Counselor's Corner
Episode 9
Happy March!
This newsletter is PACKED with information, opportunities, and updates! Please take a few moments to read through what I've posted and let me know if you have any questions!
Social-Emotional Learning Tip of the Week:
Manage Stress by S.T.O.P.
Calm your mind using this trick:
Stop: Pause and be aware of how you feel.
Take a Breath: Notice how your mind begins to settle.
Observe: What's really happening, in the moment?
Proceed: Take an action that fits your situation.
Mrs. Mahaffey's Mindfulness Moment
The Next ACT Test
Saturday, Jun 12, 2021, 08:00 AM
Ashe County High School, Campus Drive, West Jefferson, NC, USA
11th Graders: Please Sign Up for the SAT Date Below:
Next SAT Testing Day
Sign up for late registration for the May SAT by April 8, 2021: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/dates-deadlines
Location: Ashe County High School
Saturday, May 8, 2021, 08:00 AM
Wilkes Central High School, Moravian Falls Road, Wilkesboro, NC, USA
Senior Shout Out
- Please remember to fill out the Google form telling me where you've been accepted and where you're choosing to attend next year! https://forms.gle/34dPzCo6xZ4sdrjy7
- Even though it's not College Application Month anymore, I still want you all to feel confident in filling out college applications. Visit the following link to find out all of the steps and details that come with applying for college. https://www.smore.com/t0xk5
Word of the Week
Career Events:
CISCO High School Externships
Workshops include:
- Cybersecurity
- IoT Fundamentals
- Intro to Meraki Solutions
- Design Thinking
- History of Cisco
- Persuasive Presentation
- Intro to DevNet
- Personal Branding
- Professional Etiquette
Students will:
1. Shadow Cisco employees in the student’s field of interest
2. Work in teams under the guidance of professional mentors to creatively solve a business problem
3. Participate in a day-long Innovation Challenge (Hackathon-style)
4. Participate in team-building and development activities
5. Compete in a final project related to Internet of Things (IoT)
6. Receive school credit, where possible
APPALACHIAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACADEMY
The Appalachian Entrepreneurship Academy is a program for rising high school seniors (that’s you!!) that prepares you to be the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and thinkers! The structure includes a Phase I virtual orientation (June 14-25, 2021) and a Phase 2 (July 12-30, 2021) that includes industry tours, mentorship and coaching, a Design Thinking workshop, and concludes with an elevator pitch event. While Phase 2 is currently scheduled to be held in-person in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the AEA team is monitoring the COVID-19 situation and is prepared to make any necessary changes to the program to ensure our participants remain safe and get the most out of being in the program.
Chosen via a competitive application process, rising high school seniors from across the Appalachian Region are selected to participate in a learning experience designed to cultivate creativity and develop skills essential for entrepreneurial success. As part of the program, AEA students receive tech support, materials, and other resources to participate. At completion, students will receive a formal Certificate of Completion.
What’s Included:
- Transportation to and from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Full room and board
- Extracurricular activities
- A stipend
Apply Here by April 2, 2021: https://appalachianleadershipinstitute.applytojob.com/apply/ucL6bRZJEc/Appalachian-Entrepreneurship-Academy-2021
Community Service Ideas
1. American Red Cross Blood Drive Volunteer- Ashe County
Every 2 seconds, someone in the US needs blood and one blood donation can save up to 3 lives. Help and support lives in North Carolina. Volunteer at the blood drives in your community.
- Warmly greet donors and assist with registration in the reception area
- Model excellent customer service behaviors, ensure blood donors have relevant information, and that all questions are answered appropriately
- Assist in the canteen area, manage the cleanliness in reception and hospitality areas, thank donors for their contribution, and alert staff immediately if a donor shows signs of feeling unwell
- Inform donors of current and upcoming donation promotions, make reminder/cancellation calls, re-schedule donor appointments, and perform follow up activities as directed
- If age 18 or older, volunteers will assist in prescreening and take temperatures of all donors before they enter the blood drive
- Time Commitment: 1, 5-6-hour shift per month. 6-month commitment preferred. Morning and afternoon shifts available
- This position is flexible as volunteers can sign up for shifts online that work their schedule!
Interested in volunteering?
- If you are age 18 or older, please apply using the following link for an expedited application process: https://tinyurl.com/BloodDonorAmbassadorVolunteer
- If you are age 16-17, please apply by visiting: www.redcross.org/volunteer
2. Generations Ashe
If you are looking for an opportunity to give back to your community, consider volunteering at Generations Ashe. Some of the volunteer opportunities we have each day include:
- Delivering meals to our home delivered meal recipients
- Assisting with our Senior Center welcome desk and various activities
- Fundraising
- Activities with our child and adult day programs as well as our assisted living program
We offer opportunities for volunteerism to anyone ages 14 and older. Whether you are a student just now learning about volunteerism or newly retired, looking to re-invest your life into a greater purpose, we have a place for you!
Click here to apply: https://asheaging.com/volunteer-application.php
Volunteering on the construction site is a terrific way to really see our mission in action and to see the fruits of your labor at the end of the day.
We welcome volunteers of any or no skill level who are over the age of 16.
Please bear in mind that volunteers age 16 and 17 must have a signed youth waiver in order to volunteer.
All adult volunteers will also be asked to sign a volunteer release form.
We generally work on Saturdays beginning at 9:00 AM.
Call the Ashe Habitat office at 336 846-2525 to see when our next work day at the site will be!
You don’t have to swing a hammer to be an essential part of our work! We depend heavily on the generous efforts of our volunteers behind the scenes and outside of the construction site as well.
Unique Job of the Week
Salary: $54,207/year
Education: High School Diploma plus training
Summary: If hotshot crews are the Forest Service’s Marines, then the smokejumpers are the Green Berets. Smokejumpers are firefighting’s lunatic fringe. As if fighting forest fires weren’t adventurous enough, smokejumpers start the day off with a low-altitude parachute jump into the burning forest!
Smokejumpers are flown into hot areas that hotshot crews and other firefighters cannot reach. Usually, the fire is in the early stages of development in an area inaccessible to ground transportation. Smokejumpers jump in groups of two to ten – with about 100 pounds of equipment apiece – and spend three to five days fighting the fire. When finished, they gather together their equipment and pack it out to the nearest access road, which is often many miles away.
Smokejumpers combine skydiving and firefighting, jumping from turbine engines into rampant wildfires in areas not accessible by road. As they jump, winds can propel their parachutes to 20 miles an hour (or more), making landing coordinates nearly impossible to predict. Once they’ve landed, the job actually begins, fighting a fire sprawling over hundreds of acres without support. Being a smokejumper is more than a job, it’s a lifestyle. Could you hack it in this extreme profession?
- Parachutes from airplane into forest inaccessible by ground to suppress forest fires.
- Jumps from airplane near scene of fire, pulls rip cord when clear of plane, and pulls shroud lines to guide direction of fall toward clear landing area.
- Orients self in relation to fire, using compass and map, and collects supplies and equipment dropped by parachute.
- Ascertains best method for attacking fire and reports plan to airplane or base camp with two-way radio.
- Fells trees, digs trenches, and extinguishes flames and embers to suppress fire, using ax, chain saw, shovel, and hand or engine-driven water or chemical pumps.
- May pack parachutes parachute rigger.
Explore this career: https://www.jobmonkey.com/parks/smokejumpers/
College Board Opportunity Scholarships: Now open for class of 2022 students!
For current juniors, the College Board Opportunity Scholarships program will help even more students plan for college, address affordability concerns, and connect them with other scholarship opportunities. Here are a few key changes to the program for the class of 2022:
• More than 7,000 students will earn a scholarship each year, nearly double the number of winners in previous years.
• All scholarship steps for the class of 2022 will be awarded for the same amount: $500. The Complete Your Journey award will remain $40,000.
• There's a new Explore Scholarships step to help students find scholarship opportunities that may be a good fit for them. And there's a simplified Practice for the SAT® step that will guide students to begin personalized SAT practice just for them.
At least half of all the scholarships—over $2 million each year—are awarded to students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year.
Sign up for the program by clicking here. Your first step is to make a starter list of six colleges you're interested in, for a chance at $50!
LifeStore Bank 1939 Scholarship: $1,939
The LifeStore Bank 1939 Scholarship is a one-year scholarship for $1,939, commemorating our company's founding in 1939. This scholarship is awarded for the first year of post-secondary education and is not renewable. Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of:
- Financial Need
- Academic Achievement
- Extracurricular Activities
Eligibility Requirements:
- You must be a student at Ashe County High School, Ashe Early College, or Watauga High School to qualify.
- To be considered for the LifeStore Scholarship, you must have a minimum unweighted high school GPA of 3.0.
- Also, your family’s combined adjusted gross income must not exceed $100,000.
- Immediate family members of LifeStore employees or directors, or employees of any LifeStore subsidiary, are not eligible. Immediate family members include parents or other legal guardians, grandparents and siblings.
Click here for more info.
Ashe County Chamber of Commerce Scholarship
The Ashe County Chamber of Commerce Scholarship is a one-year scholarship for the first year of post-secondary education. If you need to know your unweighted GPA for eligibility purposes, let me know! Due Date: April 15, 2021
Eligibility
Applicant must:
- Be an Ashe County resident
- Be a graduating high school senior
- Have a minimum unweighted GPA of 2.75
- Be accepted by an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school
- Express an interest in working in a rural community following graduation
Applications are available via email by contacting me!
Ashe County Farm Bureau Scholarship
This scholarship will be awarded to a rising university/college freshmen who demonstrate:
- The intention to pursue a career in agriculture or in an agriculturally-related field
- Financial need
- Satisfactory grades (maintain a GPA of 2.5 and Major-Ag Related- GPA of 3.0)
- Evident understanding of the agricultural and /or agribusiness community
- Leadership potential
Applications must be returned to Mrs. Mahaffey by April 1, 2021 or to Farm Bureau before April 1.
TedX: Unveiling Ignorance: Shedding Light On The World
Click here for more info: https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/41696
Sunday, Jun 6, 2021, 08:00 AM
undefined
Tutoring for 10-12th grade students!
Did you know? Gear Up is continuing to partner with Tutor.com to provide you with FREE online tutoring to support your academic success this school year.
Use Tutor.com to:
- Connect with one of our 3,000+ expert tutors in an online classroom
- Drop off an essay for review and get feedback within 12 hours
- View replays of previous tutoring sessions
- Save and schedule appointments with your favorite tutors!
Tutors are available to help with:
- Science
- History
- Algebra
- Calculus
- English
- Writing
To access Tutor.com, please go to:
- Username: powerschool ID
- Password: gearup
Tutors are available to help 24/7. For more information, check out these resources:
- Tutor.com How It Works Guide: English | Spanish
- Tutor.com’s Writing Service Guide
About Me
Email: hanna.mahaffey@ashe.k12.nc.us
Location: 363 Campus Drive, West Jefferson, NC, USA
Phone: 336-846-1881