{"id":604,"date":"2022-08-01T11:34:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T15:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emsblog.clayshowalter.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2022-08-03T15:10:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T19:10:34","slug":"another-blog-post-title-this-time-with-a-few-more-words-and-another-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/2022\/08\/01\/another-blog-post-title-this-time-with-a-few-more-words-and-another-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do Each Year: 9th Grade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>I\u2019m in 9th grade. What should I be doing now to prepare for college?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">College seems very far away at the moment, but in a year, you\u2019ll be taking the PSAT for the first time. Two years from now, you\u2019ll be visiting campuses and building your list, and not long after that, you\u2019ll be working on applications! So what can you do now to make the process easier?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Develop healthy habits.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Right now, you are establishing the habits that follow you through high school and college. If you have any habits that need to change, NOW is the time to work on them. Maintain an exercise routine. Stay hydrated. Practice the art of delayed gratification&#8211;get that paper done first, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">then <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reward yourself with Netflix or video games.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Do your best in your classes. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your goal is to keep all your options open, and the best way to do that is to keep your grades as high as you can. Ready for a challenge? Take optional honors in your favorite subject.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Read. Read. Read. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s an obvious link between reading and success in school. Broaden your vocabulary and your knowledge base; become an interesting conversationalist; know what\u2019s going on in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Get involved.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Start thinking about your interests and what sets you apart. Be willing to try new things. It can be anything: Join a club, audition for choir or a play, join a sports team (or manage one), volunteer, get involved in church activities, start a garage band. Think of ways to show leadership and initiative within your interests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Get to know your teachers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014and let your teachers get to know the real you. Show them the best side of yourself. Don\u2019t forget: in a few years, your teachers will be writing your recommendation letters.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Pay attention when people start talking about colleges.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The more you know, the easier your decision-making process will be. If you know someone in a job that interests you, ask them where they went to college. Ask juniors and seniors about their college visits. Visit one or two if you have a chance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Create an account in <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/app.scoir.com\/signup?hsid=471030\"><b>Scoir<\/b> <\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and update your profile and activities list. You\u2019ll thank yourself later.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>And don\u2019t forget you have a college counselor available to you!<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I\u2019m available to answer questions at any time. Email me or stop by my office.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Athletes: let me know if you\u2019re thinking about DI or DII schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ambitious folk: Let me know if you\u2019re thinking about a highly selective school.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anyone: Come talk to me whenever you have a question.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m in 9th grade. What should I be doing now to prepare for college? College seems very far away at the moment, but in a year, you\u2019ll be taking the PSAT for the first time. Two years from now, you\u2019ll be visiting campuses and building your list, and not long after that, you\u2019ll be working&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9th-grade","category-checklists"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/onward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}