Guidance Breakfast Wednesday June 15th @ 8:30 A.M.

The BHS Guidance Department cordially invites junior parents to join us for our last Guidance Breakfast of the 2010/2011 school year. The topic will be about the "College Topics for the Summer". The breakfast will be held in the BHS Lower Library at 8:30am on Wednesday June 15th.  Please RSVP by calling 781-270-1780. We look forward to seeing you!

College Financing Seminar May 12th

Sophomores, juniors and their parents are invited to attend a free presentation on college financing this Thursday, May 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the BHS cafeteria.

This seminar is offered through the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), the Commonwealth's resource for planning, saving and paying for college. An experienced MEFA representative, Carla Berg of Bentley University, will provide an overview of the financial aid process, including types of financial aid, how to apply, and determining financing options for your family. 

Families will receive a seminar booklet which serves as a year-round resource. Time is allowed for questions and answers. Please contact the BHS Guidance Department at 781-270-1780 if you have any questions.

" Race to Nowhere" at BHS

Burlington High School will be a host sight for the movie" Race to Nowhere" on Thursday April 28th at 7:00 P.M.The movie offers insight into the high stress environment our students are faced with everyday. We highly recommend students and parents attend. Please click here for registration information.


“Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills
they need, and parents who are trying to
do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere
points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become isengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.”

The Dan Whitehead Memorial Scholarship

Seniors
We have extended the deadline on the Dan Whitehead Memorial Scholarship to May 2nd. We encourage you to apply. The award is for any BHS senior that is majoring in a service related industry (included, but not limited to, education, social services or criminal justice). You may download the application from your Naviance account or feel free to swing by the Guidance office and pick up a copy of the application.

BHS Guidance Breakfast- Wednesday April 13th @ 8:30 A.M.

The BHS Guidance Department cordially invites parents of underclassmen ( grades 9, 10 and 11) to join us for the next Guidance Breakfast. The topic will be about the "Naviance Program". Naviance is our college and career software planning program that we utilize for all students throughout the course of their high school career. We encourage parents to be involved in secondary planning with their son or daughter. The Guidance department feels that advanced planning allows for better post secondary decisions. Statistics show the majority of new students entering higher education leave their initial college of choice without completing a degree. We have found this statistic to be true nationally and locally as well. This is why we feel proper research and planning is increasingly important.
The breakfast will be held in the BHS Lower Library at 8:30am on Wednesday April 13th. Please RSVP by calling 781-270-1780. We look forward to seeing you!

On-Line Course Selections

We uncovered a small bug in the online request portal.
After logging in, when a student clicks on the Request Side Tab it is important that they only click on this button ONCE. It might take a few seconds for the page to load.
Please be patient, because clicking on this button more than once will cause an issue with your course requests.

The on-line course selection process begins today. All students will be responsible for selecting courses on-line. Students are reminded that helpful links can be found on the right hand side of this blog. Also please remember that your log-in information was provided in homeroom. If you don't have your information please see your Guidance Counselor.
After you sign in you will be prompted to change your password. The student portal will be open beginning today and will close day ending March 14th. BHS Counselors will be available during the school day every period and until 2:15 beginning March 8th until March 14th in the BHS lower library. Guidance Counselors will also be avilable for on-line chats. Dates and links for the on-line chats are also on the right hand side of this blog.

2011 BHS Program of Studies Finalized

The 2011 Program of Studies has now been finalized. On the right hand side you will notice three different formats for the on-line BHS Program of Studies. Students and parents are reminded that the Program of Studies will only be available on-line. We have listed some notable changes to the 2011 Program below:

New courses:

Advanced Placement Studio Art- Grade 12

Advanced Placement Statistics- Grade 12

Spanish for Health Care Careers- Grade 11 and 12, and two years of Spanish

Introduction to Health Occupations- Seniors and juniors (space permitting)

Italian IV- This course already exits; we are just adding a level

Other Changes:

Change of senior health requirement:
Seniors are required to enroll in one of the following courses. Each course meets the BHS Senior Health Graduation Requirement:
                                    Introduction to Sports Medicine
                                    Introduction to Health Occupations
                                    Senior Wellness

AP Program Change for seniors ONLY:
Seniors are allowed to enroll in 29.5 credits, if enrolled in two or more AP courses.

The following change applies to the INCOMING Freshman class (class of 2015).
The below chart is the new weighting system used for BHS courses.

Mark                  AP                         Honors                          CP I & CP II

A or A +           5.0                           4.5                               4.0

A-                     4.7                           4.2                               3.7

B+                    4.3                           3.8                               3.3

B                      4.0                           3.5                               3.0

B -                    3.7                           3.2                               2.7

C+                    3.3                           2.8                               2.3

C                      3.0                           2.5                               2.0

C-                     2.7                           2.2                               1.7

D+                    2.3                           1.8                                1.3

D                      2.0                           1.5                                1.0

D-                     1.7                           1.2                                0.7

F                       0.0                           0.0                                0.0

New Facebook Application for the College Admissions Process

Facebook is jumping into the college search and selection process. Since most BHS students and parents have facebook accounts, we recommend taking a look at this new feature. Please click here for access to the article discussing the rationale for creating this new feature. Also please click here for the “Admission Splash” feature on facebook. Although we utilize Naviance for the college search and selection process, we recommend trying other college searches on a variety of web-sites ( some are on the right side of this blog under "College Planning Resources").

PSAT Breakfast

The Fourth Guidance Breakfast turned out to be a very informative session for those parents that attended. Please see the PowerPoint below for the information that was presented. If you have any questions in regard to interpreting PSAT results please do not hesitate to contact your son or daughters respective guidance counselor. Also please mark your calendar for the next Guidance Breakfast. It will be held on March 2, 2011 and the topic covered will be the course selections process. Again feel free to RSVP at 781-270-1780. Thanks

PSAT powerpoint

View more presentations from Burlington Public Schools.

Reminder for Tonight 2/3/2011

Just a reminder that tonight the Guidance Department will host an event called "Smart Buys in Education". Mark Montgomery presented last year and gave BHS parents some very useful, relevent and current information. We are glad to see him back in Burlington this year.

Below are event details.

Thursday February 3, 2011 Smart Buys in Education ( Click Here )

6:30 P.M. - 8:00 P.M - Families can learn how to get the most out of their higher education dollars.

Location : BHS Auditorium

For parents of students in grades 8 through 11.

No RSVP Necessary

Hosted by Mark Montgomery, Independent College Consultant