Boarding Schools

On Wednesday, October 13, the Associate Director of Admissions at Thacher School, Aaron Mieszczanski, will visit Hillbrook's campus. He will remain on campus from 3:15 to 4:00pm to allow interested students the chance to have an informal conversation about Thacher. Please let me know if your child is interested in staying after school to visit with Mr. Mieszczanski.

Additionally, every October the Town School in San Francisco hosts a Boarding School Fair for students and parents. Anyone is invited. Boarding school representatives from every region in the United States attend this event; these schools are members of the National Association of Independent Schools. Attending this event, Sunday, October 17, 2010 from 11:00-2:00 will offer you insight into the boarding school choices and experience. Visit www.townschool.com where you will find a link to the Boarding School Fair; all information is there.

Essay Writing for High School Applications

In early November, students will begin drafting essays in High School Decisions. Essay drafts will be due mid-November. Mr. Bonoma and Ms. Maisel will provide guidance to the students, but they will also need to do a majority of the writing on their own time. Students can use no-homework weekends to write essays. There is one no-homework weekend per month.

No-HW weekend dates:

October 9-11
November 13-14
December 4-6
January 22-23

Notre Dame 8th Grade Day

Notre Dame's 8th Grade Day is November 5th. Registration for this event is now open. Click on the following link if you are interested in attending.

http://archive.ndsj.org/admissions/8th_grade_day_f_Student.html

Student Program
8th Grade Day is an opportunity for current 8th grade students to see the campus, meet the faculty, enjoy lunch with fellow students, explore high school curriculum, and get to know what the ND spirit is all about! Register

Parent Program
Notre Dame also offers a program for a limited number of parents of interested 8th grade students to see the campus, meet the faculty and students, and experience the ND community in action.

High School Decisions CD

The book that students have received in their High School Decisions class is available on CD for parents and will be passed out at Back to School Night. If you are unable to attend, please email me and I will send a CD home with your child.

High Schools visit Hillbrook

Monday marked the first day of many visits from Admissions Directors of local independent and Catholic secondary schools. During the High School Decisions class period, Admissions Directors speak to the 8th grade about their schools and answer the students' questions. All students attend these presentations. The reason for this is simple, the more students learn about high schools in general, the more informed their decision will be when they finally choose their school.

Cathy Shelburne, Director of Admissions at Menlo School, spoke with the class on Monday September 13. Some questions that came up were:

What kinds of clubs and activities do you have?
Is there a uniform?
What sports do you offer and what leagues are you in?
What is the campus like?

The next visit will be September 23 by Tom Sheppard, Director of Admissions at Stevenson School. By the end of October students also will have listened to representatives from Kirby, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, Castilleja, Mitty, Woodside Priory, St. Francis, Harker, Presentation, and Santa Catalina.

Catholic High School Information Nights

The format of the Catholic High School Information Nights is that each school makes ½ hour presentations, so it is possible to see three school presentations during the evening. Usually the Admissions Director is making the presentation and sometimes there are student representatives, sometimes not. These informational evenings are helpful if you know very little about the high schools, can’t attend an Open House in October or November, or you just want one more opportunity to learn something else about one or more Catholic high schools. All programs run from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. No reservations are required.

Dates and Locations:

Tuesday, September 14
Most Holy Trinity School
Cunningham, Ave., San Jose

Thursday, September 16
St. Lucy School
Kennedy Ave., Campbell

Monday, September 20
St. Catherine School
Peak Ave., Morgan Hill

Thursday, September 23
St. Clare School
Washington St., Santa Clara

Tuesday, September 28
Holy Spirit School
Redmond Ave., San Jose

Thursday, September 30
St. John Vianney School
Hyland Ave., San Jose

Schedule Shadow Visits

Most Catholic high schools open their shadow visit calendars on September 1st. Spots fill up quickly, so be sure to contact schools as soon as possible. Good dates to consider shadowing are:

October 11
October 29
November 1
December 6

Otherwise, make sure to tell Ms. Maisel and your advisor which days you will be missing for shadow visits.

Saso Fall HSPT Prep Course

If your child will be applying to any Catholic schools, he or she will need to take the Catholic High School Placement Test (HSPT).

Steve Saso will be offering a fall HSPT prep course on Friday afternoons at Hillbrook, beginning September 24th. To register your child, visit his website www.sasohighschoolprep.com.