Local Scholarship Dates Announced

Each year, over $100,000 is given out in local scholarships. These scholarships range from $250 to $45,000.  Last year, there were 60 different scholarships awarded to graduating seniors.  With the growing cost of college, every penny helps.

Here is a breakdown of the upcoming dates...

Wednesday, Feb 23rd  - Local Scholarship Meeting - Extended HR

Students will see a presentation on all of the available scholarships. They will also receive a handout which lists each scholarship.  That sheet will be posted on this blog on the 23rd for all students and parents to view. All scholarships will be available through Naviance on the 23rd.

Click below for the rest of the dates.

SENIORS - Area Scholarship List Updated

If you want some money, you are going to have to do some work!!

Seniors should be checking out the 2021-22 scholarship listing. There is a huge range of scholarships with due dates ranging from January to March.  The scholarship page has been updated to include over 25 scholarships. Most listed are Peoria area scholarships with a few national scholarships included.

Scholarship listing may be accessed by clicking on the button on the right column or by clicking here.

Great Opportunity - Work Based Learning Construction

Spend a year learning about the construction industry and gain credit doing it.  Students in the Work-based Learning (WBL) Construction class will get a hands-on chance to learn about all of the different trades. Some of the trades the students will learn about include Plumbers, Sheet Metal Workers, Carpenters, Cement Masons, Iron Workers, Steamfitters, Electricians, and Operating Engineers.

Here is how the program works...

Smart College Success Program

Illinois Central College will be offering two 3-week Smart Start College Success camps during Summer 2022. The camps will cover three key academic areas in which students can practice math, English, and college success strategies in a real college atmosphere. Each session includes a variety of activities to help students develop the range of skills they need to become successful college students. These activities will help students build academic skills and social connections, develop their awareness and understanding of a variety of campus resources, and encourage them to develop a strong support system that includes fellow students and college personnel.

• June Session: June 13 through July 1, 2022 Mornings or Afternoons
• July Session: July 11 through July 29, 2022 Mornings or Afternoons

For more info...click here

Helpful Website for Teens

The State of Illinois recently started a website for teens and younger kids. Safe2Help Illinois is designed to encourage students to get help and help others with important issues such bullying, abuse, depression, self-injury and suicidal thoughts.

The website not only provides teens with information about these topics but, more importantly, gives them concrete ideas about how to move forward, including ways to get help.

Upcoming College, Career, and Job Fair

Incoming Freshman Scheduling

Planning a schedule for freshman year can be quite an intimidating process. Hopefully this blog post will help students and parents through the process. The lime green registration sheets are due by Wednesday, February 16th to the student's grade school main office. Class selection should also be inputted into TeacherEase before returning the sheets (for those students with access to TeacherEase.)

The front side of the registration sheet is the demographic portion. It is important that it be filled out completely since the information will be entered into the computer system.

Please click below for further instructions...

Students Interested In Fire Related Careers

 

Great Opportunity for Students Interested in Nursing

 The ICC Nursing Assistant (CNA) program application deadline is Tuesday, February 1st! Any current sophomore or junior interested in a medical field after high school is strongly encouraged to apply to this one semester program. Upon successful completion of these courses, students are eligible to apply to take the Nurse Aide Competency Evaluation Program (NACEP) and become certified in the State of Illinois. See your counselor for the application and with questions. You can also click here for the application and more information.

Free SAT Practice Tests

For any student who will be taking the SAT or ACT later this spring, we wanted to pass along an opportunity for students to take a free virtual practice test for one of these exams.

StudyPoint is offering these events, and since they're doing so virtually, students can take the practice test from home. Anyone who participates will receive a free score analysis that breaks down how they did by section, question type, and content area so they can get a sense of where they might want to do some review prior to the real thing.

They run multiple practice tests each week. If interested, one can view available dates and register for a test at https://site.studypoint.com/virtual-practice-tests.

Cyber Security Summer Camp at Illinois State University

The GenCyber Camp at Illinois State University seeks to ignite and sustain Cybersecurity interest in high schools in the Central IL region in order to build a competent, diverse, and adaptable cybersecurity workforce pipeline. High school students who are 15 and older are eligible to participate in the camp. Come attend this FREE residential summer camp and learn fundamentals of Cybersecurity while experiencing campus life at ISU! We have several hands-on activities that will help you learn and apply your knowledge on an IoT (Internet of Things) kit as you learn Cybersecurity concepts.

For more info:   

https://it.illinoisstate.edu/cybersecurity/gencyber/index.php

Registration Meetings for 2022-23

Before the holiday break, the counseling staff met with the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors about registration for next school year. There are links to all registration presentations on the right hand side of the blog. Hopefully all students have taken the opportunity to input their selections into TeacherEase. If not, please get it done asap. Registration is still open until January 25th.  A timetable of registration dates is below.

Dec 2021 - Class meetings
Dec/Jan - Students input class selections into TeacherEase
Jan. 25th - Registration closes
Jan. 26th - Counselors begin meeting with students on individual basis about selections.  We will begin with juniors, then sophomores, then freshmen.

Counselors will meet with incoming freshmen in January. Their deadline is different than current students.

Calling All Careers

The IVC Counseling Department will be hosting our second Job & Career Fair. We are always looking for adults interested in speaking with small groups of students about their careers.

This year's fair will include:

• Breakout sessions on over 50 careers
• Local businesses hiring high school students
• Over a dozen college from throughout the Midwest
• Representatives from the trades and local beauty schools
• and a Keynote speaker.

If interested in being a part of the fair, please contact the IVC Counseling Department.