North Star College

Parents and Guardians,

This semester is quickly winding down and I'm shocked at how few weeks we have left. Students only have five more weeks of instruction in their courses and then finals week is Dec. 11-16. It is my hope that students can finish strong and maintain as high of GPA as possible. As families, please be sure that you're not scheduling vacations where students will be out prior to the end of the semester. It has really been a struggle for those who have left for multiple days because so much is missed in just one day of college. Attendance continues to be the most important factor that impacts coursework and grades, especially with the content rigor that students are facing up here at UAF. I can't stress it enough the importance of being in class each and every day. It makes a difference!

At semester's end we will be reviewing all students' final grades, graduation progress, and contacting parents/students if requirements have not been maintained. Our ultimate goal of our program is for students to graduate. Unfortunately, it may be necessary for some students to go back to their familiar high school setting to get back on track.

Per the NSC 23-24 Handbook: Each semester students must continue to maintain/stay on track with graduation requirements. If a student has earned more than one D or F, or has a faculty initiated withdrawal, or has been given an NB “No Basis” grade by an instructor at the completion of the student’s courses, the student will be dismissed to return to their attendance-area high school.

If you have any questions/concerns or would like to let us know that your student has already decided to return to their attendance-area school at semester, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Stacey Kennedy

All NSC students received an email at their "alaska.edu" student account regarding these dates below and how to schedule their REQUIRED advising appointment through Nanook Navigator. Parents are welcome to attend, so check out the email together with your student and schedule as it works for you both.

Senior Priority Registration: 10/30 - 11/8

Junior Priority Registration: 11/9 - 11/17

Open Registration: 11/20 - 12/1 (For any student who may have missed their priority week.)

Lexi Amstutz , UAF Academic Advisor, and Kristan Kelly, FNSBSD Academic Counselor, will both be working closely together to assure students are maintaining their graduation track, as well being placed in the appropriate college courses.

UAF Parking Services is hosting a canned food drive from Nov. 1-17. In addition to helping communities in need, Parking Services will reduce your citations to a warning!

Bring in:

• 5 items for a $25 citation
• 7 Items for a $35 citation
• 15 Items for a $65 citation

Please bring your non-perishable food to the Office of the Bursar. Thank you for your support and willingness to donate!

1 case ramen = 1 item

* Not valid for $125 and $250 citations, boots, tows, and citations in collections. Expired items not accepted.

Join for a virtual workshop and learn how to:

• Open a bank account
• Manage your money
• Maximize banking benefits

https://alaska.zoom.us/j/83747756480

(Sign in with your UAF Zoom account for these events)

Stop by our office if you ordered pictures. We have them ready to be picked up!

North Sky Photography (formerly known as Portraits Photography) will be here again Wednesday, Nov. 15, from 8:00-10:00 am, in our NSC Office space to take pictures of students who may have been absent or missed the opportunity to have their picture taken this week. ALL students need to have a picture on file, so please assure you get your picture taken.

We are happy to announce that North Star College has been approved for its own chapter of the National Honor Society. Students who are already NHS members at their attendance-area school will be automatically granted membership here in the newly formed NSC chapter of NHS. Current NHS members should keep track of their individual service hours (12 hours/semester minimum) so they can submit those service hours to our NHS advisor, Mr. Stoddard.

If you are already an NHS member, please email Mr. Stoddard at: greg.stoddard@k12northstar.org so he can place you in the email group for NHS related information.

During the Spring 2024 semester, we will be opening the application process for inducting new members. Look for the new member NHS application link in coming newsletters and on the NSC website's home page during the first week of February. The basic NHS application requirements for new membership are as follows:

• A cumulative GPA of at least a 3.6 (including students’ Fall 2023 semester grades!).

• Student should be enrolled in challenging coursework (as an NSC student being challenged in university level classes, students won’t need to be worried about this requirement).

• Student should be involved in at least one substantial school sponsored extracurricular activity.

We will hold a brief NHS meeting for current NHS members on Wednesday Dec. 6, 2023 @ 8:30 AM during DEVS.

Currently, we will plan on meeting approximately once a month (likely on a Wednesday afternoon at 12 PM) as we look forward to serving our community through our individual and collaborative service projects.

We look forward to working with both our current NHS members and future inductees as our NHS chapter gets up and running here at NSC.

More information will be coming soon, but we are working at creating a yearbook option for our Senior class to be able to contribute to and purchase in the coming weeks. This will be a special keepsake for our 2024 graduating class with each student submitting photos and create their own page sharing insights about themselves and their future plans. We will keep you posted as we have the link available.

For those students taking APEX courses, I'm growing concerned as to the lack of progress some students seem to be making at this point in the semester. Parents should be receiving emails from Apex as to progress alerts when students have fallen behind the pacing of the online material. Also, for those courses, students are required to have quizzes/tests unlocked by our our counselor or program secretary, of which, we've had very few students making these requests or coming to take assessments. These courses are required to be completed by the end of the semester.

Here are some guidelines for Apex to run smoothly at NSC as it is pretty different than what students may be used to:

• Our office is open from 7am-3pm. Kristan and Natalie can help you with unlocking tests and resetting quizzes.
• If you need a quiz reset, we will only be doing this during office hours, so please plan accordingly if you need a quiz reset.
• You do not need to send notes to have a quiz reset. Simply request to have the quiz reset via email with Kristan or Natalie. (Emails located at the bottom of this newsletter.)
• If you are ready to come in for a test to be monitored, plan to be here by 1:00pm to start in order to give yourself plenty of time to finish prior to the end of office hours.

The school code for North Star College is 012350. Because we are a new school, the name of the school likely will not populate and students will have the option of selecting wording similar to “my school is not listed.” For counselor name, students should list Kristan Kelly at kristan.kelly@k12northstar.org. (Please note the nonstandard spelling of Kristan’s name.) Students needing help with applications can schedule an appointment or drop by Kristan’s office in Bunnell between 7-3 weekdays.

All North Star College students will participate in our graduation ceremony on May 20, 2024, at 7:00pm, here at UAF's Davis Concert Hall. We are currently working with the Herff Jones company setting up our website link for purchasing NSC graduation packages (caps, gowns, tassels, etc.) where parents/students will be able to order directly in preparation for our ceremony. We will keep you informed here of next steps and deadlines as the year progresses.

Is your student needing to take the SAT or ACT this year? The SAT and ACT are qualifiers for the Alaska Performance Scholarship and many colleges/universities require one or both of these test scores for their admission applications.

UAF Exam Services administers the SAT and ACT tests several times during the academic year. Space is limited so be sure your student registers early. Registrations for these exams typically close 30 days prior to the exam date. Students can find registration deadlines and test information HERE.

North Star College received SAT fee waiver codes. If you are eligible to receive the SAT fee waiver code, please reach out to me at least 30 days prior to your test date, and I will provide you with the six character electronic fee waiver code. Below you will find eligibility information and instructions from the College Board.

Who is eligible to receive the SAT fee waiver benefits

- Enrolled in or eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). If your school is community eligible, meaning all students receive free or reduced lunch automatically without being individually verified as eligible, an alternate qualifier must be used to individually confirm a student's eligibility for SAT fee waiver benefits.

- Annual family income falls within the Income Eligibility Guidelines set by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service: https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/income-eligibility-guidelines

- Enrolled in a federal, state, or local program that aids students from low-income families (e.g., Federal TRIO programs such as Upward Bound).

- Family receives public assistance.

- Lives in federally subsidized public housing or a foster home, or are homeless.

- Are a ward of the state or an orphan.

HOW TO USE SAT FEE WAIVER CODE

- Do enter all 12 characters, and put the 6 digit (CEEB) school code (012350) before the 6 character electronic fee waiver code.

- Do not have any spaces present before, within, or after the code when submitting the code.

- Do not enter the letter O or the letter I. Instead, these would be zeros or ones.

While the codes should not be case sensitive, the students may want to enter the code with all letters capitalized.

If your students are seeing the "Pay for the SAT With a Voucher" option during SAT registration, this space is not intended for SAT fee waiver codes and if an SAT fee waiver code is entered it will not be accepted. Additionally, students will see a total due during the registration process as available SAT registration benefits do not get applied until the step where a student would otherwise enter their payment information.

Students having difficulty with redeeming their SAT fee waiver code may call the SAT Student support line at (866) 756 - 7346 for assistance.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Eligible students only need to redeem 1 SAT fee waiver code in order to add their full set of SAT fee waiver benefits to their College Board account.

Students do not need to register in order to redeem their code. As soon as they successfully enter the code in the box at the top of the My SAT page to add the benefits to their account, the code is counted as used.

We've been receiving some concerns regarding plagiarism by students and wanted to share some information our UAF's Elmer E. Rasmuson Library has provided:

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism can come with serious consequences, including dismissal from UAF.

UAF's Student Code of Conduct

Every Wednesday at 2:30, Wood Center Multi-Level Lounge

Does your student experience a disability and related barriers in academics or accessing campus? Your student may register with Disability Services (DS) and request accommodations to address those barriers.

Documentation

1.) Fill out and submit the Registration Form. The Registration form covers a broad range of information. Some things may apply to you, the student, and some things may not, don't get hung up on any one question. You may skip any of the questions you feel do not apply to you. There are no right or wrong answers.

2.) Provide documentation from a medical provider stating your disability, diagnosis, and/or symptoms you experience. Alternatively, your provider may complete the Disability Verification Form. If you have any questions about medical documentation and how to access it, please let them know.

Accommodation Letter

At the conclusion of the initial appointment a letter will be drafted and emailed to your student for your student to share with their instructors as needed. Please note that your student is responsible for contacting Disability Services to renew your letter every semester.

Disability Services Team

Gruening Building 211

907-474-5655

Natalie Tanner, Program Secretary 907-452-2000 ext. 52101 natalie.tanner@k12northstar.org

Stacey Kennedy, Director 907-452-2000 ext. 52102 stacey.kennedy@k12northstar.org

Kristan Kelly, Counselor 907-452-2000 ext. 52103 kristan.kelly@k12northstar.org

Greg Stoddard, Teacher 907-452-2000 ext. 52104 greg.stoddard@k12northstar.org

Lexi Amstutz, UAF Advisor 907-474-7159 adamstutz@alaska.edu

Email: stacey.kennedy@k12northstar.org
Website: https://www.k12northstar.org/Domain/4979
Location: UAF Bunnell Building, 1790 Tanana Loop, Fairbanks, AK, USA
Phone: (907) 456-1477
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthStarMiddleCollege/