Freshman Year
Welcome to the high school! Believe it or not, your next four years will fly by as your prepare yourself for life after high school. To keep you organized and to maintain a stress-free four years, follow the recommended time table as you compete each year at Pottstown High School. Visit the counseling office often for assistance!
GPA
This is the year your GPA begins to calculate. You are currently at a zero GPA. This year will define your high school career based on the grades you receive during your 9th grade year. Learning how to study and retain information is crucial. Are you an auditory, visual, tactile, or all three learner? Figuring out how you learn is key in becoming successful in school. This will carry you into college, including trade schools, and any type of certification required by a future job. Visit http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml to find out what kind of learner you are.
College visits
It is never too early to visit college campus and their websites. Finding out what type of college you would like is important as you research where you would like to apply. Do you want a big university where you are referred to as a number or a small school where everyone knows your name? Do you want the city life or prefer suburbia. Only you can make this decision.
Do a preliminary college search: Use tools under the "College" tab in Naviance such as the College Match or Super Match College Search to start checking out colleges. Add any colleges that stand out to your "Colleges I'm Thinking About" list in Naviance.
Military
Considering a military career? You have a lot of options to consider:
ROTC: Army, Air Force, Navy
Military Academies: West Point, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, Merchant Marine Academy, Coast Guard Academy
Reserves: Army Reserve, Marine Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, National Guard
Active Duty: Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard
Sports
Are you interested in playing collegiate sports? What division are you considering? Check out http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future to register and find the requirements for Division I and Division II. Make sure you review the sliding scale requirements for GPA and SAT/ACT. https://www.ncsasports.org/ncaa-eligibility-center/ncaa-sliding-scale
Remember Division III will not offer athletic scholarships.
Career Exploration
Trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life can be a daunting task for a person at any age. We encourage students to start their career exploration early to make the process easier.
Check out https://www.onetonline.org/ to research careers and possible salaries.
Visit https://www.workstats.dli.pa.gov/Products/CareerGuide/Pages/default.aspx
Published by the Department of Labor & Industry, this guide is packed with great information on a variety of different careers and resources to help with your career search.
Job Shadowing
This is an amazing opportunity to find out about any career you are interested. Contact the company’s human resource department. Mention you are a high school student interested in learning more about the specific career and would like to job shadow. Job shadowing is the cheapest and fastest way to find out if you would like to pursue a specific career. Remember: finding out what you do not like is just as important as finding out what you do like!
Naviance
Visit Naviance at https://www.naviance.com/ often as the website offers information about colleges, careers, and majors. Complete the career interest surveys to find more information on career clusters. Become very familiar with Naviance and all its offerings.
Collegeboard.com
Register on https://www.collegeboard.org/ Collegeboard offers information about PSAT, SAT, SAT subject tests, and AP exams. Collegeboard offer career interest inventory tests to explore your talents and interests. You can also explore colleges and the requirements for acceptance including GPA and SAT/ACT scores as well as what majors colleges offer. You can also find scholarship information https://opportunity.collegeboard.org/
Scholarships
Believe it or not, it is never too early to research and win scholarships. Junior high students have won scholarships so spend time researching scholarships on https://www.goingmerry.com/, https://www.fastweb.com/, https://www.dosomething.org/us. You can also check out https://myscholly.com/ which is a scholarship database app for your device. Remember, scholarship money through outside the college organizations are checks with your name that go into your pocket.
**Remember: the more you accomplish, the less stress you will be your senior year!**