Weekly Update - 11/3-11/14

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay! But it's that time of week again...

SEAD Weekly Update!!

It's been surprisingly quiet these last couple of weeks. The RHS girls soccer made it all the way to STATE FINALS this year!! I got to watch both the semi-finals and the final match, and boy was that some good soccer. Congratulations ladies!

On both Saturday and Tuesday, I hosted a practice SAT, and we had four students attend between the two dates. Another SEAD student even asked if he could take the test at home since he could not go to either of the two scheduled sessions. Such dedication! I'm very impressed with how all five students showed their perseverance and successfully finished such a long exam.

Things to do:

Students:

• Our individual meetings this week are crucial, so please make sure you come to them! We have a lot of end-of-term things to discuss, and I want to maximize the rest of the time I have left with you.
• As always, please continue to do your WilsonPrep exercises. A few of you are in danger of losing your access because you haven't done an exercise in so long!

Parents:

• Ask your student about their WilsonPrep progress.
• Ask about your student's top three colleges and why. We want to get as much conversation and discussion going as possible.

Upcoming SEAD Events!

• On Wednesday, November 19th, we'll be having our last ever group meeting for the term. I'll bring a lot of yummy goodies to snack on, and the winter intern Roberto will be Skyping into the meeting to say hi!
• Also on Wednesday, November 19th, we're having a group lunch to celebrate. It will take place during 5-3 lunch (we're extremely lucky that everybody has the same schedule!), and I'll get pizza delivered. It should be a lot of fun!
• On Friday, November 21st, we're going to see the Not2Sharp a cappella performance in the RHS cafeteria. Please tell me ASAP if you plan on going so I can get tickets for everyone!

Student Showcase:

Our student showcase this week is Tatiana! She's graduating this year (one year early!) and has been doing an absolutely phenomenal job handling her eight (yes eight!) courses and completing her college and scholarship applications. She plays sports too! Good job Tati, and keep up the great work!

That's all I have for this week. Don't forget to be awesome.

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine

Weekly Update - 10/27-10/31

Happy Halloween! Do I have a treat for you! It's the....

SEAD Weekly Update!!

Last week was surprisingly calm here at RHS. We didn't have any SEAD events (I know, that's super sad, right?), so it was just business as usual. During our group meeting this week, we discussed the differences between and the pros/cons of target, reach, and safety schools when applying to colleges. We will continue to work on this throughout the rest of my time here at RHS, and the winter intern (Roberto) will work with the students on this as well. Having a balance of target/reach/safety schools in the list of colleges you apply to is incredibly important, and it can make the difference between attending a school you love and a school you hate.

Things to do:

Students:

• As always, continue to do your WilsonPrep exercises! They could be the key between getting a so-so and getting a great SAT score. It's just a couple minutes each day, but it will pay off so much in the end. Also, doing a full week of WilsonPrep by Friday at 9pm is worth FIVE College Knowledge Points!
• Keep updating your College Greenlight profiles! A couple of our SEAD scholars have been excellent about exploring College Greenlight over the past week, and they've both told me that they were really surprised about how helpful the website is.

Parents:

• Ask your students about their target, reach, and safety schools. Ask what we've been talking about during our meetings this term. Ask what their current top 3 colleges are and why. 
• Be involved with their college search process because when your student is deciding where to attend college their senior spring (just a year and a half from now!), you should hopefully be as excited about their choice as they are. 

Upcoming SEAD Events!

• On THURSDAY November 6th (please note the date change!), RHS is hosting their Financial Aid night at 6pm. Even though our SEAD scholars 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. I'll be there, and 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 at 8am in room 204 in the high school, and it is absolutely expected that all the students attend. Since the SAT is as much about endurance as about knowing the right answer, the more times they practice taking this test, the better they'll do on the real SAT next year - it's like training for a marathon. After the test, we'll go get ice cream (or coffee and hot chocolate if it's too cold for ice cream) as a reward for the students' hard work on the test.
• On Friday November 21st, we will be going to see Not2Sharp, an a capella group from UNH, preform in the RHS cafeteria. A capella is, in my opinion, quintessentially college, and it should be a great experience for all involved. This will be my last night in Raymond, so I would absolutely love for everybody to attend so I can say my goodbyes. I've already had a couple of students RSVP to this, so for the rest of the students: please let me know ASAP if you plan on going so I can buy tickets for everybody!

Student Showcase!

This week's student showcase is Shae! She put in a lot of time and effort last week to get all of her assignments in on time for the end of the quarter, and she has sought me out during her study hall for help when she needs it. Good job Shae! Keep up the good work, and always reach for help when needed! I'm excited to see what you'll accomplish this coming term.

That's all I have for now. As always, reach out early and often, and have a fantastic week! See you soon!

Your friendly neighborhood intern,

Katherine

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