Dear Friends & Family of Butte Falls Juniors & Seniors,
The school year is underway and we have almost finished our first quarter. It’s amazing how fast the school year goes. For some of you it may feel like only yesterday that your children were just beginning school and now they are nearly graduated and will soon be heading off to start their own lives.
I have asked all students in my Senior Seminar/Life Skills class to bring this letter home and have a parent or family member sign it and discuss our upcoming assignment. This is my first year teaching Senior Seminar, the course focuses on the transition from High School, and we are learning about things such as budgeting, credit, resume writing, cooking, and applying to college.
I am requiring all students in this course to identify and apply to three colleges, three separate scholarships, and complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). I certainly encourage students to find more scholarships and apply over the course of the year but will require that they apply to at least three.
Attending college has become increasingly more important for our students today. College is an opportunity to grow in knowledge and learn more skills, helping ensure that our next generation of civic leaders and voters make good decisions. It is also a way to acquire skills and credentials that are important when entering the workforce. Although the sticker price of college continues to increase there continue to be more funding opportunities to help make college financially affordable. Oregon recently passed The Oregon Promise which allows all graduating Seniors who enroll in an Oregon Community College within six months of graduating to have their remaining costs of attendance after Federal Aid covered by the state. To learn more about this opportunity please visit this website: http://www.oregonstudentaid.gov/oregon-promise.aspx
Although college is one way to becoming more informed and independent I recognize that it is not the only way and that some students are considering apprenticeship programs or enlisting in the military. Both of these routes are great ideas but I am still requiring them to write applications and research scholarships because I am convinced that the process of researching and applying will help them later in life. Students discharged from the military will receive a generous GI Bill allowing them to attend college and this assignment will help them in a few years because they will already be familiar with colleges where they might attend and have learned some skills to navigate the bureaucracy of receiving federal benefits and reenter civilian life. Students enrolling in an apprenticeship program already are familiar with the need to receive additional training and many programs require and/or pay for workers to take continuing education courses in particular skill fields (like electrical engineering, carpentry) or look for workers to take management courses and be better managers at their companies.
Juniors taking the class will not be required to fill out a FAFSA this year but they will be required to find three additional scholarships that they could apply to for next year and begin drafting essays and a resume for these scholarships. Juniors will also be required to take one practice SAT test for this class to help prepare them for the SAT that they will be encouraged to take in the Spring.
It has been a privilege to teach your children these past three years and I am very excited for their futures. Please let me know if you have any additional thoughts about this assignment and I would be more than happy to meet with you and your student to discuss their future plans.
Sincerely,
Joe Sixta
The school year is underway and we have almost finished our first quarter. It’s amazing how fast the school year goes. For some of you it may feel like only yesterday that your children were just beginning school and now they are nearly graduated and will soon be heading off to start their own lives.
I have asked all students in my Senior Seminar/Life Skills class to bring this letter home and have a parent or family member sign it and discuss our upcoming assignment. This is my first year teaching Senior Seminar, the course focuses on the transition from High School, and we are learning about things such as budgeting, credit, resume writing, cooking, and applying to college.
I am requiring all students in this course to identify and apply to three colleges, three separate scholarships, and complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). I certainly encourage students to find more scholarships and apply over the course of the year but will require that they apply to at least three.
Attending college has become increasingly more important for our students today. College is an opportunity to grow in knowledge and learn more skills, helping ensure that our next generation of civic leaders and voters make good decisions. It is also a way to acquire skills and credentials that are important when entering the workforce. Although the sticker price of college continues to increase there continue to be more funding opportunities to help make college financially affordable. Oregon recently passed The Oregon Promise which allows all graduating Seniors who enroll in an Oregon Community College within six months of graduating to have their remaining costs of attendance after Federal Aid covered by the state. To learn more about this opportunity please visit this website: http://www.oregonstudentaid.gov/oregon-promise.aspx
Although college is one way to becoming more informed and independent I recognize that it is not the only way and that some students are considering apprenticeship programs or enlisting in the military. Both of these routes are great ideas but I am still requiring them to write applications and research scholarships because I am convinced that the process of researching and applying will help them later in life. Students discharged from the military will receive a generous GI Bill allowing them to attend college and this assignment will help them in a few years because they will already be familiar with colleges where they might attend and have learned some skills to navigate the bureaucracy of receiving federal benefits and reenter civilian life. Students enrolling in an apprenticeship program already are familiar with the need to receive additional training and many programs require and/or pay for workers to take continuing education courses in particular skill fields (like electrical engineering, carpentry) or look for workers to take management courses and be better managers at their companies.
Juniors taking the class will not be required to fill out a FAFSA this year but they will be required to find three additional scholarships that they could apply to for next year and begin drafting essays and a resume for these scholarships. Juniors will also be required to take one practice SAT test for this class to help prepare them for the SAT that they will be encouraged to take in the Spring.
It has been a privilege to teach your children these past three years and I am very excited for their futures. Please let me know if you have any additional thoughts about this assignment and I would be more than happy to meet with you and your student to discuss their future plans.
Sincerely,
Joe Sixta
ONLINE RESOURCES
Office of Student Access and Completion: http://oregonstudentaid.gov/default.aspx
FAFSA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/
Oregon Promise: http://www.oregonstudentaid.gov/oregon-promise.aspx
Common Application: https://www.commonapp.org/
Oregon CIS: https://oregoncis.uoregon.edu/Portal.aspx
FAFSA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/
Oregon Promise: http://www.oregonstudentaid.gov/oregon-promise.aspx
Common Application: https://www.commonapp.org/
Oregon CIS: https://oregoncis.uoregon.edu/Portal.aspx