AHS Career Counseling News
2023-24
Welcome to the Career Counseling Newsletter!
Mrs. Couillard
Scholarship Updates!
Attention seniors! There are several new scholarships posted on our Scholarship Opportunities Spreadsheet with deadlines fast approaching! Be sure to check the spreadsheet often for application details and apply today! bit.ly/ScholarshipOpportunitiesHCPS
SENIORS! Report outside scholarships here!
Attention seniors! We are beginning the process of collecting outside scholarship and award information for the 2024 Senior Awards ceremony. Senior Awards provides us with the opportunity to recognize our graduating seniors receiving honors, awards, and scholarships from Atlee High School, alumni and families, universities, and state and national organizations. Additionally, we want to recognize seniors that have received their Eagle Scout rank by the Boy Scouts or the Gold Award by the Girl Scouts. In order to be recognized, you must upload your official documentation and complete the following form to confirm your achievement no later than Monday, May 1 at 11:59 p.m.: http://tinyurl.com/seniorawardsdataform2024. Please contact Mrs. Couillard, your Career Counselor, with any questions.
College, Career, and Military Visits Schedule
College, career and military visits will be held on Mondays through Thursdays this school year. No sign-up is necessary as the visits will take place in the lunchroom during all student lunches.
- Thursday, March 21 - Greensboro College
- Wednesday, March 27 - US Army First Brigade
- Tuesday, April 9 - Southwest Minnesota University
- Thursday, April 11 - Kings Dominion
- Wednesday, April 17 - Coastal Carolina University
- Thursday, April 18 - U. S. National Guard
- Wednesday, April 24 - U.S. Army First Brigade
Career Café - Manufacturing
We will be hosting our second career café of the year on Wednesday, March 20th at 1:40 in the AHS library. This career café will be covering careers in manufacturing. A representative from Sonoco, a local business, will be on hand to discuss careers in manufacturing and share opportunities available to our students with the company. Please sign up to attend below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduOz96uWNj3RW_lf6MrIyK-5qpkRgYRrh1y6RMnSfG_Vic9w/viewform
Wednesday, Mar 20, 2024, 01:45 PM
Atlee High School, Atlee Station Road, Mechanicsville, VA, USA
Virginia State University On-Site Admissions
Virginia State University will be at the AHS library on March 6th during Flex. Seniors who apply online and bring a copy of their transcript to the meeting will have to opportunity to receive an admissions decision during the meeting. Please see Mrs. Couillard with any questions.
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2024, 08:45 AM
Atlee High School, Atlee Station Road, Mechanicsville, VA, USA
11th Grade Career Lessons
During the second week of February, 11th graders engaged in a career lesson to learn about Squiggly careers, learn where to find career information, and the support offered from their career counselor. Students took a personality inventory that helped identify best fit careers they were able to research in Major Clarity. This culminated in their completing and academic and career plan. This lesson is great to go along with Junior Launch lesson, where school counselors will help students with post-secondary planning and create accounts with Parchment to access their transcript.
InspireYouth@Work Job Fair
The InspireYouth@Work job fair is returning to Hanover County on Saturday, March 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Fairmount Christian Church located at 6502 Creighton Road in Mechanicsville. The job, internship, and resource fair is for Hanover residents aged 14-24. Here, attendees will have the opportunity to practice their elevator pitch, meet with employers from the greater Richmond area, have their headshot taken, and attend two workshops (on money management and work-life balance). They will also receive a budgeting journal.
Students who plan to attend this free event, which was successfully held in 2019, are asked to please register in advance here.
FAFSA Delayed
The Department of Education announced that completed FAFSA applications would not be sent to colleges until the first half of March. This means that families will not learn of their financial aid award packages from colleges until likely April or later. Some colleges have chosen to move their May 1 deposit deadline to June 1. Please pay close attention to communications from the colleges applied to. If you have questions or need support, contact the financial aid office at the college or reach out to Mrs. Couillard or Mrs. Wood (GRASP).
Financial Aid Night Information
Check out the links below! We have included a link to last night's Financial Aid Night presentation and the HCPS College and Career Website. When viewing the HCPS College and Career Website, check out the “Scholarships and Financial Aid” tab for resources such as links to scholarship opportunities, FAFSA information, and GRASP contact information.
HCPS Financial Aid Night Presentation
Scholarship 101
Prepare, Search, Organize
Now is a great time to start applying for scholarship. There are many scholarships for students who want to pursue a 2-year degree or certificate at Reynolds, a trade or apprenticeship (YES! There are scholarships for trade and apprenticeship programs!), or attend a 4-year college. Here is an easy guide to navigate searching and applying.
PREPARE
Many scholarships will request the following 3 items. Get them ready now so that when you find scholarships, you have everything ready to go and can apply easily.
1. Create a resume! Use Google templates to make it easy and so you don't have to create one from scratch! (Go to Google Drive, new Google Doc, hover over the arrow and select “From a template” and choose a template to create your personal resume.)
2. Personal Statement – It’s not uncommon for a scholarship to ask for an essay or a personal statement specifically. Write an essay between 250-500 about yourself! If you’re struggling for how to write this, think about it in thirds: where do you come from, where are you now, where do you aspire to be. Be sure to focus on your why! Then you can adjust this if needed for a specific scholarship.
3. Transcript – Order an up-to-date transcript in Parchment.
SEARCH & APPLY
It can feel overwhelming searching for scholarships. Here are the best places to check.
1. Institution – Some, not all, colleges may have scholarships you must apply for. Two great examples are ECU and Reynolds. The best way to find out if an institution you are considering has any is to simply Google search the institution name plus scholarships. Or you can try to navigate to the institutions’ scholarships and financial aid page. Know that some institutions might only have scholarships for upperclassmen (not you) because they award scholarships to freshman when they submit an application for admission.
2. Family – Check with your parents or guardians to see if their employer or any organizations they belong to provide scholarships.
3. HCPS Scholarship Opportunities – Career counselors are adding scholarships to this list each week. Set a calendar reminder to check it weekly Now – April. Be sure to read the requirements and be aware of the deadlines. https://sites.google.com/hcps.us/collegeandcareercenter/scholarships-financial-aid
ORGANIZE
Create a spreadsheet or Google Sheet to keep track of what scholarships you have applied for and to track scholarships you've earned. AND share it with your parents to let them know your scholarship status. This will be incredibly helpful in April and May when you are making final decisions for your plans after graduation.
NASA Building Learners for Advancing Science and Technology (BLAST)
NASA’s Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) is excited to share that the application window is now open for Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology (BLAST), our FREE summer residential STEM program for 8th and 9th grade students in Virginia!
BLAST offers students a unique opportunity to explore their passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields through immersive experiences and career exploration. This free program allows selected students to spend 3 days and nights at either ODU, RU, UVA, VT, or W&M. Led by university faculty, students engage in hands-on STEM activities, attend demonstrations, tours, and guest speaker sessions.
The BLAST application window closes Thursday, February 1, 2024.
A short, informational video can be found here: https://youtu.be/wkzGN1PZiNY?si=6KVxD77ZVGZoqK9P
More details and the online application can be found here: https://vsgc.odu.edu/blast/
2023 Virtual College Bootcamp Sessions and College & Career Resources- Check it out!
College and Career Resources:
Changes to the FAFSA this year!
In addition to help from Mrs. Wood, our GRASP Representative, HCPS will be holding a Financial Aid Night on January 24, 2024 at Patrick Henry High and Mechanicsville High Schools. Atlee High families can attend either location. More information to come!
Below are some of the FAFSA changes that GRASP recently shared with school counselors.
Pell Grant eligibility is expanding; thousands of additional students will be eligible to receive up to $7,395 in federal grant money.
Under the new process, everyone who wants to enter information into an online FAFSA will need an FSA ID to access the form. Your GRASP advisor may want to plan an FSA ID workshop so families will have their FSA IDs and be ready to start their FAFSA in December.
The New FAFSA includes a process for people who do not have SSNs, including parents who are undocumented, to create an FSA ID. In the past, people who did not have an SSN submitted information by mail and did not set up an FSA ID.
If parents are divorced, only the parent who contributes the most financially will be required to submit their financial information on the form. In the past, the parent with whom the student lived submitted their financial information.
Parents will be invited by the student to complete their section of the FAFSA. The parent, called a Contributor, will receive an email inviting them to enter their information on their student’s FAFSA.
Each person will only be able to see questions related to their role. When a student logs in, they will only be able to see questions that should be answered by the student. The parent or spouse will need to log in to see the questions related to their role.
GRASP - Mrs. Wood
Every Thursday starting in October, our AHS GRASP Representative, Mrs. Wood, is available to meet with students and families who schedule an appointment.
Email: atlee@grasp4va.org
Website: https://grasp4va.org/
Major Clarity
Did you know?
ALL HCPS students have access to Major Clarity (linked in ClassLink). Each year, they can take a personality assessment and see recommended, great fit careers. They can explore education needed for these careers, research job outlook and salaries, and watch a video of someone in that profession.
All students took this assessment in middle school and in second semester 11th grade through lessons with their career counselor. Although, it's great to retake it each year to see how interests may change with time. Watch this short video demonstrating how students use Major Clarity and can review their results before course registration.
Ask your student today to log in to Major Clarity and see their personality assessment results and recommended careers under career exploration. Each student has an Academic and Career Plan in Major Clarity created in grades 7, 9, and 11. Families should review these before registering for classes for the next school year.
10th Grade Career Lessons
In October, 10th graders engaged in a career lesson in their English classes to further explore career resources so that they are career ready. All Hanover students have access to Major Clarity where students reviewed their personality assessment (Holland Code) and career pathways that were possible fits.
Sophomores started creating their resume through Major Clarity's resume builder and learned what makes applicants stand out to recruiters. They learned how microcredentials can set them apart from others and signed up to complete at least one by the end of 1st quarter.
9th Grade Career Lessons
In October, 9th grade students were introduced to high school career counseling. Students learned about vocational psychologist John Holland. All Hanover students have access to Major Clarity where students reviewed their personality assessment (Holland Code) and career pathways that were possible fits. It's great for students to retake this every year as their interests are likely to adapt as they get more experience in their classes, clubs, and activities.
Freshman also created their Academic and Career Plan that includes their career goals, educational goals, and the career pathway that currently best interests them
Mrs. Couillard - Career Counselor
Mrs. Couillard is avaiable to assist you as you develop plans for your future.
Email: acouillard@hcps.us
Website: bit.ly/HCPSCollegeandCareerCenter
Location: 9414 Atlee Station Rd, Mechanicsville, VA 23116, USA
Facebook: facebook.com/hanovercareercounseling