Thursday Round Up

2 October

Photo by Evergreens & Dandelions on Unsplash
News from the Homefront: 

​WAHS Fall Festival!
WAHS Fall Festival Community Event – Join the WAHS Fine Arts Dept for an evening of spooky performances, trick or treating, haunted houses, good food, carnival games, and more! The WAHS Fine Arts Fall Carnival is Monday, October 13th from 4-7pm in the WAHS Fine Arts wing. Come dressed in your best costume for our costume contest and stay for the fall festivities! All money raised will go to support the fine arts programs here at WAHS, including the Eric Betthauser Scholarship Fund. Fun for all ages! 

​Fall Craft Fair and Vendor Bazaar
Spirit, spice, and everything nice! WAHS Cheer is hosting its 1st ever Fall Craft Fair & Vendor Bazaar on October 18th from 9 AM to 1 PM in the WAHS Auxiliary Gym. Come shop unique items like permanent jewelry, hair tinsel, wax melts, Mrs. Myra Key’s famous pound cakes, tie-dye shirts, local artwork, and so much more! Plus, our cheerleaders will be offering face painting for any kids tagging along—fun for the whole family!
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Governor's School
It's that time of the year! Summer Residential Governor's School offers programming in the area of academics, visual and performing arts, and world languages. Programs are prestigious and highly selective. Albemarle County pays the tuition for the program (there are usually fees for each program which run about $200). Academic and VPA are 3 weeks long. World Language is 3 weeks long. I will be having additional meetings for students interested in applying to Governor's School after Spirit Week. Please  complete this form. Governor's School is only for students in 10th and 11th grades in the following fields:
Academic Governor's School Programs:
  • Humanities
  • Math, Science, Technology
  • Agriculture
  • Engineering
  • Health and Medical Science
  • Marine Science
Visual and Performing Arts:
  • Dance
  • Drama
  • Instrumental Music
  • Vocal Music
  • Visual Arts
World Languages:
  • French
  • German
  • Latin
  • Japanese
  • Spanish​
Dates you must know:

Looking for some Community Service?
Looking for volunteer hours? Arts in Western Education (AWE) is hosting an Arts Night Out for local elementary students at Crozet Elementary School on Friday, October 24. We are looking for several volunteers who can help support small groups of students as they participate in art related activities. The time of the event is 4:45- 8:30pm, and you can sign up here. 

Join 4-H:
The Albemarle/Charlottesville 4-H Teen Leadership Club is now open to new members. We’d love to welcome Teens who are excited about leadership and service! Each year, we always have a need for boys to join the club and apply to serve as Teen Leaders at 4-H Camp.
This opportunity is open to students in grades 9–12. As members, teens will have the chance to:
  • Meet monthly with peers to develop leadership skills.
  • Represent our community at Virginia 4-H State Congress (June 16–19 at Virginia Tech).
  • Meet with local and state legislators to practice civic engagement.
  • Serve as Teen Leaders at 4-H Camp, mentoring younger youth (July 20–24 at Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center).
Fall Meeting Dates:
  • October 24
  • November 21
  • December 16
*Students can register for the September 26th meeting here by September 24: Registration Link.
If they can’t attend that date but want to learn more, they may fill out our Member Interest Form.
Attached is a printable flyer that can be shared with students. Thank you for helping us connect CHS youth with meaningful opportunities to lead, grow, and serve.

Common App Crash Course​
Did you miss the whole cycle? Never fear! It will be back next week starting 8 October during WP in the library. This is a change. We will cover:
  • Deadlines, Numbers, and Profile:  8 October
  • Activities and Honors: 15 October
  • Common App Essay: 22 October
  • Supplemental Essays: 29 October
Sign up in Adaptive Scheduler!
Trunk or Treat is Coming!
Get your club or friends together and design a trunk for this great community event! Want your club to sponsor a trunk? Fill out the form today! 
Dress Up Days for Spirit Week:
Homecoming!
Pledge Florals
HOCO is coming! Get your flowers from Pledge Florals! Seniors get a 15% discount. At Pledge Florals, we create corsages and boutonnieres, with all profits donated to environmental charities. Our mission is rooted in a commitment to positively impact the community's meaningful support for organizations in need. The name "Pledge Florals" reflects a promise to provide affordable floral options while uplifting people around us. Thanks to your support, we were able to raise over $300 for Rivanna River Conservation Alliance last homecoming! If you are interested in supporting our initiative, please visit our website. Our shop will be opening on September 29! Thank you so much for your consideration. 

Skilled Trades Day:
NextGen Skilled Trades Day will take place Saturday, October 4, 2025, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Piedmont Virginia Community College V. Earl Dickinson Building. This free, hands-on community event welcomes all attendees, with a special emphasis on high school students and their families, offers an engaging introduction to the exciting and high-demand world of skilled trades. Attendees can take part in live demonstrations, hands-on activities, and conversations with local employers, offering a tangible feel for careers in building, engineering, manufacturing, and other high-demand skilled trades. Students and parents will find resources on training programs, job pathways, and opportunities to connect with educators and industry professionals. “NextGen Skilled Trades Day is all about individuals safely exploring careers that are in high demand—while having fun doing it,” said Todd Parks, Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Senior Director of Admissions. “Whether you're curious about building, engineering, manufacturing, or working with your hands in meaningful ways, this event offers an opportunity to see what a future in the skilled trades could look like.”
​College Visits:
Sign up in Schoolinks!​​​​​
  • 1 October – Longwood
  • 2 October – UVA 
  • 8 October – Boston University
  • 8 October – Wofford​
  • 9 October – Guilford
  • 15 October – Elon
  • 16 October – Vanderbilt ​​
  • 21 October – CNU
  • 22 October – Hobart William Smith
  • 29 October – Randolph Macon
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Tomorrow is a(n) B day 

​Upcoming Events:​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
  • 2-3 October – Senior Picture Day Make Ups
  • 3-10 October – Spirit Week
  • 10 October – End of 1st Quarter
  • 11 October – ​HOCO!
  • 13-14 October – Teacher Work Day and Professional Development Day (no school for students)
  • 16 October – Family Conference Night 4:30-7:00
  • 18 October – Craft Vendor/WAHS Cheer Fundraiser
  • 21 October – PSAT (10th and 11th)
  • 22 October – Family Conference Night 4:30-7:00
  • 25 October – Trunk or Treat
  • 2-3 November – Teacher Work Day and Professional Development Day (no school for students)
  • 19 November – School Picture Make Up Day
  • 26-28 November – Thanksgiving Break
  • 7 December – Winter Band Concert
  • ​18 December – End of 1st Semester

Use Your Brain for Fun (&$)!

Humanities & Social Sciences

Scholastic Arts and Letters awards open today. The competition is open to students in grades 7-12. This is a very prestigious competition.

Bennington Young Writers is open for submissions. This writing contest is for students in grades 9-12. Submit by 1 November

Black and Latino Men Read has an essay contest that is open to male identifying people who also identify as Black or Latino. Submit your essay by 31 October.

Omega Psi Phi has an International Essay Competition that is worth up to $5,000. Submit your entry by 31 October.

Hey policy folks! Check out the International Public Policy Forum's current contest. Get a team together and submit your essay and qualify for the competition. 

The Writer's Eye is happening even as we speak! Head to the Fralin to check out the artworks and get writing!

The International Writing Contest invites authors in grades 9-12 to submit their writing. Submit by 25 October.

STEM

Hispanic seniors planning to study green technology, computer science, or are active in community service can apply to the Hispanic Youth Heritage Awards. Due 2 November

Are you a woman identifying person who is interested and engaged in the computing world? NCWIT wants to give you a scholarship. Open to 9-12. Submit by 28 October.

Get in on the NASA TechRise Challenge! This is a team competition to place an experiment on a suborbital mission. Submit by 3 November

Join the Presidential AI Challenge! Do you have a plan for how AI could solve a community issue? Then you have a project! 

NASA invites you to their Student Launch Challenge. This is a 9 month challenge for those interested in aerospace engineering!

Programmers, get your plans in place for the Congressional App Challenge. WAHS has had a winner in the past so we can definitely do it again! Check the contest out!
Picture
Photo by Ari He on Unsplash

Visual and Performing Arts

Scholastic Arts and Letters awards open today. The competition is open to students in grades 7-12. This is a very prestigious competition.

Frame Your Future is taking submissions beginning today. Create a piece that envisions your future and submit it for a chance at a $2,000 scholarship

The Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award is given to students ages 8-18 for music. It's worth up to $10,000. Apply by 15 November

Save the Frogs is an art contest for students of all ages. Submit your artwork to them by 1 November

Growing Up with AI is a NYT multimedia challenge. Submit your entry by 22 October.​

Debbie's Dream Foundation has an art contest for students in grades K-12. If you have been affected by cancer, submit your work by 30 October.

​Young Arts recognizes talented students in the visual, literary and performing arts. Submit your application by 8 October.

Scholarships for Seniors

The NC State University Park Scholarship application is now available.  This is a full tuition/room and board scholarship to NC State University.  If you believe you’re qualified for the Park Scholarships based on our selection criteria of scholarship, leadership, service and character, we welcome you to apply. The application processes for Park Scholarships and NC State undergraduate admissions are separate, so be sure to follow the instructions below. The application for 2025-2026 is now open! 
​Eligibility Requirements: To be eligible for the Park Scholarships program, candidates must:
  • Have a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.8.
  • Be a United States citizen, permanent resident of the U.S., or graduating from a high school located in the U.S. (regardless of citizenship status).
  • Apply for fall, first-year admission into a baccalaureate program at NC State.
By 11:59 pm ET, November 1: The Park Scholarships application requires:
  • Two recommendations
  • Information about advanced coursework completed
  • Two essays
If you have any trouble accessing the application after following these instructions, please email park [email protected] and request that we have Admissions add an application to your wolfPAW portal.       https://park.ncsu.edu/apply/

Indiana University Wells Scholars Program
The Wells Scholars Program is looking for outstanding students with exceptional academic accomplishments who have shown excellent leadership, significant commitment to extracurricular activities, a concern for their communities, and interest in the larger world.   

Other Scholarship Opportunities of Interest:
UNC Chapel Hill is pleased to announce that The Thomas Wolfe Scholarship for Creative Writing will open for applications on September 1, 2025. This scholarship provides full undergraduate funding for four years, including tuition, room and board, textbooks, and a new laptop, along with a $5,000 annual summer stipend to support the recipient’s creative work. The application process consists of two steps: 
  • Step 1) Apply to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by October 15, 2025.
  • Step 2) Apply to the Thomas Wolfe Scholarship by November 15, 2025.  Students must apply to both the University and the Scholarship to be considered.  Preliminary screening will be completed in January 2026, with final screening concluding in early March 2026.  Three to five outstanding candidates will be interviewed virtually and a final decision will be made in early April 2026.
 
Complete information about The Thomas Wolfe Scholarship, including the application form, is available on the University's website If you have any questions, please email [email protected].  

The Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship:
Eligibility: US Citizen
Judging Criteria: Academics, Leadership, Service, Financial Need.
Applications can be found here
Awards between $4,000-$30,000
Deadline: Nov. 12th.

The Flusche & Fitzgerald Undergrad Scholarship Contest Award: $500 scholarship
Deadline:  November 30, 2025
Where to Apply: The Flusche & Fitzgerald Undergrad Scholarship Contest
Self Care:
​Scholarships
Do you need money to make post high a reality? Start with these two databases!
Regeneron Talent Search is looking for your work. You must apply by 6 November. It's worth up to $250,000 for college.

The Elks' Most Valuable Student Scholarship is worth up to $50,000. Apply by 12 November

The National Space Foundation Keynote Scholar application is open for submissions. The winner gets up to $20,000. Apply by 17 November.

ROI Biologicals offers a $10,000 scholarship to someone who is interested in agriculture and associated fields. Apply by 1 October
​​
​Stantec has various scholarships up to $10,000 available for students who are intending to pursue a career in the STEM field. Apply by 15 October

The Voice of Democracy is worth up to $35,000. There is a specific prompt to respond to. Complete this by 31 October.

Become a Chick-fil-A Scholar and bring in up to $25,000 for college or post high learning. Submit your application by 28 October.

The Stamps Scholarship is a full ride (tuition, room and board, and fees) scholarship that partners with various universities in the US. You must go through the partner institutions.

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 People

Looking for volunteer hours? Arts in Western Education (AWE) is hosting an Arts Night Out for local elementary students at Crozet Elementary School on Friday, October 24. We are looking for several volunteers who can help support small groups of students as they participate in art related activities. The time of the event is 4:45- 8:30pm, and you can sign up here.

Sonosynthesis is a benefit concert for International Neighbors

Support the Community Climate Collaborative with their Party for the Planet

In the Pink Pickle Ball Tournament!'

Help the Nature Conservancy plant Native Seedlings

Support the Blue Ridge Music Center with a benefit concert this weekend

"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

Berry College

What is a Good School?

This is an editorial by Jeffrey Selingo  called “The College Game is Changing. It’s Still Rigged.” Selingo is the author of Who Gets In and Why and his newer book Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You. It should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of his and his sensible and considered approach to identifying the right school for you.

If you read his editorial you’ll see that the response to schools getting more selective is to simply apply to more of the same schools. Ups your chances right? Well, no. In fact it does not. It definitely does turn up the stress level and the panic though.

Let me suggest another approach to thinking about applying to schools. If we all agree (and I think we pretty much do) that the “top 10%” of anything is the cream of the crop, what does this mean when we look at any field. Would you want your physician to be in the top 10% of doctors? Probably. (Of course, you do know what they call the physician who comes in last in their class? Answer: Doctor). Want your lawyer to be in the top 10%? Unquestionably. You’ve likely chosen this community because of the way the schools rank, quality of education, teaching, etc.

So why don’t we take this approach to colleges and universities? There are close to 6,000 institutions that are classified as being Title IV (meaning they are authorized to participate in the federal student aid program). Some of these are 4 year institutions (about 2700), some are 2 year (about 1500) and some are less than 2 year institutions which grant certifications, etc. (about 1600). Even if we only consider the 2700 schools which offer a 4 year Bachelor degree, the top 10% of them would equal 270 colleges. 

For the most part when people talk about a “good school” one that is in the top 25 of US News’ Rankings (which do not get me started on how flawed those are!). But that number is only 1% of colleges in the US. Does that mean that those are the only schools who will provide a quality education? That is laughable! Is the education from NYU, University or Southern California, University of Texas Austin or Georgia Tech not quality? In the 2% category we include Virginia Tech, Northeastern, William and Mary, George Washington, and Penn State. What if we look at even lower down on that ladder? Clemson at 80, American at 91, and University of Colorado Boulder at 98. University of Vermont and South Carolina come in at 121 together, VCU is at 136. JMU at 148, DePaul at 165. All of these schools are still in the top 5% of universities in the country. It doesn’t even include the colleges. Does anyone think the education at Kenyon or Oberlin is terrible because they are in that top 2%? Trust me you will get a knockout education at Washington and Jefferson, St. John’s, or Sarah Lawrence as well.

Not only can you get an excellent education at any of those schools, but it is likely you will get other perks. Honors colleges, merit scholarships, special programming, and more can be found at many of these schools. You can often find a much more reasonably priced college experience, research opportunities, and close relationships with professors. This is how my daughter managed to go to an (expensive) college for the price of in state. Instead of going to Middlebury (number 19) she went to Macalester (number 26). There was no compromise whatsoever in her choice. In fact, because she was at Mac she was able to make some very important connections, study things she might not have known she wanted to, and had experiences that changed her views on the world. And if she’d chosen to go to Beloit (number 95) it would have cost us less than instate (not bitter at all nearly 10 years later. LOL!).

Don’t apply to more schools that are basically the same. Feel free to reach into the 100s and even 200s for schools that match you: your values, interests, pocketbook, and curiosity. It’s worth it. I promise.

On the Town

Photo by Jared Sluyter on Unsplash
Events:​​​​