Class of 2017
GLC NEWSLETTER-Issue #6
March 1, 2016
Students and Parents of the Class of 2017,
Periodically, we will send out an email titled GLC NEWSLETTER. We will include news and notes about DBHS, planning for after high school and much more. We will also post these issues on the Diamond Bar High School website under GUIDANCE and The Class of 2017 pages. The GLC NEWSLETTER will be in addition to the GLC Quarterly which is sent out 3-4 times each school year.
THIS IS THE CLASS OF 2017 GLC NEWSLETTER #6
REMIND TEXT MESSAGE SYSTEM: If students or parents are not receiving periodic text message reminders, please sign up with our system. Go to our Class of 2017 Web page (Text Message Remind System) for directions on how to register for this helpful REMIND Text Message system.
SAT/ACT
See detailed information below (from previous Class of 2017 GLC Newsletters) regarding the SAT and ACT. Students should be making final plans to take these exams (with Writing portions) before the end of their junior year. Students can use this summer to review scores and to work on skills needed on these tests if they choose. Students may take the SAT and ACT in October, November of their senior year. Most universities will also accept the December SAT score; however, double check as some universities may not accept the December 2016 score for our students.
An ACT Bootcamp is offered for the upcoming April 9, 2016 ACT exam date. See the Class of 2017 Webpage for this ACT Bootcamp information.
HIGH SCHOOL YEARS-TIPS FOR PARENTS AND EDUCATORS PUBLICATIONS
This is a regular newsletter that offers great tips and advice for parents and educators. You will find issues from September, October, November, December 2015, January 2016, February 2016 and the most recent issue for March, 2016 on our school website www.dbhs.org Guidance/GLC/Class of 2017. A must read for parents of teenagers!
SUMMER SCHOOL 2016
Summer School Information for DBHS is posted on our school website under the Summer School Link. Please access this for dates of summer session and for registration information. Some of our summer courses are non-tuition courses and some are tuition courses. Courses may be taken for remediation purposes (making up a poor grade) or for advancement (advancing in a certain subject area or completing a course to lighten the academic load for next year).
NON-TUITION SUMMER SCHOOL COURSES: Your student may be interested in Non-Tuition courses such as Civics and Economics, Music Appreciation, Geometry, or Algebra II. If this is the case, your student will have to register for these course via our school website/summer school link. Please access the Summer School link for registration information on www.dbhs.org . Registration dates for these courses is: February 24-March 7, 2016.
Rosters for these courses will be posted on our website on March 10, 2016-Verify at that time if you are enrolled in the course.
SUMMER SCHOOL 2016-(Continued)
SUMMER SCHOOL TUITION COURSES: Your student may be interested in other courses such as: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Modern World History, Modern American History, Computer Systems, Digital Video Production, Health/ICT (Health and ICT may be taken Online or In Seat-these can be taken as single courses or as a combination/both courses). These are TUITION COURSES! As you can see some of these courses are also offered as Non-Tuition courses so try to register for the Non-Tuition Course (if offered) first. Unfortunately, in some cases, a student may need to repeat a Tuition Course because of a poor grade. Example: Earned a (D) in Biology and needs to repeat for university-admission purposes…the only way to correct this grade in the summer is to take the Tuition course as Non-Tuition Biology is not offered. Registration for TUITION COURSES must be done by the student via our school website during this time period: March 14-25, 2016. Rosters for these courses will be posted on our website on March 28, 2016-Verify at that time if you are enrolled in the course.
REGISTERING FOR SENIOR-YEAR COURSES:
Your GLCs will begin visiting our Class of 2017 Juniors the week of March 14th to discuss and distribute course registration materials for the 2016-2017 senior year. Our students will have 3 weeks to discuss this information with parents, GLCs etc. before Course Registration Documents are collected. GLCs will begin collecting Course Registration Documents the week after spring break, April 4, 2016. Students should be consulting their 4-year academic plans as we approach registration. As GLCs, we encourage our students to think carefully about their course selections. Students should follow their four-year plan and READ all of the information provided to them when we visit their classes the week of March 14th. All summer-school rosters will be posted by the time the registration cards will be collected the week of April 4th. This will allow students to select senior-year courses with the knowledge of what summer school class will be taken!
We realize there may be questions and concerns from students and parents and we want to assist you with these questions and concerns. We want our students to take “ownership” of this process. When a student has a question or concern about their senior-year scheduling process or college planning, he/she should contact their GLC. Students can stop by the GLC office, leave us a voicemail message or email us with the questions or concerns. We will do our best to bring the student into our office to discuss the situation and provide our best advice/guidance. With this in mind, we hope parents understand that it is impossible to “set up meetings” with parents of all of our students. There is not enough time in the day to accomplish this task. Remember, we meet with you in the summer to review everything from A to Z in regards to your student’s academic goals etc. We respectfully request parents to discuss these issues with your student and to have your student contact their GLC to answer questions etc. We always welcome emails and phone calls from parents as needed.
Letters of Recommendation:
As your GLCs, we have published on our Class of 2017 Webpage several extracurricular programs for the summer. As students pursue these opportunities, many times a letter of recommendation, written by their GLC, is needed. We will certainly write the letter for the student, but we need a minimum of 2-weeks advance notice for the letter request. In addition, our students should supply us with their Profile/Resume so we have the most up-to-date information on the student.
JUNIORS AND COLLEGE:
Your GLCs will conduct a seminar for students sometime in the spring providing students with information on the College Admissions process which our Class of 2017 students will begin as early as this summer. Stay tuned for this date. We will assist our students with making a schedule of what to accomplish this spring, summer and fall in order to be best prepared for the college application process-Exciting!!
BELOW ARE TOPICS FROM PREVIOUS GLC NEWSLETTERS FOR THE CLASS OF 2017-JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME:
Dream-Plan-Pursue (DPP)
Dream-Students you should dream about what you want out of life.
Plan-Make a plan on how you will accomplish those dreams.
Pursue-Go for it. Follow your plan. Be prepared for some bumps in the road and for some folks who may try to derail your pursuit-be relentless in your pursuit. Sometimes you may have to implement Plan B which is ok.
SAT and ACT
If a Class of 2017 student is looking to start their college experience at a 4-year university, he/she will need to take the SAT or ACT. Always include the writing portion of each exam. In addition, some universities will require SAT Subject Tests as well. Go to www.collegeboard.org (SAT) and/or www.act.org (ACT) to create a student account and to register for tests. We recommend these tests be taken during junior year. Students may be able to retake the tests the first 2-3 test administrations of their senior year, but don’t wait until senior year to take them for the first time! Another factor to consider is when to take the SAT as a junior. Generally speaking, if a student is currently in Geometry or Algebra II then it may be wise to wait until the last 1-2 SAT test administrations this school year. This will allow these students to have as much Geometry and Algebra II math instruction completed as possible. Otherwise, junior students should take the SAT anytime this school year.
SAT Subject Tests: Many private universities will require (2) SAT Subject Tests as part of their admission’s requirements. UCs and CSUs do not require SAT Subject Tests; however, some UC campuses “recommend” students taking (2) SAT Subject Tests. Some universities, if they require SAT Subject Tests, may accept any (2) subjects. Some universities, if they require SAT Subject Tests, may specify specific test subjects for certain majors. For example, a student majoring in a Science or Math related field or Engineering may be wise to take the SAT Subject Test Math Level II and a Science SAT Subject Test. To be sure, a student should research individual university admission requirements. In addition, if possible, students should arrange to take an SAT Subject Test in the spring time which could coincide with their preparation for an Advanced Placement (AP) exam. For example, if a student plans to take an SAT Subject Test in Chemistry and is also enrolled in AP Chemistry here at DBHS this school year, he/she should take the SAT Chemistry Subject test in the spring. Students should go to the Class of 2017 Web page to look under FILES for the document titled: UC Campuses and The SAT Subject Tests. This file will give you information on which UCs recommend taking the SAT Subject Tests and which ones!
BEING ORGANIZED: VOLUNTEER/SERVICE HOURS, AWARDS ETC.
Diamond Bar High School does not have a Community Service requirement. Many DBHS students do pursue service/volunteer hours and we support this endeavor. We are often asked by students if they need to submit these service hours to DBHS and the answer is NO. What students who are pursuing service hours should do is to keep very detailed and accurate records. We advise the students to create some type of document so they can log their service hours. Important information includes number of hours served, date of service, location or establishment where the service was performed and the name and contact information of the supervisor or person in charge. Our students, will very likely document these service hours on their college applications next fall. Some universities will randomly “audit” applications checking for accuracy/honesty. When a student has kept excellent records there will never be a problem verifying the service hours performed and reported on applications.
UPCOMING EVENTS/COLLEGE VISITS TO DBHS
Our students should be checking the DBHS website daily for news, announcements etc. We strongly encourage our juniors to check the website and go to the Career Center Page. Start at Academics and then go to the Career Center page. Listed on this page will be the dates, times, locations of our college visits to our campus. College visits provide our students with an opportunity to visit with a college-campus representative and ask important questions about the school.
CHECK OUT THE DBHS WEBSITE/GUIDANCE-GLC/CLASS OF 2017 FOR EXTRACURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES AND INTERSTING ARTICLES FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS www.dbhs.org
COLLEGE LIST/UNIVERSITY SEARCHES
During our summer meeting, each Class of 2017 student received the Student/Parent Information Handbook. This is also available on the Class of 2017 webpage. In this handbook, you will find a 2-page College Search Process. Please encourage your student to begin the process of creating a list of colleges/universities which may be a good fit for them after high school. As Grade Level Coordinators, we want our students to eventually move on to a college or university setting which is a great “fit” for them. Students and parents need to put aside only looking at “prestigious name” universities and open up to consideration, universities which will provide the environment that will allow their son or daughter to flourish, to be happy and content as they pursue their career interests. “Happy Students are good students!” The student’s list of potential colleges/universities may be quite large at this point; however, as the year progresses into next summer, your student should begin narrowing the list down. If your student begins this process now, he/she will have plenty of time and opportunities to research the school, ask questions, visit the campuses etc. prior to the senior year beginning. The final list of colleges/universities to which your student will eventually apply should be established by next August/September. Encourage your student to have fun with this process and to tell friends and family of their interests.
SENIOR BULLETIN
Every year the senior class has access to very informative Senior Bulletins. The Senior Bulletin is loaded with information about the college admissions process, community college etc. We are posting these Senior Bulletins to our Class of 2017 page on the school website. We realize our students are still juniors; however, we believe you may find the information helpful this year as well.
LEGAL NAMES USED FOR SAT/ACT, COLLEGE APPLICATIONS- Reminder!! When students register to take the SAT or ACT, they should use their legal name. This legal name should match the name used here at DBHS on their academic transcript. It should also be the same name the student will use during the college/university admission’s process next year as a 12th grader. Using different names (nicknames etc.) may result in the student’s academic records never matching up and resulting in the student missing important requirements for the admission’s process.
Student Email Addresses: We advise our students to be careful when selecting an email address. It may be wise for students to create an email account specifically for the upcoming admission’s process. Using “cute or silly” email addresses for the admission’s process doesn’t give a positive first impression. We suggest very simple, straight-forward email addresses such as First Initial of First Name and last name or some combination of this.
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS INFORMATION
WUE-Western Undergraduate Exchange Program allows students who are residents of WICHE states to request a reduced tuition rate of 150% of resident tuition at participating two- and four-year college programs outside of their home state. This is a great program if your student is looking at attending an out-of-state university. It may result in a tuition cost savings for your student. Check out the website and you can also find information on our school website, www.dbhs.org go to GUIDANCE/GLC/CLASS OF 2017.
POST HIGH SCHOOL PLANS:
Interest Inventories/Searches: We encourage all of our students to take steps to find out what areas of study and/or career interests best fit them. Students may access Interest Inventories (Simple tests/questionnaires which help direct students to careers/college majors that may match their strengths etc.) via our school website www.dbhs.org. On the Guidance Page, students should look at the right hand side of the page for several available links. The link titled Careers will guide them to some of these Interest Inventories. In addition, we strongly recommend our students create a free account on the following websites:
These websites have tremendous resources available on helping students look into different career opportunities and college majors.
Kevin R. Patterson & Jack Galeener
Grade Level Coordinators
Class of 2017
Diamond Bar High School