at our junior seminar presentation... its chock full of really good information!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dKoMKNrPwkRDYQaGoim0RHS8FZJp7e6AusmpdkNV1ho/edit?usp=sharing

🌈 Applications are now available for any student who would like to apply to take a Virtual High School (VHS) course next year.  VHS courses are online-only courses that students can take to give them additional opportunities beyond what AHS already offers.  Limited spots are available, and a lottery is conducted to determine placement.  For more information and to access the application, visit https://www.ashland.k12.ma.us/Page/2825

 🌈 The deadline to register for either the May or June SAT is fast approaching.  It is recommended that any junior planning on applying to a four-year college take either the SAT or the ACT at the end of their junior year and again, if possible, at the beginning of their senior year.  Below are the registration links.

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/registration

https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/registration.html

🌈 Mark your calendar for the National College Fair coming to Boston on May 2nd and 3rd.  More information can be found here: https://www.nacacfairs.org/attend/national-college-fairs/boston-fall-national-college-fair/

🌈 Make sure you regularly check the Opportunities! doc that we update with all of the unique opportunities for students that we post.  We also post them on the bulletin board outside of the counseling office (right across from the nurse's office)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TXAqqEItazPi2s5TdZByiYbzb4oe7Qb1nwvIrk4ZZy4/edit?usp=sharing

🌈 Seniors, regular decision college results are coming in... hopefully with a lot of acceptances for AHS kids!  Be sure to update your college results in Naviance.  This data is vital for underclassmen when they start to do their research to have a good understanding if a college is in their range or not.  Also, we'd LOVE to have a copy of your letter so far.  The hallway is looking great!

https://youtu.be/fXELs2B48_Y

🌈 Seniors, scholarship season is heating up!  Make sure you are checking the scholarship list on a regular basis and applying to anything that looks interesting!  Here's how to find them:

1. Log into Naviance (student.naviance.com/ashland)

2. Click on "Colleges" at the top of the page, then click on "Scholarship Search"

For those who are visual learners, here is a quick video on how to access: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDEWeJY3lsg&t=127s




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