Cougar Connection

Hello Cougars! We are excited to see our students return to school. The Counseling Department has been immersed with activity including welcoming new families, assisting with new student orientation and ensuring that each student has the correct schedule for the year. We are delighted to begin the new year and look forward to implementing a comprehensive counseling curriculum accessible to all students. It's going to be a fabulous year!

Please see the timeline below regarding schedule changes for the 2024-25 school year.

• August 8-September 6: School counselors will make requested schedule changes based on space availability
• September 9-November 8 (end of 1st quarter grading window): No schedule changes
• After November 12: Any student requesting a schedule change will need to fill out the schedule change request form, with permission from parent, student, teacher, school counselor, and administrator. If approved by the administration, schedule changes will only be processed if there is space available.
• After March 28: There will not be any schedule changes, regardless of space availability. This date aligns with the last day of the 3rd Quarter.

To find out who your child's school counselor is, please visit our website.

To kick off the start of the school year, school counselors were able to greet and meet their new students with an overview of Oakton HS. Counselors were also available to meet with students and parents during Open House and Back to School Night. Check out the Back to School site to learn more about Oakton.

Hello Class of 2025 Families! School counselors provided a Post-secondary Planning Lesson that included the college application process to seniors through US Government classes on August 28 and 29. Students who are not enrolled in US Government will have access to the lesson through Schoology.

All seniors will meet with their counselors individually in the month of September beginning on September 3. During the meeting, graduation requirements and post-secondary plans will be reviewed.

Senior Parent Night information will be shared in the weekly Principal Updates.

Transcript Request & Senior Profile Information

Additional Resources:

Level Up Virginia - Resource information about the many pathways to success, including 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, trade schools, apprenticeships, certificate programs, and more.

https://www.levelupvirginia.org/home

Virginia Department of Education - Postsecondary Opportunities for High School Students webpage with information about preparing, applying, and paying for college, as well as information on degrees and labor-market career projections

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/parents-students/for-students/postsecondary-opportunities-for-high-school-students

Attention all Juniors and Seniors:

We are excited for another year of college visits. All college visits will be in the Career Center (unless otherwise noted). Juniors and Seniors must be registered for visits in order to attend and will be required to sign in for attendance. Students will use this time as a resource to find out about all the amazing things that colleges have to offer.

Instructions to register for visits:

• Log in to Naviance
• Click the colleges tab
• Click Visits
• Register for the college visits of interest.

Registration closes eight hours before the scheduled start time. Please register on-time and check regularly as colleges may change their dates and times for visits. If you have any questions, please reach out to Oakton's College and Career Specialist, Eddie McClam (emcclam@fcps.edu).

Naviance Student provides middle and high school students with individual Academic and Career Plan (ACP) resources and tools to explore and prepare for postsecondary college and career planning options.

Students

Middle and High School students can:

• Explore their strengths and interests.
• Research colleges.
• Investigate career pathways.
• Access x2VOL for Service Learning
• Look up enrichment activities and scholarship opportunities.

Parents/Guardians

Parent/Guardians can login to:

• View information about students' academic and postsecondary plans, interests and opportunities.
  • After logging in, click on About Me at the top of the page.
  • Choose Portfolio to view the data entered by your child through their Academic and Career Plan.
• Research colleges and careers.
• View available enrichment and scholarship opportunities.
• Users can access key Naviance content translated into more than 70 supported languages.
  • After logging in, click the globe icon in the top right corner and select your preferred language.

Parent Access

• Naviance and SIS Parent use the same credentials (username and password)

Seniors, stay tuned to Naviance for scholarship opportunities. The scholarship page is routinely updated.

College Access Fairfax offers a variety of resources available to Fairfax County students including assistance with the FAFSA. The FAFSA is expected to open for the 24-25 year in December 2024. For more information, check out their site: https://collegeaccessfairfax.org/.

On Wednesday, October 9, Oakton High School twelfth graders will have the opportunity to participate in the SAT School Day. FCPS will cover the cost for any twelfth grade student to take this test. The essay option and subject area tests are not available during SAT School Day.

To reserve a seat for your twelfth grader to take this exam and ensure appropriate test materials are available for your student, families are asked to complete the form below by Wednesday, September 4.

Oakton High School: 2024 SAT School Day Intent to Participate Form https://forms.gle/1r1nnzQ2U3MmZqkB9

Your student will need to use a @fcpsschools.net email account to access and complete this form. A translated version of the form content may be found on the SAT School Day Intent Form webpage (https://www.fcps.edu/node/43896). FCPS sites cannot accept walk-ins on the day of the exam.

General information about the SAT School Day test format is available on the College Board webpage (https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/taking-the-test/sat-in-school). Directions on how to access scores and score release dates are published by College Board via the College Board website.

We will share exam day schedules and additional details in the coming weeks. If you have questions about the SAT School Day administration at Oakton High School, please contact the Assessment Coach, Catie Bishop- crbishop@fcps.edu.

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is pleased to announce plans to offer the Preliminary SAT (PSAT)/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) to students in grades 10-11 on October 9, 2024. A PSAT/NMSQT Testing Notification letter is posted online.

Digital Format: This fall, the PSAT/NMSQT will be delivered digitally. Some testing accommodations are administered differently on digital tests than they are on paper/pencil tests. Please reference the Using Accommodations on Digital Tests chart to review how each accommodation is delivered digitally.

AP Exam Information will be provided in the upcoming weeks via the Principal Update Emails on Monday evenings and on the website.

• Students will receive their course join codes in their classes in the coming weeks.
• All AP Exams this year are either digital or hybrid digital using the Bluebook application (world language, art, etc will still be on the usual systems)
  
• Students must use their username and password to access College Board. Information will be provided for all students on how to access College Board or get help with their account in their AP Courses. No staff can help students access their account if they don’t have their username or password. They must contact College Board: College Board Student Account Help
• The cost of the exam this year is $99 for non-enrolled students and for students taking exams beyond the 6 provided exams paid for by the county.
• All charges for AP Exams beyond the provided 6 exams are charged by the county and are non-refundable (students must op-out of their exams in October if they wish to not be charged beyond the 6)
• Students will get their opt-out forms in early October for their AP Exams.

Questions can be directed to AP Exam Coordinator, Kim Stewart, at kastewart@fcps.edu.

The World Languages Credit Exam assesses reading and writing language proficiency in languages other than English. Students who take the exam may earn up to three World Languages credits for levels one, two, and three for the language of the exam.

The exam is offered one time per school year. A student may participate in the exam two times per language, once per year, between grades 7 through 12. Students have two chances per language to earn credits by taking the exam. The exam is available in 30 languages.

This year, students will be testing at Oakton during the school day. Information about the date will be forthcoming to students. The anticipated test date will be early November.

Registration Info

Students may register for the exam with their school counselor beginning September 4 to October 4.

All students must complete a parent permission form prior to registration. School counselors can provide a printed copy to families.

To view the registration form, please click below:

English Permission Form

FAQs for Students and Parents

The 2024 College Fair will be held on Sunday, October 20, 2024, at George Mason University’s Eagle Bank Arena from 4:00 - 6:30 pm. Approximately 220 colleges and universities will be represented, including two and four-year colleges and US Service Academies.

Following the fair, the Two-Night Postsecondary Virtual Event will be held on Monday, October 21, and Tuesday, October 22, 2024, from 5:00 - 8:00 pm.

Students must register to attend: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/college-career-planning/college-education-planning/events-college-and-career-planning

Students interested in the military or who would like to take an interest inventory test are welcome to register for the ASVAB. The ASVAB is a multiple-choice test that the United States Military Entrance Processing Command uses to assess potential for military training and enlistment. The ASVAB also helps identify careers that may be a good fit for applicants.

In collaboration with Madison High School, we will offer the exam this fall on December 4 at 8:30am at Madison High School. Mr. McClam will be sending more information about registration.

The NHS 24-25 Student Application process for membership will begin in September. All eligible 11th and 12th grade students with a current 3.5 cumulative GPA or higher will receive an invitation to apply in their school emails with important information regarding the application process in early September. The official application window will open on September 20th and students who are qualified to apply will have the opportunity to attend an informational meeting during the school day to ask questions about the process. If a student has recently transferred to Oakton High School and has documentation regarding their prior membership, they can contact Mrs. Stewart at kastewart@fcps.edu with proof of membership. Current members of NHS do not need to reapply. More information and reminders will be provided as the process begins to our students and parents.

Crisis Link Regional Hotline 703-527-4077

Crisis Text Text NEEDHELP to 85511

Dominion Hospital Emergency 703-536-2000

INOVA Emergency 703-289-7560

Merrifield Center Emergency 703-573-5979 TTY dial 711

Life Threatening 911