January 2021 HHS School Counseling Newsletter
How about a New Year?! As we turn the page from 2020, Freshmen and Juniors will be updating their Personalized Education Plan (PEP)
and making their course selections for next school year! Everything students and parents need to know regarding the course selection process can be found on the HHS Counseling page. Freshmen should click on the yellow “Freshmen” Button and later in the month, Juniors, the yellow “Junior” Button. Announcements regarding scheduling will be sent out through N-touch and Schoology, through English teachers. The Berkeley County Schools
Program of Studies is your source for course descriptions and graduation requirements. Seniors should be finalizing their college applications, looking into scholarships, and
applying for financial aid. We recommend all Seniors complete a FAFSA (www.fafsa.gov). Seniors should also apply for the PROMISE scholarship (www.cfwv.com) and look into other types of financial aid and scholarships. Please see the School Counseling January calendar to see important dates and events. Up-to-date information can be found on our School Counseling website. A few highlights for January:
• Junior & Freshmen course selections for next year begin!
o Freshmen course selection sheets are due to their school counselor by Jan. 14th. o Counselors will hold a live Teams meeting for Freshmen and their families for
general Q & A @ 1pm, Tuesday, Jan. 12th. o Visit the yellow “Freshmen” button on the HHS Counseling page for info on all of
this and more. o Junior course selection sheets will be available at the end of the month. o Counselors will hold a live Teams meeting for Juniors and their families for
general Q & A in early February. o Once information is available, please visit the yellow “Junior” button on the HHS
Counseling page for info on all of this and more. • Interested in College Classes? Current Juniors can start looking into Dual Enrollment
opportunities for next year by visiting the HHS Counseling page and clicking on: Dual Enrollment options. This page will be updated as colleges provide their information to us.
Please scroll through this newsletter and check out other opportunities available to you! Thank you, HHS School Counselors HHS School Counselor alphabetic breakdown: A-Ea: Mr. Norris, [email protected] Eb-Kn: Mr. Frankhouser, [email protected] Ko-Rob: Mrs. Ballard, [email protected] Roc-Z: Mrs. Brown, [email protected] Guidance Secretary: Mrs. Riggs, [email protected] School Social Worker: Mrs. Hersh, [email protected] CIS Social Worker: Ms. Doub, [email protected]
*Read on for flyers, opportunities, and announcements on…
• COOL CA$H for COLLEGE
• FAFSA help!
• HOBY
• WV 2020-2021 Statewide Financial Aid Series Schedule
• College Board Opportunity Scholarships- Juniors and Seniors
• Naval Academy Summer Seminar and Summer STEM
• Health Careers Opportunity Program- HCOP
o HAPPEN program (for Seniors)
• WVU- upcoming virtual events
• TXT 4 Success- Class of 2021- cfwv.com
• PROMISE scholarship
• Hidden Promise Scholars
• Yale Young Global Scholars flier
• Princeton Summer Journalism Program (for Juniors)
• Scholarship Opportunities
• HBCU Festival
• Prevent Suicide Flyer
• Help 304 Flyer
“The time is always right to do the right thing.” -MLK
Are YOU one of the lucky ones?
West Virginia High School Seniors! You can win prizes just for applying for the
Promise Scholarship AND filing the FAFSA.
You could be one of 40 lucky seniors who get YOUR CHOICE of a Grand
Prize (Apple AirPods, a Mini Fridge, or a Wireless Printer), or you could be one
of 100 Second Prize winners who will receive $20 gift cards (see details in Contest
Rules).
Get started today! To enter, just click below to apply for the Promise Scholarship
AND file the FAFSA by March 1st, 2021.
Need help? Our partners at the WV Higher Education Policy Commission are here
for you! Students can receive free help from a college-planning professional!
• Click here to sign up for free TEXT support • Talk to us! call 1-877-987-7664, West Virginia's financial aid hotline!
• Get email support here
Hedgesville High Seniors, “During this challenging time, we realize that this is an exceptionally difficult time for you as well as your students. As you may already know, FAFSA completion numbers are down nationwide for high school seniors. We want you to know that Shepherd is here to provide support for your students! We will begin to offer one-on-one Zoom meetings with students at times that are most convenient to the student, up to and including evenings and Saturday mornings. Students should reach out to our office directly to schedule their meeting. During these meetings we will be able to work with the student on signing up for his or her FSA ID, completing the 2021-2022 FAFSA, applying for the WV PROMISE Scholarship, and applying for admission to Shepherd, if desired. Of course, the student can complete all of these things independently, but we want to make ourselves available for those who may need more assistance. Please let us know if we can be of any additional assistance during this crazier than usual FAFSA season.” Stay well and stay safe,
Joyce A. Cabral Director of Financial Aid Shepherd University P O Box 5000 Shepherdstown, WV 25443 304-876-5470 or 800-344-5231 304-876-5238 – fax
Interested students should email Mrs. Ballard at [email protected] for directions on how to apply and
enter the HHS essay competition for a Scholarship to this event. The HOBY West Virginia Leadership
Seminar is scheduled for 6/24 - 06/27/2021 at Fairmont State University*, Fairmont, WV. The deadline for applications to be submitted to Mrs. Ballard is January 8, 2021.
College Board Opportunity Scholarships The College Board Opportunity Scholarships are now open for class of 2022 students. The
program lays out six simple steps that all students can take to get to college.
For the class of 2022, the College Board Opportunity Scholarships program will help even more
students plan for college, address affordability concerns, and connect them with other
scholarship opportunities. Here are a few key changes to the program for the class of 2022:
• More than 7,000 students will earn a scholarship each year, nearly double the number of
winners in previous years.
• All scholarship steps for the class of 2022 will be awarded for the same amount: $500. The
Complete Your Journey award will remain $40,000.
• There's a new Explore Scholarships step to help students find scholarship opportunities that
may be a good fit for them. And there's a simplified Practice for the SAT® step that will
guide students to begin personalized SAT practice just for them.
At least half of all the scholarships—over $2 million each year—are awarded to students whose
families earn less than $60,000 per year.
We encourage you to share this information with your juniors and have them sign up for the
program. Their first step is to make a starter list of six colleges they're interested in, for a chance
at $500.
Juniors: Sign Up Today
-College Board
Naval Academy Summer Seminar and Summer STEM
If you are eligible for , you will
enjoy great benefits such as:
▪ Get credit for classes
▪ Smaller classes
▪ Get to know some WVU fall instructors
▪ Have access to academic services like
tutoring, advising and success coaching
▪ Participate in weekend adventures on and
off campus
▪ Learn about college life ▪ Receive a stipend
In order to qualify for , you must be:
▪ A US Citizen
▪ A West Virginia resident
▪ have a disadvantaged status
(underrepresented minority, financial or first-
generation college bound
▪ have as strong interest in admissions to a
health professions school (dentistry,
medicine, pharmacy or allied health)
Additional criteria are listed on our website at
www.wvhcop.org
Questions regarding this program should be
directed to:
Kas Kasten [email protected]
Health Careers Opportunity Program
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
PO Box 9027
Morgantown WV 26506-9027
Phone: 304-293-0769 or 1-800-345-4267 ext. 7
What is the Health Careers Opportunity Program?
The Health Careers
Opportunity Program (HCOP)
strives to provide a variety of
activities that foster the
integration of academics and
interpersonal experiences to
develop the total person.
Students are encouraged to
successfully pursue a health
professions degree.
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What is the HAPPEN Program? When can I apply for HAPPEN? HAPPEN Eligibility
HAPPEN is a FREE 3-week
summer program designed to
prepare high school seniors
graduating in May 2021 for
success in college pre-health
majors.
HAPPEN gives you a “head
start” for your undergraduate
education.
Program dates are July 6– July 26, 2021. Interested students must register and complete the online program application here:
https://scholar.wvhcop.org/
Applications are being accepted starting
December 2020
Students who participate in this
program will receive college
credit for a chemistry, math or
statistics course.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 1, 2021
You must apply and be admitted to WVU before
April 30, 2021.
You don’t have to attend WVU in the fall – but you do have to apply *and be accepted to WVU in order
to receive credit for the course you will take through the HCOP
program.
*You must have an ACT score of 19 or
SAT of 500 to be admitted to WVU for the
HCOP program.
You must:
• be a U.S. Citizen
• be a resident of West Virginia
• have a disadvantaged status (underrepresented minority, financial and/or first generation college bound)
• be a high school senior graduating in May 2021, with an interest in the school/program of dentistry, medicine, pharmacy or allied health
Students enrolled in HAPPEN will:
• earn credit for chemistry, math or a statistics course
• receive a stipend per instructional day
• meet some WVU instructors
• experience dorm life
• have access to academic services like tutoring, advising and success coaching
• participate in weekend adventures
• meet other students across West Virginia
Txt 4 Success
The class of 2021 can now sign up to receive college tips and reminders via text message. Students can also text us at any time for college help, and a college access advisor will respond. Click here to sign up to receive texts.
Scholarship Information
WV PROMISE Scholarship Requirements
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the WV HEPC has approved temporary modifications to qualify for (class
of 2020 and class of 2021) and renewal (2019-20) for WV financial aid programs. Click here for more
information regarding these changes. The PROMISE Scholarship Application (www.cfwv.com/promise)
and 2021-2022 FAFSA (www.fafsa.gov) are now available. Both are due by March 1, 2021. Seniors must
apply by the March 1 deadline, even if they do not currently meet the test score or GPA requirements.
Our PROMISE application numbers are very low, so we would like to encourage all seniors to fill out both
the application and FAFSA as soon as possible.
Marshall University’s S-STEM Scholarship Program
Marshall University's S-STEM Scholarship Program Marshall University's College of Engineering and
Computer Sciences received an NSF S-STEM grant to support WV College students, mainly female, to
study STEM at Marshall with a scholarship of $7500/year for four years. The scholarship program starts
in the fall of 2021 and MU is looking to recruit students to the program (10 students in 2021 and
another 10 students in 2022). Please see the attached brochure and application. If you think it is
appropriate, please share it with other educators and students in your schools for whom this could be
an amazing opportunity. Additional information is available at https://www.marshall.edu/cecs/nsf-s-
stem/ and students can apply online at https://tinyurl.com/y5agn4kq. Teachers can upload a letter of
recommendation at https://tinyurl.com/y2sa9b57. The application is due March 1, 2021. If you have any
questions about the S-STEM Scholarship Program, please contact Dr. Wook-Sung Yoo at
West Virginia University’s S-STEM Scholarship Program
West Virginia University’s SSTEM Scholarship Program WVU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy
received an NSF SSTEM grant to support WV students to study physics with a computational area of
emphasis at WVU with a scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for up to 4 years. The scholarship may be
awarded to high school seniors applying to WVU and to current physics students at WVU. The goal of
the program is to increase the number of West Virginians pursuing high tech careers in physics and
computer science. Please see the link below for more information and the application. Please visit
https://physics.wvu.edu/students/undergraduatestudents/financial-aid-and-scholarships/cphys-
scholarshipdescription for more information. While applications are considered yearround, those
submitted before May 15th will receive first consideration. Applications, letters of recommendation, and
questions may be directed to Dr. Stewart at [email protected].
Registration has not yet opened. Festival Benefits: * HBCU virtual Drumline competition! * Over 70 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) * On-site Interviews and Admissions by some schools * Band and Chorus auditions by some schools * Application Fee Waiver by some schools * Seminars for students, parents and guardians (sign up when you register)
If you have questions, please email: [email protected]