News from the Homefront:
Ms. Padrón's Schedule:
I appreciate everyone being patient with the changes to my schedule this year. I know it's frustrating to not be able to find me during lunch for those of you without a flexible period. Next week, Warrior Period begins and I will prioritize it in the following way after I get Independent Study up and running on 1 September:
Clubs
Want to start at club at WAHS? There are some important dates coming up that you should know. Club applications are due on 30 August which is a Sunday. The Club Retreat will be held on 3 and 4 September. Club Fair will be during lunch on 11 September. Want more information? Email WAHS Leadership or Mrs. Moore!
Ms. Padrón's Schedule:
I appreciate everyone being patient with the changes to my schedule this year. I know it's frustrating to not be able to find me during lunch for those of you without a flexible period. Next week, Warrior Period begins and I will prioritize it in the following way after I get Independent Study up and running on 1 September:
- Thursdays are for Common App Crash Course
- Open days will prioritize people who do not have a free period
- If you have a study hall, a TA period, or Peer Tutoring, you will be the next level priority
Clubs
Want to start at club at WAHS? There are some important dates coming up that you should know. Club applications are due on 30 August which is a Sunday. The Club Retreat will be held on 3 and 4 September. Club Fair will be during lunch on 11 September. Want more information? Email WAHS Leadership or Mrs. Moore!
Get involved with FBLA!
FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) is open to all students interested in business, economics, and the stock market. They have a number of things coming up!
FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) is open to all students interested in business, economics, and the stock market. They have a number of things coming up!
|
|
NHS:
Are you applying to NHS this fall as a senior? Are you looking for help? Ms. Innes has you!
Are you applying to NHS this fall as a senior? Are you looking for help? Ms. Innes has you!
Common App Crash Course:
TOMORROW Common App Crash Course continues at 8:00 in the Library. There are multiple sessions and we start at the beginning and move through the whole thing. The sessions are as follows:
TOMORROW Common App Crash Course continues at 8:00 in the Library. There are multiple sessions and we start at the beginning and move through the whole thing. The sessions are as follows:
- 28 August – Activities/Honors Section of Common App
- 11 September – Writing the College Essay (this is a change! I need to go to the dentist on the 4th).
- 18 September – Supplemental Essays
- 25 September – Open Workshop Time
College Visits:
Sign up in Schoolinks
Sign up in Schoolinks
- 9 September – Randolph Macon, Syracuse
- 10 September – High Point, Mary Washington
- 15 September – Randolph
- 17 September – Davidson, Dickinson
- 22 September – University of Richmond
- 23 September – Tech, Hobart William Smith
- 24 September – Hollins, Longwood
- 29 September – Richard Bland
- 1 October – UVA
- 6 October Hampden Sydney
- 7 October – Elon
- 14 October – Colby
- 20 October –CNU
- 28 October – Wofford
Use Your Brain for Fun (&$)!
Photo by Judy Beth Morris on Unsplash
Humanities & Social SciencesTraddidle has various contests for students in grades K-12. Check out their offerings and enter to be published.
Want to be a Page in the General Assembly? Get your application in by 16 October. We've had folks get in this program before! Locke & Key invite those of you in the social sciences to submit an essay that explores a topic that excites you drawing from categories like philosophy, economics, art, history, politics, international relations, or related topics. Submit by 8 September. The Youth Free Expression Film Contest challenges you to submit a film about documenting democracy,. They have filmed workshops to help. Submit your entry by 9 September. |
Photo by ThisisEngineering on Unsplash
STEMThe Nicodemus Wilderness Project invites you to explore the ways in which you can serve our environment. Previous projects are on their site to help you. Submit by 31 August.
NASA invites you to their Student Launch Challenge. This is a 9 month challenge for those interested in aerospace engineering! Interested in a career in engineering? The Virginia Space Grant Consortium offers a number of free (my favorite price!) programs for students interested in STEM. There is programming for students in 6th-12th grades. The high school programs come with a week at NASA's Wallops Island for top performing students. Applications open tomorrow! Programmers, get your plans in place for the Congressional App Challenge. WAHS has had several winners in the past so we can definitely do it again! Check the contest out! |
Visual and Performing ArtsThe Youth Free Expression Film Contest challenges you to submit a film about documenting democracy,. They have filmed workshops to help. Submit your entry by 9 September.
The Naval and Maritime Photography Contest invites amateur photographers to submit their work for consideration by 30 September. Prizes are up to $500 Young Arts recognizes talented students in the visual, literary and performing arts. Submit your application by 8 October. The Jack Kent Cook Scholarship awards artists up to $10,000 for college. It's open to people 8-18 so get your fall app in! It's due by 15 November |
Skilled TradesBeauty Changes Lives is a scholarship program for people in the cosmetology field. Their site has tons of advice and tips for how to create a successful scholarship application.
Pizza Hut has a scholarship/mentorship program. You could be eligible for up to $5,000 towards higher education. Apply by 31 August Beauty Schools Directory has a $2500 scholarship for a range of potential careers in the industry. Apply by 1 September Home Depot has a scholarship program for folks interested in construction, HVAC, electrical, etc. It's done quarterly. Next deadline is 30 September. |
|
Self Care:
|
Scholarships
Start Here:
JLV College Counseling Or Schools with Full Ride Merit Scholarships The Breakthrough Junior Challenge invites you to take a complex STEM concept and explain it in a short video. The winner will receive $250,000. This is not a typo. Submit by 15 September. The Gates Scholarship is a scholarship for people of color who are Pell Grant eligible. It is a scholarship that makes sure that all of your expenses for higher education are covered (award amount will vary depending on school chosen). Apply by 15 September. Questbridge is a program that connects outstanding students with financial need to colleges. It is a full tuition scholarship program. Apply by 30 September Coca Cola offers a $20,000 scholarship to students with financial need. Apply by 30 September. Dr. Pepper has a scholarship sweepstakes worth up to $10,000. Golden Doors is a scholarship program for students who are DACA eligible or undocumented. They partner with 21 different schools. There is career counseling, mentorship, and more. Apply by 1 October. Young Arts recognizes talented students in the visual, literary and performing arts. Submit your application by 8 October. The Jack Kent Cook Scholarship awards artists up to $10,000 for college. It's open to people 8-18 so get your fall app in! It's due by 15 November Do Good Things for PeopleCheck out Cville Volunteer for ways to give back to our community.
Want to get your hands dirty? Volunteer with Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards Bennett's Village needs volunteers The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is looking for help Help Charlottesville area families get the help and support they need to thrive with Stepping Stone. |
How to High School
Hi sophomores. I am here to talk with you about something that lies in your future, and that is post high school plans.
Sophomore year is a unique one. You have successfully gotten through the first year of high school and you’re probably beginning this year with excitement that you are no longer the babies of the school. Congrats on that! And also, I have some less good news for you about this year.
This year matters. When you are a senior and you are looking back and wishing that your sophomore self had taken harder classes or done better in the classes you took, it will be too late.
This happens more often than you think. I spend a lot of time with seniors talking about what schools they are applying to and what they want to do. Inevitably, there are a number who regret decisions made (or not made as is often the case) during that year. There is in fact a reason you are called sophomores. You are often wise fools.
But I have some excellent news! This is still the beginning of the school year and you have your whole year ahead of you! It is most definitely not too late to make some good choices and to make this year count as a valuable experience. Here is my advice for how to do it (and freshman and juniors you can do it too!).
This is going to be a great year for you all. And come senior year, if you do these things there will be no regrets at all!
Sophomore year is a unique one. You have successfully gotten through the first year of high school and you’re probably beginning this year with excitement that you are no longer the babies of the school. Congrats on that! And also, I have some less good news for you about this year.
This year matters. When you are a senior and you are looking back and wishing that your sophomore self had taken harder classes or done better in the classes you took, it will be too late.
This happens more often than you think. I spend a lot of time with seniors talking about what schools they are applying to and what they want to do. Inevitably, there are a number who regret decisions made (or not made as is often the case) during that year. There is in fact a reason you are called sophomores. You are often wise fools.
But I have some excellent news! This is still the beginning of the school year and you have your whole year ahead of you! It is most definitely not too late to make some good choices and to make this year count as a valuable experience. Here is my advice for how to do it (and freshman and juniors you can do it too!).
- Make the most of your class time – do the classwork, take the notes, pay attention.
- Make the most of out of class time – study for your tests and quizzes, do the homework
- Make the most of Warrior Period – go see your teachers for help, to get support, to make up missing work
- Make the most of Peer Tutoring – struggling in that class? Someone else has mastered it and they work in The Learning Center! There is no shame at all in getting help. That’s what they are there for.
- Make the most of time outside of school – explore your interests, be active, be healthy, get good sleep.
This is going to be a great year for you all. And come senior year, if you do these things there will be no regrets at all!
"The Best School" and "The Best School for You" should be one and the same. You're not buying a pair of shoes. You're going to school for four years. Just because it's a good brand name, doesn't mean it fits you or that you're comfortable there.
College Corner
Northeaster, Boston, MA
AI and the College Search
I’ve had multiple students come to me this year to show me what AI has produced for them in terms of college lists. As a veteran Googler, I can see what’s happening here. The exact same 20-30 schools are listed over and over again. Why? Because of how AI works.
AI is so tempting. It’s magical in how fast it can produce information and it always seems like it’s right too. Because when you cross reference with sites like US News and World Report or Reddit (80% smoke, 20% truth), you can see they agree with it. But in point of fact, AI is only as good as the information it is fed. And what has it been fed on? A steady stream of US News, Reddit, and other “best lists.”
Search for schools with great psychology programs and the same schools appear over and over: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. Are these the best schools for psychology? Or are they just in general great schools? The answer to both is yes. But there are multiple other places who are left out of these lists over and over again. And not only are these schools you could actually get into, but they are also incredibly great schools.
This is why working with a person is a good idea. We often know more than what is published online. Since AI’s “knowledge” is just a summary of sites you can Google, it’s important to remember that checking where the information comes from is as important as believing what it says. What AI does best is gather information quickly. What it does worst is assess the quality of that information. It will always default to common knowledge ultimately.
Clark University has the nation’s oldest psychology program in the US. It has deep ties to the community and students there perform graduate level research regularly. Their First Year Experience, which includes orientation, special mentoring, a living learning program and a First Year Intensive course introduce students to college in general, Worcester, MA (pronounced wuhster) and relationships with faculty and mentors. At Clark students will create an ePortfolio of their work which can be used in applying to internships and jobs. Clark also has a hands-on learning experience called Problems of Practice where students engage in solving real world problems. But does AI report this? Nope.
I worked with a client whose mom used AI to generate a list of schools for her child. The thing is though, those were not good schools for her child. Reputationally they were great. But choosing colleges is about so much more than name and reputation. What AI can give you is a tiny tip of an iceberg. But that can sink a ship.
Interestingly, the best advice AI gives on where to go to school for psychology is the Reddit info:
There’s your 20% truth right there.
AI is so tempting. It’s magical in how fast it can produce information and it always seems like it’s right too. Because when you cross reference with sites like US News and World Report or Reddit (80% smoke, 20% truth), you can see they agree with it. But in point of fact, AI is only as good as the information it is fed. And what has it been fed on? A steady stream of US News, Reddit, and other “best lists.”
Search for schools with great psychology programs and the same schools appear over and over: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. Are these the best schools for psychology? Or are they just in general great schools? The answer to both is yes. But there are multiple other places who are left out of these lists over and over again. And not only are these schools you could actually get into, but they are also incredibly great schools.
This is why working with a person is a good idea. We often know more than what is published online. Since AI’s “knowledge” is just a summary of sites you can Google, it’s important to remember that checking where the information comes from is as important as believing what it says. What AI does best is gather information quickly. What it does worst is assess the quality of that information. It will always default to common knowledge ultimately.
Clark University has the nation’s oldest psychology program in the US. It has deep ties to the community and students there perform graduate level research regularly. Their First Year Experience, which includes orientation, special mentoring, a living learning program and a First Year Intensive course introduce students to college in general, Worcester, MA (pronounced wuhster) and relationships with faculty and mentors. At Clark students will create an ePortfolio of their work which can be used in applying to internships and jobs. Clark also has a hands-on learning experience called Problems of Practice where students engage in solving real world problems. But does AI report this? Nope.
I worked with a client whose mom used AI to generate a list of schools for her child. The thing is though, those were not good schools for her child. Reputationally they were great. But choosing colleges is about so much more than name and reputation. What AI can give you is a tiny tip of an iceberg. But that can sink a ship.
Interestingly, the best advice AI gives on where to go to school for psychology is the Reddit info:
- Undergraduate psychology programs are strongest when they offer research labs, internships, and faculty mentorship.
- If you want to become a psychologist or therapist, graduate school is usually required, so affordability matters too.
There’s your 20% truth right there.
