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 Lynna B. Williams, lead counselor for college and transition planning at Arlington High School, provided the following news in an e-mail to parents and guardians Oct. 14:
October is always a busy month in the guidance office with the
counselors juggling college admissions for seniors, helping freshman
and new students adjust to AHS and keeping an eye on midterm progress
reports for all students on their caseload. Here are a few things
parents/guardians should know:
Midterm Reports: Last week was the halfway
point for term one. This is a good time to talk with your child about
their performance in each of their classes and help them set goals to
gradually improve their grades before the term ends on Oct. 31. If
you have any questions or concerns about your child’s performance in a
particular class, please feel free to contact the teacher directly to
get more information.
SATs - The November SAT’s will be held on Saturday, November 1st. Although
it may be tempting for the students to attend a Halloween party or
participate in various Halloween traditions, please discuss with your
child the importance of preparing for the exam and getting good night
sleep. Students should arrive on the day of the exam at the Fusco
Building by 7:45am with two number two pencils, calculator,
registration ticket and photo ID.
Juniors taking SATs - Many parents of juniors have
asked if their child should take the SAT’s sooner rather than later for
extra practice. We recommend juniors take the PSAT’s in October as
their practice exam and the SAT’s in the spring of their junior year
(March, May or June). March 2009 marks a change in the College Boards
score reporting policy to colleges. After this launch date, students
can choose which scores based on each sitting of the SAT they want sent
to colleges. For more information on College Boards changes, please
visit www.collegeboard.com
Transcripts - The secretary and counselors have
been working hard on processing transcript requests for college
admissions. Please remind your child the importance of keeping track of
deadlines and requesting transcripts three weeks prior to the college
deadline. This allows time for us to process the many requests, write
our letter of recommendations and get them in the mail before the
deadline. For a complete list of AHS transcript deadlines and
instruction on how to request transcripts, please log on to our
guidance website.
Advanced Placement Exams - Advanced Placement
students received information last week on registration for the May AP
exams. Each exam costs $86 and the deadline to register is Friday,
October 24th. Students enrolled in Advanced Placement
classes are required to take the exam designated for their class or
they will not be granted advanced placement credit on their transcripts. Due to our office submitting payment and registration information to College Board, AHS will not be able to give refunds.
Financial Aid Night has been scheduled for December 16th at 7pm in the AHS auditorium.
Health and Safety Awareness Day will be held on October 22 during
the school day for the entire student body with a focus on increasing
awareness among students and staff around mental health issues and
resources available to them in and out of school. Students have already
signed up for a topic and been placed in either their first or second
choice option. We thank Andrea Razi, School Intervention
Coordinator/Social Worker, for her hard work and effort putting this
event together. For a complete list of topics, visit our guidance
website at www.arlington.k12.ma.us/guidance/default
Parent Forum – On Monday, October 20th
from 7-9pm at the Dallin School Gymnasium, the Parent Forum Committee
will be hosting Michael Thompson, a clinical psychologist and author of
Raising Cain, Speaking of Boys, Best Friends/Worst Enemies
and many other books. He will be presenting “Adolescence is Hard Work.”
The presentation will discuss the 5 developmental challenges that every
adolescent must meet and provide useful perspectives for parents of
adolescents and a calming preparation for parents of about-to-be
adolescents. We hope you can make it!
As many of you know, in a few weeks I will be going on maternity
leave for approximately four months. While I am excited about the new
adventure in my life, I will miss working with my students. I am
comfortable leaving knowing the students on my caseload are in good
hands with my replacement, Linda Mitchell. Mrs. Mitchell has three
years experience as a guidance counselor in all aspects of personal,
academic and college counseling. I strongly believe her expertise as a
guidance counselor as well as her personal experience raising her own
children will be a positive addition to our department. As all my
seniors know, I have developed a solid transition plan for my departure
and I am hoping Mrs. Mitchell will receive a warm welcome from each of
my students and the parents at AHS. My responsibilities
as the Lead Counselor for College and Transition Planning have been
split among the other counselors in the department during the four
months I will be away. You can look for our regular
monthly guidance emails/updates to be sent by Kathy Hirsch, Lead
Counselor for Social and Emotional Counseling. I look forward to my
return to AHS in a few months!
If you have any questions about topics related to this email, please feel free to contact your child’s guidance counselor.
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performs "Metropolis" Thursday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. at the Regent
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