Junior Newsletter

 

Juniors, we would like to encourage you to start focusing on steps to prepare yourself for your senior year and college.  Begin now to research areas of interest, take advantage of any job shadowing opportunities that might be available in those areas, and explore various college or career possibilities.  We will be available to help you through the college search, admissions, and financial aid process during your senior year.  So if you or your parents ever have any questions or need help during this process, please come to the counselor’s office or contact us:

 

Debbie Nicholson – call 751-9616 or email dnicholson@ashgrove.k12.mo.us

June Chavez – call 751-9605 or email jchavez@ashgrove.k12.mo.us 

 

Online Resources:

www.ashgrove.k12.mo.us – In addition to this newsletter, the Ash Grove School District’s website contains a copy of the monthly senior newsletters.  These newsletters are valuable links to pages for scholarships, the ACT, FAFSA, FastWeb, Next Step Magazine, OTC, and MSU.  These links will be very important during your senior year, so take some time soon to get familiar with the website. 

 

www.fastweb.comis an internet source of local, national, and college-specific scholarships.  It specializes in personalized scholarship matching, college searches and comparisons, tools and tips to help you pay for college, plus jobs and internships as you launch into your new career.  To get started, visit fastweb.com and set up a personal account.  If you need any help registering for this, please come by the counselor’s office.

 

ACT Test Dates:   Visit www.actstudent.org to register online.

 

Test Date                                            Registration Deadline

December 10, 2011                             November 4, 2011

February 11, 2012                               January 13, 2012

April 14, 2012                                     March 9, 2012

June 9, 2012                                        May 4, 2012

 

Ash Grove High School code for ACT is:  260-090

In order to take the ACT, you must register by the registration deadline which is a little over a month prior to the test date.  There is a paper packet that could be used, but we would encourage you to register online.  When you create a web account, you are able to choose your test date, know immediately where your test center will be, print your admission ticket, make changes to your registration, view your scores at no charge, and send scores to additional colleges.  If you would like some help with this, please come by the counselor’s office and we will be glad to help you. 

 

Scholarship and Award Opportunities:

A quick word about scholarships – As the time approaches that you will be in your senior year, you will likely begin looking at options for financial aid. There are a lot of financial aid sources out there, but you will need to take the initiative and do some investigating.  All colleges have websites that give a very thorough presentation of their programs and services.  Set aside an evening to browse the sites of colleges you are interested in, go to the financial aid page or sometimes there is even a specific tab labeled “Scholarships”, and then look for scholarships that fit your qualifications.  If you would like some help or if you don’t have other access to a computer, come to the counselor’s office, and we will be glad to help get you started.

 

 

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