Good evening everybody. So again I'm Aldo Cassell. I'm a counselor. Most of my case load is um A and most of the B's I would say depending on each year. So um you know I just want to thank you for all attending and you know I welcome
you. Um what we're going to tonight we're going to uh tonight's agenda we're going to talk about give give you guys an overview of the high school. Um, you know, one of the things is when we meet with our ninth graders, okay, um, we talked, we asked them questions about, you know, high school, um, you know,
what's the difference between the high school and the middle school. So, what we're going to do is we're kind of going to mirror a lot of this presentation to that. You know, how is the high school different from the middle school? Um, we're going to look at uh, graduation requirements and then we'll also explain what the course selection process is,
which we're kind of in the middle of it right now. We we just started that uh this last week and um we're starting with juniors. So we'll probably get to the freshman later on this month. All right. So what do we do as
counselors? Um obviously for you know th this this role our role as counselors it's evolved a lot from even you know when I was in high school. So what we do is you know we we um obviously we take you know we uh do the academic advising
we schedule kids um we talk about and this is a big part of it the post-secondary planning um the post-secary planning a lot of parents think or a lot of people think that it's something that we do um just in 11th grade and we we continue in 12th grade
but in reality it's not. What we do is each year we meet like we'll meet with our kids often in group settings and um you know like this year we met with our ninth graders, our freshmen and next year we'll meet with with your uh your freshman, your students. Um but we met
with our freshmen this year and um we we you know we had a discussion, we talked about um you know all these same similar things that we're going to talk about tonight. We give them a sample of a transcript which we're going to show you later on. Um, and then one of the things that, you know, I do and all the
counselors do is we start to ask them what they're thinking about, you know, after high school, after they graduate. And I know it's early and we kind of joke around with them like I'll joke with my kids be like, I know you just basically started high school, but you know, what do you where do you envision yourself after high school? What do you see yourself doing? What are your
interests? And I have them fill we all have them fill out um a freshman survey so that we have that with us and often um you know, we keep that. So every when whenever we we meet with them we have you know we're starting to build like you know um a profile of who our kids
are and um you know of some very often it changes from 9th grade to you know 11th grade or even 12th grade and sometimes it doesn't but it is something it's nice that you know to have that and we we start that in 9th grade. So obviously the post post secondary uh
planning you know it does start early. We do individual counseling. I mean that that's pretty obvious. I think you know every day we whether we have groups or whether we have um scheduling sessions, we have students coming in that need to talk to us that want to talk to us. So we do that. Um you know we and any
concerns that they have um in addition to the in addition to any you know to school counselors uh we c we conduct like like I said we we do have small group uh level meetings. Um, so we'll do that early on in the year. Each year we
do it a different time for depending on the uh the class that we're with. So for the ninth graders, we usually try to get that in around October, but sometimes there there's um you know scheduling conflict. So we may have to push that up a little bit. Our first group that we
always meet with every year is our fresh I'm sorry, our seniors um you know just to get out the college applications to go through the whole process. But then immediately after the seniors are done, we we start to get into our freshman groups. Um and you know, we we also
coordinate meetings with parents, teachers, and students if that's ever necessary. And sometimes parents are are asking for referrals um you know, out outside of school referrals. That's become a common thing. So, you know, we those are other things that are that we also do.
All right. So, freshman year, you know, we again we talk to the kids about freshman year. Um you know, it's It's definitely different than middle school. Um there's there's big change. I mean, I I saw that my daughter too. I my daughter, she's in ninth grade this
year, but um you know, even in talking to her, it's it's like I'm talking to the kids at West Orange High School because when we talk to them, we say, you know, what is different? Um and they talk to us, they say, you know, like obviously the school's much bigger, so that takes that takes time getting used
to that. um the new courses. A lot of times they'll tell us that they like the options that we have because we do have a lot of options and they like that. They like the new courses. Um new teachers, you know, meeting new friends. All this is part of you know the the the change that that's involved in freshman
year and yeah and this is I mean this this uh you know this screen right here is important because you know the high school ex what are high school expectations and I think one of the big things is and this is the thing that a lot of our ninth graders um you know
voiced to me and I'm sure voice to the other counselor is they love like that independence at first it's scary and I think that's why a lot of are hesitant or you know concerned, worried, anxious about coming to the high school. Um but then they they it they soon they they
adapt and you know that's why it's kind of good that we don't meet with them right away in September. We kind of meet with them in October or November because at that point we've we you know they they've already adapted to it and you know we're able to kind of talk to them about like other things. So um you know
one of the things that I think is important is you know when we talked to them we talked to them about making responsible decision making good decisions managing time I mean all these things that are on the on this list um taking attendance u you know these are things that we do
discuss with them one of the big things on this list that I think I'm a big proponent of is kind of taking the initiative you know like I do it with my own daughter with when my own daughter you know when she's when there's an issue she's having with you know a grade a class, a teacher. I really want her to
learn to advocate for herself. And I think that's important for ninth graders coming into, you know, coming into the high school is if you want to teach them to kind of be your own advocate and advocate for yourself. And if you have a problem, you know, take these steps. And the steps are the same steps that I'm going to tell you are basically what I
tell my daughter, you know, first thing you always want to do is you want to communicate to the teacher. You want to talk to the teacher if there's a problem and, you know, see see what what is the issue. um go for extra help and you know if you if you're doing these things and you know obviously as a parent um you're
going to be there to support your kids. So, but I think it's important to have them to advocate for themsel and then when necessary to communicate to you, you know, if they need help or, you know, if they need you to um you know, uh intervene at at um you know, at some
point and um like I said, we do we do talk to them about start thinking about college. It's not even so much like college and career choices. Um not that we don't talk I mean we talk to them about that, but a lot of like ninth grade is trying to figure out what you
like. I it's I do again I and I I hate going back to my daughter but I it's the same thing I tell her like take classes that you like and try and get an idea of what your likes are and your dislikes are because I have nth graders and I and it's happened where I've spoken to them and I've said hey you know they think
they want to be what an accountant or they want to go to or they want to be do something in business or they want to be an electrician and we're like great well you know what take an elective next year in in that area and see what you think and you know what The good thing about it is that like it's free right now. And this is what I tell my kids right now.
This is all free. So it's great to kind of expose yourself to all different areas because if you end up hating it, it's no big deal. Like you didn't waste anything because now you know that you know you that's not what you want to do. So I think um you know these are the things that we start talking um to them
about. Next screen. Yeah. And like so what we'll do and I think this is coming up on the on the following screen is we give we'll give them a sample of what a a a college uh I'm sorry a high school transcript looks like and um yeah and this is the sample
right here and this is a sample of a of a of a senior's high school transcript. So we say and we'll talk to the kids about how this is it's basically their academic record. Um, and this gets sent out to the to the colleges. And this transcript has on it, it has um, you
know, the classes that they've taken each year, the final grades that they received as well as the credits. And I'm emphasizing final grades because sometimes kids gets concerned if they have a bad marking period one. Oh, no. You know, they they they worry about their transcript. And, you know, if you
get a B or a C in marking period one, um, you know, the colleges will see what that final grade is. So if that final grade is an A, no one will know that you had you got that B or the B minus or whatever that was in mark period 1. So this is what the transcript looks like. Um 9th grade, 10th grade, and 11th
grade. It ends at 11th grade. The transcript um because by you know it's calculated at the the GPA is calculated at the end of every year. The GPA is in the middle. It gives you nth grade, 10th, and 11th grade GPA with the cumulative um GPA, which is like the
average of all three. It's not exactly the average, but it's kind of like the average of all three. Um, and you know, we it's important that we show them this because this brings up the whole discussion of, you know, it's every year counts. I mean, not you can't
take a year off. Um, so we we discussed that with them. We talked to them about ninth grade is important just like 10th grade is important and just like the 11th grade is important. So these are the that's why I think like it's important that we show them the sample transcript and what it looks like. And you know, right now theirs is theirs is
blank. So we I think it's good to have them see what one will look like. And getting involved, I mean, this is pretty self-explanatory. I think getting involved is really really really important. And I think it's um what I sometimes kids miss the point a little bit with the get involved. Getting
involved in my opinion isn't doing a hundred different things. Um, I I would rather see a kid maybe doing fewer things, but you know, really committing to that. Now, ninth grade could be a discovery year. So, nth grade is a little different because, you know,
you're trying to figure out, like I said, what you like, what you dislike. But, I mean, after that, you know, I think it's important to kind of start narrowing down on areas that you think you're a little more interested than others. So, you know, just being a general member in a club is probably doesn't hold as much weight as, you
know, now being a, you know, on a board of of a club. um and all of our clubs and sports. Um and and by the way, when I say getting involved, and I talk I tell this to the kids all the time. Um getting involved could mean different things. It could
mean like, you know, being involved in a club. It could mean being involved in a sport. Um it could be uh being involved in, you know, a music program or some kids work. um you know so like a lot of that kind of you know it all it's all
under the umbrella of uh getting involved and um what I would do is as a ninth grader and again this is something we do start to talk to them about in nth grade is I would start creating a resume their resume is probably going to be pretty blank if they did it in nth grade
but they should start to um do a res the resume can be done in Navviance Nviance is a program they they're using now we're going to use that throughout high school. Um we'll do it at our all during all of our meetings we pretty much have them open up Navviance and um so I think
you know they can use the resume option in Navviance start putting um you know things down it doesn't have to be fancy um and then you know each year just kind of updating it or updating it periodically you know after each event. So I um if your child is going to play
um you know high school sports there a couple things. First off um there there's no credit requirement for incoming students for eighth grade. So they kind of start off with a at a um with a clean slate. Um they do have to do a physical. It's required each year.
I do the same thing with my kids. Um it's you know every year you kind of have to go through the whole process. Um it is what it is. there is credits required for second semester courses are 15 um credits required for first semester courses based on the previous
year. So in 10th grade if they're going to continue with a sport they have to have um had 30 credits um in in ninth grade completed. So that's important you know if they're um you know going to continue with this uh sport. And you know the last thing with this um with
this slide is um the whole academic maintaining a good academic standing. Obviously that's important for college but also it's important for sports and you know we see it all the time. And we help students with um you know when when students are are are
you know if their goal is to play a sport in college um at either a D1 or a D2 level a lot of it is going to based uh be based on uh the GPA and you know so the GPA it's important that kids can qualify for the NCAA and um the NCAA
there is a GPA requirement um and there's this worksheet that we that you know a student can can input their information or you know, they want their coach or we can help them with, but each year you can put your information just to make sure you're going to you're going to um be eligible for that sport. And it's it is based on the GPA. One of
the other things, too, and it's a little early for freshmen, but at some point if you are going to be um if you feel like your child is going to play a sport in college, you know, you're at some point you're going to have to have them register for the NCAA, the link is right
here. It's the NCAA eligibility center. Um, and you just have to register for it. And that gives that student um, more privileges to, you know, speak to coaches. Um, and if they're going to be playing at a high level, coaches are going to want to see that they did
register for the NCAA. Not super necessary that they do that, you know, immediately right away, but at some point in high school. And if you don't know when that should take place, when your child comes to high school, if you want to just kind of reach out to your counselor and kind of give them um some background information on your child, um
ask them, you know, about the the uh register for the NCAA and and and one of us will be able to guide you um you know, to the to the link. >> So >> Leslie, Dr. I think I'm sorry I was uh
question. Um, so thank you so much, Mr. Cassell. >> You're welcome. >> Enjoy the rest of your evening. Uh, so what do incoming freshmen need to know? Mr. Cassell covered a lot of the information. Um, I'm just going to finish up with some more. So, in terms
of graduation requirements, uh, West Orange High School just recently adapted the minimum of 120 credits that students need in order to graduate successfully from West Orange High School to receive a diploma. In order to attain those 120
credits, students need to take 20 credits in English. For every year that every student is in high school, for every year, you'll have to take a year of English. We recommend four years of math. It says 15 credits, which is normally three years of math. However,
four years of math is strongly encouraged to build a solid and a nice well-rounded transcript. Students will need to take three years of social studies starting with modern world history going into US1 and ending with US2 by their junior year.
For every year student is in high school, they also need to enroll in health and physical education. Um, I know the slide says 3.75 credits, but for every year a student is in high school, they have to have PE. In terms of science, 15 credits, three years is
needed. Most students start with biology. They go into physics and um, chemistry and or physics or earth science. We have many other electives outside of the core graduation requirements. Students need to have attained five credits in a visual and
performing art such as art, music or theater. Uh five credits is needed for a world language going on. For college purposes, we do encourage students to take at least two to three years of the same world language. Students have to have
five credits um of the 21st century skill. And then finally, they need two and a half two and a half credits in a financial literacy. That was a lot of information. to try and make things a little bit easier for you. There is a credit worksheet that
when you meet with your school counselor, your school counselor goes over a lot of these things to make sure that most to make sure that all of their students are taking the core graduation requirements so that there aren't any surprises at the end or you know that
you haven't taken something that you should have taken your freshman year. The policy of promotion for the high school is that everything is earned on credits. And in order to be promoted to the next level, when you come as and as a freshman in September, you have no
credits. However, by the time June 2027 rolls around, you will have completed at least 35 to 40 credits in your schedule. In order to become a sophomore, you need to have successfully um completed 30 credits. In order to be
considered a junior, you need to have completed 60 credits. And in order to be considered a senior, you need to have completed 90 credits. By the time you reach your junior year, most likely you're going to have 40 credits placed in your schedule every
school year. Uh that does give you some leeway and already flexibility that you're more than halfway meeting the minimum of the 120 credits needed for graduation. West Orange High School has been operating on a rotating drop schedule. I believe that the middle school is
operating on a similar schedule with an AB schedule. However, at the high school, there is no Monday through Friday. We have a rotation of an A day, B, C, and D day. I know it sounds confusing now. Honestly, parents, the
kids get it. Um, we all happen to learn it. Thank you so much, Miss Rosen. So the rotating drop, this example shows a typical schedule that starts with an A day rotation. Whenever Monday is an A
day, the f Friday will be the same repetition of an A day. On an A day, [clears throat] we also recently adopted a new bell schedule. So our classes are 55 minutes. Block one begins at 7:30 and
ends at 8:25. Block two begins at 8:30 and ends at 9:25. Block three begins at 9:30 and so on. I really don't want to read the rest of the schedule for you. However, we do have um a common lunch.
Lunch is between 10:30 to 11 uh yes 11:15. We have lab. [clears throat] We rotate three blocks in the morning and then there are three blocks that are rotated in the afternoon. School begins
at 7:30 and ends at 2:15 at the high school. Uh the course selection process. So you will be right now I believe that all of the special programs are meeting at Liberty Roosevelt and at Edison going
over all of the special programs that you should be introduced to for the Institute of Humanities um the Institute of Math and Science, our civic I'm sorry our citizen empowerment institute um ROC
many clubs um and there's another program. I'm AVID. I'm sorry, I was forgetting AVID. So, all of the all of those programs are coming down to the middle school now to give you introductions about the programs, the applications, and the course selection
process will begin with freshmen beginning on February the 2nd and ending by February the 13th. The classes that you select, of [clears throat] course, will be the classes that you are going to be enrolled in once you come up to the high
school. We have an array of classes that are available for freshmen and I know your school counselors are going to encourage you to take very challenging classes and just to as Mr. Cassell pointed out take a wide range of classes of things that might interest you. Now
is the time to take things that you may typically may not have had a chance to take. A traditional schedule for a freshman you'd have to take English 9, biology, modern world history. Your math can vary from algebra 1, algebra 2,
geometry or pre-calculus, PE9, uh, a world language. And then you have two elective periods. The elective periods can be anything that you desire, I strongly recommend that while the school counselors will try to put you in
your top choices to pick at least maybe four different alternate courses. Um, when you're choosing an elective, there are some symbols that your your school counselor will show that in order to meet the financial literacy, we have a key at the bottom. Anything that meets a
visual and performing arts requirement, if it meets the 21st the 21st century requirement, we do have courses at the high school that are dual enrollment tuitionbased. And we also have courses that are eligible for college credit at the high
school. Thank you, Dr. Chong. I'm going to take over now. Hi everyone. I'm Rachel Rosen. I'm one of the school counselors here. Um Dr. Chong touched briefly on the special programs that are available for freshmen. Your child's eighth grade counselors are currently meeting with
them. Um these are applicationbased. I'll briefly go over them, but there's way more information about them on the websites. And these are all hyperl. So once you guys once we post the presentation, you'll have access to visit all of these links. Um the first is the Air Force Junior Reserve Office
Officer Training Corps, we call it ROC or AF ROC. Um this is meant to be a 4-year program. So you apply in freshman year and the plan is for you to take it all four years. So every year you would have one period of this ROC class. Um
and their their program varies from actual physical fitness to community service. Um there are certain days where they do have to wear uniforms and keep their hair a certain way. So um it's a pretty strict rigid program, but we find
a lot of success um from our students in that program. The AVID Institute is actually a nationwide program. Um I like to call it it's for like the motivated middle. So, if you have a student that is motivated to do well, to improve on
their, you know, studying skills, improve on their note-taking skills, hopefully take an honors course or multiple honors courses at some point in high school, this program is a really good program for your student. Essentially, it's one period in the day and they have a teacher who leads the
the the program and that teacher stays with them for all four years. So they really do form great relationships with um their students. They help them with everything from, you know, time management skills to study skills to even like starting college and career
research. Um so highly recommend that. Again, that's like for the motivated middle students who are motivated to um to be better and to be, you know, better students. Um the last two programs, the IH and the IMS, it's the Institute for Humanities and the Institute for Math
and Science. These are honorsbased programs. So your child would only be eligible for these programs if they are recommended by their current teachers for honors um academics. So the institute of humanities you have to be recommended for honors English and
honors social studies and for IMS you have to be recommended for honors math and honors science. Um, a lot of people feel like this program, these two programs, like if your if your student is, you know, a really, really eager student that they should be in one of these programs. And we're trying to
debunk the myth that these are just honors based interest programs. So, these are for students who have a strong interest in either the humanities or the math and science. Each of these programs has um elective requirements that they
have to take for the first two years. And for the humanities, they have to take either a fine or performing art or certain humanities electives. And for math and science, they have to take either a math or science electives. And there's a variety of them that are
listed in um the program of studies. But I just want to make it clear that you could have a student who is an allhonors student or an honors student in some of these subjects who just takes honors courses without being in the program and therefore they don't have to take the
elective requirements that are part of the program. So I strongly encourage students who have interest in these areas to apply otherwise if there's not a strong interest in there they can have a free range to take whatever electives they want while still maintaining an honors schedule.
All right. So, it's never too early to start planning for your future. Again, the links will be provided to all of you. Um, our program of studies is a 100 plus page book of a description of each of our courses. Um, you'll also get to read more about our business and family
consumer science programs, our culinary art programs, um, all of our dual credit programs um, for technology, engineering, health sciences. Um, and then there is one additional small learning community called the Citizens
Empowerment Institute, CEI, which is available for students in 10th grade. So, they will learn about that program in 9th grade to see if they're interested. Um, it's a social studies-based program, um, you know, involving civic involvement and just
becoming like an involved citizen. Um, so there are elective requirements for that program as well. Um but again freshmen can apply for the CI program. Okay. Naviance is something that was mentioned. I am actually the Naviance
coordinator for the entire school. So any Naviance related questions can come to me. It is a program that your students do have access to right now. We will make sure especially in that freshman meeting that we will have with them sometime in October that every one
of your children can log into Naviance. Most of them either haven't logged in since 8th grade or at some point in middle school and that's okay. Um we really get involved with this program as we start doing career planning in um 10th grade and college planning and
post-secary planning in 11th and 12th grade. Um I think we mentioned the freshman survey. We will have all students log in to take the freshman survey. So again it's just building that profile about their interests, their dislikes and all that kind of stuff. Um, in Navviance, the other portion that
Navvian is used for is basically a communication tool. So, um, if you're not already getting the Naviance emails from the middle school, I think they more use school messenger. We use school messenger as well, but we also use
Naviance as a way to communicate all different types of things at the high school. So, you know, at least one or two emails usually goes out each day from Naviance about all things pertaining to the high school. So, at the very least, you just want to make sure that your child and you have your
emails registered with us, which 99% of you do when you come up to the high school, and that way you will receive those emails um right off the bat. Okay. Um, in addition to the 10 school counselors that we have, we also, um,
typically do have two student assistance counselors or SACs. You may have heard the term sack in middle school. Um, it's a person that they can go to a safe place. Um, someone for a little bit more indepth um, assistance or counseling that is school-based. Um, we currently
only have Miss Surak right now, so she is a little overwhelmed, but we will be hiring a new sack um for the next school year, if not this school year. And um essentially they're, you know, they they're a team and um they split up by
last name, but oftent times it's like whoever's available and they just support the students in addition to um you know, stuff that we already are doing with them, you know, scheduling and grades and classes. It's just like an extra support for those students that might be deal having a hard time or
dealing with issues or you know need to find some referrals outside of school. Um things of that nature. Um oh so the student assistant counselors um they will assist families and students with alcohol and drug issues by connecting students and
families to community resources. They provide support for families, staff, and administration who may have academic issues relating to social social, emotional, mental health issues. They are members of the high school support teams such as crisis management, 504,
INRS, um, emergency manage management teams, and they also serve as the anti-bullying specialist. So, they wear a lot of hats and are an integral part of our department. Okay, so what next? During eighth grade, you will be meeting with your school
counselor or completing the course request um form. This is where you're going to get a list of the electives that your child is eligible to take. Not all electives are open to freshmen. Some of them, you know, start in 10th grade or 11th grade or have some sort of
prerequisite. So, you will, you know, come up with a list of how many of the electives that you want to take, essentially ranking them one to eight. Um, freshmen typically have two periods open for electives. So, they take their
five major academics plus gym, that's six periods, and then the two additional periods will be for electives. Now, if your child is in a special program or in music or in the band or in ROC or in AVID, that counts as one of their
elective periods. So, you just want to keep that in mind. if you know your child is already going to be in one of those programs, that's going to count as one of their elective periods. So essentially, they're going to have one additional elective period. Um, and we as the counselors work very diligently
with the students to make sure that not only are they getting the classes that they want for the special programs, but they're also meeting graduation requirements that are required by the state. And I'll go into that a little bit more in the next slide or so. Um, so yeah, you're going to complete that course request sheet and then during the
summer, be sure to check for if you have any summer assignments. I think um there is usually always a math summer assignment and um a suggested reading list for English, but depending on the level in the course that the student is
um scheduled for in 9th grade, there might be additional summer assignments. You should plan to have your child attend the orientation. There's I think three two or three dates in August. Understand that a lot of people travel in August. So, we provide a couple of dates that are available for your
student to attend orientation. That's like a two and a half hours at the high school where they get um their Chromebook, they get their ID, they get a full tour of the school, etc. So, please, you know, when those dates come out, be sure to have your child attend
one of those. Um your child's schedule will be available on Power School in August. So same way that they log in now you would log in um we typically release them like the second week of August. Um and even at that point students can request a schedule change. So if you get
your schedule in June you do get you do get a course list in June. At that point you can make a request to make a schedule change and then you'll get your official schedule in the beginning of August with the teachers and the periods and then you can still request to make a change. the school counselors, we do
work a little bit over the summer, but um not every day. So, if you email your child's counselor, you'll most likely get a bounce back over the summer, but we do, you know, check all of our emails at some point and get back to you to make sure that, you know, we're adhering
to whatever requests you're making. Um, so email is definitely the best way to to get in touch with us over the summer when you have your schedule and you have questions or want to make changes. Okay. Um, [clears throat] here's helpful links at a glance, which
you will have access to. So, the course selection sheet, I'm just going to quickly pull it up. Um, it's a double-sided sheet that is broken out by department. So, we have all of our electives on here. So, there are electives within each department.
There's language arts electives, science electives, math electives. Um, and I'm I'm going through this quickly because you guys will have access to see all of this. Um, and it's also in our program of studies. Um, music, drama, dance, social studies, and then on the second
page are the other electives like art, technology and engineering, business education, family and consumer science, etc. So, it's just important to look at these key symbols down here because a lot of the courses do require either a prerequisite or a recommendation from
either a teacher um or a supervisor. We have classes, elective classes that run the full year. Those are going to be in white. And also, we have classes that are semesters, so it's half a year. So, it'll be Q1 and Q2 or Q3 and Q4.
Obviously, if you're picking halfyear electives, you would need to have another halfyear elective to go along with that. Um, so you can definitely have a mix of full year and halfyear electives in your schedule. And then like I was talking about, you know, us kind of tracking the kids as to meeting
graduation requirements. There are three elective graduation requirements that have to be be met by the time the child graduates. One of them is taking their financial literacy requirement. Another one is taking a full year or five
credits of a visual or performing art. And the other is five credits of a 21st uh century life career requirement. So you see there's little keys next to all of these as to what um requirement that they might meet. A lot of these in the
family consumer science and in business and in tech meet the 21st century requirement. And um a lot of them obviously all of them in the art department meet the art requirement. And then there will be a variety of electives that will meet certain
requirements like some of the science electives meet the career requirement. Um the one of the social studies electives meets the financial literacy. So you will have plenty of time to dive deeper into this sheet. Um but I you know like Mr. Cassell was saying the
immediate reaction from the students is like, "Wow, I'm so impressed with how many electives and choices that you guys offer." So, we do really right off the bat try to start talking to the kids about what they might be interested in and recommend electives that would
expose them to those areas to a see if it's something that they're actually interested in or b if it's something that they can rule out that they wouldn't want to study further. Um, so we really do try to, you know, encourage students to take classes that they might follow as a career path. Um, while also
choosing some classes that might be fun, like the culinary class, which is the most highly requested class, uh, in the building. I will say that seniors get first priority for the culinary class. A lot of freshmen request it and don't get it. So, um, we
try to give first priority to seniors and then juniors and then sophomores and then freshmen. If your child does get culinary, consider yourself very lucky as a freshman. Um, we talked about the ROC program. I'm not going to really talk too much about the co-op program. It's really a senior
program, but there are work options for seniors um, in their last year, assuming that they're on track to graduate. We have a culinary program. This is the social studies program. the Citizens Empowerment Institute. We have a program
for um students who want to become teachers, the AVID Institute. I talked about the IMS and the IH program as well. Um so again, I think that's our last slide. I think the other counselors have been answering diligently questions
in the chat, but um I'm going to leave it up to parents if you have any questions that you want to put in the chat as like a last a last call. >> Just a reminder, it's the Q&A, not the chat. >> Sorry. You even >> No, it's okay. It's okay. [laughter]
>> Before we started, she was like, "Don't call it the chat. Call it the Q&A." [laughter] >> That's okay. >> Fail. Um, and I'm looking like we have no questions. Oh, where is the AVID application? Um, it's on the website
under programs in the high school. Again, you can ask your child's school counselor for it. Um, Dr. Chun seems to be answering that question. I I'm just calling it out now. I'm answering this live. Um, to apply to
IMS, do you need to be in honors now? Good question. You do not need to be in honors this year in eighth grade, but you do need to have your current eighth grade teacher give you a recommendation to be in honors for next year. So, I believe that process is going on now in
the middle school. And also, I just wanted to reiterate that this is all happening super early. This is just the starting process. So, um there are deadlines for the special programs, but in terms of finalizing your child's schedule, there's a lot of time to
finalize that. Okay? So, like even before the end of the year, you can request schedule changes and then even over the summer, you can request schedule changes. So, a lot will happen between now and you know, the first day of school. Once school starts on the
first day of school, we no longer allow schedule changes. So, that's a big I don't know if that's a change from the middle school, but that's a big thing for us is that we really want you to be thoughtful about your elective choices. Um, because once
you start, we're not switching you to another elective. There are many students who do go to that first day and they're like, "Oh, this is I don't like this class. I want to switch it." We really encourage them give it more time. Um, and just be thoughtful because you're not going to be allowed to change
your elective once school starts. So, um, be sure that you request those schedule changes ahead of time. Um, to apply to IMS. So, we did that one. Aside from passion, is there a benefit
to joining the IMS or the IH programs? Dr. Chung seems to be answering that one currently. Um, do they need to be recommended for both math and science or just one or the other? No, they need to be recommended
for both to be an IMS or IH. Um, one will not cut it. They need to be recommended for both math and science honors or for IH both social studies and English. Um, if support classes are needed, how
are they scheduled? Uh, I'm assuming that means like special education or if your child has an IEP and your child will be assigned um a case manager upon coming up to the high school and that will be followed and we have tons of different levels of support classes at
the high school. So, we work very closely with the child study team to ensure that their IEP is being followed. 504 plans similar. Um, if you're coming up to the high school with the 504 plan, we will usually meet in June with the
eighth grade counselors to successfully transition you over to the high school and take whatever considerations are needed. Um, if my child took Spanish in seventh and eighth grade, will be he placed in Spanish 1 and 9th grade? No. If your
child um is taking Spanish in 8th grade, typically they go into Spanish 2 or the second level of any world language. So if they're taking French, they go into French too, Chinese, etc. Um I will say though that if your child is not strong
in language, even if they took it in eighth grade, I would recommend them starting at the first level. So, even if they took Spanish, but like they struggled with the class or it was hard for them to grasp some of the concepts, it might be a good idea to have them start with Spanish one in in high
school. >> Um, insert that. >> Mike is just asking the the pros and cons of being an IMS and IH versus being a quote free agent, honor student. Honestly,
that's a good question. It depends on what you what you consider a pro or a con. To me, you're going to be required to take certain electives if you're in one of the programs. So, if you want full range to take any electives that
are available, I would say don't be in one of these programs. If you want, if you're interested in taking engineering, coding, um, one of the health science like premed classes, I don't have my book with me. There's like four
different buckets for IMS of classes that you can take all related to STEM. So, you're going to have to choose, you know, one of those electives for both 9th and 10th grade. And similarly for IH, um, you're going to have to choose a
performing or fine art elective or I think creative writing is also allowed. Um, so like if your child is in band and they really love the arts, then I would be an appropriate program for them. But if they're not interested in doing any sort of art classes aside from the
graduation requirements of, you know, taking a year of an art, then IH is not the program for them. Um, oh, and I should talk about the pros to the the pros to the the programs is that they do form like a small learning community. So, they are going to be in
those math and science classes and those English and social studies classes with the same cohort of students. They do plan really fun activities and field trips and like events. So, that's fun for them, a definite pro. But there's
no, it's not like a leg up over honors. It's not like IH or IMS is like higher than just taking the regular honors classes. It's not and it's not viewed that way either. Um, so I think that's a big, you know, myth that has been going
around in the community for years that we like to debunk mostly because we hate to see students come out of the programs after the first year because they're like, I don't want to take these electives. Um, do you have to take IH to do art related things? Absolutely not. All of
the arts, performing arts, dance, music classes are available to our entire population, not just students in IH. Um, if you don't select IMS in 9th grade, does that mean you cannot do it in 10th grade? The door is not closed,
but we don't have a lot of students who enter the program in 10th grade. Um, but the door is not closed. So, it is still a uh you're still able to apply to IMS or IH after 9th grade. Um, just keep in mind it's only a 2-year program. It's
just for 9th and 10th grade anyway. So, then they would really only just be in the program for one year. Sorry, Mrs. Rosen. I've been typing away. So, >> yeah, I see you're typing and I'm talking away. So, I either way, we're getting it all in. >> Dr. Ch, I just want to confirm that the
recording of the presentation will also be linked to the parents. Uh, is that via email? >> Yes, it's going to go out. I'm going to ask um the eighth grade counselor to send it out to all eighth grade families so that they have the presentation. >> Thank you.
How many students roughly are in each class? That varies greatly, mostly dependent upon the classroom size and what's going on in that class. You know, some classes like our technology lab may only have
like 18 stations, so it's cut at 18. other classes, you know, the cap sizes could be 25, 30. Um, it really all depends. I will say that as a department, we try to balance the
classes. So, that happens a lot over the summer and you may see schedule changes happen over the summer. If we notice that like one math class has 12 kids in it and the other one has 29, we're going to try to balance that out, right? So that it's not such a burden on one
teacher. And how many students are in IMS or IH? I'm going to say about 60, maybe less. Um, for IH, we usually have, you know, two sections. Um, Mrs. Moretti, I see that you've
raised your hand. Unfortunately, we're not using that function. If you can just put your question into the Q&A, we'll be able to help you with that. >> Last chance to put a question in. You can always reach out to us after the fact. We make ourselves very available
um via email, via phone to meet in person. Um, so if you didn't get your question answered and you think of a question, I'd say start with the middle school counselor just because you already have a relationship with them. Um, but you can also reach out to us at the high
school. Uh, we haven't yet, you know, come up with our case load chart, which varies yeartoyear. Typically, each of the counselors has like a portion of the alphabet, but we do balance that out each year as well. So, we'll have a
better idea of who which counselors are assigned to which students um towards the end of the year. And how big is the freshman class? Our our class sizes are typically around between 450 and 500. Two people are asking about the deadlines to IMS. I believe it's
February 6th, but don't quote me on that. >> February the 6th or the 2nd. I want to say I think it's the first um the first Monday in February because they're going to the middle schools now to discuss all about the programs, the requirements, and the applications so that students
have them in hand so that they can turn them in because decisions are made by the end of February. If there's anyone else who has any questions, they can use that Q&A button at the um typically at the bottom of your screen. Some people it's the top of your screen. And you can choose to
remain anonymous as well if you'd like. I hope this was informative. Um, again, we will be available to answer more questions as time goes on. This was really just like an introduction. I know it's scary. Your babies are going off to high school and I can't imagine. Mine's
in fifth grade and she's going off to middle school next year. So, I can't even imagine how I'm going to feel when she's going to high school. Um, but we are here to answer your questions, to ease the transition, and to set everyone up for success. Okay. Oh, I just I think we got a Oh, we
got a sneaky sneak in there. What's the difference between AVID and IH? Which would be more useful? IH is an honorsbased program. So, you have to be in honors English and honors social studies and be willing to take a
fine performing or humanities elective. AVID is more for students who could build on their skills, who are motivated to do well in school to improve their academic skills, their time management
skills, um, and just have like an extra layer of support from their freshman through senior year >> and it's every year whereas IH is just two years. Okay. Oh, >> sneaky sneaky. At
>> the same time, are students allowed to leave during lunch? [laughter] >> Seniors are the only um students permitted off campus during the lunch block. No, freshmen cannot leave school during lunch.
Um, someone asked, "My child's counselor said that she'll have six top elective choices. So, where does the eight come from?" We just try to say the more the better because we will, the school counselor will try to put in, you know, the courses that your child suggested, but
if they are unable to, they at least have different alternatives that they can um put in the schedule. um saying that we had listed that one of the questions on the 504 is answered live and I'm just trying to score back through it because there was quite a bit of questions.
um if the person um >> so typically the eighth grade the eighth grade counselors if your child has a current 504 in middle school we'll have a meeting in June like a transition meeting that we try to attend if we can
um to learn about the student their accommodations so that we can you know fulfill everything on their accommodations list. Um, otherwise, if you're asking for new 504s, that is something that's, you know, done at the high school via request to the school
counselor and the 504 committee. Okay, the last call for Q&A questions. [snorts] that one. They're asking for the requirements of the AVID program. >> I'm honestly not sure how it's decided if they're getting into ADVID. There is
I I believe an essay and an interview, but I'm not but it's again it's just showing that you're a motivated student who wants to level up for for instance, you know, just improve on their academic skills. Or it might be a student that you are that you're the parent and
you're like they could really use some extra support, a period to organize themselves during the day to get support with time management um and and and just that kind of stuff as well. they'll have like an extra period in the day. Uh it's not a free period. There is curriculum
involved but um it's again just a period to help them build their skills. So a lot of requirements about the programs. Again, I they're all laid out on the applications. So, I just I encourage you to read through the applications because it's pretty
straightforward um on the applications >> and um someone's asking with ROTC AVID IH and IMS, can a student only choose one? >> So, that's a good question. We do have students who are in dual programs, but I
will just say it's very hard as a freshman because you only have two periods. So um we don't I I don't think you're allowed to apply to multiple programs for IH IMS I you have to choose one but like we
will have students who are like in ROC and band and [clears throat] so it's like sorry you don't you're not choosing an elective like those are your two electives. Um, there's three nurses at the high school, 10 counselors,
someone just asked that. Yes, the eighth grade students will be meeting with their current eighth grade counselors to to pick your electives. Okay. Okay. And then at some point in the spring, we get those it rolls over and then towards the end of the year by June, then the high school counselors
are the ones reviewing those schedules. Um, and then we kind of take over June through the summer and you'll no longer be reaching out to your eighth grade counselor and you'll start reaching out to us for schedule changes. But for now, any scheduling questions should go to your eighth grade counselors.
>> Why is lunch so early? Well, they start at 7:30. >> It's brunch. It's brunch. [laughter] [snorts] >> Kids are hungry by then. I'm hungry by then. I eat breakfast at like 6:00 in the morning. So, by 10:30, I'm I'm ready for a little snack.
Uh, when you said that you could have six to eight electives, did you mean that you could have multiple electives per rank or that you could choose eight classes to rank from one to eight instead of one to six? Yeah, you're ranking them 1 to eight. Um, I ha I apologize. I haven't seen the actual
form that the eighth grade counselors are giving to you guys, but it's going to have all the electives available in 9th grade. And then you're essentially going to rank your top eight, one to eight, and we'll start with one. If we can't get you one, we're going to move to two to three, and so on. Hopefully, we don't have to go to eight, but
sometimes it happens. And someone asked, if the grades aren't too great in eighth grade, does that limit your elective options? It shouldn't limit your elective options. No, there's not too many electives that have like a grade
requirement aside from like the programs you have to apply to. There's not. There's definitely electives that are more academically heavy than other electives. Think like coding versus culinary. Um,
but the grades in 8th grade are really not considered in terms of your elective choice. Okay, it looks like we have no open questions at this time. If we want to do a a one last call for questions, I just want to make sure everyone gets them [laughter] in because usually that's
when they start flooding in when we say no, it's great. I mean, uh, 82 questions were asked, so, you know, so that was great. >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much everyone for joining us tonight. Um, my information
was at the last slide. It the presentation will be sent out to everyone. Um, if you have immediate questions, I would say that your child's school counselor at his or her respective middle school is also a very great resource and they'll be able to
answer um your questions as well. >> I'm sharing really quickly just Dr. Chung's email. >> Um, when you apply, >> it follows the same algorithm as all the other staff. It's L. Chung. So, first initial, last name at west
orangechools.org. While we wrap up, the last uh someone's asking, "Are students assigned lockers?" >> Um, they are. >> Yes. >> So, they they can speak to their first block teacher at the high school and they can be assigned a locker. And when
students apply to Avid, they find out if they made it. It is an interview application process. Once the application is submitted, there is an interview, I'm sorry, there is an interview afterwards and then time to reflect and look at all the candidates and then students and families will be
notified. There are five minute breaks in between classes. Students have five minutes passing time. >> Um, all programs at the high school are really great. I really can't definitively say which one is better. AVID loops with the student. They're
with the student all four years while they're in high school. AVID would be an elective even though it is a program. AVID would be an elective. >> You're still going to fill out that sheet that has your eight. I'm not sure AVID's listed on the list of electives.
So, you're still going to fill out that sheet with your rank one to eight or one to six or however many [clears throat] you choose. And then if you are accepted into AVID or IH or a special program, your counselor will let you know and then you'll just know that you you're going to use one of your elective
periods for that program. I'm not sure if AVID interviews are in person or virtual. Um I would check the application to see if it says it on there. IMS is the institute of is the institute of math and science.
Students right now are meeting during advisory with the um IMS teachers and students from the high school that are coming down to discuss and talk more about the programs. >> IMS does not give you college credits. Someone asked, do you gain college
credits through IMS? You do not gain any college credits through IMS. However, there are electives in our school um which do offer college credit. So, those are all listed on the elective sheet that you will have access to see. >> Uh you have to be enrolled in ROC and
you have to apply and be accepted and enrolled in ROC in order to take the ROC classes. Lunch starts at 10:30 and ends at 11:15. It is 45 minutes long. >> Someone asked how many electives there
are. I'm not sure if you mean how many electives do we offer. You can check our program of studies. Many, many, many. Um, but typically freshmen will have two periods for electives. >> College credit as well. Sorry, this question made me laugh. For the early childhood program where you
have to wake up early in the morning to take care of the fake child, um [laughter] there is a portion of the early childhood program which gives you um a baby. I I honestly don't know exactly how that works, but again, please feel free to reach out to the program
directors and and find out more about that. [clears throat] >> Yes, please still rank your electives. The baby is intense. The babies are very intense, fake or real. >> Um, so the questions are done and this
presentation will be sent out to everyone. Uh, Mrs. Rosen, thank you so much for being available this evening. Mr. Cassell, I know he's not on the presentation any longer. and Miss Grathista, thank you so much for
moderating and assisting with the Q&A and the presentation this evening. I hope everyone has a lovely evening. Um, and this information will be shared with everyone hopefully by Thursday, no later than Friday. Okay, >> thank you.
>> Thank you. Have a nice night. >> Thank you all. Have a great night. >> Bye bye.