November 29 Meeting

Fifteen Snowden students filled out yesterday's "Where will you be in two years?" card. All 15 saw themselves in college, and four stated they will also be working part time. Also 13 out of 15 saw themselves living at school and/or on their own, while one would live at home once s/he had a car, and another would start out at home until s/he had enough money to move out

On question two, "What will you need to do between now and then to get there?" Graduating high school was on all the cards. Many said a "getting a scholarship" and "getting a job". Six mentioned raising their grades.



The two most popular responses to question three regarding help was "someone to keep me on track" and "someone to give me information about college" in that order.

Reminder

Our next meeting is Thursday Nov 29-first period in the cafeteria.

A Word to the Wise

If you're a high school junior or senior, you're probably working hard to get into college — researching schools online, preparing applications, taking grueling SATs and ACTs and writing the perfect essay. Maybe you have an air-tight application.
But you could still blow it, with something you thought was harmless fun: Your online profile.
But earlier this fall, a University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study of 453 college admissions departments found that 26 percent of them are actively researching students through search engines such as Google and 21 percent are checking out social networking profiles when reviewing applicants.


How to fix your profile
Have an air-tight online profile for getting into college:
Safety first: Never post personal information such as your address, daily schedule, phone number, etc.
Make your profile private so that strangers can't look at your information, and be cautious about adding new friends who you do not personally know.
Pictures and references of you on your friends' pages can be damaging too. Ask them to take down photos on their profiles in which they've "tagged" you, along with comments.
SOURCE: National Association of College Admissions Counseling

Dayton News

Time Management

Research shows that many people think they spend more or less time doing some activity than they actually do. For example some people think they don't watch much TV but when they actually write down how much time they spend each day watching TV it's much more than they had imagined.

My guess is that our Snowden students think they spend more time outside of school studying, and doing school related activities than they actually do.

I propose you keep track for a full week of the following ten activities and how much time you spend on them:(Let us know if you think other activities should be listed)


1. Chilling with friends in person
2. Studying, doing homework or reading
3. Talking on the phone with friends
4. Talking on the phone for school, family, or work.
5. Watching TV
6. Using the computer for fun ; and or playing video games
7. Traveling on MBTA, car or walking
8. Church or youth group activity
9. School
10. Work
Click Chart to enlarge

public vs private

Hi Guys,
Thanks for setting up this blog!
That is great that both mentors and students were able to visit Stan yesterday. In terms of digs, the private schools are so much nicer than public ones. I was just at Noble & Greenbough for a friends art opening in the art gallery. The beauty of the facilities really blew me away. Everything seemed totally new.

So Elizabeth asked me if there were any plans to visit Art schools. I would like to organize a trip to RISD before too long. My Art prof thinks it is the best in the area. I think that the visits help the kids visualize what college will be like and may help motivate them in their last few years of HS.

-- Dan

Visit to Stan

Hi folks,
This is my first blog post ever. It's very exciting! Jeff, Yusuef, Jermaine and I went to visit Stan at NMH yesterday. It was fun to see him. It sounds like he's doing well, but is still working hard on adjusting academically and socially. I think he would really appreciate a care package or two, possibly including some posters or other wall decorations and snacks. Maybe a box of tacks for hanging up his hats as well. We got to eat in the dining hall (an experience that I think really blew Jermaine's and Yusuef's minds -- all the unlimited food options!) , check out the academic buildings, read a little in the library, play basketball (and by that I mean toss basketballs around with no sense of aim or distance) and cheer on the girls' volleyball team which was stomping all over New Hampton. Let's try to schedule another road trip to see him soon!

Onward and Upward

Hi Gang:
This is the first posting of our new blog. Hopefully we will be able to communicate regularly through the blog and keep track of everyone for grades 11 & 12 and beyond. We can list our meetings, special events and general events that might be of interest to members of our group. Everyone on the grade 11 team, mentors and students, can post on this blog.
I, Murph, am planning to expand on the list regarding college admissions that Mary distributed last meeting and you can raise questions or comment on them.
The important thing is to check the blog regularly. You will receive an invitation to be an author, but you first have to have a google account. It's easy to set up and there's no charge and they won't send you spam. Get started as soon as you can and start posting.

Here's Wikipedia info on the SAT and ACT. Click on the blue.
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is administered by the College Board corporation, a non-profit organization in the United States,[1] and is developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

The current SAT Reasoning Test is administered in about 3 hours and 45 minutes and costs $43 ($68 International),[2] excluding late fees. After SAT's introduction in 1901, its name and scoring has changed several times. In 2005, the test was renamed as "SAT Reasoning Test" with possible scores from 600 to 2400 combining test results from three 800-point sections (math, critical reading, and writing), along with other subsections scored separately (see details below).

The ACT is a standardized achievement examination for college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc.[1] It was first administered in Fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test.[2] Some students who perform poorly on the SAT find that they perform better on the ACT and vice versa.[3] In February 2005, an optional writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT later that year. All four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. accept the ACT[4] but different institutions place different emphasis on standardized tests such as the ACT, compared to other factors of evaluation such as class rank, G.P.A., and extracurricular activities.