HVCHS Counseling Newsletter
February 2023
Notes for Seniors applying to college:
- Mid-Year Grade Reports: You may be hearing from colleges in the coming weeks as they request your mid-year reports for senior year. These mid-year reports include your final grades for the first semester, as well as indication of any course changes that may have occurred since your initial transcript was sent. It is best practice for you to make colleges aware of any such course changes so that they are not surprised upon receiving your mid-year report. Please know that we will automatically send your mid-year report to any colleges for which you have submitted transcript request forms. If you have applied to a school and we already sent them your transcript, then you do not need to do anything in order for your mid-year report to be sent once grades are finalized.
Keep your counselor updated: As you begin to receive admissions decisions from your colleges, please notify your counselors so that they can update your Naviance accounts with those results! We rely on this information to keep the data in Naviance (ie. scattergrams for each college) as accurate as possible for seniors in future years.
- A note on deferral: Those of you who applied to colleges via Early Action and/or Early Decision may have seen this word on a decision notification in the past few weeks. Please understand that (while disappointing) being deferred still gives you a very legitimate chance for acceptance. Deferral essentially means that the school was not quite ready to make a final decision yet, and that your application will be reviewed again with the Regular Decision pool. This article from the Princeton Review discussed strategies that may help your chances of acceptance following a deferral. Most importantly - stay positive!!
- HVCHS Scholarship File: The HVCHS Counseling Department coordinates a Local Scholarship Program every year for the graduating seniors. Last year, over $80,000 in scholarship monies was awarded to the Class of 2022! The Local Scholarship application will be posted on the HVCHS Counseling Department website beginning February 22. The deadline to submit the application is March 15 at 3pm.
Notes for Juniors and families:
On January 10th the Counseling Department hosted its annual Junior Planning Night, designed to help prepare our rising seniors for post-secondary planning and the college admissions process in particular.
A recording of this webinar can be found here, and the slide deck can be found here.
Our School Counselors have visited all Junior recitation sections and are in the process of holding individual planning meetings with each student.
Course Requests for the 2023-2024 School Year!
On February 8th, all students and their families will receive an email from the Counseling Office containing important information about the course request process, including specific instructions for making selections in OnCourse.
From February 13th to March 3rd, the OnCourse course request window will be open and students will have access to choose their electives. Making course selections is mandatory, and must be completed prior to your individual meeting with your counselor!
Counselors will meet with each student individually, based on the following timeline:
- 2/21 - 3/3: Counselors meet with 9th grade students
3/6 - 3/10: Counselors meet with 8th grade students
3/13 - 3/24: Counselors meet with 10th grade students
3/27 - 4/14: Counselors meet with 11th grade students
Further information regarding the course request process can be found here on our website.
Summary of other upcoming events (further details below):
- 2/7 - HVCHS College Admissions Panel Webinar
- 2/8 & 9 - SoS Presentations in Freshman Health class
- 2/10 - Coffee, Career & Learn (Pharmacy)
- 2/16 - HVCHS Summer Job & Service Fair
- 2/25 - Free Practice ACT through Rev Prep (online)
- 3/9 - Writing the College Essay Webinar
HVCHS College Admissions Panel Webinar (2/7)
This year's program will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, February 7th at 7pm. To register for this event please click here.
Signs of Suicide Presentations - Grade 9 (2/8 & 9)
Over the course of February 8 and 9, all ninth grade students will participate in the Signs of Suicide (SOS) program as part of their health curriculum.
SOS is an evidence-based suicide prevention program that teaches students, parents, and other trusted adults how to identify signs of depression and suicide in themselves, peers, and loved ones. The program will be delivered by Dr. Chris Velderman, the CHS student assistance counselor, and Ms. Danielle Freda, student assistance counselor intern.
The SOS presentation will discuss the possible causes and warning signs of depression and suicide. It also provides brief training in a simple method for helping address someone in crisis. Signs of Suicide teaches students and adults the acronym ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell). There will also be a focus on building protective factors, increasing coping skills, and tips for talking with others about mental health and suicide.
Suicide is a challenging topic for everyone and we recognize some students may experience more difficulty with this topic due to their own life circumstances. If you are aware that your child might struggle with this presentation, please reach out to their school counselor or Dr. Velderman (contact info at the end of the newsletter). Please know we will also be asking students to report any concerns about themselves or a friend prior to leaving the presentation and we will follow-up with any concerns as soon as possible.
If you wish to view a parent version of the presentation, you can find it here.
Career, Coffee & Learn - Pharmacy (2/10)
Are you interested in a Career in Pharmacy? Then join us for a Career, Coffee & Learn!
Coffee, tea and a light breakfast will be served!
When: February 10, 2023 during Recitation
Where: CHS Community Room
Speaker: Concetta Rollins
Sign-up: Please sign-up via https://forms.gle/a5CxUkUHe2aeyArK8 by Feb. 7, 2023.
Presenter Bio:
Concetta Rollins, RPH has been a Pharmacist for 25 years. She attended St. John’s University in New York. Her work experience has been in both retail and hospital settings. Ms. Rollins is originally from New York and currently lives in Princeton with her husband and two children.
Note: Please notify the teacher of your 3rd session class in advance, just in case you are a few minutes late.
*This event is run in collaboration with the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance*
Contact Ms. Getman with questions at nicolegetman@hvrsd.org
HVCHS Summer Job & Service Fair (2/16)
"'Writing the College Essay" Webinar (3/9)
Please click here to register for the webinar in advance. A recording of the program will be emailed to all members of the Class of 2024 and their families following the event, in case you are unable to attend.
Volunteer Opportunity: Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry
If you have further questions, feel free to email hvmobilefoodpantry@gmail.com
Mercer County Technical School is now accepting applications!
Applications to Mercer County Technical School are now open for the 2023-24 school year. Students who are interested in applying to MCTS should see their counselor to discuss the application process, as well as the impact on their HVCHS schedule in future years. An overview of MCTS' program offering can be found here.
These programs fill up quickly, so please do not wait to apply!
- The following programs are close to being full: Cosmetology, Graphic Arts
- The following programs are already full: Pre-Nursing, Allied Health, Criminalistics, Electrical
Our department also hosted "Mercer County Technical School Night" this past October, joined by their Director of Vocational Programming, Mr. Mick Orfe. A recording of that webinar may be viewed here.
Revolution Prep - free practice SAT & ACT tests for HVCHS students!
Our friends at Revolution Prep are offering a free practice ACT exam to HVCHS students:
ACT Practice Exam: Saturday, February 25th, 2023, 9:00AM – 1:00PM ET | Live Online
Step 1: Register here
Step 2: schedule a free 30-minute score report review with a Revolution Prep testing expert to help you interpret the results and develop a customized plan to prepare. Please schedule this appointment for the few days after the exam. You can pre-schedule this Score Report Review here
Step 3: Attend the mock exam and get your results immediately with Revolution Prep’s mobile scoring app!
In Case You Missed It:
Recordings/slides from each program hosted by the HVCHS Counseling Office can be found here on the Parent Presentations page of our counseling website. We hope you find them valuable!
Sources of Strength
Sources of Strength is a strength-based program that focuses on suicide prevention but impacts other issues such as substance abuse and violence. The program is based on a relational connections model that uses teams of Student Leaders mentored by Adult Advisors to change peer social norms about help seeking and encourages students to individually assess and develop strengths in their life. The mission of Sources of Strength is to empower a well world and prevent suicide by increasing help-seeking behaviors and promoting connections between peers and caring adults.
Trained student leaders use their network of friends to:
- Have one-on-one conversations;
- Develop a Hope, Help, Strength messages using local faces and voices; and
- Present peer-to-peer presentations.
CHS Counseling Department Calendar...
Contact Info:
Mari Buono - School Counselor - mariangelabuono@hvrsd.org x3520
Kevin Maldonado - School Counselor - kevinmaldonado@hvrsd.org x3525
Nicole Getman - School Counselor - nicolegetman@hvrsd.org x3521
Una Hong - School Counselor - unahong@hvrsd.org x3518
Betsy Lee - School Counselor - elizabethlee@hvrsd.org x3522
Dr. Chris Velderman - Student Assistance Counselor - chrisvelderman@hvrsd.org x3539
Ryan Stingel - Student Assistance Counselor - ryanstingel@hvrsd.org
Sarah Golkov - Virtual Pathways Counselor - sarahgolkov@hvrsd.org
Samantha Awadallah - ACCESS Clinician - samanthaawadallah@hvrsd.org x3456
Jennifer Hastings - Administrative Assistant - jenniferhastings@hvrsd.org x3519
Molly Lytle - Administrative Assistant - mollylytle@hvrsd.org x3523
Dan DeStefano
Email: dandestefano@hvrsd.org
Website: https://hvchs.hvrsd.org/o/hvchs/page/counseling-services
Phone: 609-737-4003 3524