AP(Parent)ly for April 28, 2014

4/29/2014

apPARENTly

WiHi Parent & Student News You Can Use 

April 27, 2014

*Added since last edition 

Counseling News 

Ann Arbor Public School Happenings

Area Happenings 

826Michigan 

Neutral Zone 

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WiHi Counseling News:

Juniors:

*1. The Princeton Review has several free events coming up to help your students prepare for the ACT, SAT, and the college admissions process. With the number of college applicants increasing each year, this is a great chance to get ahead of the game and see whether their current scores will get them into the universities of their choice.

Free Practice ACT Day: Saturday, May 10th from 9am-1pm

Locations: Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe, Novi, and Rochester.

Free Practice SAT Day: Saturday, May 3rd from 9am-1pm

Locations: Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe, Novi, and Rochester.

Scores Back & Strategy Session: Saturday, May 17th from 11am-1pm

Locations: Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe, Novi, and Rochester.

At this event, you will receive a detailed, diagnostic score report of your results and learn strategies for each section on the exam.

The practice tests will be administered in a way that’s very similar to how the real

ACT and SAT are given. Why? Because students need to become familiar with the testing environment they’ll face when taking the test when it counts. The Princeton Review runs free practice tests so that students can gain an understanding of the format of the ACT & SAT and experience sitting down early on a Saturday morning for a four-hour exam!

Parents and students are welcome to attend the Scores Back and Strategy Session on May 17th. Students will receive their scores, learn strategies for taking each test, and find out how to gain admission into a top-notch school or university of their choice.  The individualized diagnostic score reports analyze students’ strengths and areas of opportunity. Students should walk away from the practice tests and Strategy Session with a feel for where they stand on the tests, where their scores will take them, and the confidence to improve their score and ace the exams.

Spots are limited - please call The Princeton Review at 800-2Review (800-273-8439) to register. You can also visit us online at PrincetonReview.com/FreePracticeTest to reserve your spot today!

All Students

1. Visiting colleges or want to? Amtrak features 50% coupons for student and parents/guardians at: http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak.htm

2. Greyhound offers 15% discount for students with their “Student Advantage Card.” Also gives up to 50% discount on stuff.http://www.studentadvantage.com/nextstep

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*News from Community High School's National Honor Society

The CHS NHS Induction of new members was help on April 22. Each year, seniors share thoughts about each of the four pillars of the NHS- Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Character. The first of these four installments is presented by Katie Taub.

Scholarship

     I was introduced to the idea of scholarship at an almost unnatural age. Ever since I could comprehend the English language my father would read a story to me every night. These ranged from the ever loved “Captain Underpants” series to Stella Luna. However, almost overzealously, my father tried to read The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Les Miserables to me. Keep in mind that I was around 5 when this happened, and was more enamored with the pictures on the page than the actual text.

However this misadventure into classic literature was my first real interaction with scholarship. My father would explain to me that all of the characters had deeper meaning, and urged me to consider what the implications of every single action may be. I would lie awake at night and wonder not only why, but just the pure physical workings of how Achilles could be dangled into the river Styx, or how someone as great as Odysseus could pass himself off as a “nobody”.

At the time, I did not realize this was scholarly at all, because to be perfectly honest I was a little more concerned with going to bed that night than what the deeper metaphorical meanings of Victor Hugo’s writing had been. However, now, reflecting back on those moments, I realize the importance of scholarly work.

It is the scholars who scratch their eyes staring at the night sky wondering what the fresh horizon may present to them. It is the scholars who lose themselves in text and artwork only to create more. It is the scholars who truly appreciate the world on more than one level.

Now I am not trying to devalue simple explanations- some things should be taken at face value. However, what I am suggesting is that scholarship is the act of deciphering the multiple levels of meaning, and that this should be explored throughout all of life.

Without scholarship, the world is black and white, with simple truths being attributed to issues and ideas that are incredibly complex and multiple. Knowledge and learning bring color into one’s life. Scholarship is a way to fill in the gray scale.

I think that everyone tries to be scholarly in their life in one way or another. For example, someone may vehemently subscribe to the “scholarly lifestyle”, and boast the motto of Ravenclaw house “where those of wit and learning will always find their kind”. Others may analyze sport standings and player’s records to predict the outcome of a season. Some may even wonder what the Spice Girls meant when they said they wanted to “zig a zig ah”. The key to this, though, is that these people are looking for deeper meaning in a life that may otherwise be passed by. Scholarship is the key to unlocking the secrets of the future and the meanings of the past.

College Programs

*Exploring College Options returns to Ann Arbor’s Webers Inn on Monday, May 12 at 7:30 PM. Admissions representatives will be on hand from Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Penn and Georgetown to discuss their programs and admissions information. Check it out at:www.exploringcollegeoptions.org

College News

One Word That Can Make All the Difference in a College Application

The lesson we’ve learned from this year’s college decisions couldn’t be clearer. More students are applying to more colleges, so colleges can be more selective about the students they admit. That’s just as true at the Top 25 colleges (whatever those are) as it is for the colleges in your neighborhood. More choice means more opportunity for colleges to be more choosy.

So how do you prepare? In a word, study.

It’s absolutely true that grades alone don’t lead to a yes from any college, but studies show grades and strength of schedule are the two biggest factors in nearly every college decision, not counting art schools. Since good grades are based on knowing what you’re talking about, good study habits become more important than ever.

The good news is that most students are studying—it’s just that they aren’t studying enough. Your Geometry teacher assigns you problems 5-15, and you do them all. The English assignment is 20 pages of The Great Gatsby, so you knock them out. Tomorrow’s Bio quiz on the parts of a frog? Memorized and good to go.

Or are you?

Your study habits may be getting you through the next test or paper—but are they enough to help understand the big picture, and see how this unit will apply to the next unit? If it’s time to boost your study skills, consider these simple exercises. Do one of these every time your study, and that extra 30 minutes can make a huge difference in your learning, and your college plans.

Math  It’s great that you knocked out those 10 problems when your teacher assigned questions 5-15 for homework, but what about problem 20—the one that asks you to explain your answer—or problem 24, where you have to apply what you’ve learned in a question about building design? Once you’ve done those two, flip back 20 pages, and try question 17 from the homework three weeks ago—and once that’s done, try and figure out why doing questions 5-15 tonight meant you had to complete 11 problems, not 10.

English  Too many students read those 20 pages by opening the book and plowing straight through—since the words hit your eyes, you were reading, right? But what did each part mean, and how did it relate to the 20 pages you read last night? Spend a dollar on a drug-store notebook, and stop every 2 pages to write down a summary of what you just read, then read those notes before you complete your next reading assignment. It makes the ideas pop out more, and stick together—and they may even remind you of some ideas you read last month in The Scarlet Letter.

Science  Chances are you have those frog parts memorized by where they appear on the diagram in the book. That’s good, but it’s better to also know how they relate to each other. Which are muscle? Which ones are organs? Which ones do frogs have that toads don’t? Regrouping ideas means you see them in different ways, and that will get you hopping down the path of amphibian wisdom.

Social Studies  This group of classes isn’t called the Social Sciences by accident. Frog parts relate in different ways, and so do sequences of historic events. Look for the economic, ethical, and philosophical similarities and differences in the topics you study, and the relationship between the Boston Tea Party and the Montgomery Bus Boycott could be stronger than you think—and both could relate to the Ukrainian crisis in a way only you can see.

Look at you. Scholar.

Six Words of Advice for Parents of College-Bound Juniors

One group is more anxious about this year's college admissions decisions than the parents of this year's seniors -- and that's the parents of next year's seniors. Junior parents love their children, and they would welcome any advice colleges could offer that would give their child's application an inside edge.

To support that effort, here's what a college admissions officer told me when I asked for advice I could give to junior parents:

"Let your child drive the bus."

The explanation she offered for this counsel, combined with long-standing conventional wisdom, gets to the heart of the college application process, and shows what admissions officers are looking for in a successful applicant beyond the numbers:

Initiative From start to finish, a college application has to send the message that applying to this school was the student's idea, and the student is excited enough to do something to bring that idea to life. This is why so many colleges want students to visit campus or meet the admissions representative at a local college fair; it shows the student is serious about their application.

That seriousness is questioned when the application is completed in what is clearly the handwriting of an adult, or when parents call the admissions office to ask questions. This is particularly true if the parent starts the call by saying "We're applying to your college next year." If the student wants to start building a meaningful relationship with the college, they make the calls, and speak in first person.

Synthesis Well-meaning parents insist they only help their child complete a college application because it is too complicated. Colleges certainly don't want the process to discourage students; at the same time, applicants show they possess the traits needed to be successful students at selective colleges by demonstrating the flexibility, organization and persistence needed to create an application crafted exclusively by the student. That's why it's best for students to schedule an hour or two each weekend in the fall to focus on college applications -- it gives them the best chance to create an application that is rich with their voice, and their voice alone.

Originality Everyone has a unique view of the world, and a good college application gives the admissions office a glimpse into a student's ability to share their particular vantage point. Colleges understand that view may not be fully developed at age 17 -- in fact, most hope it isn't -- but they also understand that unique view should be consistent across all parts of the application. A 20-minute weekly college meeting between parents and applicant gives the student the right mix of structure and encouragement to shape their own answers, and assure their ownership of the application process.

Authenticity Students have different reasons for attending college, but each reason has a common purpose -- students want to get something out of the experience. A strong college application shows the admissions office what that purpose is, and taking the time to wrestle with each part of a college application not only gives the application more clarity and confidence; it also gives the applicant more clarity and confidence.

It may be hard for parents to watch students struggle at first with this important task, just as it wasn't easy to watch them strike out at the plate, listen to their first violin solo, or feel them let the clutch out too soon. Great hitters and virtuosos are made with time, effort, and the opportunity to get better, and so are good drivers. The best way to help them reach their college destination is to give them the keys.

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2013-14 Testing Dates and Deadlines 

ACT  The ACT Assessment Test assesses a high school student’s general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work. The multiple-choice tests cover four skill areas: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. The Writing Test, which is optional, measures skill in planning and writing a short essay. The ACT is generally taken by 11th Graders in the spring/summer of their Junior year of high school and by seniors retaking them to improve their scores. The ACT is also included as part of the Michigan Merit Examination (MME) and will be administered in school in March, 2014. http://www.actstudent.org

2013-14 Test Dates

Test Date                     Registration Deadline              (Late Fee Required)

June 14, 2014              May 9, 2014                           May 10–23, 2014

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SAT   The SAT Reasoning Test is a measure of the critical thinking skills students need for academic success in college. The SAT is usually taken by 11th Graders in the spring of their Junior year in high school and retaken by seniors to improve their scores. Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale of 200-800, with two writing subscores for multiple-choice and the essay.

Test Dates                   Registration Deadlines         Regular Late (a fee applies)

May 3, 2014                April 4, 2014                          April 18, 2014

June 7, 2014                May 9, 2014                            May 23, 2014

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AAPS News

Pioneer News from PI High (Pioneer High, that is)

For more information about Ann Arbor Pioneer,  http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/pioneer.home

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The Rat Rap (Huron High, that is!)

Official Site http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/huron.

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SkyHI (Skyline High, that is)

Official Site: http://www.a2skyline.org/skyline.home/home

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Selective Service Information: For 17 and 18 year old men, federal law requires that you register with Selective Service within 30 days of your 18th birthday. When register, you stay eligible for federal student loans, federal job training and jobs. You may register at http://www.sss.gov or at the post office.

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826 Michigan

TUTORING Drop-in tutoring does not need to be registered for, you just drop-in. Free tutoring is offered Mon. - Thurs. from 3:30 - 5:30 at 826's location of E. Liberty, behind the Robot Store. Student 8 -18 may drop in any time to get help with any subject. Students must show up to drop-in tutoring with homework or other assignments in hand. Drop-in tutoring encourages smiling, feeling good about oneself, grades going up, enthusiasm toward learning, and positivity. The intention of drop-in tutoring is to mentor, listen to, and help students with their homework needs. Contact  amy@826michigan.org phone:734.761.3463 http://www.826michigan.org

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The Neutral Zone

The Neutral Zone is a diverse, youth-driven teen center dedicated to promoting personal growth through artistic expression, community leadership and the exchange of ideas. Why would 3500 teens visit Neutral Zone in a month? Programs, programs, programs (and sometimes pizza – you just can’t go wrong with pizza!)

NZ Program Areas include:

Music & Technology NZ holds weekend concerts and events for teens mostSaturday nights. Teens also create, record and promote their own musical projects using NZ’s equipment and expertise.

Education  Neutral Zone works hard to level the playing field for all teens through free drop-in tutoring, one-on-one mentoring, and a college prep program featuring college visits, ACT/SAT preparation, coaching on applications, essay writing, and financial aid, and opportunities for scholarships. Literary & Visual Arts. Creative writers turn up the volume by writing original poetry and short stories, while photographers and videographers discover and explore their talents using state-of-the-art equipment in digital art classes.  

Leadership The Teen Advisory Council runs the show at Neutral Zone, while several different discussion groups offer young people an open, positive space to explore sensitive issues and just plain have fun together. Drop-in teens come to NZ daily to shoot pool, play ping pong, use the internet, do homework, grab something to eat, or just hang out with friends in a safe, supervised space. Contact, Lori Roddy, lori@neutral-zone.org, 734-214-9995   

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Submissions: Please submit your articles, news, or announcements toboshoven@aaps.k12.mi.us. John B. Boshoven, Editor.

AP(Parent)ly for April 28, 2014

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