College Knowledge Prizes!!

Hi all!!

The SEAD Staff have instituted a 

NEW POLICY 

surrounding our College Knowledge Curriculum, and it involves 

FREE DARTMOUTH GEAR 

We're now switching to a point system using the following point assignments:

TWO points for the completion of our College Knowledge worksheets (EACH WEEK)

TWO points for going on our college visit to Boston College

ONE point for attending a college information session hosted at RHS

FIVE points for a full week's WilsonPrep exercises on time (EACH WEEK by Friday at 9pm)

TEN points for attending the SEAD practice SAT (on Saturday November 8th)

Up to FIVE points for Effort and Enthusiasm (awarded at the end of the term)

And the prizes are...

25 Points for a Dartmouth KEYCHAIN

35 points for a Dartmouth LANYARD or BEANIE

45 points for a Dartmouth T-SHIRT

Attendance at the SAT for a Dartmouth WATER BOTTLE

(By going to the SAT, students get 10 points AND automatically get a water bottle too)

EDIT: I'm sorry everybody! These prizes ARE NOT cumulative - I was misinformed. I'm sorry about the confusion on this! If you have 45 points, you can choose whichever prize you want (a keychain OR a lanyard OR a beanie OR a t-shirt) - the only exception is the water bottle. If you do the SAT, you get the water bottle AND another prize (if you're eligible for it).

There are over 60 points available through all of these opportunities and so many free prizes to win!!!

I will calculate each student's CK points throughout the term 

as they complete our College Knowledge tasks. 

At the end of November, the SEAD staff will be notified as to which students 

earned which items, and Roberto (the winter intern!) will bring the prizes 

with him to give to students at the start of January.

Weekly Update - 10/20-10/24

It's that time of week again...

SEAD Weekly Update!!

Hi all! Here's a quick recap of everything we've done over the past week here at the ever lovely RHS:

On Wednesday, we had our SEAD Family dinner! Thank you to everyone who came - I had a blast! I absolutely loved meeting all of the parents and siblings and friends of our SEAD Scholars, and I hope that you had a wonderful time as well. We also covered a lot of information at the dinner, so if anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

On Saturday, the Raymond, East Boston, and Schenectady SEAD Students and their interns had an amazing trip to Boston College. I hope that everyone got a lot out of the experience - even if BC turned out not to be a very good fit for you, maybe you now have a better understanding of what types of universities will be good fits. 

If you want to see what the other schools and interns have been up to, here are the links to their blogs!

Maggie, East Boston High School: http://seadebhs.blogspot.com/

Erika, Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics: http://seadbcsm.blogspot.com/

Kayla, Schenectady High School: http://seadshs.blogspot.com/

Things to do:

Students: 

• As always, please do your daily WilsonPrep exercises! They're super quick - only five minutes - and they will help so much when you take the SAT in a few months. Also, you'll get five College Knowledge points if you do all five of the weekly exercises by Friday at 9pm.
• And again, please continue updating your College Greenlight profiles. This resource makes the college and scholarship search so much easier - I really wish that I had something like this available to me in high school.
• This is the last week of the quarter, so keep pushing! You're almost there! All of the students have at least one test this week, so study hard, do your work, and finish the quarter strong.

Parents:

• The first quarter ends this Friday, so please continue to encourage your student to complete their schoolwork to the very best of their abilities. They're all wonderful people, and I would love for their grades to reflect this!

Upcoming SEAD Events!

• On Wednesday November 5th, RHS is hosting their Financial Aid night at 6pm. Even though our SEAD students are juniors, it's never too early to start planning for how to pay for college. The presentation will cover the financial aid process and ways to apply for aid (FAFSA and CSS Profile forms), what types of aid are available, scholarship searches, and the importance of deadlines. Please plan on attending if you are able!
• On Saturday November 8th, we will be doing a full-length (~4 hours) practice SAT as part of our College Knowledge and SAT prep curriculum. It will take place in the morning in the high school (exact room and time TBD), and it is absolutely expected that all the students attend. The more times they practice taking this test, the better they'll do on the real SAT next year. Plus, we'll go get ice cream (or coffee/hot chocolate if it's too cold for ice cream) afterwards as a reward for their hard work on the test. 
• On Friday November 21st, we will be going to see Not2Sharp, an a capella (singing without instruments) group from UNH, preform in the RHS cafeteria. A capella is so quintessentially college, and I think this will be a great experience for the students. This will be my last night in Raymond, so I would love for everybody to attend so I can say my goodbyes. Please let me know if you plan on going so I can buy tickets for everybody!

Student Showcase!

Congratulations to Cam this week! He completed all five of his weekly WilsonPrep exercises on time and received 5 CK (College Knowledge) points! You're five points closer to that Dartmouth t-shirt that you wanted!

That's all I have for this week (I know, it was short, wasn't it?). As always, reach out early and often, and have a fantastic week! See you soon!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine

Visit to Boston College this weekend!

This weekend, RHS students will visit Boston College and meet up the the SEAD students and interns from Schenectady High School and East Boston High School.

This should be a really fun trip, and it will be a great experience for our SEAD scholars as they begin to start seriously thinking about which colleges to apply to next year. 

I strongly encourage all RHS students to come with us to BC this Saturday!

BC Trip Info for Raymond students:

We'll meet in the RHS parking lot by the main entrance (bus drop-off) at 9:00am

Please don't be late! 

Boston traffic can be pretty messy, and I really don't want to miss our scheduled tours at BC.

What we're doing: 

We have an 11:30am information session hosted by the Admissions Office followed by a campus tour led by a current BC student. Afterwards, we'll eat in one of the dining halls.

Who is going:

The SEAD students and interns from Raymond, Schenectady, and East Boston high schools. 

What time will we be back?

We'll leave BC sometime between 2:00 and 3:00pm, which means that, depending on traffic, we should likely arrive back at RHS between 4:00 and 5:00. The students will be able to call or text their parents (from my phone if needed) when we have a better idea of our return time.

Is there a cost? 

Transportation and lunch in the dining halls will be paid for by SEAD, and (depending on Boston traffic and if we have extra time) I will try to also provide a light snack for the students (we'll be eating a late lunch - around 1:30pm). However, students should bring their own spending money if they want additional snacks, BC gear/clothing, or any other items.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this trip! And I hope to see you soon!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,
Katherine

Weekly Update - 10/13-10/17

It's that time of week again...

SEAD Weekly Update!!

It's been a busy week, yet again, here at Raymond High School. Here's a quick recap:

Monday: NO SCHOOL! I hope you all enjoyed your day off and that you were able to spend the time doing something productive, whether that was completing coursework, working on college prep, or practicing good self-care and staying healthy. All three are incredibly important and legitimate ways to spend a day off of school!

Tuesday: I and most of the SEAD students were able to get together and have a lovely dinner at Applebee's on Tuesday. It was a great night, and I absolutely loved getting to know the students even better.

Wednesday: Five of the students took the PSAT Wednesday morning, and I'm so proud of the work that they've done with this. We had a SEAD breakfast before the test started to kick-start our brains and start the day off right. I hope everyone feels confident in their performance on the test! But I also want to say (and I will continue saying this for as long as I live) that while test scores are important, they are not your defining characteristic, and they should not be treated as such. There are so many qualities and abilities that test scores cannot measure, and these qualities are far more important in defining who you are as a person. You are not your test score, and I very sincerely hope that you'll be able to remember this, even as the people around you (including the well-meaning ones) try to reduce you down to just a number during the college admissions process. Keep your head up, keep working hard, and don't forget to be awesome! I have faith that each and every one of you will succeed in whatever you put your minds to!

Thursday: I and the SEAD interns from our other three partner high schools were able to do a Google Hangout and share some of our struggles and triumphs. It was great to hear what everyone has been doing, and I am constantly inspired by the wonderful people I get to work with. If you'd like to see what they've been up to, here are the links to their SEAD blogs!!

Maggie, East Boston High School: http://seadebhs.blogspot.com/

Erika, Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics: http://seadbcsm.blogspot.com/

Kayla, Schenectady High School: http://seadshs.blogspot.com/

Things to do:

Students: 

• As always, please continue working on both WilsonPrep and College Greenlight! There are a lot of great prizes to be won, from free Dartmouth gear to money for college!
• Like last week, there were a few problems with needing to cancel or reschedule our individual meetings. I understand that sometimes life happens or schoolwork piles up, so I will definitely try to accommodate changes in schedule. But to do this, please let me know ASAP so we can arrange an alternative time to meet, either in-person during school hours or over the phone in the evening.
• Return your RSVP forms for the family dinner and the Boston College visit! These are due ASAP!
• Continue being awesome, and keep up the good work!

Parents:

• Progress reports came out this past week, so if you haven't looked at it or had a discussion with your student as to their progress in school yet, please do so. Parental support is so incredibly important to student success, and your involvement means so much to them. 
• I've haven't been able to get in contact with all of our SEAD parents yet, so please be on the lookout for my call. I look forward to getting to know you all as the term progresses!
• Please RSVP for the family dinner and sign the permission slip for the Boston College visit this Saturday! If you haven't seen the forms about these events yet, ask your student. They should all have received them by now.

Upcoming SEAD Events!

• On Wednesday October 22nd, we have our SEAD family dinner! All of the SEAD students, their families, and the SEAD intern (me) and staff (Danise and Jenni) are invited. Please let me know ASAP whether or not you will be attending and if anyone in your family has a dietary restriction. The dinner will take place at 6pm at RHS, and I hope that everyone can attend!
• On Saturday October 25th, the Raymond SEAD students and I will be taking a trip down to Boston College, where we will meet up with the Schenectady and East Boston SEAD students. We will do an information session, campus tour, eat in one of the dining halls, and then have a bit of free time to explore campus. There's no cost to the students. Please arrive at RHS by 9am Saturday morning, and we will arrive back at RHS around 5pm that evening. 
• On Saturday November 1st, we will be doing a full-length practice SAT as part of our College Knowledge and SAT prep. It will take place on Saturday morning in the high school (exact room and time TBD), and it is absolutely expected that all the students attend. The more times they practice taking this test, the better they'll do on the real SAT next year. Plus, we'll go get ice cream (or coffee & hot chocolate if it's too cold for ice cream) afterwards as a reward for their hard work on the test. I'm looking forward to it!

Student Showcase!

Our student showcase for the week is none other than Wesley! He's done a phenomenal job in his English class this year. He had a rocky start, but entirely through his own hard work and effort and by going above and beyond the required work for the class, he was able to pull his grade up to an A! Congratulations Wes, you really deserve that grade! Keep up the phenomenal work!

That's all for today, everybody. As always, reach out early and often, and I hope you have a great week! I look forward to seeing you all at dinner on Wednesday!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine

Weekly Update - 10/6-10/10

Hey all, I have a bit of a belated gift for you! It's the...

SEAD Weekly Update!!

So here's just a short little recap of some of the things that we accomplished this past week at Raymond:

On Tuesday morning, several of our SEAD Scholars attended a college fair hosted at UNH, and it was a great success. Hopefully it was a great experience for all the students in attendance!

Several of our sports teams were triumphant this past week, and hearty congratulations are in order!

Things to do:

Students: 

• As always, please continue to update your College Greenlight profiles and do your Wilson Prep exercises. Both services are FREE and provide some really great opportunities for you.
• We had a few problems this week with some of our scholars needing to cancel our individual meetings. If something unavoidable comes up, that's fine, but please let me know! If we need to cancel a meeting, then we also need to arrange an alternative time to meet, either in-person during school hours or over the phone in the evening.
• Please turn in your SEAD forms and your fee waivers for the PSAT!! I can't stress enough how important it is to do this!

Parents:

• Please continue to check up with your student - ask how their grades are going, which classes they enjoy the most or are having problems with, and whether they have all of the appropriate forms turned in.
• Progress reports came out this week, so please talk to your student about how he or she is doing. And please continue to ask about their courses throughout the school year - we don't want any surprises when grades come out again in the future!
• I've haven't been able to get in contact with all of our SEAD parents yet, so please be on the lookout for my call. I look forward to getting to know you all as the term progresses!

Upcoming SEAD Events:

• On Tuesday October 14th, the SEAD students and I will be having dinner together at the Applebee's in Epping. Since we won't be able to have our normal Wednesday group meeting this week (due to the PSAT), I'll be communicating a lot of information to the students at the dinner, so please try to come! Plus, we're going to have a great time!
• On Wednesday October 15th, the SEAD Scholars will be taking the PSAT during school hours. We will be having a SEAD breakfast that morning to discuss some last-minute test strategies and mentally prepare for the test. Breakfast will start at 7am and be held in the library conference room. I'll have a lot of food, so come hungry!
• On Wednesday October 22nd, we have our SEAD family dinner! All of the SEAD students, their families, and the SEAD intern (me) and staff are invited. Please let me know ASAP if you will not be able to attend.

Student Showcase!

This week, we have three wonderful students to showcase! Tatiana and Katie both received 100% on their latest English essays, and Jade has worked incredibly hard this quarter to bring up her English grade after a rocky start. Congratulations ladies! Keep up the great work!

That's everything that I have for today! As always, please reach out early and often - I love getting to spend time with our SEAD scholars, and I look forward to getting to know you even better as the weeks pass. Have a good Monday off school!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine

Weekly Update - 9/29-10/3

It's that time of week again!

SEAD Weekly Update!!

Again, it's been a pretty busy week over here at Raymond.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week during lunch, the students had an activity fair during their lunches, and some of our very own SEAD Scholars were involved with manning the tables for the various other groups that they're involved with.

On the sports side of things, Tatiana and Katie had three volleyball games this week and three more next week! And Cam and the football team played last night against Somersworth. Go Rams! It can be hard balancing both sports and school, so keep up the great work everybody! 

This past Wednesday was the College Greenlight virtual college fair online. I hope everybody was able to take advantage of this great opportunity.

Things to do:

Students: 

• Please continue to update your College Greenlight profile - it's a great resource for scholarship and college searches
• Also, please continue to do your Wilson Prep exercises - it's free, and a fantastic opportunity to practice for the SAT!
• Our meetings this week have gone really well - keep up the great work!!

Parents:

• Continue to encourage our SEAD Scholars in all that they do, and celebrate their successes - which have been many - with them
• I will be phoning all SEAD parents and guardians next week, so be watching for my call. I look forward to getting to know you all! More information about our SEAD Family dinner for the term will be communicated then. 

Upcoming SEAD Events:

• Next week on Tuesday October 7th, Raymond High School is sponsoring a field trip for all interested junior and senior students to attend a college fair at the University of New Hampshire during the first half of the school day. Several of the SEAD Scholars are already signed up, and I encourage everybody to attend. It's going to be a great event!
• On Wednesday October 15th, all of the SEAD Scholars will be taking the PSAT during school hours. We will be having a SEAD breakfast that morning to discuss some last-minute test strategies and to promote community. It will start at 7am and be held somewhere in the school, the specific location to be announced at a later date. SEAD will be paying for the test, but we highly encourage all eligible students to apply for a fee waiver - we'd much rather spend the money on fun activities than on a test! Please contact me if you have any questions about this process.

Student Showcase!

We have three students to showcase today! 

First, thanks to Cam and Shae for helping to clean up after our group meeting on Wednesday! It was greatly appreciated!

Second, hearty congratulations to Tatiana are in order! She willingly gave up her Saturday morning to spend four hours taking a practice SAT test in order to prepare for the real test later this month. Good job Tatiana, and continue showing your grit!

That's all for this week folks. As always, please reach out early and often! I love spending time with our SEAD Scholars, whether it's during our weekly meetings or just a spontaneous, 2-minute visit to my desk. You never fail to brighten my day!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine