By Kevin Callahan
By the way:
- A poll of 500 employers of major corporations found that ability to communicate in a second language came second only to IT skills in a list of desirable skills for job candidates.
- Scent is a powerful trigger for memory. A study indicates that a memory paired with scent can be recalled more easily.
- If you’re an aspiring U.S. president, you may need to be a little more selective than others when choosing your college. 8 presidents attended Harvard University either as graduates or undergrads, Yale 5, and College of William and Mary 4. (Cal-State Chico, Shippensburg Univ., and Sonoma State are still waiting for their first President.)
Summer Programs: This past Tuesday, ISB hosted a group of private schools in the U.S. and Canada that offer summer programs for high school students. These are boarding schools with summer programs in everything from ESL to sailing to robotics to rafting to SAT Prep! Most programs incorporate academics with activities. For more information, write to the Executive Director, John A. Williamson, at jwilliamson@lindentours.com for specific programs/questions.
Clubs: – are you in too many clubs? If you don’t have a spare minute to relax, you eat lunch while running up the stairs to another lunch meeting, and you are constantly “double-booked”, maybe you have too much on your plate. Both ISB and the school you will attend next are looking for a genuine commitment, so be careful, take care of yourself, and do a few things really well, not a lot of things poorly! Make a choice about what commitments you want, and then do them to the best of your ability.
Freshmen: The next Freshman Seminar has been moved to November 26th and 27th to avoid a conflict with the students’ Wat visit for World Civilizations class.
Sophomores: Sophomore Seminar #1 was Nov. 5 and 6. Students completed the “Do What You Are” survey on Naviance. This is a personality type inventory based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Using the results, students will then complete a Career Worksheet and research possible colleges majors and careers. A good start for learning about doing what they are good at, and what they like (they often go together!).
Juniors: If you are considering an SAT prep course, consider this: the students who make the most improvement and score the highest on SAT tests are not those who take prep courses. They are the students who study past SAT tests on their own, and have done 12 or more in preparation for the real test. Obviously, they’re motivated to improve!
Seniors: It is important to know that universities often have automatic responses when they receive your application. It will instruct you to have a transcript or other official documents sent, even though you requested them long ago. Don’t worry! We keep track of everything and send documents in a timely fashion. Give a few days for the university, not us, to update your application. If your file still shows items missing after two weeks, see your counselor. And remember, November 14th is the deadline for submitting transcript request forms to schools with a deadline before February 1st. If you don’t turn in the simple transcript request form by November 14th, we cannot guarantee that school documents will reach universities by the deadline.
The University Lab is still in session every Monday in room 3-203 from 2:15 to 3:00. Seniors are welcome to come by and work on their applications, ask questions of a counselor and/or review their essay with a peer or counselor. Snacks and treats are provided.
University visits at ISB in the Coming Week (lunchtime in 203):
Monday, November 12 – Keio University, Carleton College, Juniata College
Wednesday, November 13 – University of Essex, University of Evansville, Westminster College
Thursday, November 14 – University of Melbourne, Suffolk University
Repeating last week’s note about tutors:
Do you have a tutor for your son or daughter? Does the tutor know and talk with the subject teacher? If not, you aren’t getting your money’s worth! Asking a student to “translate” (even in the same language) what they think they need to work on from teacher to tutor is a very poor use of a tutor’s time, and asking a lot of a student who is struggling with the demands of a specific subject. If you want to maximize your son or daughter’s tutoring time, talk to your child’s counselor so that he or she can arrange a meeting between tutor and teacher. That will guarantee that your tutor is working on the things that need to be worked on!