The first quarter of the school year is officially in the books. As we move into our second quarter, we look ahead to mid-term exams, the conclusion of the primary college application season, the start of scholarship season, and opportunities to think about interests and goals beyond high school.

In this issue we feature updates on:

• College Applications
• Financial Aid 101 - a collection of helpful links and articles
• Workshop Wednesday in the Career Center
• ASVAB Testing
• SAT Prep Class

All of those topics and more are covered in this newsletter. We hope you find these updates helpful and always encourage you to reach out to any of our School Counseling and Career Center staff with questions.

College visits have mostly finished for this admission season and our School Counseling secretaries, Ms. Smith and Ms. Benashski, are very busy submitting college application materials as students submit their requests. To date, over1,700 have already gone out!

Seniors are reminded to pay careful attention to application deadlines as School Counseling requires 10 school days in order to guarantee that supplemental materials such as transcripts and letters of recommendation will be sent on time. School days do not include weekends or any school holiday - especially important to note as we approach Winter Break. There are helpful deadline calendars posted around School Counseling and the Career Center to help students keep track.

We wish all our Class of 2025 the best of luck as they await their decisions!

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG) offers a generous scholarship program to students who live in or attend school in a 29 town region of the Greater Hartford area. South Windsor High School seniors are eligible to apply. HFPG has opened the application process for this season. There are some important facts and key dates to keep in mind.

Seniors planning to attend a four year college or university will soon be able to apply to the largest pool of scholarships using just one application that qualifies them for over 65 awards. These are $3,000 renewable scholarships, meaning students will receive that amount each of the four years of an undergraduate education. These awards are administered by Scholarship America, and students typically apply by February 1st to be considered.

Additionally, HFPG offers over 70 individual scholarships, each with its own unique criteria. These scholarships may be used at both two and four colleges as well as vocational programs. These applications are also usually due by February 1.

While Hartford Foundation has not opened their application portal for this season yet, they are expected to do so imminently. This scholarship program is listed in Naviance, where more scholarship information will be posted and updated throughout the winter months. In the meantime, to learn more about the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's scholarship programs, visit https://www.hfpgscholarships.org/. Once the portal opens, applicants can create an account to have access to the complete list of scholarships.

Students in grades 9-11 may have received notification of their scores from the PSAT or PSAT-8/9 they took in October. If you already have a College Board account, you may log in to access your report. Grade 9 students will receive a School Counseling lesson about creating a College Board account soon, and will view their scores at that time. The score report provides detailed information besides the base score on the exam. The College Board website describes the report in the following way:

"When you view your online score reports, you’ll get summaries of your performance on each test and content area. You can also filter results and drill down to see how you performed on easy, medium, and hard questions or on questions that measure different skills. Percentiles will show how you did compared to your peers."

To better understand score reports, review this guide provided by College Board. Beyond accessing the score report, students and parents/guardians can use the College Board website to take practice tests, consider course recommendations, explore colleges and connect to scholarships.

In its fourteenth year, College Planning Partnership is starting its winter SAT classes on January 21, 2025. One section runs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the other runs Mondays and Wednesdays.

Classes are offered in afternoon or evening sessions. This allows students to jump into another class if something comes up and they can't attend class. Classes are recorded so that students can go back and review portions of the lesson, or use it as a makeup. The instructors utilize the online Desmos platform to analyze what questions the classes are finding difficult and to drill down on those difficult topics.

Because of our longstanding relationship with College Planning Partnership, they have discounted the online eight-week course from $795 to $495. Grade 11 students with documented financial need are eligible for further tuition assistance and should contact their School Counselor for more details prior to registering.

Register at http://satprepct.com/courses

Use code SWHS2025 to receive the discounted price for SWHS students.

Local employers often seek SWHS students to fill part-time positions. All positions are posted on the Part-Time Jobs bulletin board in the Career Center. Students are encouraged to come take a picture of the postings for information on hours, pay, and how to apply.

Many stores will hire seasonal help for the upcoming holidays, and these may turn into more permanent positions depending on the need after the holiday shopping season winds down. Local restaurants are another possibility. Stopping in and asking to speak to a manager is a great way to find out whether jobs are available.

Recent Job Posting:

• Best Brains Learning Center - Manchester - hiring Teaching Assistants who are at least 16 years old, have a minimum weighted GPA of 3.7, and completed Algebra II Honors. Shifts are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. For more hiring details, call 860-909-0000 or e-mail: Manchesternorth@bestbrains.com

In the next few weeks, Ms. Keleher and Ms. Iuliano will visit 9th grade English classes. They will help students set up their College Board accounts and understand how to access and understand their score reports from the PSAT-9 test they took in October. Finally, they will look ahead to midterm exams and share some ideas for how students can prepare to take these for the first time.

Reach out to Ms. Keleher at dkeleher@swindsor.k12.ct.us or Ms. Iuliano at kiuliano@swindsor.k12.ct.us with individual questions.

Grade 10 parents and guardians may want to ask their student to show them Naviance, an on-line platform where students can take career inventories, explore colleges, search for scholarships, and store useful planning documents such as resumes.

In the coming weeks, the School Counseling office will send out registration codes for parents/guardians to create their own Naviance accounts. The parent/guardian account shows what students can see in Naviance and provides access to some of the college and career exploration tools.

Grade 10 students who have not started a resume yet or are not sure how to create one may be interested in attending the Career Center's Workshop Wednesday next week on November 20th (see notice above). This after school program will show students the value of starting a resume now, how to build one in Naviance, and also tips for other tools to create resumes for a variety of uses. Students should sign up with Mrs. Carty in person or by e-mail at lcarty@swindsor.k12.ct.us.

All students in grades 6-12 have a dedicated school counselor. The role of a school counselor centers on each student's social-emotional development, academic achievement/advisement, and career/future planning. These areas are covered through classroom lessons, individual conferencing, family meetings, and in conjunction with school-based teams. School counselors are committed to meeting the needs of each individual student and family.

The Career Center offers a variety of assistance to students and parents preparing for post-secondary opportunities. It is located in the School Counseling office and can also be accessed from the hallway outside School Counseling.

Website: https://highschool.southwindsorschools.org/departments/school_counseling
Phone: 860-648-5003