Counselor's Corner

Group Guidance and Individual Sessions
We will have group guidance classes on a regular basis with freshman and sophomores and with the juniors and seniors periodically.  An individual appointment can be requested by the students whenever they wish.  We also intended to meet with each student individually throughout the year as a change to get to know them, to explain their test scores, to offer assistance to them, to encourage their growth and development, to help them explore their dreams.  Each student should feel that there is someone here at Villa who is there to listen, care, and help when needed. 

PSAT
The PSAT is a shorter version of the SAT, one of the college entrance tests.  For juniors it is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the test that determines those who are selected in their state as National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students.   We are administering this test here on Wednesday, October 15, one of two national testing dates.  All juniors, sophomores, and freshman who wish to take it will be asked to sign up indicating their interest in taking the test.  The test fee is $13.00. The students will be receiving a bulletin about the test and a sample PSAT. 

Your employer may be awarding scholarships based on the National Merit Test.   These are listed in the Student Bulletin on pages 8 - 17.  One example is United Parcel System that awards 100 scholarships for children of full-time employees and 25 scholarships for children of part-time employees.  Certainly a great bonus for a part-time employee!  I would suggest that you check this out as you may not be aware of this benefit from your employer. 

There are many other helpful aids that come to the student who take the PSAT from the College Board that can help them with their choice of college major, career focus, college choice and SAT preparation.  We will be having a session for the parents when these scores come back in December. 

Other Tests
We will be giving the PLAN, a shorter version of the ACT, another college entrance test, sometime in November to all the sophomores.  This will get them focused on how they can prepare to do their best on the ACT, how they can assess their interests and career match, their areas of academic strength and weakness.  Since most students have also take the PSAT, we can compare both tests to see which is the better one to take for college admission.  The fee for the PLAN is part of the general fee so no additional money is required.  When these scores are returned to the students, we will have an evening to explain them to the parents as well.

Two other tests we administer here at Villa are the Advanced Placement exams to students who have taken AP courses (May) and the High School Entrance Test (December) to eighth graders considering Villa for high school.  The ACT and SAT are not administered here at Villa, but are given at many locations throughout the area.  Another word of caution: students must put Villa's code number on the form when registering on-line.  It is 180585.

KEES Award
The Kentucky Educational Excellence scholarship is available to all students and is based on the grade point average for each school year.  Grade averages are reported to the state at the end of each school year and remains in their account to be used for post-secondary education in the state of Kentucky or in the Academic Common Market.  Minimum GPA to receive an award is 2.5.  A bonus award based on the ACT or SAT scores follow.  The school must report these scores which is the reason why we need the test scores.  We report this information each June and the student's social security number is used.  We hope you have provided this to the school.

Students with Special Needs
Another aspect of the guidance department is to keep records of students with needs that have been identified and for which additional testing time or special accommodations are requested from the classroom teachers and also from the school when administering standardized tests.  These conditions may include ADD, ADHD, visual or auditory impairment, processing difficulties, etc.  Both the ACT and SAT recognize that these difficulties should be considered when taking these tests and have special forms that must be completed and sent in to them for determining eligibility for these special conditions.  One of the requirements on these forms is that recertification of the condition be made within three years of requesting these special conditions.  Please contact Ms. Lonneman if your teen has some special needs that we could address.  If your teen has had special testing previously and perhaps special considerations for testing, etc., have been recommended, please turn these in to the guidance office so that we can continue to update this.  It will be important as he/she continues on to take the ACT, SAT, PSAT, Advanced Placement Exams.  This information will only be shared with the teachers concerned with the student and kept separate from the permanent records.  Please call Ms. Lonneman if you have a teen in this situation.