ASVAB--Wednesday, September 22--The Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery test will be administered by the military and is voluntary. This test is used to help predict an individual's expected performance in future education or training. It assesses ability and interests, which provide a basis for matching abilities to occupations. This test is very helpful for those individuals who are unsure of their plans after high school and need some insight as to their interests and strengths. Individuals who are thinking of entering the military or technical schools are especially encouraged to take this test. The test takes approximately 2 1/2 hours and is free. See Miss Mulder by Friday, Sept 17 if you want to take this test.

CAREER DAY--Monday, October 4--We will leave here at 8:30 and return around 1:30pm. We will stop at a fast food place in Sheldon for lunch (at individual student's expense) or you may bring a sack lunch. This day is beneficial in assisting you with career opportunities. A variety of individuals in each profession will be available to share what it is like in their career. Students are encouraged to ask questions. You are required to attend all sessions and visit with the various colleges. Field trip permission slips must be turned in to the counselor's office by Wed, Sept 29.

PSAT--Wednesday, October 13--The PSAT-National Merit Scholarship Test is the first step in entering scholarship competition for college. This test is recommended for those students in the top 30% of their class. This test measures verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities that are important for success in college. The test consists of 2 verbal and 2 math areas. This test does not measure creativity, nor does it require you to recall specific facts. This test is also a good "practice" test for the ACT (at a much lower cost). The cost is $18.00 and must be paid when you sign up. 20 Tests are available. You must sign up by Monday, October 4 in the counselor's office. The test will take approximately 3 hours. Testing will be in the morning on Wednesday, Oct 13.

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 2nd 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 2nd semester. Provided NCC finds an instructor and we get enough students signed up to run the class, 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 meals, 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--The ACT Test is for any student planning on attending any post secondary school, (ex. vocational, technical, or 4 yr college). The ACT is offered at various times during the year, check the dates posted outside the counselor's office. Practice tests are available in the counselor's office. Go to www.act.org to register. I encourage students to take the ACT twice- -once in the spring of their junior year and again in October of their senior year. Things to remember for the ACT:

1. Fill it out early as you will need approximately 1 hour to fill it out. Be sure to put the West Lyon school code on your ACT registration: 162-140

2. Do the practice test.

3. Get plenty of rest.

4. West Lyon has a history of not doing real well in the English and reading section.

   The best way to improve that is to read and increase your vocabulary.

5. Be thinking of where you want to go to college so you can send your results there.

6. You will be allowed to use calculators.

When you register you will need to upload a picture of yourself for identification purposes the day of the test (this is new this year).

“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 2 ACT test date. All West Lyon juniors who plan to take the ACT test are encouraged to take this prep.

ACT Prep Dates - Fri, March 18, Friday March 25 & Wednesday March 30 ACT Test Date – Sat, April 2 (register by Feb 25)

NCAA CLEARINGHOUSE & ACT Test Scores--NCAA Clearinghouse is for anyone planning on playing any college sport for either Division I of Division II. When you are a senior, you will need to fill out an NCAA Clearinghouse form. At that time 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 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. This goes in the place of one of the four colleges you can send scores to free. See me if you have questions on this. The cost of registering for NCAA is currently at $90.

NAIA ELIGIBILITY CENTER – 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. We have a financial aid informational meeting scheduled for Monday night, Feb 28 at 6:30 pm during parent teacher conferences for juniors and your parents. (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 ).