Seniors Who Want to Apply to Alabama

Hello,

We are excited to announce The University of Alabama's Free App Week, running November 4-10, 2019. This is your students' opportunity to build off their hard work and dedication to their futures without the pressure of cost. Spread the word and the excitement of this opportunity!

Senior students and their families need to visit: FREE APP WEEK
Students complete the form and receive a link directly to the application with their individual code beginning November 4. They then have until 11:59 p.m. CT on November 10, to complete their application. During this week, please assist your students with acquiring transcripts.

Given the workload that many of you carry at your respective schools, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to submit transcripts for your students applying to UA. Here are the options for official high school transcript submission for your 2020 applicants:

• Email: hstranscripts@ua.edu (Transcripts sent via email must come directly from the high school counselor. Students may not submit transcripts via email.)
• Electronic Services: Parchment/Naviance, E-Scripts, Scribbles, OverGrad, SCOIR, and National Student Clearinghouse
• Mail: Office of Undergraduate Admissions 
          The University of Alabama
          Box 870132
          Tuscaloosa, AL  35487

This is everything you need to inform your students and their families about Undergraduate Admissions' Free App Week. Share the official social media accounts' hashtags (#FreeAppWeek, #UA24, #BecomeALegend) posts, tweets and stories.

Sophomores and juniors should know about the opportunities to visit our campus: Schedule a Tour

If you have any questions, you can reply directly to this email.

Thank you,

Undergraduate Admissions and Scholarship

Testing Day & Reconciliation Day is on October 30th

This is a very different day for students at SCHS.  Wednesday morning will have most students testing from 8-12:30, either taking the PSAT (Practice SAT), the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) or the ACCUPLACER (test used by two-year/technical colleges for admission).  Seniors and Juniors, not testing, will attend a field trip to either a college or a local industry.  Students have worked with their advisors to register for the activity they will do on Wednesday.  Of course, there are permission slips that need to be completed for the field trips and those should have already been turned in.

The last half of the day will be a great opportunity for students who are NOT doing well in their classes to work with teachers to make up any missing work or retake a tests.  This is a great time for students to get their affairs in order, and any student not passing is crazy for not participating in this event. 

Students will bring home a blue permission form to have you sign stating that you are in support of your student leaving early.  Only sign this if you are satisfied with the grades your student has, and do not see a need for him or her to stay for the entire day to work with his or her teachers.

Any student who does not have a form, will not be allowed to leave early.

In case your student who is doing well in classes has lost their permission form, here is a copy:
Leave Early Permission Form

Dave Ramsey is giving away $10,000 in scholarships!

Check out the information to see if you are a good candidate: Dave Ramsey Solutions Scholarship

Scholarship for High Performing Juniors

Hey Juniors,

Here is a scholarship for you guys!  Usually they are mostly for seniors.

https://coolidgescholars.org/

Engineering Scholarship at Mercer University

Are you a senior who is interested in engineering?  Mercer University has that major and would like to give scholarship money to students who attend school there.  There is a scholarship competition coming up on November 16th.  If you are interested, please visit the link below.

http://engineering.mercer.edu/admissions/scholarship.cfm

Time to Get the FAFSA Done!

Parents of Seniors and Seniors:

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is now open.  To date, only five SCHS students have completed their FAFSAs, which means that only five students NEED money for college.  The rest of them have a rich uncle who is paying for it.  Of course that is not true!  Almost all SCHS students would need additional help to what a family can pay to make a college education possible. 

The process for applying for financial aid is about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 on difficulty.  Most folks can navigate it, especially if they have used an online tax preparation service like TurboTax.  There are some similarities between the two processes.  Getting to the application is as simple as going to www.fafsa.gov.

If you would like to have more help with this, we will host an evening event where Mr. Corbett will be teaming up with Brenda Vaughn from the Georgia Student Finance Commission to have workshop hours where students and parents can come in to get help while they complete the FAFSA.  November 14th at 6 pm  Please put this date on your calendar and go to www.fafsa.gov in advance of this event to apply for a FAFSA PIN.

Pro Tip: Write down passwords, user IDs, and PINs.  Most of the frustration that you will experience is attributed to forgotten passwords.

Great Parenting Advice

Raising kids has, no doubt, made you realize that they can tote a lot of stress.  Sometimes, out of duty, kids will mask that stress-load from moms and dads to be a "good soldier."  The last thing that they want to do is make you worry about them, even though they are truly struggling.  Here is a good read from Tim Elmore about was to spot stress in your kid and what to do about it.

10 Visible Signs of Stress and How to Spot Them

College Advising Corps- A Valuable Resource

Dear Senior and Parents of a Senior:

We have a GREAT resource at Social Circle High School in the form of Trent Corbett.  He is our College Admissions Counselor, and he works with seniors to complete applications for schools and colleges that students plan on attending after graduation.  He can help with registration for SAT and ACT tests, and he is able to help with financial aid and scholarship searches.  In short, there is no reason for a senior to not have a well, mapped-out plan going forward! 

Trent is taking appointments for moms, dads, and seniors to sit down with him.  To set that up, email Trent at trent.corbett@socialcircleschools.org or shoot him a call here at SCHS by calling (770) 464-2611.

New Scholarship from Dave Ramsey- It is an easy application!

Dave Ramsey and Anthony O'Neal are doing everything that they can to educate today's high school students and their parents on getting debt-free degrees.  This is much easier to do living in Georgia, where we have access to some of the nation's lowest tuition rates at public universities and the true blessing that HOPE Scholarship is.  Of course, neither of these make college expenses complete free, however there are other things that a student can do to shave costs.

Here is a great scholarship that Anthony O'Neal with Dave Ramsey's team is offering to high school students: Debt-Free Degree Scholarship

It is a relatively easy scholarship to apply for that involves taking a test to see what your financial knowledge of earning a college degree is. 

For the rest of the school year, Mr. Kulp will be leading a Redskin elective that will show students ways to get a debt-free degree.  Sign up with your advisor!

Seniors and Parents of Seniors: You Gotta Read This

http://pwp.gatech.edu/admission-blog/2019/10/03/lessons-and-hopes-for-high-school-seniors/

In this crazy process that is college admissions, remember the advice that Rick Clark, Director of Admissions at Georgia Tech offers you.  It is a great read!

Georgia Parent Survey

Georgia Parent Survey

Please take a few minutes today to complete the Georgia Parent Survey which is used as part of our School Climate Star Rating.

The Georgia Parent Survey is also modeled after the student survey and contains 24 questions. Parents may complete the survey using their personal computer, smartphone, or tablet.  Survey responses are anonymous, self-reported, and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis. The Georgia Parent Survey is also available in Spanish. Parents may select the Spanish version within the survey. The Georgia Parent Survey link is posted below.
Georgia Parent Survey:

https://gshs.gadoe.org/Pages/Parent.aspx

North Georgia Military Scholarship Information

Here’s some great info on scholarships for your students!

Application is open now. 

North Georgia Military Scholarships pay for tuition, fees, room, meals, and books for eight semesters. It is for students who enroll in ROTC through the Corps of Cadets at UNG, serve in the Georgia Army National Guard, and who are Georgia residents. (It is not necessary to be in the Guard to apply for the scholarship.) Upon graduating from UNG, recipients become lieutenants in the Georgia Army National Guard and earn about $8,000/year for two weeks of annual training, and one weekend of training per month.

In addition to the scholarship, recipients receive weekend drill pay, annual training pay, Army ROTC stipend (if commissioning), and most receive Montgomery GI Bill benefits. Recipients are not deployable while enrolled at UNG.

About 150 current UNG cadets are receiving scholarship benefits, earning their bachelor’s degrees, participating in a world-class leadership development program, and will serve our State and our Nation as leaders in the Army National Guard.

The Army National Guard's state activities are well-known: it responds to battle fires or helps communities deal with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, civil unrest, or other emergency situations. If federalized, Guard units answer to the Combatant Commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President. Guard soldiers make a difference.

For more information, contact the Office of Cadet Admissions on the Dahlonega Campus at cadetrecruiting@ung.edu or go to the Cadet Admissions web site.

Hey Gentlemen- Take Care of This

If you are eighteen and a male, you must register with Selective Service.  Failure to do so will keep you from receiving financial aid & HOPE Scholarship.  Registering is quick and easy, and you may already be registered.  Often, men with drivers licenses were automatically registered with Selective Service.  It is smart to go to www.sss.gov to either register or to verify that you are registered.  Take care of this right now so it won't be a "gotcha" later on.

Georgia College Visits Social Circle

Students, Georgia College will be on campus Monday the 7th. If you are interested please stop by the guidance office and let Mr. Kulp or Mr. Corbett know today or tomorrow.

OR 

Complete this form.

FAFSA IS OPEN!

Class of 2020:

Parents and students the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA) opened up today.
Please use the link below to go on and fill out your FAFSA. This is your form to apply for financial aid for college. If you have any questions we will have a FAFSA night on Nov. 14th @ 6pm. We will also have help at our community resource festival on Oct. 20th 1-4pm. If you have any questions please email me at trent.corbett@socialcircleschools.org

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You!

Did you miss one of Social Circle Guidance's Parent/Student Information Nights?  Wow, you missed a lot!  Fortunately, the powerpoint presentations and the handouts are available below AND in the "Tool Box" tab at the top of the Guidance Blog.

Check these resources out and arm yourself with knowledge.  Simply knowing is a huge ally to future success.

Freshman and Sophomore Parent/Student Night PowerPoint and handouts from Sept. 19th, 2019

Freshman/Sophomore Information Night Presentation

Handouts:

Counseling Dates

New Diploma Seal Options
HOPE Scholarship Information
High School Checklist for Freshmen
High School Checklist for Sophomores
SAT/ACT Information
SAT Registration Information
Daily SAT Practice
Getting Your Teen Ready for the SAT
Technical College Information

Junior and Senior Parent/Student Night PowerPoint and handouts from September 12th, 2019

Junior/Senior Information Night Presentation

Handouts:

HOPE Scholarship Information
Counseling Dates

What Do You Really Know About the College to Which You Are Applying?

Technical College Information
High School Checklist for Juniors
College Planning Checklist for Seniors
New Diploma Seal Options
SAT/ACT Information
SAT Registration Information
Getting Your Teen Ready for the SAT
Daily SAT Practice
Tools for Comparing Colleges