SENIOR INFORMATION:        SCHOOL CODE:  162-140

INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS WITH MISS MULDER- In October, Miss Mulder will meet with each senior individually.  The purpose of these meetings will be to be sure you are on track for graduating and to discuss plans for next year, including what steps need to be accomplished this year for those plans.  You will sign up outside Miss Mulder's door for a time to meet with her.  These times need to be during study hall or lunch, or before or after school.  During this meeting we will complete a google form together that will get submitted to Miss Mulder. 

COLLEGE LEVEL CLASSES - NCC classes are college level course and is free of charge to high school juniors and seniors, provided students receive a grade of C or above in the class.  Students receive dual credit for these courses, meaning they will receive both high school credit and college credit from NCC.  See Miss Mulder by the middle of November if you are interested in registering for 2^nd semester NCC college level online courses.  Students with a cumulative GPA above 3.0 are eligible for these classes.

            CNA Class – West Lyon will be attempting to have a CNA class here 2^nd semester.  Provided we get enough students signed up to run the class and NCC can find an instructor, it would be 3 mornings a week (mornings TBD) likely starting at 6:30am.  Let Miss Mulder know if you are interested in this CNA class.

            College Books – West Lyon students taking college level classes need to find and purchase their own textbooks.  For classes that have electronic or online books, students will need to pay West Lyon for the use of those books.  For students who are on free or reduced expense plans with the school, you will still need to find and purchase your own book, but provided you complete and pass the class you may turn in the receipt for your book at the end of the semester for reimbursement on that book.

ACT--Those going to college should have completed the ACT by December 30, as colleges want applications soon after that date and most scholarships are awarded shortly after the start of the new year.  Taking the ACT twice has proven to raise scores.  West Lyon has a history of not doing real well in the English and reading sections.  The best way to improve that is to read and increase your vocabulary.  Seniors who are not in a math or science class as a senior, typically experience receiving lower scores in those areas compared to their first ACT test as well.  Students can register at www.act.org .  When you register you will need to upload a picture of yourself for identification purposes the day of the test. 

“FREE” ACT Prep Days at West Lyon

West Lyon will be offering ACT Preparation night sessions for our seniors and juniors who will be taking the ACT test.  The preparation times will be built into the school day and will be scheduled around the time of the April 4 ACT test date.  All West Lyon juniors who plan to take the ACT test are encouraged to take this prep.  If there are any seniors wanting to take this prep in March they are welcome.

                        ACT Prep Dates  - Fri, March 18, Friday March 25 & Wednesday March 30     

                        ACT Test Date – Sat, April 2 (register by Feb 25)

SCHOLARSHIPS--The scholarships are divided into 2 binders in the counselor's office--one binder is scholarships available for any college, the other is specific to certain colleges and are identified as such.  Each month I will print up a scholarship bulletin, briefly describing some of the new scholarships I have received in my office.  This will be posted in your google classroom “Class of 2022”.  The monthly bulletin will also be posted on the WL Website each month around the 20th.  Some of the applications are simple, others require writing an essay or taking a test.  Check out what scholarships are there.  The responsibility is yours.

            In addition, an email was sent out to seniors and your parents a couple weeks ago inviting you to add your email address to a group email that Miss Mulder will use for forwarding email scholarship alerts that she receives.  Not all of these scholarship sources will be put in to the monthly scholarship bulletin.  If you want to receive their scholarship emails you or your parents need to let Miss Mulder know.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS--As the financial aid process at schools is being decided sooner, applications need to be in earlier than in the past.  If you are really serious about getting into a particular school, try to have your application sent in by December.  Filling out an application is not too difficult, see me if you have any questions.  Most schools now have on-line applications for either processing on line or printing off and then sending it in manually.  Schools will need your current transcript sent to them.  Transcripts can be requested through a link on the school webpage or  via a paper request process.  Transcript request paper forms can be found in my office.  Turn the orange paper transcript requests in to Miss Mulder if that’s the method you choose.        

REGENT ADMISSION INDEX--The admissions standard used by Iowa's three state colleges (University of Iowa, Iowa State and UNI) is the Regent Admission Index (RAI).  Students who have an RAI of 245 or greater and the required core subject area courses will be eligible for automatic admission to any of the three Regent universities.  The core subject areas are:  English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Foreign Language. A "web calculator" can be used as an informal way for a student to calculate his/her Regent Admission Index.  This "web calculator" can be found at http://www.regents.iowa.gov/RAI/ . The formula has actually changed and no longer includes class rank.  The formula is: 3 x ACT score, 30 x Cumulative GPA and 5 x number of year long core classes taken.  Feel free to use this handy tool to see your potential status for admission.

COLLEGE VISITS/JOB SHADOWS -- Junior and senior students (or their parents) are encouraged to set up their own college visits with schools they are interested in exploring.  Seniors may have up to 2 college visit days and 1 job shadow day; and juniors may have 1 college visit day and 1 job shadow day during school time.  For these days to be classified as college visit or job shadow days in the school attendance records, students must turn in a parent note to Sue Faber verifying the student was on a college visit and what school they visited or when and where the job shadow occurred.  College visit and job shadow absences will be counted as part of the 8 absences allowed for a student per semester before grade reduction in classes.  All college visits and job shadows must be completed by the end of April. 

COLLEGE REPRESENTATIVE--During the course of the year, several two to four year college representatives and military recruiters will visit our school.  If you are interested in visiting with one of these you must sign up in the counselor's office and take the responsibility of informing your teachers in advance when you are going to be missing class.  A form needs to be signed and returned to Miss Mulder the day before visiting a college or military recruiter.

FAFSA--This is the first step for financial assistance.  FAFSA is a form that must be filled out for anyone planning on attending any school after high school.  We had a parent/student meeting for your class last spring on the FAFSA process.  On October 1 the FAFSA is open and can start to be filled out for next school year for you.  (Note:  Male students 18 years of age must be registered with the Selective Service in order to be eligible for Financial Aid.  Website to register is:  www.sss.gov ).

NCAA CLEARINGHOUSE--For anyone planning on playing any college sport for either Division I of Division II, you must fill out an NCAA Clearing House form.  This can be found on their website at web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/student/index_student.html. ; The cost is around $90.00.  You will also need to have a school transcript sent to them and you will need ACT to send them your ACT score.  ACT Test scores must now go directly from ACT to the Clearinghouse (they will not accept it from our school).  Use the ACT Code "9999" on your ACT application to have your score sent to NCAA Clearinghouse.  See me if you have questions on this.

NAIA ELIGIBILITY CENTER – For anyone planning on playing any NAIA college sports. Every student interested in playing NAIA sports MUST register with the NAIA Eligibility Center.  For more information and to register, visit the PlayNAIA website at: www.playnaia.org .  The cost of registering is $90.  In addition to registering for NAIA Eligibility, you will also need your ACT scores sent to this organization. This will need to be done directly by ACT. Therefore, when you register for the ACT or SAT, include the NAIA Eligibility Center (9876) on the list of places test scores should be sent.  

WORK RELEASE--Any senior interested in applying for work release for second semester must have 42 credits and no more than 8 absences or 5 tardies first semester.  Please see me in December if you are interested.  If you are currently on work release and hope to keep it for 2^nd semester you must have 42 credits and have no more than 3 absences or 3 tardies this first semester.

RECOMMENDATIONS--If you are planning to apply to colleges and for scholarships you will be asked to obtain recommendations from teachers, employers, and other staff.  I strongly encourage you to contact those individuals who you want to write a recommendation for you, so they will have adequate time to prepare an excellent recommendation for you.  Attached to this sheet is information you should consider in selecting recommendation writers for you, and a senior information sheet that may be helpful if you fill out and give to whomever you ask to write you a recommendation, so they know more pertinent information about you and can write a better recommendation.  DON'T wait till the last minute.