RVH School Counseling
November 2019
About Our Department:
The Riverside School Counseling department is a team of 16 dedicated individuals working collaboratively to meet the needs of 1,880 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
Follow us on twitter @RVHCounseling
Luke Mason, Director of School Counseling
Susan Westgate, Registrar
Marsha Gobrecht, School Counseling Assistant
Donna Smith, School Counseling Assistant
Robin Robinson, Career Center Assistant
Evan Rodgers, School Counselor (A-Burc)
Kevin Burke, School Counselor (Burd - E)
Cassandra Asekhauno, School Counselor (F-Jer)
Kimberley Harris, School Counselor (Jes-Marn)
Susan Pangman, School Counselor (Maro-Pf)
Anna Rizzo, School Counselor (Pg-Sm)
Tracy Wood, School Counselor (Sn-Z)
Noelia Garcia-Gettmann, School Psychologist
Mrs. Frances Jester, Social Worker
Kim Hager, Student Assistance Specialist
Susan Sabloff, Parent Liaison
Congratulations to our Excellence in Education Award Winners
25 Riverside Seniors will be honored at this year's Excellence in Education Banquet. Seniors honored at the banquet are ranked in the top 5 percent of the graduating class in their school academically, or are a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, a National Achievement Scholarship semifinalist or a Hispanic Achievement Scholar. Sponsored by the Loudoun Education Foundation, the 2019 Excellence in Education Banquet will be held at the National Conference Center on Sunday, December 8 at 6:00pm. Those being honored this year are Anaum Ahmad, Hamza Ahmed, Wonkyung Ashley Bae, Macy Barmak, Sarah Burris, Andrew Chau, Runjie Chen, Regina Cuellar Lelo de Larrea, Amelie Fieser, Rachel Fuller, Morgan Greig, Ashley Heyn, Matthew Hogan, Sophie Kim, Allison Kopac, Joseph O'Such, Anusha Panvalkar, Chaitrali Patil, Isabella Radican, Azrin Rahman, Ty Reichard, Krishna Srigiriraju, Johnathan Tran, Oscar Tran, and Matthew Wilson.
2019 National Hispanic Scholar
2019 National Merit Scholarship Awards
More than 1.5 million students took the PSAT/NMSQT in 2018 as 11th graders competing for National Merit Scholarship awards. Of them, 34,000 were recently recognized for their exceptional academic promise as Commended Students. Riverside is proud to share the following students were named by NMSC:
National Merit Scholarship Commended Students 2019
Hamza Ahmed, Wonkyung Ashley Bae, Jackson Boran, Bentley Chen, Colin Fox, Brian Kapusta, Ethan Kim, Allison Kopac, Katherine Lutz, Meena Niamati, Joseph O'Such, Sean Pettit, Ji Song, Benjamin Steinberg, Johnathan Tran and Hunter Vaught.
16,000 students are identified as National Merit Semifinalists. Riverside is proud to share our students have been named Semifinalists and are eligible for scholarship consideration by NMSC based on their PSAT/NMSQT performance as juniors in 2018.
National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists 2019
Anaum Ahmad
Matthew Wilson
Visiting the Academies of Loudoun
Is your student interested in programs at the Academies of Loudoun? The Academies of Loudoun are beginning to prepare for their winter admissions cycle, which includes admissions for the Advanced Academy of Engineering & Technology (AET) (11th grade entry) and the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy (MATA)programs (10th, 11th, and 12th grade entry). 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. Our Riverside students will tour ACL on December 12, 2019! They will need to bring either a packed lunch or can use their current lunch account number to purchase lunch. More information on each application process can be found here. Permission forms for the field trip on December 12th will be available in the career center at the beginning of November or can also be found here.
Winter Admission Cycle Timeline for the Academies of Loudoun
December 10, 2019 – admissions window opens for Academies of Loudoun Winter 2020 admissions cycle (for Advanced AET and MATA programs).
February 19, 2020 - Winter admissions window closes at 12pm "noon". $35 application fee must be paid before application is processed (fee is automatically reduced or waived for free/reduced lunch status).
February 22, 2020* - Advanced AET Admissions Assessment (writing prompt and interest statement)
February 22, 2020* - MATA Practical Nursing Admissions Assessment (Test of Essential Academic Skills - TEAS)
March 3, 2020 - Nursing Interviews for nursing applicants who were administered the TEAS assessment
March 2020 – Admission offers will be posted in admissions portal
March/May 2020 - Students must accept or decline all admissions offers
*In the event of an emergency on a testing date, please contact the Admissions Office (AcademiesAdmissions@lcps.org)
Advanced Placement Exams 2019-2020
Dear AP Parents and Guardians:
We are pleased that your student has chosen to take an Advanced Placement (AP) class for the 2019-2020 school year. In the spring, students are encouraged to take the nationally standardized AP examinations issued by the College Board. AP classes are weighted by 1.0 in the grade point average calculation process. Colleges may award academic credit and/or special class placement if a student earns a qualifying score on the exam. Students are not required to take the exam to earn the 1.0 weighting, however, the student would not be eligible for college credit by not taking the exam.
Students, parents, or guardians are responsible for the costs of the AP exams. Each exam is $85.00, with the exception of AP Seminar and AP Research, which is $133.00. Exams must be paid for by November 1, 2019 to appropriately plan for test administration. Students who register for an AP exam after this deadline, will be charged a $40.00 late fee, per late test registration, in addition to the $85 or $133 exam fee. Refunds provided to students who cancel their AP exam between November 15-March 6 will exclude a $40 non-refundable fee. Exam adds or drops are not permitted after March 6, 2020. Requests for refunds should be directed to Mrs. Susan Westgate in the School Counseling.
If a family needs to arrange for a payment plan or anticipates difficulty in paying for the exam, the family should speak confidentially with the Director of School Counseling, Mr. Luke Mason - Luke.Mason@lcps.org. If your child receives free or reduced lunch, AP exam fees are covered by LCPS, but your student must still complete the online AP Registration Form in order to have a test ordered for them.
Students must complete ALL of the following steps in order to register for their AP exam(s):
· JOIN each AP Class in which you are enrolled by using the Join Codes given to you by your AP classroom teacher(s). See your AP teacher(s) with questions.
· Complete the linked AP Exam Registration Form.
· Submit payment.
An on-line payment portal is available for electronic payments on the Riverside Website and is available to accept payments from October 1-November 1. Changes have been made to the system so that there are no transaction fees and students no longer have to select the name of the AP test, just the number of tests. Checks or cash payments are also accepted by Mrs. Westgate in the Counseling Office and will also be accepted October 1-November 1. Checks should be made payable to ‘RVHS.’
The AP exam administration schedule is attached. Parents/guardians/students must provide their own transportation to the school on the day of testing. Please make every effort to schedule vacations, appointments, or other activities on dates that do not conflict with the testing dates. Make-up testing is permitted for verified emergencies only. Morning exams begin at 7:45 AM and afternoon exams begin at 12:15 PM, with exams lasting approximately 4 hours (testing time may be longer if student has approved CollegeBoard testing accommodations). Students may not be dismissed from an exam until the end of the test administration.
Advanced Placement Exam Schedule
Naviance Presentation for Parents
The “Introduction to Naviance Student – How Parents Can Assist Their Students with College and Career Readiness” presentation took place on October 21st. The session was recorded and will be posted at www.lcps.org/parentresourceservices. Once you are on the webpage, click on workshops and events, and then archived videos.
CLASS OF 2020
We hope all is well and welcome to the 12th grade! The RVHS School Counseling staff is eager to work with you during your senior year and prepare you for life after high school. We want to inform you about some dates, tasks, and resources that will help you get the ball rolling on your post high school planning process. To view the presentations from the September 26 Senior Parent Planning/Financial Aid Night click here.
Important Dates:
Senior 1 on 1s – throughout September, October, & November
- School Counselors will be meeting with all the seniors in their caseload individually to go over their own specific plans for life after high school (Please feel free to reach out to your counselor and let them know a good time to meet)
Gap Year Fair - February 6, 2020
LCPS Apprenticeship & Workforce Night - April 1, 2020 The Academies of Loudoun
Tasks to complete now:
Student & Parent Surveys:
- If you need a counselor recommendation for your college applications, please reach out to your counselor for information on how to access and complete. Once you have completed, please return to your counselor 2 to 3 weeks prior to your first application deadline date.
Transcript Request Forms:
-If you need a transcript sent for your college applications, please submit the form at least two weeks in advance of your deadline! Remember counselors need time to complete your recommendation and process your materials! Please refer to the timelines below!
Applying to Historically Black Colleges & Universities
College Visits to RVH
Upcoming College Visits
2020 Application Planning for Governor's School
Are you currently a high school sophomore or junior? If so, you should consider applying to the 2020 Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s Schools. The Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s Schools are approximately four weeks long and are held each summer on various college and university campuses throughout Virginia. The Governor’s Schools offer students a unique opportunity to work and study not only with other students with similar talents and interests but also with mentors, professors, scientists, and other professionals in their field of interest.
The following Summer Residential Governor’s Schools will be offered in 2020:
· Agriculture (held at Virginia Tech)
· Humanities (held at Radford University)
· Math, Science, and Technology (held at Lynchburg College)
· Visual and Performing Arts (held at Radford University)
And Mentorships in:
· Marine Science (held at Christopher Newport University)
· Medicine and Health Sciences (held at VCU)
· Engineering (held at Christopher Newport University)
LCPS students must apply through their home high schools. Students may apply to only one Governor’s School. School divisions select the students they nominate for the state level application process.
The Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s School website should update on or before October 4, 2019. Please do not begin the application process until the 2020 applications appear on the website. Click here to visit the website.
Visual and Performing Arts Applicants:
· The deadline to register for the Preliminary Audition was October 18, 2019.
2020 Summer Program-UVA's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership
Summer Programs at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Rose-Hulman IT is a small private school in Terre Haute, Indiana with about 2,000 students. It has been number one in the nation for best undergraduate engineering college for the past two decades. They strive to develop well-rounded engineers and have two excellent two-week summer programs for current sophomores and juniors with a passion for STEM! Opportunities include a reach into robotics, or explore cool things like brew biodiesel or make a machine from scratch. Click here for rose-hulman.edu/LearnCatapult (rising seniors) or LearnSelect (rising juniors) for videos and more information!
TESTING INFORMATION
Testing Dates 2019-2020
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
The Coolidge Scholarship for High School Juniors
The Coolidge Scholarship is an annually awarded, full-ride, presidential scholarship that covers a student’s tuition, room, board, and expenses for four year of undergraduate study at any accredited American college or university. Anyone of any background, pursuing any academic discipline of study, may apply to this non-partisan, need-blind, program. There are typically 2 to 3 winners each year. The scholarship is open to only high school juniors. Applications require a completed Profile form, Honesty Statement, Letters of Recommendation and Academic Information along with essay questions.
Up to ten finalists and one guardian are flown in for a finalist weekend at the Coolidge Historic Site in Plymouth Notch, Vermont where they interview with the Coolidge Scholars Finalist Jury. Recipients of the Scholarship are notified of their award late in their junior year, before college application time. Finalists who are not named Coolidge Scholars are eligible to receive a smaller, one-time, college scholarship.
See the website for frequently asked questions and the application for the scholarship. It is strongly recommended that students review the frequently asked questions. Deadline for this scholarship is Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Apple Federal Credit Union
The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship is open for applications. This scholarship offers numerous college-bound students with $10,000 renewable scholarships (up to $40,000 per recipient). GE-Reagan Foundation scholarship candidates must:
- demonstrate at school, at the workplace, and within the community the attributes of leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship;
- demonstrate strong academic performance (3.0 or greater GPA/4.0 scale or equivalent);
- be a citizen of the United States of America;
- be a high school senior attending high in the United States -students living on U.S. Armed Forces base and homeschooled students are also eligible; and
- plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate course of study while pursuing a bachelor’s degree at an accredited four-year college or university in the United States for the entire upcoming academic year.
Semifinalists will be required to provide a recommendation from a community leader, such as a high school principal, elected official and executive director of a nonprofit organization, and must provide documentation to certify academic performance and financial need. Finalists will be interviewed via Skype or telephone by a member of the selection committee.
Applicants with questions about the application process my contact the programs administrator, Scholarship America at 1-844-402-0354 and ask for the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program or email ge-reagan@scholarship.org.
The link for complete information and to apply for the scholarship may be found at: https://www.reaganfoundation.org/education/scholarship-programs/ge-reagan-foundation-scholarship-program/.
Deadline for this scholarship is January 3, 2020.
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