Juniors - PSAT TEST - Sign Up Now

What:  PSAT/NMSQT Test

Who: Open to any junior

When:  October 14th

The PSAT/NMSQT is a great way to preview and practice for the SAT. It will test the same skills and knowledge as the SAT. When you get your test results, connect your College Board and Khan Academy®accounts to get free personalized SAT study recommendations.

In addition, when you take the PSAT/NMSQT, you’re automatically screened for the National Merit® Scholarship Program, an academic competition for recognition and scholarships.

There are only 35 spots available. You can sign up with Mrs. Placher in the guidance office. The test will cost $17.00. Checks can be made out to IVC. Payment must be received before test day. We will test on October 14th, 2020 at 8:00 am.

How The Coronavirus Has Upended College Admissions

 The coronavirus has certainly wreaked havoc to this year's college admissions process.  This story appeared on NPR recently.  It details the situation very well with a well rounded explanation and tips for parents and students. Available as a 7 minute audio clip or article.

NPR Story on Admissions

Welcome to Parchment - What is it?

Parchment is the electronic transcript site that makes sending transcripts simple. It is completely free for all students currently in high school. The best part...it takes about 2 minutes to go on the site and request a transcript. The counselors then click an approve button and the colleges have the transcript. It is the only way that transcripts will be sent to colleges, universities, NCAA, etc.

Reminder to seniors: You must register using the email that was sent to your school email from Parchment. Registration takes about 5-10 minutes but will only need to be done once. After you are registered, ordering transcripts couldn't be simpler.

Note to Parents: The student must sign up for Parchment using the link to his/her school email address. Any accounts using other email addresses will not work because the account will not be properly linked to our school. Please encourage the students to set up the account as soon as possible. It is the only way transcripts will be sent.

Meet The Counseling Department

Mrs. Placher - This is Mrs. Placher's 5th year running the show in the Counseling Department.  She is the Admissions Director, Registrar, Administrative Assistant, and more.  She basically is in charge of everything, lol. When in doubt, ask Mrs. Placher.  Fun fact...The Placher family recently got another puppy, named Hazel. Also, her son Gunnar just enlisted in the Army.

Mr. Kosinski - Mr. K is the counselor for students whose last name begins with the letters A-K.  This is his 20th year at IVC, making him old.  He is in charge of all of the retreats. Hopefully we will be having some this year. He also takes a group of students to Michigan each summer to work on a Native American Reservation. Fun fact...Mr. K's daughter Becky recently got engaged.

Mrs. Davis - Mrs. Davis is the counselor for students whose last name begins with the letters L-Z.  This is her 8th year at IVC.  She is an IVC alumnus, class of 2006.  While not at IVC, she spends most of her time loving on her puppy (even though he's 5) and 14 month old son James.  Fun fact...she has the soul of a 90 year old lady. She enjoys crocheting, crossword puzzles, and Murder She Wrote.

Ms. Lee - Ms. Lee is the counselor for students with IEPs and 504s. This is also her 8th year at IVC.  She lives in the tiny town of Manito, but we won't hold that against her.  She is a huge fan of positive energy.  Her 3 1/2 yr old twins, Georgia and Avery, are absolutely adorable.  Fun fact...Ms. Lee has her own YouTube Show, Angie's Action Kitchen. 

Welcome to the School Year

As odd as this school year is going to be, we are so happy to see everyone back!! Things will look a little difference in the Guidance Department. Many of the assemblies and parent nights will have to be virtual. Thankfully we will still be able to do some in person.  We will be making a commitment this year to getting all of the typical information out to students and parents in a variety of ways such as emails, videos, this blog and others.  

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you are needing information about anything.

Virtual Honors Night - Scholarship Presentation

Welcome to the second half of tonight's presentation.  Sixty-four scholarships totaling over $100,000 will be given out tonight. A huge thanks to all of the families and organizations who contribute to the scholarships, making this a very special evening.  It is truly remarkable when you consider that our small community is so vested each year into the future success of our graduates.

Again, thanks goes out to IVC Alum Joe Gleason who put in countless hours creating this video.

The recipients of tonight's scholarships will receive all pertinent information regarding the scholarships in the mail next week.

https://youtu.be/qLY-e8OYusY

Virtual Honors Night - Awards Presentation

Welcome to the first ever Virtual Honors Night. The first part of the evening is the presentation of all of the department awards, in addition to the presentation of the distinction levels of the Honors Students. All award recipients will receive a mailing next week with all pertinent information regarding their awards.  A tremendous thanks to IVC Alumnus Joe Gleason for creating this year's video for the Class of 2020.

Special note: The Scholarship portion of the presentation will be available at 6:00 p.m.

https://youtu.be/mz7tMjRFH2Q

Ghost-a-gram: Week 5 Concludes

Good morning Grey Ghost Nation!! This was another week of awesome submissions. We love discovering new things about our students!! The talent displayed this week was amazing! This week's winner has submitted artwork over the past three weeks, and we wanted to showcase them all. This week's winner is: Shay Speer!!!!! We were so impressed with your work Shay!!! Check them out:

SAT Date Added - September 26th

College Board just announced they will be opening up a testing date on Saturday, September 26th. Current juniors (class of 2021) and students signed up to take the SAT in June will have early access to registration for all fall test dates. While there is no school day testing date set for the fall for the class of 2021, College Board is in discussion with state educators to see if this will be a possibility. More information may be found here.

Ghost-a-gram: Week 4 Concludes

Good afternoon Grey Ghost Nation! There were so many good submissions this week so our decision was super hard! We love seeing all of you connecting with family, being creative, and pursuing personal and academic goals. This week's winner is Elaine Grant!!!! She was super creative and made a "Grey's Anatomy" Monopoly board game!! We were super impressed with how she used a popular television show to spice up an old-school board game!!!! Take a look:

Ghost-a-gram: Week 3 Concludes

Good evening Grey Ghost Nation!! We can not believe we have entered week 3 of remote learning already! We know it has not been an easy transition for everyone, but we SO enjoyed seeing how you are connecting with yourself and others during this time. This past week we had the pleasure of seeing many students being creative with art. This week's winner is: Gabrielle Bramer!!!!! We were so impressed with her sidewalk art and the joy she brought to her neighbors and those walking by!!

Fitness with the Hofers

Physical activity is a great avenue for self-care. The Hofers, two of our finest teachers, have provided a short video to introduce a couple exercises you can complete at home. We want to encourage all our families to engage in physical activity for the following reasons:


* strengthens muscles and bones
* increases energy levels
* improves emotional health
* a healthier heart
* lowers blood pressure
* supports a healthy weight
* supports positive outlook and healthy habits

The American Heart Association posted a short article that highlights all those benefits, check it out: Why is physical activity so important for health and wellbeing?

Physical activity does not look the same for everyone so if you are moving and busting a sweat, you're doing a great job! Grey Ghost Nation- our challenge for you is to complete 20 minutes of physical activity a day. Ready..set...go!!

The Power of a Schedule

Schedule. Ugh, right? I know the thought of one more task on your plate seems overwhelming, but give us two minutes of your time so you can understand how this task can make your daily life more manageable and less stressful. When one creates a schedule, they set clear expectations for their day. Life, as you may know with our current situation, presents unpredictability which can lead to more anxiety and complete shutdown. A schedule can provide an anchor for work completion and self care. One of the positives from our current reality is YOU can create your own schedule. The following have been recognized as benefits of having a daily schedule:

1. Makes us more efficient
2. Reduces our need to plan 
3. Creates structure 
4. Instills good habits
5. Prioritization 
6. Reduces procrastination 
7. Builds momentum
8. Builds self confidence 
9. Helps reduce stress and schedule time for self care
10. Helps us achieve our goals 

Ghost-a-gram: Week 2 Concludes

Good afternoon Grey Ghost Nation! Our Ghost-a-gram challenge, week two, has concluded. We loved the submissions this week and enjoyed seeing our students interacting with their family, being creative, and spreading kindness in our community. Our winner this week is....Ashley Horn!!!! Ashley and her father delivered chocolates to members of their church that are widowed or live alone. We were extremely impressed with your act of kindness and the love you showed others! 

This week was a hard decision because we had so many neat submissions! We have thoroughly enjoyed seeing how our students are utilizing their time! Check out the other awesome entries!!

Journaling: The power found in the pen

During this time of "slowing down" and "together, yet separate," what are you doing to practice self-care? Self-care is vital in these times of uncertainty. One way to manage stress, nourish the mind, and improve one's overall health is journaling. Lets use this "shelter-in-place" as an opportunity to try new strategies and most importantly, making one's overall health a priority. After reviewing many articles, here are the top ten benefits of journaling: 

1. It is a memory keeper.

2. It is a way to discover and highlight one's dreams and passions.

3. It provides a safe place to practice self-love, track growth, and see how implementing different strategies , such as journaling, produces more meaningful outcomes.

Virtual Meeting? We can do that

The counselors are available if any student or parent would like to have a Virtual face-to-face meeting.  Questions or just want to chat?

• What's going on with college next year?
• I am overwhelmed by everything.
• How do I change a class for next year?
• How do I begin tackling all of these classes?
• My brother and sister are driving me crazy.
• I miss my favorite counselor.

Just send us an email and we can schedule a Hangout Meeting. All you need is your Chromebook.

Mrs. Davis      ldavis@ivcschools.com

Ms. Lee           alee@ivcschool.com

Mr. Kosinski   mkosinski@ivcschools.com

Frequently Asked Questions - Round 1

We miss you all!!! I am guessing you are missing us too.  No megaphone in the house like the one used in the hallway at the end of the school day.  Well, we miss the megaphone too. It is locked up at school safely stored for when we all return. Anyway, we have been receiving a bunch of questions, mostly by email.  We wanted to post some of them so everyone can see.  We will share everything we know but you must remember that it may change because of the unknown.

What is going on with the SAT?  (Juniors)

The SAT in April has been cancelled. There is still a national test listed for June but the College Board hinted that the June test would also be cancelled. The state of Illinois is already in discussion about adding an early fall test for all current juniors.  Since all students in the country are in the same boat, it is not something you need to worry about at this time.

How will not being in school affect registration for next year? (Freshmen-Juniors)

Actually, not really at all.  There are a number of you who were not able to have a one-on-one with us about classes. You have to remember, though, almost all of you inputted your classes into TeacherEase so you are ready to go.  The counselors will check what you inputted to make sure it all looks okay. If there is anything you want to change, just send us an email.

Ghost-a-gram Challenge: Week One Concludes

Good morning Grey Ghost Nation!! We have concluded the first week of the Ghost-a-gram challenge! We loved seeing all of the activities you have been doing while we remain "Together, yet separate." The first week's winner is Sadey Allison!!!!!!! Sadey- this was such a creative way to capture your love of music!!!

We had so much fun looking at all of the photos submitted. We are highlighting some of our students cooking with their parents, facetiming their future college roommate, and creating crafts. Now is the time to tackle some of your goals and/or bucket list items. The second week of the challenge begins NOW!!!! We can not wait to see what exciting things you are doing!!!

Ghost-a-gram: A fun way to connect reminder!!!

Good evening Grey Ghost Nation! Just a reminder, the Ghost-a-gram challenge started on March 23rd. We will select our first winner this upcoming Monday and post the winner on our blog. After a winner is selected, YOU will receive lunch on us, the counseling department. If you forgot what the Ghost-a-gram challenge is, see the previous post below:

As we embark on this "Together, yet separate" mentality, we want to find different ways to remotely connect with all of YOU! Our counseling department feels confident speaking for all district employees by stating, WE MISS SEEING YOU! With all that being said, we proudly present to you "Ghost-a-gram Challenge! Ghost-a-gram is our version of Instagram, but there is a twist....we want you to capture the different learning activities you are completing at home and then send them to us! The pictures or videos will count as an entry in our weekly Ghost-a-gram Challenge. Please submit your entries via email (see below department email addresses). The challenge opens every Monday and closes Sunday evening. The weekly winner will be announced Monday morning, with their photo or video, here on our IVC blog. I know the question you're asking is why?

Career Exploration Activity - Part Two

Part Two involves connecting your career to the schooling you will need. There is two ways you can go about doing this activity. You can either start in the career section of Naviance and start exploring which colleges have programs in the career you are interested OR you can start at the College Home section of Naviance and beginning looking at specific college to see if they have your career choice.

When you are finished, you should hopefully have...

• identified schools in which you may be interested,
• looked at important info about the school such as size, location, programs, cost, etc.
• saved those schools as ones in which you are interested. This will help your counselor in the future when we meet with you about your plan after high school.

Ghost-A-Gram: A fun way to connect!

Good morning Grey Ghost Nation! As we embark on this "Together, yet separate" mentality, we want to find different ways to remotely connect with all of YOU! Our counseling department feels confident speaking for all district employees by stating, WE MISS SEEING YOU! With all that being said, we proudly present to you "Ghost-a-gram Challenge! Ghost-a-gram is our version of Instagram, but there is a twist....we want you to capture the different learning activities you are completing at home and then send them to us! The pictures or videos will count as an entry in our weekly Ghost-a-gram Challenge. Please submit your entries via email (see below department email addresses). The challenge opens every Monday and closes Sunday evening. The weekly winner will be announced Monday morning, with their photo or video, here on our IVC blog. I know the question you're asking is why?

1. Staying connecting
2. You win a PRIZE!!!

Career Exploration Activity - Part One

This time away from school is a great opportunity to do some career exploration in Naviance. Even if you have already decided on a career, this is the perfect chance to investigate what it is going to take for you to be successful in that career. Also, don't limit yourself to one career. It doesn't hurt to have backup career choices. You never know if your interests will change or evolve.  This first career exploration activity is quite simple. We would love for you to go on Naviance and spend a good hour or so investigating at least 2 careers.

• Go to the Career Home screen. 
• Click on Explore Careers and begin your exploration. You can choose by the exact career name or search by career cluster.
• Be sure to investigate the schooling necessary, salary range, and outlook for the career in the future.
• Watch a video or two on Roadtrip Nation for each of your careers.
• Save the each career as a favorite. This will help your counselor track what careers each of you are interested in pursuing.

Career Fair This Thursday

The first annual Career Fair will be taking place at IVC High School this Thursday from 8-12. Students will have the opportunity to investigate over 50 careers. In addition, there will be colleges, the military, and even a few summer employers.

Students will attend four breakout sessions (25 minutes each), a keynote speaker, and have two 25 sessions to spend in the commons checking out colleges, etc.

Click below for a list of the careers having breakout sessions

Local Scholarship Applications Released

Seniors met in the auditorium this morning during HR period and were given a list of all the available local scholarships. Click here for presentation. Last year, over 50 scholarships were awarded totaling over $100,000. Although we do not have exact figures for all of this year's scholarships, it is pretty fair to expect an amount very similar to last year.

To view scholarship list, click here. Although parents are welcome to look at the scholarship list, only students can stop in the guidance office to pick up the applications. The exception is the Cusac application which will be available on Friday using the link in the scholarship section. The presentation includes the projected monetary awards. Most of the amounts are accurate but there are adjustments possible.

All scholarships due Monday, March 30th at 3:00. No late applications will be accepted. This is the second year that students were given the opportunity to use spring break to complete applications. Hopefully this leads to more applications being returned.

Note: Many applications ask for recommendations. If a student plans to ask an IVC faculty member for a recommendation, he or she must ask the faculty member before Tuesday, March 17th so the faculty has ample time to complete recommendations.

ICC Placement Test - March 18th

ICC Placement Test


Any student planning to attend ICC next fall is required to take the placement test in order to determine placement for Math and English classes.


Juniors planning to take classes at ICC as a senior next year must also take the test.


Any student who does not take the test on March 13th will need to drive to ICC and take the test after school so it is to the students' advantage to take the test at IVC.


Exceptions: Check the picture above for the exceptions.

Click below for more info

Construction Work-Based Learning Applications - Due FRIDAY!!

DEADLINE APPROACHING!!

Any student interested in the Construction Work-Based Learning program needs to submit their application by Friday, February 28th. Turn your application in to your guidance counselor. Applications can be found here.

Local Scholarship Dates Coming Up Soon!

Each year, over $140,000 is given out in local scholarships. These scholarships range from $250 to $75,000. Last year, there were 45 different scholarships awarded to graduating seniors. With the growing cost of college, every penny helps.

Here is a breakdown of the upcoming dates...

Wednesday, February 26th - 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 for all students and parents to view. Students must be the ones to pick up scholarship applications from Mrs. Placher. Parents may not pick up the applications for the student. Students must pick up their own scholarship applications.

Click below for the rest of the dates.

A How-to-Guide to Freshman Registration

Planning a schedule for freshman year can be quite an intimidating process. Hopefully this blog post will help students and parents through the process. Registration sheets are due by Tuesday, February 19th to the student's grade school main office. Class selection should also be inputted into TeacherEase before Monday (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...

Materials Engineering Camp

Attention all students entering their Junior or Senior year! The Peoria chapter of ASM Materials is hosting their 15th annual week long summer camp for students who are interested in Engineering. This camp is FREE to all selected participants. Camp runs from July 20 - July 23 from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM at Bradley University. More information can be found here. Applications are due May 8th and can be found here.

Peoria Regional College Fair - March 5th

Mark your calendars!!!

Bradley University
Thursday, March 5th, 2020
Renaissance Coliseum
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM



High school students and their families will have the opportunity to learn about over 80 colleges and universities during the 6th annual Peoria Area Regional College Fair on Thursday, March 5th at the Renaissance Coliseum on the campus of Bradley University in Peoria. The fair will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and admission is free.

Bradley University, in collaboration with the Illinois Association for College Admission Counseling and area high schools, presents this opportunity for students beginning their college search to speak with college and university representatives from around the country.

More information including a list of colleges can be found here.