Junior Newsletter
Winter 2016-2017
A MID-YEAR OVERVIEW
1. Preparing for the Feb. 28 ACT
2. Creating a community service project
3. Making the grades
4. Researching colleges
5. Building an activities resume
6. Attending junior grade advisor meetings
CFNC.org has an excellent timeline of activities you should be completing. If you do not have a CFNC.org account yet, please create one. By having an account, you'll have access to a wealth of FREE information.
https://www1.cfnc.org/Plan/For_High_School/High_School_Planning_Timeline/11th_Grade.aspx
ACT DAY: FEBRUARY 28
It is important to understand the format of the test and to take time to complete practice tests. As the old saying goes, "Practice makes perfect." There's no better way to prepare for the ACT than completing numerous practice tests. Remember, you do not have to pay for ACT test prep resources because there are many FREE resources available online.
http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-preparation.html
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Don't forget that the deadline to submit your community service form is January 31, 2017!
You know that volunteering is one way you can help your community to be a better place, but you also know it is a helpful thing to add to your admission applications and/or write about for scholarships.
When we talk about a community service project, we're not talking about just volunteering one hour a month at multiple organizations or collecting trash along the street. Colleges value quality over quantity. They value projects that demonstrate individual initiative. They value unique service endeavors over the average projects. For example, an English as a second language student decided to offer lessons on how to speak Chinese. She initially started this with a few friends in her freshmen year of high school. By her junior year, her lessons had become so popular that she began teaching weekly sessions at her local library, which were open to anyone in the community. She took a skill she had and turned it into a unique community service project.
You have talents, interests, and skills. You need to ask yourself how you can combine them to create a worthy community service project.
MAKING THE GRADES
When you apply to colleges, they will review your high school transcripts. In addition to looking at your grades and your GPA, they will evaluate the courses you've taken. If your high school offered more challenging coursework, they will look to see if you took advantage of such offerings. A straight "A" student that only took the easy way out with his/her coursework will not be looked at as favorably as the "B" student that took advanced coursework.
Take the last year and a half of high school to "beef up" your high school transcript to add more challenging coursework, but make sure you don't get in over your head either by taking courses that do not match your strengths. If math is your weakest subject, don't jump right into taking the hardest math offered just because you think that's what should be on your transcript; don't set yourself up for failure.
RESEARCHING COLLEGES
When researching colleges, keep the following points in mind about things that may matter to you:
- Size (small college vs large university)
- Student population (student diversity)
- Location (rural, urban, large city, small town, etc.)
- Distance (close to home or very far away)
- Major offered (your major may not be offered or you may not like the courses required for the major)
- Cost
- Selection of extracurricular activities and/or clubs
- Housing (% of students living on-campus or off-campus)
- Greek life (% of students belonging to sororities/fraternities)
- Reputation
- Admission stats (% of students applied vs accepted)
- Test scores (what are the average test scores of accepted students)
- Student/faculty ratio
- Graduation rates
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-education
ACTIVITIES RESUME
What is an activities resume?
We're sure you've heard of needing a resume to apply for a job, but did you know that you may need an activities resume to apply to college? Colleges need to know more about you than what is on your admission application. Submission of an activities resume may be required by some colleges while for others it may be an added bonus to your application.An activities resume highlights your strengths, accomplishments, honors, awards, volunteerism, and other things you've done throughout your entire high school career. It shows colleges what an outstanding individual you are and helps them to have a better idea of who you are beyond a high school transcript.
How do you create an activities resume?
Your Crosby Scholars portal has an easy to use template for creating an activities resume. We want all of our students to add an activities resume in their portal.
Some of the things to include are:
- High school name
- Leadership roles you've held in high school clubs, sports, or other activities
- Volunteer activities
- Honors and/or awards received
- Employment experience
Your senior advisor will be able to help you with proofreading and revising your activities resume.
GRADE ADVISOR MEETINGS
Led by a volunteer grade advisor, the meetings are like mini-focus group sessions. Topics of the meetings are about things you need to know about the college enrollment process and the information is relevant for your grade level. The first meeting is usually a kick-off celebration and we'll bring food! Because we'll bring food, the first meeting requires registration in the portal.
As soon as dates are confirmed with the high schools, we'll post all dates in the portal and on our website calendar.
The Iredell County Crosby Scholars Community Partnership
Email: info@crosbyscholarsiredell.org
Website: www.crosbyscholarsiredell.org
Location: 124 4th Crescent Place, Statesville, NC, United States
Phone: 704-873-5005