Calling all students for perfect attendance! Want a chance to win Mr. Stovalls parking spot? Students with perfect attendance for the next 3 weeks will be entered to win a chance to use Mr. Stovalls parking spot for one week! See you at school!

*If the winner drawn does not drive, an alternate prize will be awarded.

Ahoy Pirate Families!

The Counseling Department was very pleased to see all the parents who came to the course planning parent meeting Thursday evening. We hope that you were able to take away some valuable information.

• A Scholarship Parent Meeting will be held February 2 in the HS Library. Some of the scholarship organizations will also be on hand to answer questions.

• Scholarships Senior students are busily making post-secondary plans, completing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) , College applications and researching career and military opportunities. Students and parents are encouraged to visit the RFHS Counselor Scholarship pages for updated information. A link to local and general scholarship information can be found on the RFHS Counseling website. Local Scholarship information here and General Scholarship information here.

• SAVE THE DATE: The Senior Awards Night will be held on April 24, 2023.

• Advisory January 30-February 2:

• S14: Practicing Social Support This is the 3rd of 3 sessions focused on social support. A powerful way we can all cope with challenges in life is through getting support from others. We are often better at giving advice to others than to ourselves. This session we harness that through identifying things we could use support for in different times in our lives and giving good advice and support to ourselves.

• 10th grade - S14: Understanding Stress This is the 1st of 2 sessions on Stress Coping. The goal is to discuss what we can control versus what we cannot control during stressful times (and what it means to manage that stress).

• 11th grade - S14: Assessing School Barriers to Belonging This is the 2nd of 3 sessions on identifying Barriers to Belonging. The goal is to begin identifying school-wide barriers to belonging. We will have the opportunity to share some meaningful and challenging feedback today. Try to remember the Community Agreements if there are feelings of frustration, taking something personally, or not understanding a different perspective

• 12th grade - S14: Developing Leadership Habits In this session, we focus on how we spend our time and ways we can make time for doing the things we value

Smooth sailing until next week! #Pirate Strong

There will be a scholarship meeting next week for parents and students. Counselors will give a brief overview on the process, including how to find individual scholarship opportunities on our website. We will be hosting some local organizations offering these scholarships so come prepared to ask questions!

Date: Thursday, Feb. 2nd

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Where: Rockport-Fulton H.S. Commons

ASVAB Test- Students interested in military will have an opportunity to take the ASVAB test on Wednesday February 8th from 8:30 – 12:00. Please see Mrs. Stephenson or your Senior Advisors for more information.

FAFSA Day is coming!! Thursday February 9th from 11 to 3pm. TAMU-CC financial aid counselors will be onsite to help everyone with FAFSA. Event will take place in Mr. Kelly’s office. Parents are welcome!

TAMU-CC Campus Tour- Registration is now open on the Senior Google Classroom page. The event is scheduled for Thursday February 16th. Spots are limited to 30 students. So, if you plan to go, please get signed up ASAP! NOTE: Students must be in good academic standing and not have any attendance issues. Each student can go on 2 college tours during the year. See your Advisors for more information.

Attention Seniors- TSI Boot Camp registration is now closed! Math boot camp is on Monday Jan. 30th at 4:30 by Mr. Scott. ELAR boot camp is on Jan. 31st at 4:30 by Mrs. Brock. The retest for both will be held in Mr. Kelly’s room at 8:30 am on Wed. Feb. 1st. We are excited about the turnout and look forward to seeing our awesome Pirate Seniors make the benchmarks!

Not being college ready can cost you. Not being college ready means that the college/university will have you take remedial course that does not count toward your degree.

• Del Mar / 3 hrs / $ 606.00
• Texas A&M in CC / 3 hrs / $ 1134.35
• Texas A&M in CS / 3 hrs / $ 1480.43

It will also cost you valuable time. You will need to spend approximately 45 hours of class time during the semester plus homework. This is substantial!

Scholarships:

Here are some links to scholarships that are listed on the ACISD website. It is updated frequently!

• Local Scholarships - https://sites.google.com/acisd.org/localscholarships/home?pli=1
• General Scholarships - https://sites.google.com/acisd.org/2022-2023generalscholarships/home
• Coastal Bend Community Foundation – www.cbcfoundation.org

Important Dates!

January 30 – Math Boot Camp for TSI

January 31 – ELAR Boot Camp for TSI

February 1 – TSI testing

February 7 – Craft Training Center campus tour

February 9 – FAFSA Day with TAMUCC

February 16 – TAMUCC campus tour

February 23 – Texas State Technical College (TSTC) lunches in library

March 1 – Girls in STEM at Del Mar

March 23 and 29 – Woman in Industry

April 5 – Career Fair

April 25 – TAMUK campus tour

Be sure to look at the Class of 2023 Senior Google Classroom each week. There is a lot of important information for Seniors and parents posted there.

Attention Senior Parents – 41% of our class has already completed their FAFSA and 66% have applied to colleges or trade schools. While we are extremely pleased with these numbers we sure would like you to have access to these great financial aid programs. Parents and students must drive this effort and your Senior Advisors are here to help. If we don’t have the answer we will certainly help you find a resource that can. If your student has completed FAFSA or applied and is committed to a particular school or university, please make sure he/she notifies their Senior Advisors!

FAFSA Due Dates…The first due date comes from colleges themselves. Spoiler alert! It’s typically early. College deadlines vary from school to school, but they usually come well before the academic year starts. If you’re applying to multiple colleges, look up each school’s FAFSA deadline and apply early.

Many college FAFSA due dates have priority deadlines, which means you need to submit your FAFSA form by that date to potentially receive the most money from the college. Many colleges have this date clearly marked on their financial aid webpages. If you can’t find it, call the school’s financial aid office. The final deadline comes from the federal government and is June 30th! Visit https://studentaid.gov/articles/3-fafsa-deadlines/ for more information.

Senior Checklist: Where are you?

1. Apply to college/university/trade school - https://www.applytexas.org
2. Complete FAFSA (student aid/loan) - https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
3. TSI Exam (college ready) please review the practice test before you take the test - https://www.accuplacerpracticetest.com/

Interested in a Military Career?

If you would like to speak to any branch recruiter please contact Mr. Kelly (tkelly@acisd.org), or Mrs. Mann (lauram@acisd.org) they can help get you connected!

It’s the beginning of an exciting new year! Looking for something for your students to do indoors during these chilly days? Why not have them attend one of our ACE afterschool activities? We offer Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, and Pokemon for gaming experts. Karaoke and Creative Writing are available for our artists; you may have a future super star in your family. If math is giving your student trouble, ACE offers math tutorials to help them. Interact Club students work in teams to develop community projects, which enrich all our lives. Now is the time for students to work their way through our free online Drivers Education course.

For additional information about ACE activities, contact Paula Dean at pdean@acisd.org or 361 790-2220, ext. 2244.