1. Junior Information Night Megan Waterstraat, School Counselor for Class of 2017

2. WELCOME!

3. Next steps College, Career, Trade School, Other High School (JHS)Junior High SchoolElementary School

4. Countdown to College Checklist: Junior Year Fall 2015  Starting developing a résumé—a record of your accomplishments, activities, and work experiences. This will be an important part of your college application.  If you haven’t participated in many activities outside of class, now is the time to sign up. Consider clubs at schools, team sports, leadership roles, or involvement in your religious or civic community group.  Take the PSAT. Taking the test as a junior will qualify you for some scholarship consideration and identify you to colleges as a potential applicant. When you receive the results (usually in December), review them to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. Discuss the results with your family and school counselor.  Begin to prepare for the ACT or SAT. Free test preparation may be available at your school, your local community colleges, and community based programs; in addition, there are many free resources on the Internet. If you can’t find the best Web sites, ask your counselor. You should plan to take at least one of these tests in the spring and again next fall during your senior year.

5. Countdown to College Checklist: Junior Year Winter 2016 (Jan/Feb)  Meet with your guidance counselor again to develop your senior schedule. Make sure that you will be enrolled in the most challenging courses for which you are qualified.  Register for a spring offering of the ACT.  Look for summer opportunities on college campuses. These can be a great way to find out what college life is all about and make you a more attractive candidate for admission to colleges.

6. Countdown to College Checklist: Junior Year Spring 2016  Begin taking a more serious look at colleges and universities. Make a file for each college in which you are interested and gather information about academics, financial aid, and campus life. Go to college fairs and open houses and learn as much as you can about colleges online.  Begin planning college visits. Spring break is a good time to visit. Try to visit colleges near you and include a large, medium size, and small campus  Develop a preliminary list of colleges that interest you. Write or email to request a viewbook and additional information.  Think about lining up a summer job, internship or co-op.

7. Countdown to College Checklist: Junior Year Spring 2016  Take a look at some college applications and consider all of the different pieces of information you will need to compile.  Make a list of teachers, counselors, employers, and other adults whom you might ask to write letters of recommendation for your college applications.

8. Countdown to College Checklist: Junior Year Summer 2016  Continue ​ investigating colleges  Begin thinking about your applications. Generally, colleges will have their applications online by the beginning of August. Work on the essay before you return to school!  Recharge and gear up for an awesome senior year!

9. College: A few important items  ACT  College Entrance Requirements vs. Graduation Requirements  College Visits  Financial Aid & FAFSA

10. THE ACT  The ACT will NOT be given at JHS this spring.  This is not a local district decision, but at decision at the state level.

11. Students who wish the take the ACT will need to:  Register for the test at www.actstudent.orgwww.actstudent.org  Test given at Illinois College or MacMurray  Cost:  39.50 ACT  56.50 ACT with Writing  Registering with take 30 minutes to an hour.  JHS High School Code: 142 350  Test Dates:  December 12 (Register by November 8)  February 8 (Register by January 8)  April 9(Register by March 4)  June 11 (Register by May)

12. ACT Test Prep  ACT Prep available at LLCC. To register call 217-786-2292 or go online www.llcc.edu/community- education www.llcc.edu/community- education  Free online prep at www.actstudent.org www.actstudent.org

13. College Entrance vs. JHS Graduation

14. What Colleges Are Looking For  Overall GPA with a focus on rigor of coursework  ACT Scores  Recommendations  Personal Essays  Activities and Awards  A well rounded student

15. Gear UP for Senior Year  Make sure you are meeting JHS requirements as well as college entrance. Take the tough classes.  Credit Checks-I will be meeting with all juniors in spring semester to check their course selection

16. College Visits  Juniors are allowed 2 College Visit Days  College Representatives in Student Services  Colleges host visit days  Now is the time to begin narrowing list of schools

17. Changes to the FAFSA Today, September 14, 2015, President Obama announced two major changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process. First, the President announced a change to the date when students and families can begin to submit a FAFSA. Currently the FAFSA is available on January 1st for the upcoming financial aid award year (July 1 through June 30). For example, the 2016-2017 FAFSA will be available on January 1, 2016. Beginning with the 2017-2018 financial aid application cycle, the FAFSA will be available on October 1st of the year prior to the upcoming award year. Thus, 2017-2018 FAFSA filing will begin on October 1, 2016. By having the FAFSA available earlier the financial aid process will generally coincide with the college admissions application and decision cycle, hopefully allowing schools and states to provide financial aid information sooner to students and families.

18. Changes to FAFSA Second, the President announced a change to which tax year’s information will be collected on the FAFSA. Currently, when completing a FAFSA applicants provide income information from the prior tax year (e.g., 2015 income information for the upcoming 2016-2017 FAFSA). Beginning with the 2017-2018, FAFSA income information from one tax year earlier – the so-called “prior-prior year” will be collected. This means that the 2017-2018 FAFSA will collect tax year 2015 income information and not 2016 information. As a result of this change most students will be able to complete their FAFSAs using information from an already completed tax return. This in turn, will provide most of them with the ability to electronically transfer their income tax return information from the IRS into the FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). This is in contrast with the current “prior year” process where many applicants submit their FAFSAs before tax returns have been completed resulting in the need to estimate income and tax information that subsequently needs to be corrected once the tax return is filed; or worse, waiting to complete their FAFSA until after the tax return has been filed.

19. FAFSA  So what that means for your students:  The class of 2017 can begin filing the FAFSA starting October 1, 2016  FAFSA income information from one tax year earlier – the so-called “prior-prior year” will be collected. This means that the 2017-2018 FAFSA will collect tax year 2015 income information and not 2016 information.

20. Financial Aid Information Night December 16 th JHS Auditorium 7pm

21. NCAA  If you wish to play sports in college you will need to register with the NCAA Clearing house  This can be done at http://www.ncaa.org/student- athletes/future/how-register http://www.ncaa.org/student- athletes/future/how-register  Ensure you are meeting core requirements.

22. Thursday November 5 6:00 JHS Auditorium A representative from NCAA will be here.

23. Other Post-Secondary Options  Military  Trade Schools  Workforce

24. Other Post-Secondary Options Military  Military  Take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Battery) at JHS on Tuesday December 1 st.  Meet with representatives from different branches of the armed services during lunch table.  www.todaysmilitary.com www.todaysmilitary.com

25. Entering the Workforce  Create a portfolio and resume with references on Career Cruising at: www.careercruising.comwww.careercruising.com  Complete job application  Practice interviewing skills  Try to match job with career interests

26. Trade Schools  Vocational schools offer a more streamlined education. The curriculum focuses on developing the skills and knowledge needed to prepare your for a career as in your area of interest.  To get into a trade school, the first thing that an individual needs is a diploma. If they have not earned a high school diploma, a General Education Diploma will also be accepted for admission into a trade school. Depending on the specific trade school program, a high school graduate might also be required to have achieved a 2.0 or higher grade point average for trade school admission.

28. Any questions for me? Thanks for attending Junior Information Night Megan Waterstraat 243-4384 ext. 2240 mwaterstraat@jsd117.org