Early Update

Center Grove High School Volume 2, Issue 2 December 2013 Early College Pathways To Success

Center Grove Early College Program continues to provide a viable foundation for college student success. The achievement of our Early College Students stems from collective support on the quality of the student's learning experience. This is accom- plished through challenging college coursework aimed at preparing our students to compete at the next level. Center Grove Early College program is a collaboration between We hope you enjoy the holidays and have a great finish to the first half of the year! CGHS and Vincennes . We provide Jack Shankle both a 30-hour certifi- cation and 60 hour Interim Assistant Dean of Instruction Associate Degree. Center Grove Early College, Vincennes University Procedures for Meeting with a Tutor New English Tutor [email protected]. Students can attend the Mrs. Tina Mann ECLC for tutoring during We are pleased to announce the hiring STAR and/or study hall of Mrs. Tina Mann, our new English English Tutoring Hours: periods during tutoring Tutor and Learning Coach. Mrs. Tina Red Days 9:00a-2:30p office hours ONLY. Mann comes to us with a JD form In- White Days 7:30a-12:00noon To obtain a pass, stu- diana University, and a Bachelor’s dents should request Degree in Political Science. We are one from either of the very fortunate to have such a quality tutors, and Early College member our team. teacher, Lindsay Bentz, or Kim Weeks. There are a wide-range of courses which involve writing. Mrs. Tina

Mann can assist you develop your writing skills for broader college suc- Important dates- cess. Dec.20—End of Second Please schedule an appointment with Grading Period/ End of Mrs. Tina Mann at the Early College 1st Semester Learning Center and get results. Next Semester -

March18—Freshmen to Visit IUPUI. Benefits of Tutoring? 1. Improving student work habits. 2. More time-on-task. 3. April 1—Juniors to Visit Meeting specific student needs. 4. Reduce non-productive study behaviors. 5. Tutoring IU & Franklin College. is available at no cost. Remember, students who participate with tutoring services are more likely to succeed in college. For more Information: http://www.somsd.k12.nj.us/

cms/lib7/NJ01001050/Centricity/Domain/60/Benefits_of_Tutoring.pdf Early College Update Page 2

Focus: Early College Featured Course—MATH 102 What is the course about?

The course is designed as a pre-calculus course for the study of functions and their graphs. In this course, students use graphing technology.

Mr. Shawn Sanders, Why is it important toward my college degree? Center Grove Early Math 102 transfers to , State University, IUPUI, IUPU College Adjunct Fort Wayne, University of and Purdue. Math Instructor and Student Audree What is the practical application of this course in the real world? Zabel Our primary focus when solving word problems and practical applications is develop- ing problem solving skills. We are not just interested in getting an answer. In fact, we don’t really care about specific answers. Instead, we care about how to read a “I went off to college word problem in order to determine what is being asked and taking the given infor-

planning to major in mation, organizing it into a meaningful way, and using it to model the situation. We math or also care about seeing you work to find a solution in a manner that is understandable to others, being able to communicate your strategy. philosophy—of

course, both those Specific skills you will develop are: ideas are really the same idea. “ 1. Draw pictures and/or organize the information in a meaningful way 2. Identify an unknown and specify a variable —Frank Wilczek, 3. Write an equation that models the problem American Physicist 4. Solve the equation (1951 — ) 5. Determine if the solution makes sense 6. State your solution

My Foundations Lab

What is My Foundations Lab? At Center Grove, My Foundations Lab will My Foundations Lab is a complete online be offered in connection with Tutoring resource aimed at supporting the academic services to support students in their prepa- development of student skills in Reading, ration to retake the Accuplacer test. Math and English.

All students will be required to complete Students are able to develop their academic an Accuplacer assessment test prior to ac- skills through a personalized learning plan cessing My Foundations Lab. Vincennes and highly interactive learning activities University uses Accuplacer assessment test that enable students to master skills at their to qualify students to enter core college own pace. My Foundations Lab supports courses. Accuplacer is a testing program the PSAT, SAT, and ACT assessment test. offered by the CollegeBoard.org. Volume 2, Issue 2 Page 3

What is Xmester?

Xmester is an early college summer residential experience on the campus of Vincennes University for rising high school seniors. Partic- ipants live on campus in a residence hall for two weeks in June and are able to earn college credit from Vincennes University professors at reduced tuition costs. Courses are taught by both experienced college professors and successful collegiate teaching fellows from across the nation. More importantly, students are able to experience and navigate college campus life and learn firsthand from Xmester will be held outstanding campus leaders, giving participants a head start in pre- June 15th through 27th, paring for college success. 2014

Xmester: The Role of the Early College Fellow

The Early College Fellow is a teacher s recruited from across the nation to participate in an intense two weeks of instruction at an early college residential programs. Fellows in participating is this program are both secondary teachers and adjunct faculty, a rare yet exciting new breed of educators. Fellows can be best described as teachers with a high level of zest, grit, hope, gratitude, and enthusiasm. Their responsibilities include the fol- lowing:

 Teaching assistance  Mentoring  Leadership activities  Extra-curricular activities  Tutoring  Dorm supervision

The Xmester Experience

Student Jessica Jeschke shares her summer experience at Xmester 2013.

What class did you take? PSYC 143 What was the best thing about your experience?

The people. I made lots of friends and the fellows were amazing. Jessica Jeschke, Center What is the hardest part of Xmester? Grove Senior The homework was after class and the quizzes. Advise to students that attend Xmester in the future? Don’t be shy, make friends. Always study when there is free-time. Page 4

College Application Mistakes to Avoid! Juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, college is approaching faster than it may seem! I recently heard an EC junior say college is going to “slap you in the face before you know it,” and I think she’s right! As you look ahead, here are some things to think about. Seniors, many of you are through the college application process. Congratulations! It’s that time when you will be making decisions that affect the next sever- Ms. Lindsay Bentz, Center al years of your life, and it’s often scary and thrilling at the same time. Grove Early College As you work your way through scholarship applications, these tips are Guidance Counselor relevant to you as well. US News & World Report recently published an article called “Avoid These Big College Application Mistakes.” Some of them are no- brainers, such as spelling errors and waiting until the last minute be- fore a deadline only to encounter technical problems, but some may come as a surprise. For example, the article says about admissions (or scholarship) essays, “Please, please don't give us the personal state- ment that opens with a couple of minutes left in the game and ends with how winning isn't everything or how you learned the value of teamwork! Or the classic service trip essay that's about how everyone can make a difference. Or how if everyone just rolled up their sleeves and worked together we could solve everything” This may be exactly what some of you were planning to submit, but colleges and scholar- ship committees see so many of these, the content no longer stands out as original. Try to think of a unique life experience you’ve had that no one else would be able to write about. If you are going to write about teamwork, what makes your story different? What’s going to make an admissions rep read it and remember it years later?

Another turnoff for colleges? “Asking for information easily found…If you're asking us about test scores, it sounds like you haven't done your research or like you're asking a question just to ask a question, maybe because your parents told you to.” Admissions counselors would much rather you “ask for information you won't be able to find out anywhere Great Resources: else: the personality of the campus, the counselor's favorite things about the school.” Try to show true interest in the school, rather than  Scholarships.com sounding like a recording asking questions only because you think that’s what the schools want you to do. A phenomenon colleges have  My College been experiencing over the last few years is parents taking an increas- Options ingly active role in their child’s admissions process. According to an article published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on January 23, 2009  Central Indiana called “Parents are crossing the line in college application process,” Community Foundation Volume 2, Issue 2 Page 5

Continued...Ms. Lindsay Bentz, one vice president of enrollment says, “We wonder why we’re not Center Grove Early College hearing directly from the students….I can’t help but feel that if the Guidance Counselor parent calls or writes that they’re making an excuse for the student.” A recruiting director from another college is seeing a growing num- ber of applications every year that she suspects are filled out by par- ents. “I find it disappointing because if a student can’t even fill out their own application for college, then what kind of an effort are they going to put forth as a college student?” As for scholarship essays, “suspicions that a parent has written the essays do sometimes weigh into decisions,” the Post-Dispatch article states.US News & World Report also lists “Letting parents take the lead” as a mistake to avoid. “It doesn’t tell us that a student is interested if we get 15 phone calls from Mom.” The bottom line? Colleges want to know the student is interested and that the school is going to be a good fit for the student, not the parent. Nothing shows that better than students taking the initiative regard- ing contact with the school. Plus, it’s a great life skill to learn, be- cause once students get on campus, they will have to advocate for themselves anyway. You can file a For more tips, see below! FAFSA for the 2014 -2015 academic Check out the full US News & World Report article here: http:// year between www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/11/avoid- January 1, 2014 these-big-college-application-mistakes. For the Post-Dispatch arti- and June 30, 2015. cle, go to http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_272a3d3f-f3ab-5e36 -bcbf-4434bf25fb8f.html. (Note: the online version of the article has a slightly different title, but the content is the same.)