1. Don't restate information that is already in the application (name of school etc)

2. Think of specific anecdotes or examples to help prove your point. It's one thing to say a student is a leader. It's another to provide an impactful example of a time they stepped up. This is when informational interviews can be helpful for generating anecdotes!

3. Try to reflect on what impact they have on the community at large. How is your classroom or Senn better for having this student around?

4. Avoid a "mad-lib" style letter of rec where you have the same form and swap out different names and adjectives for different students. When possible, try to personalize and add examples. 

We are shifting from our traditional brag sheet and encouraging students to instead update their SchooLinks profile. We saw that quite often the brag sheets were never completed or done so very generically. Additionally, many students would become so overwhelmed with the idea of a brag sheet that they waited until the last minute to ask for a letter, ultimately leading to tight timelines for teachers. 

What we're doing instead: 

All students will be asked to update their SchooLinks profile with information that they want their letter writer to see. 

You can easily find a students profile in SchooLinks by searching under "Students" and then click "Student Profile"

If you would like to stick with a brag sheet for the letters you write, please definitely do so (here's a copy of the one used previously)! 

We know some folks have their own brag sheet or even ask students to schedule a brief informational interview with them to help write the letter. Please use whatever process is most helpful for your letter writing. We're moving away from a universal brag sheet because it was becoming a bottleneck, but we're open to feedback on how this works out. 

The counseling curriculum supports completion of ILPs-- the required postsecondary planning tasks students complete each year in SchooLinks to prepare for life after high school.

• Grades 9–11: Students have 5 mandatory ILP tasks per grade level focused on career exploration, resume building, and college/trade research.

• Grade 12 (Seniors): Seniors have an abundance of pathway-specific tasks (uploading college acceptances, job offer letters, enlistment paperwork, FAFSA/Alternative Application completion, etc.) required to meet the district's Learn. Plan. Succeed. graduation mandate.

• SchooLinks Showdown: Counselors lead lessons throughout the year to complete these tasks, but teachers help drive momentum during the SchooLinks Showdown competitions to maximize grade-level completion rates!

Our goal is for 70% of students to complete 100% of their ILP tasks.