Dear Worried,

 

             Senior year is time full of changes and that can be both exciting and scary. One thing to remember is that you are not going through it alone. Your teachers, family coach, learning coach, and guidance counselor all want to help you succeed. Senior year is also full of a lot of work, depending on what you have already accomplished, and the summer is the perfect time to get some of this work done.

            The first thing you should do is decide what you want to do after high school. This doesn't mean that you have to sort out every detail right now; very few people graduate from high school knowing every detail about what they want in their future. However, you should at least try to decide if you want to go to college, go straight into the workforce, or take a gap year. This decision will help you a lot with your preparation.

          For example, if you want to go to college and you haven't already taken the SAT or ACT, it is vital that you do so. Most colleges consider these scores as part of their admissions decision. If attending college you should also start looking at different colleges and decide which ones you want to apply to. You could even visit some of these colleges over the summer. Another thing you should start looking into, and even applying for, are scholarships. Scholarships will help you a lot in college, and now is the perfect time to start working out your finances.

         If going into the workforce after high school, there are many things you should consider over this summer. For example, what profession do you want to pursue? What training does this profession require? Where can you get that training? What jobs can you take now to help prepare you for that profession? Another thing to consider is the outlook of your profession. Visit this site, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, to get this information: http://www.bls.gov/ooh.

          If you want to take a gap year to go explore who you are and what you want to do with the rest of your life after high school, I suggest looking into some things that you could do. If you want to travel, make sure you have the finances to do so, and start planning now. If you want to get a job for a year while you sort out the rest of your plans, start looking at jobs now.

          No matter what your plans are, you will need to complete something pretty important, your graduation project. Start it now if you haven't already, this is last thing you want to worry about your senior year. Decide now what you want to do for your community service or job shadowing hours, then start planning when you are going to it. You will need to complete 20 hours. I would suggest finishing it, if possible, over the summer. This is the most time-consuming part of the project, and if you complete it now, you will not have to worry about it. Also, do not forget to have your host evaluation form filled out so that you are not trying to track someone down to sign it for you later.

         Senior year is full of decisions and changes. However, if you start preparing now, there is nothing at all to be worried about.

 

Sincerely,

 

Favian