The Seton Keough High School

Students, Faculty & Staff
Guidance Department

The guidance counselors’ assignments for the 2007-08 school year are as follows:

Freshman-Seniors:
A-I: Ms. Sara Zelechoski (Zella-huskey) or Ms. Z, ext. 1209
J-R: Ms. Lauren Peters, ext. 1207
S-Z: Ms. Ellen Starr, ext. 1210

The Guidance Department Provides:

Individual and Group Counseling
College Counseling
Junior Seminar Courses
Service Leaning Opportunities
The Peer Mediation Program

Class of 2009 Seniors and Senior Parents:
For those of you who would like to work on the college process this summer, here are some suggestions:

College Essays: The guidance department requested that college essays be assigned in the junior English classes as a graded assignment. More than 95% of the English classes worked on these assignments during the fourth quarter. If your class did not work on an essay in class, we recommend that students write the college essays over the summer. Here are some suggestions for the essay process. Keep the essays between 400-500 words. Please make sure someone edits your essay for accuracy and clarity. Listed below are the common application essay questions:

COMMON APPLICATION ESSAY QUESTIONS

Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
Describe a character in fiction, an historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
A topic of your choice.

SAT preparation: If you would like to improve your SAT scores, you can purchase a prep book for the SAT at a local bookstore, which will allow you to work through practice tests. If you are interested in further tutoring, you can contact your local community college for summer SAT prep courses, contact a private tutor or SAT prep company such as Huntington Learning Center or Sylvan Learning.
Once again, the guidance office has arranged for SAT prep courses to be offered by private companies in the fall. The classes will be held after school and in the evening. The following SAT prep courses will be available:
- Dr. Martha Gagnon will be offering evening SAT review classes on September 9th, 16th , 23rd and 30th at Seton Keough High School. Classes will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. All sections of the SAT will be reviewed during these SAT prep sessions. Dr. Gagnon can be reached at : 410-442-1600 for more information or on her website: www.MarthaGagnon. Dr. Gagnon also offers private SAT tutoring during the year.
- READ SAT Prep: READ, LLC will be offering SAT prep class at Seton Keough for the students taking the test in October, November, and December of 2008. Classes will be held on September 8th , 10th , 15th, 17th , 22nd , 24th , 29th and October 1st from 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at Seton Keough High School. There will also be classes held on weekends at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City on Sept. 7, 14, 21, and 28. For additional information, contact Annette McMahon at 410-707-9930 or download a registration form from the Seton Keough Web site. You may also download a registration form from the READ Web site: www.readforalifetime.com
Visit colleges: Visiting college campuses is very important. College visits can be easily scheduled during the summer months. Most college campuses still have students attending the summer sessions, so you can still get the collegiate feel during the summer. We would recommend that the majority of your college visits be completed by September 15th.
Brag sheets, transcript release forms and resumes: Please make sure that you have turned all of these documents into Mrs. Starr, Ms.Zelechoski or Ms. Peters by July 1st. Brag sheets were sent home with the report cards in June. They can also be downloaded from the Guidance Website. Documents are listed at the end of the website.
College meetings:All three guidance counselors have completed the individual college counseling sessions for all juniors/rising seniors. Almost 99% of the students have completed these sessions. Since we will have met with each student individually during the fourth quarter, we will not be holding mandatory individual sessions in the fall. We will be conducting college nights and informational sessions during orientation and senior homerooms. If you have not seen your guidance counselor for your planning meeting, please see your counselor in early September.
Service hours: Seton Keough requires 45 service hours to be completed prior to graduation. The guidance office recommends that all service hours be completed by September 15th. Refer to the handbook for new service hours guidelines. If you are working on your service hours during the summer, forms can be submitted in September.
Online applications: Most colleges and universities post their online applications between August 1 to August 15th. If you plan to work on your online applications over the summer break, please make sure the online application is for the fall 2009/2010 academic year. We recommend filling out your applications online as soon as possible. Transcripts, SAT scores and recommendations can be submitted once you return to school in the fall. With the new online process of applying to colleges, the online application is sent independently of the transcript/recommendation package.
Update email addresses: Please make sure you send us your current email addresses. This is how the guidance office will communicate with students/parents during the college process and senior year. Send all updates and/or additions to: estarr@setonkeough.com.

Changes to the Service Learning Program

As most of you are aware, students at Seton Keough are required to complete 45 hours of service learning during their time at SKHS as part of a Maryland State Department of Education requirement. As we are a Catholic school, this requirement is meant to help the students learn the value of Christian service to others and to help students to experience the personal growth that occurs when one opens their hearts to others.

In keeping with these ideals in the Fall of 2006 the Guidance Department has implemented the following change to the manner in which these hours are earned and documented: students will be required to seek approval for their service projects prior to them taking place. Approval for projects will be granted only with a full description of the project and when this project takes place in the true tradition of Christian service. Any project where students are reimbursed financially for their time does not count towards this requirement. Students seeking approval should obtain the form for Service Learning Approval, fill out the portion with their name and description of the project and then bring it to Ms. Peters for approval. Once it is approved, students will complete the project as described, have their site supervisor verify hours as done in the past and then bring the form back to Guidance for filing. These changes obviously do not effect hours already earned, but from here forward, we need to use the new approval system!

Please note that there is an exception to this policy as many of our students volunteer at a core group of agencies that have already been approved. Prior approval is not needed for service projects completed at these agencies, but the student must still complete the Service Learning Approval form after their project is finished. The list of these approved agencies is available here and below and in Guidance Office on the Service Learning bulletin board. There are also ideas for current agencies looking for volunteers on this board. Please come ask Ms. Peters if ideas are needed!

Lastly, please note that per the administration and the SKHS handbook, seniors who have not completed their service hours cannot participate in Senior Privilege. If students have hours they have completed over the summer, please turn them in as soon as possible to earn credit for them. Students are also welcome to ask Ms. Peters for the current number of hours they have documented in Guidance.

PSAT Test Results

Please dowload the information sheet on how to understand your daugher's PSAT scores.

Guidance Documents (MSWord Format)