Guidance Is The Heart of the School

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Guidance Is The Heart of the School

• Freshmen and Sophomore Assembly

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What is Guidance?

• Guidance is the heart of the school
• Help you plan your future goals
• Assist you in making your schedule
• Help you with your college applications, and
  scholarships
• If you have an academic and/or social problem you
  should see your counselor
• See your counselor before or after school or ask
  for a special appointment

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Who are the Guidance Counselors?

• Colleen Krenn
• Shirley Deering
• Margarita Magner- Bilingual
• Angela Martin
• Josephine Pastore
• Terry Rauschberg- ESL
• Cathy Vazquez- Bilingual
• Talin Young- Supervisor of Guidance

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Graduation Requirements

• 4 Years of English
• 3 Years of Science
• 3 Years of Mathematics
• 3 Years of History- U.S. History 1, U.S. History
  2, World History
• 4 Years of Physical Education
• 3 Quarters of Health
• 1 Quarter of Drivers Education
• 1 Year of a Fine Art, Practical, Performing Art
• 1 Year of Personal Finance or Business Class
• 1 Year of a World Language
• Passing score on the HSPA

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Credits- Each year you must pass all of your
classes in order to be promoted

• Credits Required to be a Sophomore 31
• Credits Required to be a Junior 61
• Credits Required to be a Senior 91
• Failure of classes will require mandatory summer
  school or night school in order to be promoted

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Grade Point Average

• GPA is unweighted. All final grades are assigned
  a point value.
• A 4 points
• B 3 points
• C 2 points
• D 1 point
• F 0 points

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GPA Calculation

• Multiply point value by credits earned for each
  course.
• Add these values together and divide by total
  credits earned for the year.
• This final product is your GPA.

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Sample GPA Calculation
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GPA Calculation cont.

• Divide total points by total credits earned.
• 48.4 15.75 3.07 gpa

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Class Rank

• All seniors are ranked after the 6th and 7th
  semesters (October February)
• Underclassmen are not ranked.
• Class Rank is weighted.

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Class Rank Weighting

• Each course at HHS has a rank weighting.
• Level 1 courses include all Honors, Pre AP, AP
• Level 2 courses include all College Prep courses
  and academic electives
• Level 3 courses include Non-College Preparatory
  courses including Physical Education, Health,
  Drivers Education, Cooperative, Vocational, ESL,
  and Resource courses.

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Grades/Transcripts

• Colleges, employers, scholarship committees look
  closely at all of your grades, always do your
  best work
• If you are struggling in a subject, you can see
  Ms. Meyers in Drop-In for a tutor or stay after
  school for extra help with your teacher (Period
  10)

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Transcripts

• Check with your counselor to see that all of the
  information on your transcript is accurate
• Colleges, scholarship committees, employers and
  special programs will require your transcripts
• When you are a senior, you will get your official
  grade point average and rank

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Failure of Classes

• We do not offer summer school at HHS for
  failures.
• Information for local Summer Schools will be
  available in Guidance in May
• Keep your grades as high as possible, you will
  have better options for your future

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NJ PASS

• Freshmen participate in NJ PASS testing in March.
  Spring testing provide a baseline for student
  ability level, will demonstrate student
  improvement in the following year and will also
  determine whether a student requires remediation
  for the following year.

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How Discipline and Attendance Affect Your Future

• Your attendance impacts your academic performance
• 16 absences lose credit
• 5 lates 1 absence
• If you are over on absences in a class, you may
  LOSE credit and will have to attend summer school
  and/or night school

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Electives

• Choose electives which relate to your possible
  career choice
• Take Advanced Placement and Middle College
  Classes for College Credit
• Attend the Joseph DeFalco Institute for Advanced
  Studies to get ahead for college

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Get Involved

• Join sports, clubs, church groups, and special
  programs.
• Students who are involved perform better in
  school
• Do community service activities. Various clubs
  like Interact, SAVVY, Tapps, Anipals offer
  service activities to help our community
• Having a job shows that you are responsible and
  mature, but it should NOT be your only activity!!

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Honor Society

• Mr. Renz, Advisor
• You need a 3.3 grade point average, B
• You must have completed 300 hours of community
  service
• Service is defined as any volunteer activity that
  helps the society, school, or community
• Keep track of your hours of service and have the
  supervisors write you letters indicating the of
  hours performed.

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Activity Resume

• You will make a resume for college and
  scholarships which includes all of your extra
  curricular endeavors
• The resume will include a list of your sports,
  service, jobs, honors and awards
• This resume will be included with your Post-High
  School applications.

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Naviance

• It is not too early to think about the future
• Naviance is a web-based computer program that
  allows you to explore your skills and interests
  so you can research careers and colleges to begin
  planning for your future after high school.
• If you did not receive a password and login name,
  please see Mrs. Cooke in Guidance.
• http//connection.naviance.com/hackensackhs

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The Common Application

• The Common Application is an application that you
  may submit to any of the 346 colleges that
  participate.
• www.commonapp.org
• Please go to the website and familiarize yourself
  with the application, the essays, college research

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Final Thought

• Only you can determine your future
• Your actions now will positively or negatively
  impact your life
• The Guidance Department is here to help you! Get
  to know your counselor and be your own advocate.