Counseling Updates

At the start of the third marking period, counselors will begin meeting with all students in grades 9, 10, and 11 to begin choosing their courses for the 2023-2024 school year. The 2023-2024 Program Planning Guide has been posted online and can be found here for your convenience. This page also contains information about some of the forms used during Course Selection (see below).

• Please request/discuss with your teacher the most rigorous course you are considering. If it is determined that your overall course selection is too rigorous, you can always replace a class with a less rigorous course, without teacher approval; however, you cannot do the opposite! Counselors will assist you in balancing your overall course load.
• Have three elective choices ready when you meet with your counselor. A full list of alternate day electives can be found on page 9 of the Program Planning Guide.
• Current 11th graders who wish to take Senior Seminar next year must have a signed parent permission form found in the link above. Please bring this signed form to your course selection meeting.
• Students in current grades 10 and 11 who wish to take Critical Viewing must have a signed parent permission form in the link found above. Please bring this signed form to your course selection meeting.
• Override forms are not distributed during course selection time. Please discuss with your teacher the criteria necessary to earn the teacher’s recommendation for a higher level class, and work hard during the 3rd marking period to demonstrate the necessary criteria. Toward the end of the third marking period, return to your teacher to discuss his/her recommendation. If the teacher recommends you for a higher level class, he/she will contact the counseling office and your counselor will make the change in your course requests. If the teacher still cannot recommend you, and you would like to override, please make an appointment with your counselor to obtain the proper form.
• Students who wish to take Physical Education outside of Council Rock must fill out an Alternate Credit Approval form. No online PE classes will be accepted toward this core graduation requirement. Only live, ‘brick & mortar’, accredited movement classes that are pre-approved by the Health/PE District Curriculum Coordinator will be accepted. This form is available from your counselor.
• Students who would like to apply to the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology for the 2023-2024 school year should fill out the online application found here. Applications are due on February 15. https://www.mbit.org/domain/16
• College-bound student athletes who would like to compete at a Division I or Division 2 college or university must meet certain academic requirements. Please let your counselor know of your intentions, so he/she can make sure you are enrolled in classes that meet the minimum NCAA standards.

Please note that April 28th will be the final opportunity to make changes in course requests.

• Keep in mind that the counseling office requires ten school days to process each transcript request. Submit your transcript requests early!
• You can keep track of your transcript requests by visiting your Naviance Student Account>colleges tab>manage transcripts.
• You must still check your college and your common application accounts to verify that all of your documents have been received.
• To send any midyear grades to your colleges, please fill out google form https://forms.gle/1Ufr6aBkAeBcNoZi6 Midyear grades will be sent electronically to the colleges once report cards for the second marking period are released on February 6th.
• Keep your counselors informed of your admissions decisions.
• Keep a record of your scholarship offers from the various colleges. We do keep track of scholarship offers that are accepted by each senior class.

Council Rock North coordinates over 80 scholarships sponsored by local individuals, families and organizations. This list includes both need-based and non-need-based scholarships. The scholarship information and application will be available on the North website on February 15th. Students should read the list carefully, checking to see if they meet the individual criteria for the various scholarships. The deadline for the packet, and all accompanying documents is March 22nd at 3:00pm.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires that every student complete career competencies throughout high school. As a 10th grader, there are three brief surveys that are required as a part of this program, which will assist you in identifying potential careers. We ask that you complete these surveys by logging onto your Naviance account Naviance Log On Directions.

To access the surveys, please view the directions here Career Planning Worksheet.

The surveys are brief, and should not take long. We ask that you complete these surveys prior to your course selection appointment with your counselor in February.

If you have any questions accessing Naviance or any of these tasks, please come down to the Counseling Office or contact Ms. DeGulis, cdegulis@crsd.org, for assistance.

Counselors have been meeting with juniors on the college exploration process. This information is available to parents through the following Power Point presentations: Introduction to College Exploration, Standardized Testing, Finding the Right Fit and College Application Components. To access these presentations, visit our website at the following link.

https://www.crsd.org/Page/60327

Juniors who are interested in taking the SAT or the ACT this spring should review the upcoming dates and registration deadlines. The SAT Reasoning Test and the ACT are two standardized tests that assess students’ abilities in the critical reading, math and writing skills that students will need in college. Students typically take one or both of these exams during their junior year. Registration for these exams are online at the links provided below, not in the Counseling Office. If you are unsure about when you should take any of these tests, please schedule an appointment with your counselor.

SAT:

Total Testing Time

3 hours (plus 50 minutes for optional essay)

Components

1.Evidence-Based Reading and Writing

2.Mathematics (calculator and non-calculator sections)

Scoring

No penalty for guessing

Maximum composite: 1600

Maximum per section: 800

Maximum score on Essay: 8 per each dimension: Reading, Analysis and Writing

Cost

$60.00

Registration

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/registration/online-registration/registering

ACT

Total Testing Time

2 hours, 55 minutes (plus 30 minutes for optional essay)

Components

1.English

2.Math

3.Reading

4.Science

5.Essay (optional)

Scoring

No penalty for guessing

Maximum composite: 36

Maximum per section: 36

Cost

$63.00 or $88.00 with essay

Registration

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

January 25 End of the Second Marking Period

January 26-March 3 Course Selection Meetings for 9th, 10th, 11th graders

February 6 Second Marking Period Report Cards open in HAC

February 15 Senior scholarship application available on North website

February 28 Third Marking Period Interims

March 22 Senior Scholarship Applications due

March 23 College Fair at Council Rock High School North

April 28 Last day to make changes in course requests for the 2023-2024 school year

Teresa Callanan, Counselor, tcallanan@crsd.org

Joseph Demaio, Counselor, jdemaio@crsd.org

Stephen Hrabyk, Counselor, stephen.hrabyk@crsd.org

Lori Katz, Counselor, lori.katz@crsd.org

Debra Maccarella, Counselor, dmaccarella@crsd.org

Cristina Rabayda, Counselor, crabayda@crsd.org

Abby Rogers, Counselor, arogers@crsd.org

Leigh Ann Doyle, CARES, ldoyle@crsd.org

Stephanie Warshaw, CARES/Social Worker, swarshaw@crsd.org

Cindy Degulis, Secretary, cdegulis@crsd.org

Ann Grace, Secretary, agrace@crsd.org

Kathy Moritz, Secretary, kmoritz@crsd.org

Website: https://www.crsd.org/Page/59345
Location: 62 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA, USA
Phone: 215-944-1317