Juniors/Junior Families:What to expect in the coming months...
(the following information is also being mailed home the week of January 22nd)
The College Office is excited to begin our work with the Class of 2008! In the last two weeks, Stephanie Binder and Kevin Fleck have begun to visit Junior Advisory classes to introduce themselves and mark the official start of the college process. There are still 3 advisories that we have yet to visit – and we will be meeting with them on February 7th. These initial meetings have been an overview of what is to come – with an emphasis on the fact that any student who wants to go to college can – regardless of their grades, test scores, differences of ability, financial constraints, citizenship status, etc. Every student has college options.
Back in September, we mailed a letter to parents outlining what the college process will look like at Beacon. For those of you who would like to review the contents of that letter – CLICK HERE. At the time this letter was sent, we also sent a parent questionnaire. This is an optional form. If you have not filled it out and would like to, you can access another copy by CLICKING HERE.
During the first week of second semester, we will be taking students out of their history classes for one day to get them registered with a web-based computer software system called Naviance, which will allow the students and College Office to communicate with each other throughout the process. It also has wonderful search features and connects directly to individual college websites.
On February 7th, current seniors will be going into Junior Advisories to hand out the Junior Packet. At this time, juniors will be able to talk to seniors about how they managed to get through this process. The junior packet is a questionnaire that we ask all students to fill out about their experience in high school, and their thoughts about college. It is a detailed packet that we will use to get to know them better so that we will be prepared to meet with them in their individual meetings. Individual meetings will be scheduled once that packet is completed. Each student will be given a preference sheet to indicate when they would like to come for their meeting. This will ask if parents plan to attend and requires a parent signature. Throughout this process, several forms will require a parent signature. This is the best way we know to be sure that parents are in the loop.
Also in February, we will be distributing a Beacon College Planning Guide to every Beacon junior (and every junior advisor). This will be a comprehensive 50+ page guide to many different aspects of the college search and selection process. It will cover many topics such as (but not limited to) – how to search for schools, campus visits, interviews, writing essays, asking for letters of recommendation, issues for students with special needs, athletics, testing, financial aid/scholarship, etc. The College Office staff and advisors will discuss many of these topics at length in advisory. Parents will be able to view or download their own copy from this website in late February.
On Tuesday, March 27th the College Office will be hosting Junior Family College Night for students and parents. We have a guest speaker coming to address many different important aspects of the College Process. All are encouraged to attend.
During senior year, there will be another College Night, a Financial Aid Night and another round of individual meetings. We will offer group and individual workshops on essay writing and mock interviews. Beginning in September over 70 college representatives will visit Beacon to talk with students interested in attending their institutions. Students are not required to take part in these activities, but are encouraged to take advantage of the many resources that will be provide by the College Office throughout the next year and half.
The College Office staff is very happy to help you with questions that you have along the way. For the quickest response you can email:
Stephanie Binder at sbinder@beaconschool.org or Kevin Fleck at kfleck@beaconschool.org.
This website will be a source of much valuable information throughout this process. Please check back regularly for updates. We look forward to helping the Class of 2008 find wonderful college matches.