RVH School Counseling
October 2018
About Our Department:
The Riverside School Counseling department is a team of 14 dedicated individuals working collaboratively to meet the needs of 1808 students, including teachers and parents. We have an open-door policy, but at times we are needed at meetings or have scheduled appointments with other students and parents. To serve you more efficiently, we ask that you please call or email us to schedule an appointment.
We support Riverside High School by:
working with staff to address obstacles that interfere with students’ learning and success.
focusing on skill development through a variety of ways, such as small group or individual counseling sessions, classroom guidance, and consultation and coordination with parents, administrators, and teachers.
helping when students experience challenges. We focus on conflict resolution, transitions, study skills, test-taking skills, crisis intervention, bullying prevention, suicide prevention, and special needs of students.
preparing students with post-grad planning. College visits, career days, internships, scholarships, and job matching are just a few resources available to help our students succeed in life after high school.
RVHS School Counseling Office Hours
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:15 pm
Website: http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/domain/17735
Get connected with us on remind, text @7a0b5 to 81010
Follow us on twitter @RVHCounseling
Rob Yarborough, Director of School Counseling
Amy Larrick, Registrar
Marsha Gobrecht, School Counseling Assistant
Evan Rodgers, School Counselor (A-Cl)
Kevin Burke, School Counselor (Cm - Hoo)
Scott Valyear, School Counselor (Hop-Mcc)
Anna Rizzo, School Counselor (Mcd-Rose)
Amy Burgess, School Counselor (Rosf-Z)
Robin Robinson, Career/College Center Assistant
Noelia Garcia-Gettmann, School Psychologist
Mrs. Frances Jester, Social Worker
Kim Hager, Student Assistant Specialist
Kristan Ash, Parent Liaison
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TALENTED SCHOLARS!
This year Riverside High School is proud to announce that we have 6 students receiving letters of commendation and 6 students receiving National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist designation. Our semi-finalist candidates will be applying to become National Merit Finalists over the next month. Good luck to them!
Commended Scholars 2019
Anushey Ahmed, Jordan Billings, Alanna Hill, Liliya Petrosyan, Samarth Saxena & Rachel Ziff
Riverside's First Group of National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists 2019
Nikita Amin, Hansa Doppalapudi, Erin Harrison, William Joo, Rohan Parikh & Ryan Pesak
Class of 2019 Information
Dear Senior Rams and Parents:
We are happy to have had a chance to visit with our 12th grade students during US Government classes in September. Topics covered included Post High School Planning options and an overview of the college application process. As part of our presentation, we talked about the Senior Self-Assessment and Parent Assessment, which are required should you need a counselor letter of recommendation. These Assessments should be returned to counselors soon if counselor recommendations are needed. Counselors have been and will continue to meet with their seniors to discuss their post-secondary plans. We look forward to working with your senior this year! Please check out our Senior Resources page https://www.lcps.org/Page/181786
College Visits to RVH
Upcoming College Visits
Radford University 10/09/18
Emerson College 10/09/18
University of Mary Washington 10/11/18
Catawba College 10/11/18
UNC Greensboro 10/12/18
Georgia Institute of Technology 10/12/18
University of Arizona 10/15/18
Rutgers University New Brunswick 10/15/18
Salisbury University 10/15/18
Florida Institute of Technology 10/16/18
Rider University 10/16/18
University of Chicago 10/17/18
Christopher Newport University 10/17/18
James Madison University 10/18/18
University of Alabama 10/19/18
Dartmouth College 10/19/18
Louisiana State University 10/23/18
University of Lynchburg 10/23/18
University of Rhode Island 10/24/18
Marymount University 10/24/18
University of Louisville 10/25/18
Northern Virginia Community College 10/25 and 10/26
Indiana University of Pennsylvania 10/26/18
Virginia Commonwealth University 10/29/18
Paul Smith's College 10/30/18
Binghamton University 10/31/18
Shenandoah University 11/1/18
Washington College 11/2/18
University of Tennessee 11/2/18
University of Delaware 11/7/18
Frostburg State University 11/8/18
Emerson College Information Session
Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts will be hosting a local information session in Rockville, Maryland for interested students, families, and educators.
Students and their families are welcome to attend the session if you are interested in learning more about Emerson and the admission process in a slightly more comprehensive setting than a visit or college fair.
The session will be held on Thursday, October 16 from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM at Vis Arts, 155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD. Light refreshments will be available. To register click on the following link!
https://admissions.emerson.edu/register/?id=92cd89b9-8298-427a-9a94-ef57bcefaa87
Learning about the Coalition Application for College Admissions
UPCOMING EVENTS
FAFSA Completion Workshop
October 20 between 9 am and 12 noon at Stone Bridge HS. Professionals will be on hand to answer your questions and provide assistance. These are the items you will need to complete the FAFSA:
- Your Social Security number. It is important that you enter your Social Security Number correctly!
- Your driver's license (if any)
- Your 2017 W-2 forms and other records of money earned
- Your (and if married, your spouse's) 2017 Federal Income Tax Return.
- IRS 1040, 1040A, 1040 EZ
- Foreign Tax Return, or
- Tax Return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia, or Palau
- Your Parents' 2017 Federal Income Tax Return and W-2s (if you are a dependent student)
- Your 2017 untaxed income records (child support received, interest income, veterans benefits, etc)
- Your current bank statements (savings, checking, CDs, etc)
- Your current business and investment mortgage information, business and farm records, stock, bond and other investment records
- Your alien registration or permanent resident card (if you are not a U.S. citizen)
- Date parents were married, widowed, divorced or separated
- Parents date of birth, including day, month and year
Keep these records! You will need them again. Do not mail these records to Federal Student Aid.
LCPS Job for a Day
This program provides Juniors and Seniors with the opportunity to spend a day with a professional in their field of interest. This year's program will take place on November 5 which is a teacher workday. Due to volume of interest, students placed at Inova Loudoun Hospital and LCPS may be given an alternate date of November 14, 2018. Jobs will be available to preview on the LCPS website October 12-15. Student sign ups will occur October 15-22nd. Job assignments will be mailed on October 24. For further information see
https://webinter.lcps.org/CommunityConnections/StudentIntro
Virginia Governor's School 2019
The Virginia Governor's School Residential Programs are approximately four weeks long and are held on various college and university campuses each summer. This program offers current 10th and 11th grade students the unique opportunity to work and study with other students of similar interests as well as mentors, professors and scientists. The Virginia Summer Residential Governor's School information is updated online as of October 2nd. Please do not begin the application process until the 2019 applications appear on the website. https://www.lcps.org/Page/636
Students interested in the Visual and Performing Arts Governor's School must submit an audition request by October 19th at the link above. If you have questions please feel free to reach out to Anna Rizzo in the School Counseling Office.
Academies of Loudoun (ACL)
The Academies of Loudoun are beginning to prepare for their winter admissions cycle, which includes admissions for Advanced AET (11th grade entry) and MATA programs (10th, 11th, and 12th grade entry). ACL will offer tours to interested students instead of the “shadowing” experience from previous years. These tours will be hosted by the ACL admissions team. Academies of Loudoun staff will provide guided tours of the facility, detailed information on the Advanced AET and MATA programs, and instructions on how to apply. We will be notifying students soon of Riverside tour date!
World Language Testing for Credit
Loudoun County Public Schools allows students, with the ability to comprehend and communicate in languages other than English, to earn high school credits through State approved world language assessments. The Credit Through Testing exam measures students’ language proficiency in order to award two high school world language credits.
Students who pass the exam will also meet the language proficiency requirement to earn the Seal of Biliteracy at graduation.
What languages are able to be tested?
LCPS will offer the exam in those languages where there are 50 or more students who identified the language as the first language spoken at home. Currently those include: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese/ Mandarin, Farsi, French, German, Guajarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Who is eligible and how do I know if I am proficient enough to try to earn credit through a test?
Students in grades 9-12 are eligible to take the exam. Students interested in receiving credit by taking a language proficiency test should at least be at the Intermediate-Mid level and be able to:
• start, maintain, and end a conversation on a variety of familiar topics.
• talk about daily activities and personal preferences.
• use language to handle tasks related to personal needs.
• exchange information about subjects of special interest to them
• read and write a cohesive paragraph on topics relating to themselves.
In addition, students will need to understand directions in language of the exam.
If a student was placed into a level 3 or 4 class because of their language skills, they can take the test to earn retroactive credit for prior levels.
If interested in this program students can contact their school counselor to register for the test. The deadline to sign up is October 26.
Check out the ALCANZA College Fair at George Mason
Greetings from George Mason University!
This is a friendly reminder that the Office of Admissions at George Mason University invites you and your students to join us for the 18th annual ALCANZA College Fair! Mason hosts ALCANZA as part of our effort to inform Latino and underrepresented minority youth, and first generation high school students in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area about opportunities in higher education.
With your participation, we hope to provide information essential to the college application and financial aid process and encourage students to pursue their education beyond high school. More than 200 colleges and universities from all over the nation attend ALCANZA for the opportunity to meet with over 1,500 high school students from all over the D.C. metropolitan area. We hope to welcome you to campus this October!
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Opening Session – 10:15 a.m. - 11 a.m.
College Fair - 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The EagleBank Area (formerly the Patriot Center Arena)
Register TODAY! Space is limited.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities College Showcase
Tuscarora HS presents its 4th annual college showcase on Thursday October 25, 2018 from
7-9 pm. There will be on site application reviews, NCAA session, community scholarship information and college test preparation information available. All are welcome and Spanish translation services will be available!
MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS CONFERENCE
TESTING INFORMATION
Turbo Tutoring
Looking to improve your ACT/SAT score? The popular prep program is here in Northern Virginia!!
Turbo Tutoring offers quality, affordable ACT & SAT prep seminars and we are proud to be partners with several area high schools in Virginia. We give money back to the PTO for every Riverside student that participates! For just $199, we cover all of the sections on the tests in single, 2 hour and 45 minute, interactive prep classes. We discuss strategies for eliminating incorrect answer choices and ways to move through the test faster and more efficiently. We also provide confidence-building techniques that can be applied to other exams as well. Packets for each section and take home questions are provided for students. Go to our website to read what students, parents, educators, and local media have said about Turbo Tutoring.
Register for our next ACT/SAT prep class! The 2018-2019 prep class date options are below.
Westfield HS: 4700 Stonecroft Boulevard; Chantilly, VA 20151
Saturday, September 29th (SAT prep class)
Saturday, February 23rd (SAT prep class)
Saturday, October 27th (SAT prep class)
Saturday, April 27th (SAT prep class)
Briar Woods HS: 22525 Belmont Ridge Road; Ashburn, VA 20148
Wednesday, October 3rd (SAT prep class) Wednesday, May 1st (SAT prep class)
Wednesday, October 24th (ACT prep class) Wednesday, May 29th (SAT prep class)
Wednesday, February 6th (ACT prep class)
Stone Bridge HS: 43100 Hay Road; Ashburn, VA 20147
Wednesday, March 6th (SAT prep class)
Tuesday, June 4th (ACT prep class)
Check out our website for additional information, and to register! www.turbo-tutoring.com
RHS Fine Arts Boosters and Kaplan Test Prep
Class Registration https://www.kaptest.com/college-prep/partner/kas and enter the class code in the search bar.
SAT course 10/30-11/29 Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 pm code: SAIKM181313
SAT course 2/5-3/5 Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 pm code: SAIKM19199
Kaplan Practice Tests:
SAT/ACT combo October 27 at 9 am
to register visit http://kaplan.formstack.com/forms/rhs_oct2018
SAT January 12 at 9 am
to register visit http://kaplan.formstack.com/forms/rhs_jan_2019
Naviance & Kaplan Livestreaming Courses
The courses align to the industry College, Career and Life Readiness (CCLR) Framework and help students develop critical academic skills, interpersonal skills, career knowledge, college preparation knowledge, and transition skills to support their academic journey.
Learn more about the https://www.naviance.com/content/kaplan-partnership and access implementation resources, including email templates to share the courses with students and parents.
Community Outreach Programs
UVA Engineering Opportunities for Women
The Society of Women Engineers at the University of Virginia invites high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to apply to our High School Visitation program on Saturday, November 17th, 2018. The program gives young women a comprehensive look at the different engineering fields and UVA’s engineering curriculum through informative speakers, panels, lab tours, and hands-on design activities. The program is designed to benefit participants with all levels of engineering experience, but we particularly target those students who are not yet familiar with the field and may be interested in applying to engineering schools or pursuing a STEM career.
To apply, students should complete the HSV Fall 2018 Application which can be found on the SWE website https://www.virginiaswe.org/hsv. This fall session particularly targets high school seniors, but sophomores and juniors can also apply. Students who have previously applied to HSV, are in the targeted grade level, and demonstrate a strong interest in engineering through their essay will receive priority acceptance and priority consideration for an overnight stay at UVA hosted by a SWE member.
The application must be completed online by 11:59 pm on Saturday, October 22nd, 2018.
Megan Mazzatenta
High School Outreach Chair
Society of Women Engineers @ UVA
UVA School of Architecture
Design + Make: The Art of the Spoon
Monday, October 8, 2018
You are invited to engage a concept-to-production workflow utilizing both digital and hand making tools. Armed with these skills, we’ll craft novel, functional, and beautiful hand held objects.
To kick off the workshop, each student will be assigned a ‘character’ to translate into a design iteration of a spoon. At the School of Architecture FabLab, students will receive safety training for both digital fabrication and hand-crafting processes. Participants will sketch and iterate their designs, translate outputs digitally to a CNC cut file, and ultimately refine their creations with shop equipment and hand sanding.
The goal of this workshop is to arm you with the knowledge and confidence to continue your academic careers as makers.
No previous design, software, or fabrication skills are necessary. We hope you’ll join us for this unique and fun opportunity to try out the design and prototyping process first-hand!
So you want to be an architect?
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Do you want to learn how to engage the past and shape the future? Through interactive design exercises and a tour of Studio 27 Architecture in Washington D.C., students will learn about all scales of the built environment including its history, planning and design from University of Virginia School of Architecture Alumni. During the program, students will also learn about:
STUDYING ARCHITECTURE:
Undergraduate and graduate education of architecture; The basics of the application process and portfolio prep for an undergraduate architecture program application.
PRACTICING ARCHITECTURE:
Career trajectories of UVA A-School alumni; Diverse professional opportunities in architecture and related fields; The Architect Registration Exam, the AXP Experience and other internship development opportunities.
MAKING AN IMPACT THROUGH ARCHITECTURE:
What does the future of architecture look like and how might you contribute to it? Studying and practicing architecture is a chance to engage in unique design processes that allow you to critically think and creatively innovate through making.
You can find more details and register by clicking the link https://www.arch.virginia.edu/events/so-you-want-to-be-an-architect-dc#main-content
Information Sessions + Tours
Friday, October 19, 2018
Friday, November 16, 2018
Faculty and current students will lead the sessions providing you with an opportunity to learn more about our undergraduate programs in Architecture, Design Thinking, Urban + Environmental Planning and Architectural History. Following to the information session, you will receive a guided tour of Campbell Hall led by current students. Information sessions begin at 11am and conclude at 12pm; Tours begin at 12pm and conclude at 1pm.
Final Reviews
Monday, December 10, 2018
Interested in seeing the School of Architecture in action? Come visit us during final reviews! Final reviews are a culmination of our students' studio work for the semester, and show off their research and design.
Scholarship Information
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarships
The Jack Kent Cooke Scholarships – Up to $40,000 per year for four-years - recently opened to accept applications. This renewable scholarship is offered to high-achieving graduating high school seniors with financial need who seek to attend and graduate from the nation’s best accredited four-year colleges and universities. Applicants must earn a cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.5 or above and receive standardized test scores of either an SAT total score of 1200 or above OR an ACT Composite Score of 26 or above. Applicants must demonstrate unmet financial need by providing information on the family’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) as reported on federal tax returns from the past three years of up to $95,000. (Last year’s cohort of new college scholarship recipients had a median family income of approximately $26,000.) Applicants will complete the Common Application and add the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation as one of their “schools” to access the requirements that are specific to the college scholarship which includes eligibility questions, several short essays, college plans and intended major and financial information for the last three years. Two recommendations are required, one from an 11th grade teacher in a core academic subject, and, one from another teacher who is acquainted with your performance and character, and should be able to discuss your academic progress through the class curriculum, challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and your overall academic engagement. Deadline for the completed application is November 20, 2018.
The notification of award amounts will usually be received to the winners by an award letter within four weeks of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation receiving your Cost of Attendance from your four-year institution.
This scholarship has a lot of information with it and it is strongly suggested that students and their family review the information on the website at: https://www.jkcf.org/.
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Scholarship
Sigma Mu Mu Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity is offering a scholarship of $500 to a graduating senior from Loudoun County who is planning on attending college. Applicants are required to submit a 700-750 word essay (double-spaced and in MS Word) on the topic: How has social media impacted today’s youth, and what influence does it have on their future? Online submission is preferred but the sponsor will accept proper applications by email or mail. Application and information can be found at: http://loudouncountyques.org/~loudoun/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=frm_forms_preview&form=dcy39. Deadline: October 19, 2018.
**Please be aware that the winner of this scholarship may be eligible for an Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. International High School Essay Contest Scholarships which is $5,000 for 1st, $3,000 for 2nd, $2,000 for 3rd, or $1,000 for 4th.
Loudoun Elks Lodge Scholarship
Loudoun Elks Lodge #2406 accomplishes their charitable works through helping the community and local families in need. Our signature effort for this goal is the valuable student scholarship program.
We believe this program is the avenue for our community students, near the top of their class, active in their schools and communities and recognized as leaders by their peers, to succeed and contribute to their future.
Our Elks outreach to you is to provide this opportunity for you to submit a competitive scholarship form. Please provide your scholarship forms by November 15th, 2018. We will begin the review process at the local lodge level. Please go to the Elks website for the scholarship form and more information. https://www.elks.org/scholars/scholarships/mvs.cfm
For additional information about anything listed in our newsletter, please visit our website or contact our office at (703) 554 -8907.
Thank you,
RVH Counseling