College Planning Night for Juniors and their parents announced
On Wednesday evening March 22th, the Wahconah Guidance Department will sponsor a College Planning Night for Juniors and their parents. The meeting will be held in the Auditorium beginning at 6:30 p.m. with a brief overview of Wahconah Guidance services and a presentation from Dr. Joshua Mendel, a long time Director of College Admissions and now the Director of Corporate Engagement and Strategic Partnerships with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Mendel will provide important information about the college search and selection process. Parents and students have found his presentation to be timely and informative, helping students increase their knowledge and confidence preparing for the college application process.
Local, Regional and National Scholarships
Our local Wahconah Regional High School scholarship program has been announced to our Seniors. Please see the details below - the deadline for local WRHS scholarships is Friday, March 24th.
We are pleased to announce the Wahconah Regional High School Local Scholarships for 2023.
Attached is the WRHS local scholarship brochure and below is the google docs link with the scholarship applications.
https://drive.google.com/
Note that there are some scholarships with multiple pages. Please make sure you scroll through the entire document.
ALL APPLICATIONS can be hand delivered or e-mailed to me by the deadline. Please do not send them to your counselor. When emailing, send each application as a separate document - do not send them as a long running document.
The only applications that you will need a transcript for are the Benjamin F. Sullivan Unit #155 -American Legion Auxiliary, Hillside Agricultural Society, David Carmel - Knights of Columbus. You will mail these 3 applications directly to the address on the application. Please let me know if you need a transcript for any of these three scholarships. I will print your transcript and have it here in my office. Do not wait until the last minute to request these transcripts as it may take longer than a day to process.
Remember to read the requirements and directions carefully. Please fill out scholarship applications legibly and completely in blue or black ink. It is best if you do not wait until Friday, March 24th to email your scholarship applications. Unexpected things happen. There will be no exceptions to deadlines.
Students can access many regional and national scholarships through Naviance. Once logged in click Colleges>Scholarships & Money>Scholarship Search to access
If you have any questions, please ask 
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In addition, students can access many regional and national scholarships through Naviance. Once logged in click Colleges>Scholarships & Money>Scholarship Search to access.
Another scholarship search site that students and families have found useful is: Cappex and Fastweb
New scholarships added this week:
- Greylock Federal Credit Union Community Enrichment Scholarship
- Daniel Pearl Memorial Scholarship
- Ad Club of Western Massachusetts
- American Legion Auxiliary (Dalton) Scholarship
- Association of Teachers of Mathematics in Massachusetts (ATMIM) scholarship
- Tate Riva Memorial Scholarship Fund
- Pittsfield Co-op Bank Conrad R. Bernier Memorial Scholarship
- Knights of Columbus, Columbia Council #411- David Carmel Scholarship
- New England Service Scholarship
- Journalism Education Foundation of New England
- Berkshire County ARC Scholarships
- 2023 Joseph R. Renzi Memorial Scholarship
- Tips for First Generation families who by nature don’t have college experience to fall back on.
- How to choose courses that align with your goals, with an eye toward balance and rigor.
- How to pick a college, keeping in mind you are the consumer.
Advising Day update - High School
On Wednesday, February 8th, Wahconah students participated in advising day during the school day with their teachers. Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to select the classes and electives that they were recommended for the 2023-2024 school year. Following this, students will have the opportunity to meet with their School Counselor to review and verify their selections in person and via email.
Advising Day update - Grade 8>9
In the near future, Wahconah School Counselors will be visiting students at Nessacus Middle School and St. Agnes Academy to select teacher recommended classes for the 2023-2024 school year. At this time, students will be able to prioritize the electives they would like to select as well. A copy of the recommended will be provided to the student to share with their parents and guardians.
See the upcoming dates below:
Nessacus: February 28th & March 7th
St. Agnes Academy: March 15th
SAT Update
Juniors:
Registration is now open for the spring 2023 SAT® administrations. An announcement will also be sent to juniors with existing College Board accounts.
Wahconah Juniors interested in taking the SAT can sign up via this link:
https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/registration
NOTE: Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch can obtain a fee waiver by
contacting their School Counselor.
College Fairs announced
Spring college/university fairs have been annouced through NECAC and NEACAC organizations. The two closest site is Hartford, CT on Thursday, March 30th. You can find additional details and instructions on how to register via the links below.
Things to Consider When Applying to In and Out of State Colleges/Universities
Students and Parents: You can find an excellent article below from a student perspecitve discussing the college search and selection process here:
https://www.umass.edu/admissions/articles/things-consider-when-applying-college-out-state
College/University Alumni Interview preparation
This time of year students may be asked to participate in a College/University Alumni interview. If you are in the process of doing this, you can find helpful tips that will help you prepare here:
https://college.harvard.edu/life-harvard/student-stories/what-expect-your-college-interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq4zCIBcj_k
PSAT scores to be released on December 6th
Wahconah students who took the PSAT/NMSQT in October can expect to obtain their score results on Tuesday, December 6th through the College Board website.
To obtain scores, students should log into studentscores.collegeboard.org to create a CollegeBoard account with a personal email address. Once they do this they can get their full PSAT/NMSQT score report. After they review their scores they can do the following:
Create a Khan Academy account at satpractice.org and link it to your CollegeBoard account to get free, personalized practice for the SAT.
Continue to explore your interests, careers, and colleges through the school sponsored Naviance.com website. See your School Counselor if you need help logging in.
You can also explore interests through the personalized Big Future tool (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org) to learn more about careers and majors-both available via your online PSAT/NMSQT score report.
Register for the SAT in March, May, or June. Spring of Junior year is the perfect time to take the SAT for the first time--students can take advantage of their PSAT/NMSQT experience, and they will still have time to practice, increase their skills, and test again if they want to improve their scores.
Raise Me
RaiseMe partners with universities to offer students scholarships for their achievements during high school and college. WRHS students grades 9-12 can access this website to participate via this link. https://www.raise.me/how-it-works
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It's that time of year again - If your overwhelmed by the thought of going back to school
and the pressure that comes along with it, you are not alone. Mental Health School Supplies
is a company that provides support and resources. You can learn more here via this link:
https://www.crisistextline.org/school/
Today show feature - treating Mental Health virtually
Naviance is available to Wahconah Students and Parents
CareerVillage is a community where students can get free personalized career advice from real-life professionals. Check it out by clicking the link below.
Career Week video library
In the Spring of 2021, MassHire Berkshire Career Center recorded a series of Career videos for students to view as they are planning for graduation from high school. You can access this excellent resource here and click on the career video that interests you.
Seniors and parents/guardians of seniors, please find some important information below about financial aid for students planning to attend college next year:
Students should review financial aid information on each of their colleges' individual websites. That way, they know exactly what they need to submit and by when. It is important to follow college deadlines for financial aid in order to maximize financial aid opportunities.
All students looking to attend college should apply for financial aid through FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Here is a link to the FAFSA website: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/
fafsa Some colleges require the CSS profile. A list of those colleges can be found on the following website: https://profile.collegeboard.
org/profile/ppi/ participatingInstitutions.aspx Some colleges require their own internal forms.
FAFSA becomes available starting October 1, and the CSS profile is already available.
MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) is offering several virtual financial aid events. Please register for an event on their website at www.mefa.org/events. Events will be held various days, starting 9/28, including afternoon and evening sessions. Recorded sessions will also be available on their site for those who are unable to attend one of the live events. MEFA offers several different types of events, so if you are wondering which one(s) might be a good place to start, you may consider the following:
FAFSA Festival- Tuesday October 25 from 4:00PM- 8:00PM- This is an opportunity to meet with an expert one-on-one in a private breakout room. You'll be able to ask questions and they will help walk you through any components of the FAFSA in which you need assistance.
If your student is applying to one or more schools that require the CSS profile in addition to the FAFSA, I also recommend:
MEFA has several other excellent resources relating to financial aid at mefa.org.
If you haven't done so already, it is important that you create an FSA ID that you will use to access and sign the FAFSA. A student and parent need their own FSA ID. It can take several days for your FSA ID to be confirmed, so plan to create your FSA ID several days in advance of when you plan to begin the FAFSA. To create an FSA ID visit:
https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/
Please note it is important that students not use their school issued email accounts when creating their FSA ID, on the FAFSA, and on other financial aid related forms since they are only able to receive emails from people in CBRSD.
Volunteer opportunity
It Takes a Village has a mission to, "provide FREE postpartum and early parenting support to families with babies and young children living in Western Massachusetts, and to inspire the community to welcome the newest members of their village." Fulfilling this mission, ITAV offers a multitude of services to families in the area including:
The Village Closet - a place for families to give and receive new and gently-used baby gear, clothing, diapers, feeding supplies and more.
Home Visits for postpartum support of families with infants for up to 12 weeks.
Children's Play groups
Caregiver Support groups, workshops and more!
