The Path to High School Graduation and Beyond
9th Grade Edition
We want to make sure you know what you should be thinking about as you prepare for high school. The following is an action plan your family can follow to set your student up to have any opportunity they desire after high school. We will revisit this plan each year, but we want to give you a game plan so you can start high school feeling informed and ready to start making the correct choices now!
What you should be doing right now:
Use a calendar/planner to keep track of assignments and deadlines. Staying organized helps!!!
Practice good time management and study skills to keep good grades. Every class counts!
Get involved with extracurricular activities, clubs, leadership roles and community service. These will help on college scholarship applications and it is proven that students who are involved in school are more successful in school. And plus…they are a lot of fun!
Attend our district’s Got Plans? College and Career Fair in October to start getting excited and interested in different colleges and careers.
Create a 4–year educational plan to help you reach your goals for after high school. The counselors will help you with this through the use of a program called Family Connection.
Use Khan Academy to improve your math skills
Keep work samples for your senior exhibition and start looking for community service opportunities, you will need to complete 40 hours of community service before graduation.
Create a professional email; Professional - johnsmith12@gmail.com Not Professional - pokimontrainer12@gmail.com
What you should be doing in Spring:
Choose classes for next year that will make you eligible for admission to a 4 year college right after high school. Consider including a World Language and/or a Fine Art in your schedule to get you started on electives that meet admission requirements for 4 year colleges.
Sign up for Summer School if you did not pass a class or earned a D and want to remain eligible for a University.
The most important thing for you to start thinking about is that your freshman year is exciting and maybe a bit nerve-wracking, but it is also a great new fresh beginning and it is an extremely important year for you and your future. So come here ready to have some fun, learn a whole lot, grow as a human being and start your life as a young adult.
10th Grade Edition
The following is an action plan you and your family can follow to set you up to have any opportunity you desire after high school. We will revisit this plan each year, but we want to give you a game plan so feel empowered to continue making the right choices to reach the goals you have set for yourself.
What you should be doing right now:
Practice good time management and study skills to keep good grades. Use a calendar/planner to keep track of assignments & deadlines. Staying organized helps. Remember - every class counts!
Either get or stay involved with extracurricular activities, clubs, leadership roles and community service. These will help on college and scholarship applications and it is proven that students who are involved in school are more successful in school. And plus…they are a lot of fun!
Look at and modify your 4–year educational plan to help you reach your goals for after high school. The counselors will help you with this through Family Connection.
Register for the NCAA/NAIA if you are interested in participating in college athletics.
Attend our district’s Got Plans? College and Career Fair in October to start getting excited and interested in different colleges and careers.
Take the PSAT test in October. This is a practice test for the SAT which is one of the required 4 year college admissions tests. ** If you need accommodations, contact the College Board for the SAT or ACT for the ACT test.
Scholarship search time! Visit the scholarship page on the Family Connection website and visit Mrs. Krantz in counseling. A great scholarship website is https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search.
Start visiting colleges you are interested in to experience the campus and see if it is the right fit for you.
Continue to work towards your 40 hour community service requirement.
Continue to save work samples for your senior exhibition.
What you should be doing in Spring:
Choose classes for next year that will make you eligible for admission to a 4 year college right after high school. You should have already started meeting your required World Language requirements, but if not, you absolutely must include those in your schedule next year. Also consider meeting your Fine Art requirement next year if you have not yet done so.
If you earned a D or an F in a class, make sure to sign up for summer school to retake the class.
11th Grade Edition
The following is an action plan you and your family can follow to set you up to have any opportunity you desire after high school. We will revisit this plan each year, but we want to give you a game plan so you feel prepared to make the best choices to reach your goals.
What you should be doing right now:
Practice good time management and study skills to keep good grades. Use a calendar/planner to keep track of assignments & deadlines. Staying organized helps. Remember - every class counts!
Either get or stay involved with extracurricular activities, clubs, leadership roles and community service. These will help on college and scholarship applications and they are a lot of fun!
Look at and modify your 4–year educational plan to help you reach your goals for after high school. The counselors will help you with this through Naviance Student.
Attend our district’s Got Plans? College and Career Fair in October to start getting excited and interested in different colleges and careers. Attend other college fairs in San Diego too!
Take the PSAT in October and the actual SAT (sat.collegeboard.org) and/or ACT (www.actstudent.org) in the spring. These are required for admission into 4 year universities. Consider taking some SAT subject tests as many colleges look at these scores as well – plan according to your current classes. ** If you need accommodations, contact the College Board for the SAT or ACT for the ACT test.
Register for the NCAA/NAIA if you are interested in participating in college athletics.
Start considering colleges and majors you are interested in and make a point to start visiting some campuses. It is important to get a feel for as many campuses as you can so start early!
Scholarship search time! Visit the scholarship page on the Naviance Student website and visit Mrs. Krantz in counseling. A great scholarship website is https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search.
Begin thinking about adults who would be willing to write letters of recommendation for you for college and scholarship applications. Plan ahead and ask early!!!
Continue to work towards your 40 hour community service requirement.
Continue to save work samples for your senior exhibition.
What you should be doing in Spring:
Choose classes for next year that will make you eligible for admission to a 4 year college right after high school. Make sure you meet your Fine Art requirement next year if you have not yet done so, as well as continuing in your Math, Science and World Language classes. Challenge yourself, but be realistic as it is imperative that you keep all of your grades up to C’s or higher.
Take the Smarter Balanced Test seriously! If you do well on the test you could be considered "college ready" and avoid taking a Summer school class before college.
If you earned a D or an F in a class, make sure to sign up for summer school to retake the class.
12th Grade Edition
Congratulations on reaching your senior year of high school. It is an exciting time in your life, but it is also a very important and busy time. The following game plan should help you as you maneuver through your last year in high school and figure out exactly where you are going to be when it is over.
Practice good time management and study skills to keep good grades. Use a calendar/planner to keep track of assignments & deadlines. Staying organized helps. Remember - every class counts!
Either get or stay involved with extracurricular activities, clubs, leadership roles and community service. These help on college and scholarship applications and they are a lot of fun!
Attend our district’s Got Plans? College and Career Fair in October to start getting excited and interested in different colleges and careers. Attend other college fairs in San Diego too.
Take the SAT (sat.collegeboard.org) and/or ACT (www.actstudent.org) by Nov. or Dec. (should be taken in the spring of Jr. year also). These are required for admission into 4 year colleges. Consider taking some SAT subject tests as many colleges look at these scores as well. ** If you need accommodations, contact the College Board for the SAT or ACT for the ACT test.
Start applying to colleges. All CSU and UC schools have deadlines of Nov. 30 and private and out of state schools have deadlines closely after in December and January (for most). Make sure you have narrowed down your college list – you should not apply to tons of schools because you should have already started figuring out the ones you are truly interested in. Community college applications are due in the spring.
Ask adults who are willing to write letters of recommendation for you in advance. We are all asked to write many letters and they are quite time consuming. You need to fill out the “Recommendation Letter Survey” on Naviance.
Make sure to send official scores for SAT and ACT to the schools you are applying to as well as send your official transcripts from all high schools and colleges you have attended. Requests for Steele Canyon transcripts can be made through Naviance Student under the "Colleges" tab.
Fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) at www.fafsa.ed.gov as close to October 1 as possible, but make sure to wait until after October 1 and before March 2.
Apply for scholarships. Visit the scholarship page on the Family Connection website and visit Ms. Buenrostro in the counseling office. A great scholarship website is https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search
Make sure you are staying up to date with your senior exhibition.
Complete your 40 hours of community service.