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 #7
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.
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.
GLC REGISTRATION APPOINTMENT LOTTERY FOR CLASS OF 2017
Tuesday, May 10 immediately after period 6 in the school amphitheater. Previous email sent home earlier today, May 6 with details. GLC Registration Appointments will be assigned next Tuesday.
Dates for GLC registration appointment (4 weeks): Monday, July 11 through August 5, 2016
CLASS OF 2017 AND COLLEGE ADMISSIONS-WHAT TO DO OVER THE SUMMER-
ATTEND AN UPCOMING LUNCH MEETING TO LEARN ABOUT THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS’ PROCESS
Your GLCs will conduct seminars for students planning on applying to a 4-year university. GLCs will review what our students need to accomplish over the summer in preparation for the admission’s process to the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and Private University campuses 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!!
MEETING DATES, TIMES AND LOCATION:
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 12:30-1:00 pm in the DBHS Theater for Mr. Patterson’s students.
Thursday, May 19, 2016 12:30-1:00 pm in the DBHS Theater for Mr. Galeener’s students.
(EAT YOUR LUNCH PRIOR TO COMING TO THE THEATER-NO FOOD OR DRINK WILL BE ALLOWED IN THE THEATER)
If you have a conflict on your scheduled date, you may go to the other meeting, however to ensure we have enough space we would like students to attend the appropriate day if possible.
SAT/ACT
Now would be the time to make any SAT/ACT Workshop/Bootcamp/Academy plans for the summer. Students may want to review or improve in specific areas of the SAT and/or ACT. Keep in mind that the Class of 2017 students may still take the SAT or ACT during the fall of their senior year. Most universities will accept the October, November and December exams for admission purposes. Some universities may not accept the December score so check the universities on your list to find out this 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, March 2016, April 2016 and also May 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 and information on summer session. Students may be able to add a summer-session course by attending the first day of summer session, Monday, June 6th. Proceed to the DBHS theatre for a 7:30 am meeting with the summer school principals Mr. Aguilar and Mr. Desmond. No need to arrive early-7:30 am is when they will announce what courses may have openings and proceed with filling those openings.
REGISTERING FOR SENIOR-YEAR COURSES:
Your soon-to-be senior student has submitted their request for senior courses to his/her GLC already. If your student needs to change a requested course…We discourage changes in the course requests as our school administration is planning the Master Teaching Schedule for 2016-2017 based on course requests submitted by our students. We will accept requests for changes in course requests from students if a student has learned that based on grades, he/she has not met a prerequisite for a course requested for next year. It is very important that a student email Mr. Patterson (even if the student works with Mr. Galeener) as soon as the student realizes that based on grades a prerequisite was not met and therefore a change in course requests is necessary. Final grades should be known by students soon after final exams so the timing of such a request via email is very important.
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.
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.
SENIOR PARKING LOT ON CAMPUS
Students in the Class of 2017 who drive to school are not allowed to park in the school parking lot (senior area) until next school year 2016-2017. The current seniors (Class of 2016) will be on campus, for various activities, through graduation day, May 26th. Junior students violating this policy will jeopardize their senior-year parking lot privileges.
INTEREST INVENTORIES/COLLEGE SEARCHES/POST HIGH SCHOOL PLANS: 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.
BELOW ARE TOPICS FROM PREVIOUS GLC NEWSLETTERS FOR THE CLASS OF 2017-JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME:
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.
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.
Kevin R. Patterson & Jack Galeener
Grade Level Coordinators
Class of 2017
Diamond Bar High School