Professional Day

Winter break is right around the corner! Before we go, we have some exciting things happening here at the high school!

JUNIORS and SENIORS remember Thursday, Dec 17 we will be hosting our first annual Professional Day!! We could not be more excited to bring these experienced, successful professionals into our building to have them answer all your questions!


Here is a schedule of the day:

8:35AM-9:25AM (2nd period)

Auditorium

Business Marketing Panel:  Publisher, Editor, Graphic Designer, Sports Writer, Sales, Advertising

Library

Business Finance/IT/Insurance Actuarial Panel:  Certified Public Accountant, Investment Advisor, Banker, IT/Server Support, Actuarial Manager

Gym

Fire Protection/Rescue Panel:  State Fire Marshal, Helicopter Pilot, Fire Chief/Certified Flight Paramedic, Paramedic, Koorsen Fire & Security

9:30AM-10:20AM (3rd period)

Auditorium

Engineering/Architect Panel:  Architect, Civil Engineer, Mechanical/Industrial Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Biomedical Machine Technician

Library

Animal Science Panel: Vet, Large Animal Vet, Vet Technician, Practice Manager

Gym

Criminal Justice Panel:   U.S. Marshal, Bureau of Investigation, State Highway Patrol, Swat, Lexington Local Police

10:25AM-11:15AM (4th period)

Auditorium

Nursing Panel: Ashland College of Nursing, Nurse Practitioner, BRN, Pediatric BRN Nurse, Flight Nurse

Library

Health Specialist Panel:  Psychiatrist, Endocrinologist, Pharmacist, Dentist, Hospital Administrator, Dean NCSC Health Science

Gym

Chiropractic/Therapy Panel: Chiropractor, Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapy Assistant, Massage Therapist

12:49-1:39 (6th period) 

We will have an assembly for all Juniors and Seniors in the Auditorium:

Marketing/ Human Resource speaker from Grand Rapids, Michigan

“How to win the job….and keep it”
--Kristen Myers-Chatman

We are honored to have each of these professionals willing to take time to share their stories with you! We hope you are too!


Then, on FRIDAY, we will be on our assembly bell schedule for the annual holiday assembly featuring some of Lexington's finest! Make sure you come see if you can pick out your teachers :)
We hope you enjoy what we have planned and have a wonderful break!

See you in 2016!!

Grade Cards & Asking for Help

Today, 2nd six weeks grade cards are being passed out in your 1st period class. This can be an exciting and nerve-racking time! If you are looking at your grade card and saying, "Good job! You are awesome!" Ask yourself: How did I improve over last mark? What did I do differently? Did anything change? It is important to learn from mistakes, but also reflect on little triumphs so we know what works best for us. Congratulations!

If you see areas of improvement in your grades, we have some options at Lex to get extra help. The sooner the better!

• First, and most importantly, talk to your teachers!! They should be your #1 resource when you have questions/concerns about a class. They know where the class is headed and are more than willing to help you! You just need to ask!
• Every Tuesday and Thursday during lunches, we have students in Student Services available to answer questions about homework or upcoming tests. If you have a question, stop down during your lunch to ask and get help. Now is the time to advocate for yourself! Know when you need help and be willing to accept the help. If you don't feel comfortable just walking in, stop by and see me first. We will work something out.
• Another time help might be available is during your study hall. If you have a study hall, come see me and I will look to find another student in the same study hall who would like to help you. 

Again, we do not know you want/need help unless you tell someone - a teacher, counselor, principal, etc. We are all here to help you. Actually, we love helping! Make sure to take advantage of the resources you have all around you :)

If you were the student who was loving your grade card, let me know if you would be willing to help another student. We are always looking for students to tutor during their study hall or after school. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, stop by and let me know! As we have been told, the best way to learn and retain information is to teach it ourselves!! You can make a difference!

Digital Footprint & College Admissions

As a school community there has been a significant amount of time and emphasis encouraging students to be smart about your digital footprint - the information that you are posting and sharing through various social media outlets.  As a component of that we have often mentioned that the internet and social media can impact your college admissions or scholarship offerings.  Below are a few articles that speak to this:

Do colleges look at prospective students’ social media?


Colleges shift to using ‘big data’ – including social media– in admissions decisions


How Social Media can Ruin Your Application


College admissions: Social Media Tune Up


Colleges are spying on applicants by quietly tracking them across the internet  
  (Please note that this article is not specific to social media, but rather how colleges are looking at your level of interest in their school based upon internet related data.)

No matter what grade you are in, this is the perfect time to pause and critically look at your digital footprint and consider what it is saying about you and the impression you are giving to future college admissions officers, scholarship committee members, and potential employers.  Please make smart choices about what you post online!

Demonstrating Interest

It is interesting to stop and think about all of the different factors that play into a college admission decision. When colleges are evaluating all of their applications, one of the aspects that may help set one student apart from another is the level of interest the students have demonstrated. The reason that demonstrating interest is important to a college is that they have a limited number of spots that they can offer for admission. They are trying to find a way to maximize the number of students who they accept that will actually attend their college in the future and they still want to find a way to get the most competitive, involved group of students that they can find.

So what are some of the ways that you can demonstrate your interest in a college?

Meeting with the college admissions reps - when they come to Lex is a great first step. I'll be honest, for this year, admissions officers visiting Lexington have pretty much come to an end with just a few visits remaining, but for the younger students, this is something you should keep in mind for next fall. The reason this is such a significant way to demonstrate your interest is because a lot of kids don’t take advantage of this opportunity so when you do take the time to come and meet with them, you will stand out.

Attend their community nights – many colleges will offer presentations at area hotels or community centers that students and parents can attend. Most of the time you will receive notification about these events directly from the colleges. These events tend to be more common in the fall and spring months so you can always check the college's website for opportunities to meet with them.

Visit their campus! Visiting their school is probably the best way to demonstrate your interest in their college. Because the college visit is such a strong indicator of your interest you want to make sure that the admissions office knows that you are visiting.  The ways to do this are to register for the visit in advance, attend the college information system on campus and participate in the college tour.

I know it isn't always feasible to visit every single school that you are interested in applying to so find other ways to familiarize yourself if you can't make it to their campus. Visit their website. Follow the college on social media.  Read the admissions blogs. Don’t be a pest, but if you have questions, seek the answers by contacting admissions representatives. (And, for the record, you should make those contacts rather than having one of your parents call on your behalf!)

Some schools will offer alumni interviews in the area and if the school you are considering is among them, it would be wise to take advantage of this opportunity as it, again, demonstrates the sincerity of your interest in their college.

Here is an article you might want to read regarding demonstrating interest and campus visits.
What is Demonstrated Interest and Why is it Important

College Essay Writing

I need to warn you this is a VERY long post, but I hope that it will be helpful to seniors as they work on their college essays!

Writing a college essay can be a frustrating, challenging process, but this is your opportunity to put your best foot forward and show the colleges what makes you special. And for all of you who are thinking, I'm just a normal kid from Lexington - there isn't anything special about me to write about I whole-heartedly disagree! You are unique and special - there is not another student within these walls that is exactly like you and there won't be another person just like you in all of their other college applications so you have to help the admissions committee realize what makes you YOU.

When colleges review your application they can read things like your grade point average and test scores, but they still want to know more about YOU – the person behind those grades, scores, and activities. This is your chance to communicate to the colleges who you are and how your mind works. It is important to remember that your essay will be one of hundreds or more-likely thousands that the admissions committee members will read. (Can you imagine reading all of those?!?) Try to interest them in what you have to say and be sure that it is written well so that it will stand out. Think of this as your opportunity to personally introduce yourself to the admissions and scholarship officers reading your application. Be open, honest and real.

Think of your essay as a blind date. You are trying to make a positive impression on someone you don’t really know by showcasing who you are and all of the great things about you. You want them to walk away knowing that you are special and thinking, "Wow, I really want to meet this kid." The best news of all though is that you don’t have to suffer from the nerves of making a silly mistake on this “blind date” – you can perfect your essay so that you can make sure you are putting forth a positive message with a good tone that also shows your ability to think and write clearly and logically.

When you have to write an essay, you need to keep a few important points in mind:

1. Answer the question!

When they give you a prompt or question – be sure that your essay is answering what they are asking! These are smart people – they know when you are just taking a different essay and trying to make it fit for their question. Put in the time to write an essay that answers the question they are asking. Also, be sure that you respond to all parts of the prompt.

2. Show me – Don’t tell me.

Great, so you told me that you are organized and honest… good qualities for their future college students, but are you demonstrating that to them with your essay? Show them what you mean with vivid examples – that will usually be specific, concrete stories to illustrate your point.

3. Did I learn something about you?

The whole point of these essays is so that the college admissions officers will learn something new about you. (And trust me, they are learning something about you – even if that lesson is you didn’t appear to care enough about getting into school to pay attention to details like spelling.) So, step back and look at your essay again – did they learn something about you that they wouldn’t have known prior to reading your essay?

Let me assure you – they really do read the essays! Don’t think you can just throw something down on paper and have it be “good enough.” These are formal essays for an application to a college that will be the launching ground for the rest of your life. I know that it sounds intimidating, but relax and start writing – and editing – and then do some more writing and editing…

One of the biggest challenges as you write your essay is controlling the tone. You want to come across as confident but not boastful, self-assured but not aggressive, accomplished but not perfect. Try to avoid claiming that everything you've ever done has been unbelievably great. Don't be afraid to admit that you are human. Colleges want real, interesting people. Because it's so hard to control the tone of an essay about yourself, you will want to ask several people – teachers, friends, your parents, and even me – to read and respond to your essay. Get a variety of reactions, and then decide how you want to revise the essay. Remember, when getting help with essay revisions it is important to go into it with the thought that you want to get revisions so it can be the best possible essay (instead of going in hoping the editors will just say – good enough.) And yes, that also means you can’t procrastinate and put it off writing your essay until the last possible second.

PICKING THE TOPIC

The first step to selecting your topic is to think about what you want the college to learn about you that will not be apparent in the rest of your application. If you are given multiple questions to select from, it is often helpful to work backwards and focus first on what you want to convey and then identify stories and examples that can illustrate your point. Next look at the various questions you can pick from and think about which of your anecdotal stories fits with the questions.

Remember, it is worth putting time, energy and effort into picking a good and meaningful topic that is powerful for you because the passion you have for your topic will naturally convey itself in your writing. Additionally, many topics that come to mind immediately for you will also come to mind right away for hundreds of other students applying to college. You want to explore a new angle and show how you are different from everyone else. Try to think about what excites and interests you when picking your essay topic. Be careful though, this is not “true confessions” time.

If you are still struggling to come up with topics for your essay or how to go into depth on an essay topic idea, try to write your "5 and 5's".

First, write out the 5 characteristics that make you who you are. Be sure to select different characteristics (so not caring, kind and nice - those would all be 1 characteristic not 3). Then, after you have listed those characteristics, bullet point examples of stories/ times when you have demonstrated them. It is possible that some of your stories of when you show a characteristic may cross over into several of the characteristics. (So, for example, if I had listed caring and adventurous as 2 of my characteristics, I could say that the time I carried a friend on my back while I climbed a mountain would be under both characteristics.) *No, I didn't really do this, it is just an example. ;-)

After you have done that, your next 5 to list would be times when you have changed. These don't have to be BIG changes. Think about specific moments in time when you went into something and then were different after it. This might be a new perspective, mood, value, outlook, or priority.

You can also brainstorm on the following questions:

What do you want me to learn about you in the essay?

How have your personality traits helped you in various situations?

What did you do?

Where did you do this?

What were your responsibilities?

What was your best memory or experience there?

What inspired you to get involved or how did you get involved?

What did you learn from the experience?

How have your experiences changed or impacted you?

Why was this experience meaningful?

How have your experiences shaped your character?

What is significant to you about being involved in these activities or receiving the honors or awards?

How have your activities or experiences impacted you personally?

What is your personal motto in life? How did you come to this?

What is the value of this experience to you?

If you are still completely stuck, go to your family members and friends and ask them to help you identify traits, stories and examples of “That is so YOU” moments. (Those stories that are so perfectly you that it is hard to imagine them fitting or applying to anyone else.)

COMPOSING THE ESSAY
As you consider your purpose, you should focus on being creative and coming up with a plan for your writing so that you do not just ramble. Look back at the question again before you begin to make sure you are fulfilling what the college is asking you to do (list, define, explain, compare/ contrast, evaluate, etc.)

When you are writing your essay, get specific. It is often the small things or experiences in our lives that have the biggest impact on how we feel, think or act. Sharing a specific example that speaks to who you are by illustrating your character, values and background is much more powerful than offering sweeping generalizations about yourself.

One tip is to select a topic that allows you a more narrow response and then you can use your word count to provide details and depth. It can be helpful to describe the scene or the person with sharp nouns and active verbs or by using details that will invoke the senses. How did it look? feel? smell? sound? Don’t just say that "Uncle John was odd." Show us his dog who smashed through closed windows and his unique decorating style of mixing plaid and polka dots.

Be sure to use your voice and stick to the word count. (Hint: I know it doesn't seem like it, but I promise, it is always easier to cut words than to try to figure out how to squeeze more detail in later, so answer the question fully first before worrying too much about word count, but plan ahead enough so that you are at least in the ball park of your word limits... you want to cut 50-100 words out not try to cut 2,000 words.) This is a formal essay so you need to make sure that you are using proper grammar, punctuation and varying your sentence structure.

Whenever possible, start your essay with a catch – something that will engage the readers and compel them to continue reading. And I hope this goes without saying, but don’t lie. Do not make up stories that are not true or genuine. You are the best you there is and this essay is about you so show yourself off and just be careful on tone.

Don’t forget, if you are writing the main common app essay, do NOT tailor the essay to one particular college because all of the schools that you apply to will receive the same version of the main essay. Also, for what it is worth, when you are sending specific essays to individual colleges that are personalized, be sure to double check and make sure you are submitting the right essay to the appropriate college.

REVISING THE ESSAY
Give plenty of time to edit! I understand that this is different than most of the essays you have written in high school, but it is worth writing a draft, walking away from it for a few days and then coming back to read it again to take a fresh look. Many students are stunned at how the essay that they initially thought was great doesn't meet their own expectations when they re-read it with fresh eyes. It can help to read your essay out loud and see if it feels natural and sounds like you. Time to edit and go through multiple drafts is a gift you can give yourself to drastically decrease your stress with the entire college application process.

When you begin reading through your essay again ask yourself:

Does it reveal who you are?

Does it represent your best academic ability?

Does it sound like you?

Look at the overall structure of the essay:

Does it make a stunning point at the beginning and then fizzle, or does it steadily build in interest and intensity?

Have you made clear the relationship between your ideas?

Is the essay well organized?

As you begin to get picky, look at your word choice and make sure you are not overusing particular words. Pay careful attention to the verbs - they should give your reader a clear picture of you in action. Although the essay needs to be personal, you shouldn't overuse the pronoun "I."

The essay also needs to read smoothly. As you revise and refine the piece, be sure that it has an attractive introduction, carefully crafted body paragraphs, and a confident conclusion. Look for clear transitions between paragraphs, and try to vary sentence length and structure.

Please rest assured that I am here to help you with your essays. I will NOT write it for you, but if you are struggling to come up with topics or want help editing, don't hesitate to stop by and see me. Also, the English teachers are awesome resources for editing help too. Good luck and happy writing! :-)

Cut Them Free!

Seniors, as you start narrowing down your college choices, it is important to cut the other schools free. What does that mean?  It means that as you begin identifying which college or the few colleges that are still in the running that it is important for you to notify the other colleges that you do NOT intend to attend their school beginning next year. Please, wait to tell the schools that you will not be attending until you are completely sure that you are no longer considering them. However, I realize that many of you have already decided or have at least narrowed your choice to a smaller group of colleges and you have completely eliminated others from consideration. Those which have been completely eliminated are the colleges I am recommending you notify as soon as possible.

This is important because it allows the college to plan for their upcoming student body and to know if they have room to accept other students off of their wait-lists. Think about your classmates who might be on the waiting list for a school and they want to hear back from the schools as quickly as possible and there are other students across the country in the same situation. Colleges can't begin opening up additional slots until they know which students will or will not be attending. Additionally, if you received scholarship offers from one of the colleges that you have eliminated from the running, this can also potentially allow the college to offer that money out to other students which, again, can help people such as your fellow classmates. Believe me, the colleges will not be angry with you for deciding that you will not be attending their school - they understand that this is part of the process, so just go ahead and take a few minutes to let them know of your intent to attend a different college.

Local Scholarships

The local scholarships are now completely updated and available on the Lexington Student Services Center website.  These scholarships provide a great opportunity for students to earn some additional financial help for college. And, with the scholarships being local, it means that there would be less people applying for the scholarships (compared to national scholarships) which gives you a better chance of receiving one of the scholarships.
Please take the time to carefully read through the criteria for the scholarships to see which ones would be appropriate for you to apply for and then start working. When you go to the Student Services website and click on the SENIOR TIMELINES & SCHOLARSHIPS area you will be taken to the listing of all of the scholarships and it has the link to each scholarship application.
Most of the deadlines for completed applications are coming up in April and May(some are earlier) and no late applications can be accepted. I cannot stress enough the importance of planning ahead and starting to work on these scholarships now!
Also, please pay attention to see if the applications require a written recommendation letter and ask your teacher(s) for a letter as soon as possible - especially if they have not already written a rec letter that you can use for the scholarships.

Academic Options Night

In addition to the wide range of courses that we have available here at LHS, there are other academic options available to our students.

The College Credit Plus (CC+) program is an opportunity for high school students to take college courses while still enrolled in high school. This program has replaced what used to be called Dual Enrollment and PSEO.

Students are still able to go to the college campus to take classes or take classes with LHS teachers that will also give you college credit.

There are a lot of details involved in participating in the CC+ program and students must complete and submit the paperwork before April 1st to indicate their intent to participate in the CC+ program in the following school year.

In order to explain all of the details of the program and to provide you with the forms necessary, all students and parents interested in participating in this program should plan to attend the Academic Options night next week on Monday, February 23th at 7:00pm in the LHS auditorium. This will be a joint meeting for all of the students and parents in Lexington.  Representatives from Ohio State University and North Central State College will attend to share the opportunities available through CC+ with their college. Please see Mr. Secrist if you are unable to attend this meeting as it is mandatory that you attend one and there are other options being provided at local colleges which you can attend if you can't make it to our meeting next week.

 

 

 

I hope that all students and parents interested in learning more about College Credit Plus and ways to earn college credit while in high school will join us Monday, February 23 at 7pm.

How did exams go (a week later)??

How did the first day of exams go? Were you feeling anxious?

Test Anxiety can be common for students - especially with exams since they have such a significant influence on your 3rd six week grades. The best strategy to prevent test anxiety is being prepared. It is much more likely that you will be anxious and struggle with feeling overwhelmed if you have not adequately studied and prepared for the test. Unfortunately, for some students, you can be well-prepared, but still struggle with anxiety.

There are a wide range of strategies you can use to help deal with anxiety:

- Research has indicated that spending several minutes before a test to write about your feelings will   help decrease test anxiety and improve test scores. The University of Chicago researchers “believe  worrying competes for computing power in the brain’s ‘working,’ or short-term memory.”
- Practice putting yourself in testing situations when studying. The more you get used to the experience and feelings of testing the less anxious you will feel when in the actual test.
- Just before the test, avoid talking about the test material with your friends. Chances are fixating on the test material and talking about it with your friends right before the test will only make you more anxious.
- Approach the test with a positive attitude. Don’t go into the test expecting the worst to happen. You can remind yourself that you have studied and know the material.
- Avoid distractions so that you can focus on the test and not on what other students are doing. Do not compare yourself with others and how they are doing on the test.
- Take a deep breath, relax, and do the best you can.

I should also mention that smart testing strategies like getting a good night of sleep, eating breakfast, having all of your required materials (pen, pencil, calculator, scratch paper, etc), getting regular exercise, and giving yourself plenty of time to get to your test on time will also benefit you as a whole and in testing situations.

Good luck in the next three days of exams!