Helen Jordan Truitt Scholarship Workshop

The Helen Jordan Truitt Scholarship was established in 1987. Since its inception, the Truitt Foundation has awarded scholarships totaling more than $2.3 million. Last year $45,000 was awarded to two IVC students.

Students are invited to apply for a Truitt Scholarship. The criteria for eligibility was established by the Truitt Foundation, not IVC High School.

Invitation to Apply

GPA after 6 semesters - 3.0

7th semester GPA - 3.5

Local Scholarship Assembly Recap

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 $90,000. 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 access the actual application.  All scholarships must be accessed from the students' IVC email accounts. 

All scholarships due Monday, April 4th at 3:00. No late applications will be accepted. This is the third year that students were given the opportunity to use spring break to complete applications. 

Note: Many applications ask for recommendations. If a student plans to ask an IVC faculty member for a recommendation, he or she should ask the faculty member before Tuesday, March 22nd so the faculty has ample time to complete recommendations.

Work Based Construction Apps Are Due!

Reminder to any sophomore of junior interested in the WBL Construction Program: Your applications are due this Friday (Feb. 25th) to Mr. Kosinski in the counseling office. This is a strict deadline since all apps must be delivered to the PERFECT offices.

Upcoming College Fair

The Illinois Regional College Fair is back at Bradley University and will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2022, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Nearly 80 colleges and universities from 11 states are registered to attend. The college fair is specifically designed for high school students and their families to come and visit with college representatives from across the country.

For more information:  bradley.edu/collegefair

PSAT/SAT-Related Information

 

Students who took the PSAT test should have test scores back and in hand. Scores to Illinois students were released on December 7, 2021. Now that you have this data, what are you to do with it? This post can give you helpful resources and direction on how to improve upon your scores and keep the test information fresh in your mind. The SAT test is scheduled for April 13, 2022 and now is the time to start preparing at all ages. 

First, ensure your College Board account has been created. Next, view your scores from SAT. Then, unlock your personalized study plans to prepare for the SAT.

Sign in and Explore:

• SAT PRACTICE: Send your scores to Khan Academy® for a free, personalized SAT practice plan based on your test results.
• PRACTICE TESTS: Get free, downloadable SAT practice tests online or on paper.

Materials Engineering Camp This Summer

Fantastic opportunity for students interested in engineering! And it is FREE!  

What is a Materials Engineer? Materials engineers work with metals, ceramics, and plastics to create new materials. Materials engineers develop, process, and test materials used to create a range of products, from computer chips and aircraft wings to golf clubs and biomedical devices. Basically, materials engineer create and study materials at the atomic level.

Click here for more information

Click here for application

Work Based Learning Construction Trades Meeting

 

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.

College Applications - Hurry

 The College Application process is underway and seniors should be applying. There are a lot of steps to navigate so it is important that the process get started.

Each school has different deadlines and requirements for needed items. Be sure to check with each school to verify that you have the correct information. November 1st is a deadline for several schools, so check these out soon!

If you have any questions or need to clear any confusion, please see your counselor as soon as possible. We will try our best to help with any questions regarding applications, common app, Naviance, or even FAFSA.

Seniors Going to College - How Far Along Are You?

We are now well into October. Any senior planning on going to college should be started with the process. If not, TODAY is the day to get started. Below is a checklist of things that should be done or at least underway by now.

• Investigate colleges and possible majors to find a good fit. (See your counselor if you are struggling with this step.)
• Visit colleges (It is important to see if a specific college is a good fit for you.)
• Apply to colleges (All applications can be found on the colleges' websites.)
• Complete FAFSA (Please complete ASAP. You do not want to lose out on money that will be gone if you wait. FAFSA is mandatory this year for graduation.)
• Start looking for scholarships (Check out Scholarship link to the right and the Off to College Guide for more links to great scholarship websites.)

Check out your account on Naviance.com to update your college page. This will help your counselor send out materials in a timely fashion.

IVC/ICC Spring Dual Credit Classes

IVC is partnering with ICC to give our juniors and seniors a chance at earning college credit at a discounted price. Classes available are:

-- ART 110 Art Appreciation

-- BUS 110 Intro to Business

-- COMM 110 Intro to Communication
-- ENGL 110 Composition I
-- ENGL 111 Composition II

-- HLTH 121 Medical Terminology
-- MATH 110 Concepts of Mathematics
-- MATH 111 General Statistics
-- PSY 110 Introduction to Psychology
-- SOC 110 An Introduction to Sociology

A detailed description of these classes can be found here. If you have any interest in taking any of these classes, all of which are held virtually, please email ldavis@ivcschools.com. The deadline to enroll is Tuesday, October 19th.

Senior Retreat Is Back!!

We are very excited about the return of the senior retreat. After a year off because of covid, the retreat has returned. The retreat will take place Nov. 3-6 at Eagle Crest Camp in Washburn.

Some info about the retreat...

-- The retreat is four days in length and nearly 100% led by a group of students who graduated last year.

-- This is the 31st retreat. Over 1,000 students have attended the retreat over the past sixteen years.

-- If a student would like to attend but cannot afford the retreat ($90), there are some partial and full scholarships available if the student comes to see one of the counselors.

Please see one of the counselors for a registration sheet. The sheets are due by October 22nd. See any counselor with questions.

Parents' Guide to Teen Depression

Teenagers face a host of pressures as they navigate their way through some tough years. With all this turmoil and uncertainty, it isn’t always easy to differentiate between normal teenage growing pains and depression. But teen depression goes beyond moodiness. It’s a serious health problem that impacts every aspect of a teen’s life. Fortunately, it’s treatable and parents can help. This article from helpguide.org is a fantastic resource for recognizing the signs and symptoms of depression and a list of ways to help your teen.

Click here for the article

Fire Science/EMS Career Day

This event is open to juniors (and sophomores), but limited to 10 students per school.

This career day encourages students to seek high-skilled, high-demand, high-wage careers in Fire Science and Emergency Medical Services. Students will rotate through the East Peoria fire station, training facility, and classrooms talking with firefighters and learning first-hand what a day in the life of a firefighter is really like. Learn what you can do to enter this noble profession!

Date: November 16th

Time: 8:30-11:30 a.m.

Where: East Peoria Firefighters' Training Facility

See Mr. Kosinski in Counseling Office if interested.

Avoid These Common FAFSA Errors

Mistakes can delay your application and limit the amount of aid you are eligible to receive. To avoid errors, carefully read all of the questions on the FAFSA. Some of the most common FAFSA errors are:

• Leaving blank fields. Enter a '0' or 'NA' instead
• Using decimal points. Round to the nearest dollar
• Listing an incorrect Social Security or driver's license number. Triple-check these
• Failing to use your legal name. Avoid nicknames
• Listing incorrect marital status or failing to include the appropriate parents. If custodial parent is re-married, you will need to include your step-parent's information
• Failing to count yourself as a student
• Failing to count an unborn child. Number in household is for the upcoming school year, so, for example, if your mom is pregnant, she is counted as '2' people
• Forgetting to list the colleges you have applied to. Make sure the schools receive your information!

A WONDERFUL service is offered to Illinois students through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Our representative, Simone Bridgeforth, will schedule a meeting with parents and students who are filling out the FAFSA free of charge to answer any questions you may have. Contact your Guidance Counselor for more information.

Questions to Ask on a College Visit

One of the best ways to learn more about a college is to visit their campus. When you're visiting, it is to your advantage to slow down and ask several questions. While it is helpful to talk to the admission staff (individuals who are paid to talk up a school), it also very insightful to talk to students about what they like and don't like about their school (individuals who will give their honest opinion). 

Here is a list of questions to ask while on a campus visit:

$500 Up For Grabs to an IVC Student

One IVC student will walk away with $500 in this year's Voice of Democracy Contest sponsored by our local VFW. Students need to create a 3-5 minute oral essay. The competition is open to all IVC students. The winning submission from IVC will move on to the state competition. Last year's winner Reese Hankins finished 5th in State.

Topic: America: Where Do We Go From Here
Grades: 9-12
Top Prize: $500
Second Prize: $200
Due Date: October 31st
For more details: Entry forms may be picked up from any counselor, English teacher or social studies teacher.

Basically students will need to write an essay and then turn it to an audio file. It is actually quite simple. The teachers at the high school use many different programs to save audio. Students should ask their English teacher if they are unsure what program to use. The counselors have thumb drives available if needed.

Link to Application

FAFSA Opens Today!!

Today is the first day that families can fill out the FAFSA. For a list of steps to completing the FAFSA, check out this link.

Reminder that it is important to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible. There is a limited amount of MAP grant money in Illinois. This is money that does NOT need to be repaid.

Filling out the FAFSA is also a graduation requirement, so be sure to get this done ASAP!