"Real" Advice from our WKHS Alumni

On Wednesday, January 4th, I had the opportunity to moderate my first Worthington Kilbourne High School Alumni Panel.  While this is not new for Worthington Kilbourne High School, it was the first time I had been a part of such an awesome event.  It all started back in late Summer/early Fall when our Worthington Activity Club reached out to our Counseling and Administrative Teams.  They presented us with the opportunity to "Dream Big" and to think outside the box regarding what they had been doing to support our work as a school.  The Worthington Activity Club consists of several parents who volunteer their time to support our school family in all aspects, including academic, physical, social and financially.  They care about our students and staff and have always gone above and beyond for our school..."They Take Care of Us!"  This meeting was no different, so, we did just as they asked.  We started to dream and we kept dreaming and dreaming and dreaming.  While I knew they were listening and on board with all of our ideas, I was not sure as to whether or not these dreams would become a reality.  As you know, often times in education, we dream to only dream because time is of the essence and as it should be, classroom and content standard learning is the priority.   

Our Worthington Activity Club was persistent and for that, I am thankful.  Over the Winter Break, they worked hard to recruit 40 Alumni to spend the day with our 9th and 10th grade students during their English classes to share their experiences in college as well as there "would have, could have, should haves" while in high school.  In summary, here are the 6 "Real" pieces of advice along with a few quotes from our WKHS Alumni.

#1 Learn to Enjoy Reading and Writing!

“The biggest way to learn long term in life is reading.  Reading is just a key point for college education.”  “Read anything – read your textbook, read fiction, just read.”

“Using your textbook is one of the most overlooked resources.”

“Learn how to write now in high school.  You will know how to use grammar and vary sentence structure so that in college you can just focus on what you need to say rather than how to say it effectively.”

“I don’t like to read, but in college you do have to read a lot so it is a good skill to develop.”

“When reading in high school, really utilize the strategies your English teachers teach you, like highlighting, color-marking, text-coding, notes as you read, index cards, paraphrasing,  etc.”

“Avoiding reading in high school has really hurt me. “

“I encourage you to print off the slides and pay attention to what they are saying and then highlight or write with a pen in the margins to add to what they are saying.”

#2 High School Scheduling is Key!

“Take as many AP, Honors or IB courses as you can (with balance) and take the AP or IB test.  Why take the course and not take the test….get the credit for college that you deserve.”

“One thing I would have done differently is I would have done more CC+.  It also made the transition to college easier because I knew what a syllabus was and how overwhelming that first day felt.”

“Push to take AP, IB, and Honors classes because they definitely help.”  “Don’t push yourself too far because you want to have fun while in high school, but see if you can push to take maybe even 1 more.”

“Definitely take advantage of the classes you have available here at WKHS.”

“My experience in AP here was far superior to the English class I took in college.”

“I learned more and enjoyed more in my freshman year English class at WKHS than I did in my freshman year college English class.”

“Don’t just take the AP or IB classes, but also take the assessment to get the reward for it later when you get to college. I could have had 3 classes waived if I would have taken the AP test in high school.”  

“I didn’t really even fully realize that getting a certain score on the AP exam would mean that I didn’t have to take the college class at all.”

“Doing CSCC for 2 years and then transferring for the last 2 years is really smart and a good alternative.  Now, I wish I had done that from a financial standpoint.

“Take Keyboarding in High School.  You need to know how to type the “right” way with using home row keys!”

“If I was sitting in WKHS today I would definitely recommend that you are taking the CSCC classes you can take here and the AP Classes and taking those tests.”  “The more you take now the better it lets you explore and it also lets you get some classes out of the way.”

“Take as many college and AP courses (and the AP test)  as you can because they are good practice.”

“Take IB, but remember you have to be the kind of student who is self motivated to learn.  It’s definitely worth it.”

“When you schedule your classes try not to worry about what will get you latest into school or out of school earliest, but focus on picking what classes that will get you best prepared for college.”

“Anyone looking at STEM fields should take the PLTW classes.  They are relatively technical classes, but they are very doable and they expose you to a lot of careers and networking opportunities.”  

“Also take a lot of different classes to broaden your awareness of the choices available to you.”

“Try to figure out careers when you are in high school because your classes are free and you can learn a lot now so it helps you to get the experience as early as possible.”

“Senior project was an amazing opportunity that Kilbourne gives you and if you are in between two fields then senior project can really help you get clarity between jobs and it helps to start your network.”

“Do senior project!  Even if senior project isn’t what you exactly what you want to do in the future – still do it.”

#3 The High School Teacher/Classroom vs. The College Teacher/Classroom

“As a Division 1 Athlete, I get only one morning a week to myself.  The other 4, I am lifting at 6:30am and back for field practice at 11am.   I then go to more classes in the afternoon.  On Saturday and Sunday, I have 3 hours of practice and the other hours are filled with studying.  6 hours of study hall are required every week. “  

“I have three classes on Tuesday/Thursday, all from 9am to 2pm and two classes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 8am to 12pm  It’s different than high school because there are days in between class and you are required to do more outside of class.”  

“One of my classes is a blended learning class where we only meet every other Friday.  The rest is done on-line.”  

“The class schedule is very different because it’s up to me to remember what is due and when it is due.  I don’t get reminded by my teacher everyday.”

“College classes are a lot bigger so you have a lot of opportunities to meet a ton of people, but it is also going to require a lot more effort to actually meet them and get to know them.  Have to take initiative to make those connections.”

“There’s a big difference between high school teachers and college professors.  In high school there were a lot of points that counted in your grade, but in college it was really eye opening that there were only 4 tests in one of my classes and there weren’t other things that counted in toward my grade.”

“College classes are a lot different than the set up in high school – you may only have 3-4 classes a day compared to high school where you go to classes every day.”

“Usually practice is early in the morning – I have to get up at 5:30 a.m., be in the locker room by 6.  Practice from 6-10 a.m. for 4 days a week.  I attend a Division II school and that was the off-season.  It takes up a lot of time and is almost like your second job.”

“Take advantage of the Office Hours with your professor or the additional classes with your Teacher Assistant (TA).”  

“Take advantage of the time your high school teachers offers you outside of class or the extra help in The Teaching and Learning Center (Room 209).  The more you can get into this routine, the better prepared you will be in college.”  

“Teachers at WKHS know me better than do my college professors.”

“You have to go and see your professors outside of classes if you want to get help from them.  They don’t come to you like they do at WKHS.”

#4 Time Management and Study Habits are Very Important!

“Office hours are great.  Definitely take advantage of those.  It helps you build relationships with your professors too.”

“The Career Center on campus will help you write your resume, search for jobs, internships, and research opportunities.”  “It is one of the best resources I have taken advantage of in college.”

“Time management is a lot more important for me in college than it was for me in high school.”

“Joining things outside of your classes is really important because it helps broadens your horizons, but it also makes time management more important.”

“Knowing you only have 3-4 assessments that go into a grade, how do you manage your time to plan for those assessments?”

• “You’re going to want to procrastinate and it’s really easy to do, but you have to be disciplined because it is all on you to do it.”
• “Make a schedule – get a calendar and mark out that these few days I’m going to do flashcards, I’m going to do practice tests on these days, and so on”
• “Join study groups because it is easier to not slack off if you know other people are counting on you.”

“In college, you need to use your time wisely.  Hold yourself accountable.  Prioritize your social life with school work so that you know what is more important in the long run.”

“I wish I had learned how to study in high school.  Everyone is different so learn now how you best study.”

“Start working on your work ethic.  It makes a big difference in the success in your life.”

“In high school I learned how to study to pass the test rather than to have a deep in understanding of the content.  Don’t do that!  Actually learn the material.”

“It took a lot more studying than I was used to in order to get a good grade in it.”

“I made it a point to make relationships with my teachers in college because I knew it would help me.”

“I didn’t have to try at all in high school, but in college it is very different.  I should have pushed myself more in high school so that I would have learned how to study before college.”

“If you have no intention of learning outside of school then you will struggle in college.”

“I didn’t know what it meant to study until I got to college so trying to teach yourself how to do that in high school would be really helpful.”

“I would recommend learning how to improve your study habits.  Talk with the teachers in your Teaching and Learning Center (209), they can help you with this.”  

“Go beyond the lecture and learn the material for yourself.”

#5 The Importance of Being Involved and Building Relationships

“I have 2 sides of my personality – one is very outgoing and likes to be with people and one is very functional and wants to get stuff done.  The functional side crept in to take over because it was overwhelming how much I needed to do.  So I needed to make sure I still had the fun time with my roommates to balance it.”

“I feel more confident in college than I did in high school.”  “A big difference in college than high school is that people in college don’t care who you were in high school.  High school has more of the popularity, but in college no one cares if you were the prom king or in a bunch of clubs.  In college you can just be yourself and try new things!”

“I have a lot of friends now in college that I probably wouldn’t have been friends with in high school.”  “It is great.”

College athletics sometimes gave a core group of friends.

“When you leave high school – you can literally be whoever you want.  That is very freeing for some people and very scary for some people.  I have met some of the weirdest and some of the most interesting people of my life in college.  Keep an open mind.  You will meet people who have such different backgrounds than you.”  
“In college you learn more than just what you are covering in classes.  You learn from other people and their backgrounds and experiences.”

“It’s important to get involved in activities early in college because it allows you to make friends with common interests. You don’t know anyone but no one else does either.”

“Take advantage of being in high school.  In high school you have a lot of opportunities to get involved and make connections.  This is really important and not as easy to do in college.”

“When you go to college, have an open mind.  You will meet a lot of different people and you will have your views tested.”

#6 Think-a-Bouts When Considering and Applying for College

“Keep in mind: do they have your major, do they have the class size you want, and how many people go home over the weekends?”

“Take multiple tours at whatever schools you are considering.”

“Remember that it doesn’t matter how many schools you are applying to vs the number your friends are applying to.”

“Debt was a big factor in my thinking about college.  It isn’t wrong to be ambitious, but you need to balance being idealistic with being practical when deciding how much in debt you want to be in after college.”

“When you’re considering colleges remember that there are really good opportunities on campus, but also look at what the opportunities for doing things such as internships or volunteering in career related fields to figure out what the opportunities are that are available in the community.”

“I encourage you to try to consider what are the opportunities available away from home – this is opportunity to grow up and be away from home and meet new people.”

“Don’t settle with one college choice – push yourself to apply to other schools.”

“Choose a realistic major based on how the world is working at the moment and the jobs that will be available.”

“In high school I put a lot of stress on myself to figure out what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be in the future.  But as I got to college and started learning more I started adding more to what I wanted to do and study.”

As I have verbalized in several other posts, our student have so much to teach us. Let them do so by finding the time to learn with and from them. I believe our teachers would tell you this one hour block of time out of the content area classroom was just as effective as the learning that takes place within their classroom. Thanks to our Worthington Activity Club for making our dreams become a reality.

We have much to learn from our students!

"Once a Wolf, Always a Wolf!"

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