High School Counseling Newsletter |

Dear Parents,

Welcome back from GCW! We’ve heard some great stories from students working collaboratively, getting out of their comfort zone, and learning about new cultures. What an adventure for our students. Have a great four day weekend.

Grade 12 – US Passport holders applying for any type of financial assistance or scholarships at US Universities may have already started completing the FAFSA: Free Application for

Federal Student Aid. Here are a few tips to help in that process:

You first need to apply for a PIN before you can begin completing the FAFSA.
Be sure to use the correct website: https://fafsa.ed.gov/.
Parents will need tax information.
The sooner you apply, the better.
When listing universities on the application, list them in ABC order, not in order of preference or priority.

Grade 11 – If you were unable to attend the Junior Parent Night, you can access the presentation here. Counselors are now meeting with Juniors and their parents for the Junior Conference. Please encourage your Junior to schedule an appointment by March 20.

Grade 10 – Next week, on February 25th and 26th, the 10th graders will join their counselors to discuss their possible courses for the coming years. We’ll help answer questions about graduation requirements, courses of study important to future studies, IB vs. non-IB diploma plans, and information about individual courses. It’s an important two days and we’re looking forward to fielding all questions from our students!

Grade 9 – Freshman and their families are encouraged to re-visit results from their personal strengths exploration and learning style inventory which they completed in Freshman Seminar last semester. A good conversation may be about how the student plans to utilize his or her strengths this semester, while also taking into consideration learning environments that will serve the student well in his / her studies.

At this point students are settled into their schedules and starting to establish routine.

Students and families are reminded to take advantage of the flex time in high school. This is between 2:10 and 3:10 Monday through Thursday. It is a great opportunity for students to check in with their teachers, work in study groups with their peers, access the library for resources. Nearly all activities and sports do not start till 3:15 as to keep this time open for these type of purposes.

It is also encouraged with Freshmen to try and complete homework assignments / activities the night that they are set. This allows students to check in with the teacher the next day if they still have have questions on the assignment. It also gives students time to possibly review and polish an assignment the next day if need be.

Upcoming College/University Visits

No visits next week.

Please see Naviance for the extensive list of colleges/universities that will be visiting ISB.