Kennedy Catholic Counseling News
March 2019
KENNEDY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELING DEPARTMENT
Email: montstreamn@kennedyhs.org
Website: kennedyhs.org
Location: 140 South 140th Street, Burien, WA, United States
Phone: (206) 246-0500
Twitter: @KennCathCnsing
CURRENT EVENTS
March 9: SAT
March 13: Informational Resume Workshop
March 13: Junior Information Night
March 20: Training for students interested in being a Peer Educator for Suicide Prevention
April 13: ACT
April 27: PNACAC Spring College Fair at Seattle University
April 30: Career Fair at ShoWare Center in Kent
May 1: College Decision Day
May 2: JET Tour (Jesuit Excellence Tour College Fair)
May 4: SAT
June 1: SAT
June 8: ACT
August 24: SAT
COUNSELING DEPARTMENT 2018-19
- grades 9-12, last names A-G
- grades 9-12, last names H-N
- grades 9-12, last names O-Z
Maurice Jones
- College & Career Coordinator
- Administrative Assistant
Nancy Montstream:
Nancy received a BA in English and Psychology and a Teaching Certificate from the University of Washington. After many years of teaching English/ESL at both the high school and college level as well as working at several non-profits, Nancy received a MA Ed. in School Counseling from Seattle University. She has counseled at the high school level for the past nine years, six of which have been at Kennedy Catholic. Nancy is married with three children, ages 23, 21, and 17. She enjoys spending time hiking and skiing, working in the garden and kitchen, and being with friends and family.
Diana Soto:
Diana received a BA in psychology and a MA of Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from USC. After being in private practice as a Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist, Diana obtained her Master of Education in Professional School Counseling at City University. Most recently she counseled students at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines. Diana is married with three children, ages 18, 15, and 10. In her spare time she likes to do yoga, read, hike and watch cooking shows with her daughter. Diana is new to Kennedy Catholic this year.
Julie Klover:
Julie received a BA in Psychology and a Teacher Cerfification from CWU as well as a M Ed. in school Counseling from SPU. Before becoming a school counselor Julie worked as a Senior Pharmaceutical Sales Representative at Merck & Co. She is an alumna of Kennedy Catholic graduating in 1992. Julie and her husband have lived on the North Hill of Des Moines for the past 18 years. She has one son, Caleb, who is in 4th grade. Julie enjoys spending time in the outdoors with her family either, hiking, biking, or skiing. Julie is new to Kennedy Catholic this year.
Maurice Jones:
Maurice received his BA of Humanities in History at Western Washington University. He previously worked at Rainier Scholars as a high school academic counselor serving underrepresented students on their journey to college. Before working with Rainier Scholars, he was the Operations Manager for the Northwest African America Museum. Maurice enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his family. Maurice is new to Kennedy Catholic this year
Lisa Jandusay:
Lisa has been working at Kennedy Catholic for 13 years. She is an alumna of Kennedy Catholic graduating class of 1983. She is married and has two children 28 and 23. Lisa enjoys crafting, and spending time with her family and her Boston Terrier & French Bulldog.
SAT and ACT Preparation
Kennedy Catholic High School Resources List for SAT/ACT Prep – Updated Feb 2016
We do not endorse any one particular program; this is an informative resource of available options.
College Board Resources
1. Free Practice Questions
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice
2. SAT Tutorials from Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/sat
Kennedy Catholic High School SAT Prep Options
ACT Resources
3. Study materials produced from the creator of the ACT
http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/
Princeton Review Services
4. Options include free practice SAT/ACT sittings at local high schools, paid online self-paced programs, group tutoring, and individual tutoring. Prices vary based on services.
http://www.princetonreview.com/#tp
Testive
5. Free online self-paced coaching and programming for SAT and ACT. Students can also upgrade to 1:1 coaching and tutoring services online.
http://schools.testive.com/john-f-kennedy
Schmoop
6. Online testing guide (SAT, ACT, AP) with practice tests, review questions and strategies
http://www.shmoop.com/sat/test-prep.html
Mazor Test Prep Company
Local company with small class sizes and sessions leading up to each testing date ($595 per course)
Sandweiss Test Prep
8. Sandweisstestprep.com
Local company providing multi-week test preparation courses ($725 for full course)
9. Test Prep:
Senior News
Class of 2019: Congratulations to the Class of 2019 on your college acceptances! The list of acceptances includes notable colleges including: University of Washington, UC Berkeley, Pepperdine University, University of Southern California, Creighton University, Santa Clara University and Franklin University in Switzerland. So far, the Class of 2019 has garnered close to $6 million dollars in grants, merit and private scholarships for college. We are proud of our Lancers!
Seniors, please do the following:
- Update Naviance with the names of the schools where you have been accepted and let your counselor know.
- Print out a copy of your Acceptance letters/emails and Scholarship Award letters/emails and give them to Mrs. Jandusay in the counseling center so she can include the information in the Senior Graduation Booklet. Please do so as you receive them.
- Check the Smart Board in the Counseling Center and the Kennedy Catholic website under College Planning Resources. For up to date information on scholarships.
- (https://www.kennedyhs.org/academics/counseling/college-planning-resources)
- Finish the year academically strong. Colleges will review second semester senior grades and these could affect your acceptances.
Junior News
Junior Information Night: Juniors and their parents met Wednesday, March 13, with the counselors to review academic information and learn about the college application process. If you missed this event please take a look at the presentation below. Juniors are expected to meet one-on-one with their counselor sometime in April or May to have a college meeting. Parents are welcome to attend. Information given at the parent night will be available for the students during their college meeting.
Naviance: March 25 – March 29 Juniors will begin the college application process! Juniors will learn how to use the college application system, “Naviance”, to request transcripts, letters of recommendation, join college visits and start building their college list. Lancer students and families have access to Naviance via the Kennedy Catholic webpage. Click on “Quicklinks”, then scroll down and select Naviance to log-in!
Junior College Meetings: Juniors please make a 30 minute meeting with your counselor in April or May to go over the college application process and make a plan for summer and fall. Please sign up in the Counseling Center with Mrs. Jandusay. Parents are welcome to attend.
Sophomore News
The Counseling Department lead an informative night for our Sophomore Parents. We covered many topics including class selection for Junior year, PSAT results, Naviance in the classroom, as well as preparing for the college application process. If you missed it, please see a copy of the presentation below. Please feel free to contact your student's counselor if you have any questions.
Freshmen News
Course registration for freshman concluded on Tuesday, March 12. PE and Heath will be offered in the summer for students interested. Please look for the Summer School link on the Kennedy Catholic website.
Freshman - now is the time to meet your counselor. We would love to meet you and help you with your high school experience and your future goals. Please sign up for a meeting by contacting the counseling assistant, Mrs. Jandusay.
News from the College and Career Office
COLLEGE FAIRS
PNACAC Spring College Fair: Freshman, Sophomores and especially Juniors are encouraged to attend the Spring College Fair on Saturday, April 27 from 10am to 1 pm at Seattle University.
Students attending the fairs go to the registration page at www.strivefair.com and fill out a quick form by phone or computer (in advance or at the door). After registration, StriveScan sends a barcode via text message and email. The next day, students receive an email with a report of colleges and representatives they met along with contact information and social media profiles.
JET Tour (Jesuit Excellence Tour): The annual JET tour will come to Kennedy Catholic on May 2, 2019. All Juniors will be released from class to meet college representatives from many of the nations top Jesuit universities. Information and activities will be given to the students in their Junior Theology classes.
Career Fair at ShoWare Center: On April 30, 2019 the city of Kent will host a “Career Showcase at the ShoWare Center” in Kent, open to all school districts in our area. Students will have the chance to speak with hiring coaches and work with other professionals. If your teen is interested, please contact Mr. Jones by March 25 at jonesm@kennedyhs.org.
CAREER DAY
On March 9, 2019 Kennedy Catholic held the annual “Career Day” for students, staff and faculty. Over 25 speakers from 10 different professions came to speak about their journey from high school to their current career. Professions included: test pilot, IT Manager, civil engineer, architectural program designer and special agent. Thank you to each of our speakers for joining us on such an impactful and important day for our Lancers.
RESUME WORKSHOPS
The College and Career Office is teaming up with our Career and Technical Education class to lead a series of Resume Workshops! Starting March 20, 2019 a series of three workshops offering guidance on how to create and build a resume and draft cover letters to use for internships, summer programs or employment! Please email Mr. Jones for more information.
Suicide Prevention Program
Suicide Prevention Training
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among youth aged 14-19. Two youth die by suicide per week in Washington State and national hospital admissions for suicidal children ages 5-17 doubled between 2008-2015. In response to national trends, Kennedy Catholic High School has entered a 3-year partnership with an organization called Forefront which is run through the University of Washington School of Social Work. We are in year 2 of this partnership. So far, we have revamped our schoolwide suicide protocol, trained our staff at two different times, trained a group of parents and developed a plan to implement a peer training program this school year. If you are interested in being a parent volunteer in this area please contact Nancy Montstream at montstreamn@kennedyhs.org.
Peer to Peer Mentoring Program: A group of Kennedy Catholic students will be trained on March 20 in the LEARN curriculum developed by Forefront Suicide Prevention. Once the students are trained they will begin training their peers in Sophomore Health classes.
How to Search for Scholarships
Scholarships generally fall into two categories: need-based and merit. Most merit scholarships include a talent component for demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, leadership or fine, visual or performing arts. The four major sources of scholarship information include:
- Individual college websites
- Website scholarship databases
- Community resources
- Naviance
Helpful Web-based Scholarship Databases:
- www.washboard.org
- www.fastweb.com
- http://wiche.edu/wue
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/
- http://www.finaid.org/
- http://scholarshipfly.com/
Current scholarships are listed on the Kennedy Catholic counseling webpage in the college section. Talk to your counselor for more information.