News
2020-2021 College Application Season
Written by: Alyssa Manley
The AC Reynolds senior class of 2020 certainly faced their fair share of challenges. There’s no denying that these seniors endured a world of firsts, one of them being ending their high school journey virtually. This same experience and feeling of uncertainty lingers behind them as it affects this year's graduating class of 2021. From taking standardized tests to cancelled school activities, several current seniors agree that they are experiencing, arguably, the hardest college application season in history.
ACR senior Emma Barlowe says that she’s “...always planned to go to a four-year college and pursue [her] degree in worship leadership.” While her plan has stayed the same despite the recent pandemic, Emma has now opted to graduate early and is most concerned about her fears of the unknown. Getting a job and “...participating in groups at college...” are important aspects of her life that she worries might not happen next year. “I don't know what college is going to look like in the next few months and there are a lot of things up in the air,” she explains.
Before she can go to college, she must get accepted, however. Luckily for Emma, she started her college applications early junior year and was well prepared for the unexpected unfolding of events happening now. But for most seniors who have just recently started their applications, this is not the case. Nathaniel Honea has observed that it’s “...more difficult to find community service opportunities...” Traditionally, this has been an area that has been known to boost college resumes.
In a statement written by a collaboration of top-tiered colleges and universities, admission officers rank “service and contributions to others” as their third-highest admission factor in a list of five during the 2021 admission year. More than 360 schools around the country have since adopted the same or similar policy, including Duke, North Carolina State, and UNC-Chapel Hill, among others.
Volunteer work isn’t the only resume-boosting thing seniors are missing this year. Aubrey Woehl held multiple leadership positions in many school-sponsored activities such as marching band, GSA, and theater. However, seeing as ACR is currently virtual and Buncombe County plans to stay that way through the end of the first semester, Aubrey isn’t able to participate in her normal extracurricular activities. Fortunately, in the same statement previously mentioned, “extracurricular and summer activities” rank at number five as the least concerning factor affecting acceptance.
For seniors currently navigating their way through college admissions, it’s important to remember that everyone is going through the same thing. Changes to the college application process have been made to ensure everyone has equal opportunities to showcase themselves as more than numbers on a piece of paper. The more colleges begin to change and amend their acceptance policies, the more they’ll begin to see students as the multi-talented people they are.
ACR senior Emma Barlowe says that she’s “...always planned to go to a four-year college and pursue [her] degree in worship leadership.” While her plan has stayed the same despite the recent pandemic, Emma has now opted to graduate early and is most concerned about her fears of the unknown. Getting a job and “...participating in groups at college...” are important aspects of her life that she worries might not happen next year. “I don't know what college is going to look like in the next few months and there are a lot of things up in the air,” she explains.
Before she can go to college, she must get accepted, however. Luckily for Emma, she started her college applications early junior year and was well prepared for the unexpected unfolding of events happening now. But for most seniors who have just recently started their applications, this is not the case. Nathaniel Honea has observed that it’s “...more difficult to find community service opportunities...” Traditionally, this has been an area that has been known to boost college resumes.
In a statement written by a collaboration of top-tiered colleges and universities, admission officers rank “service and contributions to others” as their third-highest admission factor in a list of five during the 2021 admission year. More than 360 schools around the country have since adopted the same or similar policy, including Duke, North Carolina State, and UNC-Chapel Hill, among others.
Volunteer work isn’t the only resume-boosting thing seniors are missing this year. Aubrey Woehl held multiple leadership positions in many school-sponsored activities such as marching band, GSA, and theater. However, seeing as ACR is currently virtual and Buncombe County plans to stay that way through the end of the first semester, Aubrey isn’t able to participate in her normal extracurricular activities. Fortunately, in the same statement previously mentioned, “extracurricular and summer activities” rank at number five as the least concerning factor affecting acceptance.
For seniors currently navigating their way through college admissions, it’s important to remember that everyone is going through the same thing. Changes to the college application process have been made to ensure everyone has equal opportunities to showcase themselves as more than numbers on a piece of paper. The more colleges begin to change and amend their acceptance policies, the more they’ll begin to see students as the multi-talented people they are.
First Photographed Black Hole: putting it in context
Written by: Noah Clifford
In recent years as aerospace technology has improved, and we have been able to gain a lot more information about the inner-workings of the universe we live in. With this has come an array of visual representations and real photographs taken of many celestial bodies, most recently of Neptune, Pluto, as well as the Kepler Belt. Now, cosmologically speaking all of the bodies are superbly close to our planet and the most well known and visually pleasing pictures have been the result of space probes which come into very close proximity to these cosmological entities, close enough to catch a picture.
Entities that are much farther away than this do not emit visible light relative to us and other forms of electromagnetic radiation must be captured in order to take measurements and visually represent these celestial bodies, since the wavelengths of radiation, the light we see being a form of radiation, increase with distance most of the telescopes that capture measurements of these entities must be able to capture and measure radiation in the form of radio and microwaves. This is a challenge on its own, but the real challenge is mapping astronomical bodies through the incredible vastness of space.
Space, quite obviously, is enormous. Given the relative age of the universe, around 14 billion years, light has had the ability to travel in all directions for 14 billion years, giving the observable universe a diameter of 28 billion light years in all directions, a quite unfathomable distance that most scientists cannot even wrap their heads around. Cosmological entities like the Andromeda galaxy, which is a fraction of this distance away from the earth, Take up a space in the sky well over a billionth of the amount of space the moon takes up in the night’s sky. This makes it incredibly hard to find entities that are farther away than our own solar system. The black hole that was found, M87, by the EHT Telescope is roughly 50 million light years away. This makes it take up roughly a billionth of the amount of space the moon takes up in the night’s sky, making it understandably difficult to observe it even with the most advanced radio telescopes.
Another aspect of cosmology, specifically, making photographing a black hole so difficult is the size of black holes. While in relation to Earth a black hole is quite big, in relation to most space entities we have photographed a black hole is quite small. They are some of the most massive objects in the known universe, but their density more than countermands their volume, making many of them not much bigger than the sun, and their scarcity makes finding one so difficult on its own.
All in all photographing a black hole was an enormous feat for mankind, and not necessarily in the way you might think. See, before this photograph was taken we had absolutely no evidence that black holes existed or that they could possibly exist other than in theory. The extent to which we knew about black holes all came down to math. Mathematics, specifically Einstein’s equations for general and special relativity, made black holes theoretically possible, but as far as mankind knew, they did not exist in practice, they were rather fanciful objects in space that were simply theorized to exist.
All in all, this feat cannot be overstated, it is an astounding achievement in astronomy and especially in astrophysics further substantiating Einstein's theories of general and special relativity which greatly questions everything we think we know about reality and time.
Entities that are much farther away than this do not emit visible light relative to us and other forms of electromagnetic radiation must be captured in order to take measurements and visually represent these celestial bodies, since the wavelengths of radiation, the light we see being a form of radiation, increase with distance most of the telescopes that capture measurements of these entities must be able to capture and measure radiation in the form of radio and microwaves. This is a challenge on its own, but the real challenge is mapping astronomical bodies through the incredible vastness of space.
Space, quite obviously, is enormous. Given the relative age of the universe, around 14 billion years, light has had the ability to travel in all directions for 14 billion years, giving the observable universe a diameter of 28 billion light years in all directions, a quite unfathomable distance that most scientists cannot even wrap their heads around. Cosmological entities like the Andromeda galaxy, which is a fraction of this distance away from the earth, Take up a space in the sky well over a billionth of the amount of space the moon takes up in the night’s sky. This makes it incredibly hard to find entities that are farther away than our own solar system. The black hole that was found, M87, by the EHT Telescope is roughly 50 million light years away. This makes it take up roughly a billionth of the amount of space the moon takes up in the night’s sky, making it understandably difficult to observe it even with the most advanced radio telescopes.
Another aspect of cosmology, specifically, making photographing a black hole so difficult is the size of black holes. While in relation to Earth a black hole is quite big, in relation to most space entities we have photographed a black hole is quite small. They are some of the most massive objects in the known universe, but their density more than countermands their volume, making many of them not much bigger than the sun, and their scarcity makes finding one so difficult on its own.
All in all photographing a black hole was an enormous feat for mankind, and not necessarily in the way you might think. See, before this photograph was taken we had absolutely no evidence that black holes existed or that they could possibly exist other than in theory. The extent to which we knew about black holes all came down to math. Mathematics, specifically Einstein’s equations for general and special relativity, made black holes theoretically possible, but as far as mankind knew, they did not exist in practice, they were rather fanciful objects in space that were simply theorized to exist.
All in all, this feat cannot be overstated, it is an astounding achievement in astronomy and especially in astrophysics further substantiating Einstein's theories of general and special relativity which greatly questions everything we think we know about reality and time.
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Preparations for finals!!!Written by: Amelia Novak
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As the semester gets closer and closer to an end, lots of preparations must be made for the switch from first semester to second, including getting ready for finals. A big part of being in a class and learning is making sure you learn all the information you can to pass and hopefully get a good grade on the final. Finals main purpose is to test for the information that is expected to have been learned in that class.
While finals can be very useful for teachers and administrators, there is also some negatives to standardized testing. Many agree that they don’t actually test for the intelligence of a student and that it has more to deal with how good of a test taker they are and only a very little part of the skill sets learned in a class. I talked to Mrs. Love a English teacher here at Reynolds and she brought up the fact that more English standardized testing is made up of mostly reading comprehension with reading passages and answering questions on it. However, English classes are made up of many components like presenting skills, creativity building, writing and many other factors that are not including in the testing for these classes but play a big role in the teachings.
Another big part of finals is the process of preparing for them. It’s very hard for both teachers and students to have to come back from a long winter break and go straight back into class and reviewing for finals. Many teachers struggle with trying to review about five months of information into 2-3 weeks of review and making sure they’ve completed teaching the curriculum for these classes. To help make sure the students remember all they’ve learned teachers use various resources. Some teachers prefer to have all their students to keep lengthy notebooks with all the topics and units covered during the semester. Other resources like practice test from things like released previous finals help to give students a certain idea of how the test they are taking might be like. People learn in many different ways so one way of review might work for one student but not another, so it’s important to use many strategies for finals preparation.
No matter how you prepared for finals and what your view on standardized testing, it’s important to try your best and study any way you can. Good luck to all the students with their finals this week, you can do it!
While finals can be very useful for teachers and administrators, there is also some negatives to standardized testing. Many agree that they don’t actually test for the intelligence of a student and that it has more to deal with how good of a test taker they are and only a very little part of the skill sets learned in a class. I talked to Mrs. Love a English teacher here at Reynolds and she brought up the fact that more English standardized testing is made up of mostly reading comprehension with reading passages and answering questions on it. However, English classes are made up of many components like presenting skills, creativity building, writing and many other factors that are not including in the testing for these classes but play a big role in the teachings.
Another big part of finals is the process of preparing for them. It’s very hard for both teachers and students to have to come back from a long winter break and go straight back into class and reviewing for finals. Many teachers struggle with trying to review about five months of information into 2-3 weeks of review and making sure they’ve completed teaching the curriculum for these classes. To help make sure the students remember all they’ve learned teachers use various resources. Some teachers prefer to have all their students to keep lengthy notebooks with all the topics and units covered during the semester. Other resources like practice test from things like released previous finals help to give students a certain idea of how the test they are taking might be like. People learn in many different ways so one way of review might work for one student but not another, so it’s important to use many strategies for finals preparation.
No matter how you prepared for finals and what your view on standardized testing, it’s important to try your best and study any way you can. Good luck to all the students with their finals this week, you can do it!
Semester Switch Toll on Teachers
Written by: Avery Love
As stressful as finals week and the transition between semesters can be for students, it’s hard on teachers too. They have to administer tests, grade, and on top of that they only have an early release to get everything ready for the transition this semester. On top of all that, they have to memorize new students, for some, get used to student teachers, and overall it’s a very stressful time for teachers. I talked to Mrs. Lewis about how the transition is going for her.
“I need to finalize grades, finish grading, review with students, bridge the AP calendar to make sure that both my AP classes are roughly in the same spot, and congratulate the seniors because this fulfills their graduation requirement”. That’s a lot for a normal day, and on top of that, because of the snow, teachers only have the afternoon of the early release on Friday, January 18th to finish all of it that needs to get done before the switch, which is insane! We get stressed whenever we leave a project for the last minute, but this is three projects and a forgotten make-up test due in an hour. Teachers have to work as hard as they can to get everything done, and it’s really stressful for them.
When asked what the hardest part of the switch for her is, she says that it’s “Trying to wrap up one, start another one, and especially in the APs, it’s a challenge to keep up and maintain the necessary rigor” which is something I think all of us can understand. But for teachers, they also have to learn names, answer questions, and a lot more that students don’t have to deal with, so it’s a lot harder on them.
So for the next few days/ weeks just keep in mind that teachers have a lot on their plates. Be kind, do what they ask, and be patient if your new teachers don’t remember your name at first. They’re doing a lot at one time, and you can’t blame them for being a little bit frazzled.
“I need to finalize grades, finish grading, review with students, bridge the AP calendar to make sure that both my AP classes are roughly in the same spot, and congratulate the seniors because this fulfills their graduation requirement”. That’s a lot for a normal day, and on top of that, because of the snow, teachers only have the afternoon of the early release on Friday, January 18th to finish all of it that needs to get done before the switch, which is insane! We get stressed whenever we leave a project for the last minute, but this is three projects and a forgotten make-up test due in an hour. Teachers have to work as hard as they can to get everything done, and it’s really stressful for them.
When asked what the hardest part of the switch for her is, she says that it’s “Trying to wrap up one, start another one, and especially in the APs, it’s a challenge to keep up and maintain the necessary rigor” which is something I think all of us can understand. But for teachers, they also have to learn names, answer questions, and a lot more that students don’t have to deal with, so it’s a lot harder on them.
So for the next few days/ weeks just keep in mind that teachers have a lot on their plates. Be kind, do what they ask, and be patient if your new teachers don’t remember your name at first. They’re doing a lot at one time, and you can’t blame them for being a little bit frazzled.
Anxiety and Depression in High School Students
Written by: Kylee Plemmons
Teens today are much more prone to stress, anxiety, and depression than kids were in the past couple decades yet it is something not many people truly address. I read on childmind.org that one third of kids today will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder by the time they are 18. It is something that is progressing at an alarming rate.
The world around teens is a new and constantly changing place with the texting, and tweeting, and changing of status on social media. We regularly look at electronic screens and absorb other people's lives. In this process we compare the lives of others to our own, especially teens. We decide our bodies, friendships, fun, and lives are lesser than that of other peoples. We are comparing ourselves to live up to standards of other people’s lives instead of focusing on the life in front of us. Not only are we doing it but we can’t stop. An article on phychologytoday.com talked about how one reason we are doing it more is because the devices we use are addictive. We have a compulsive need to look at our phones leading us to scroll social media and once we do we can’t stop because it triggers a dopamine release giving you a sense of pleasure.
I also found that teens today are more pressed than ever when it comes to getting good grades. Not to say students of the past decades haven’t been stressed about grades but today they are more inclined to get perfect grades. Students think as though good grades mean a successful and happy life and bad grades mean failure. Plus, more students than ever receive a secondary education, many even though it's not really what they want. They have been taught that it is necessary and to get there they have to have perfect grades and impeccable test scores. While students in past times have strived to get good grades such as B’s or the average, C’s, teens now find themselves pressured to have top scores and straight A’s. Many people would say this is kids working harder and it is true. However, in order for kids to do this work they stress and continually compare themselves to other students, leaving them feeling inadequate.
Teens deal with stress, anxiety, and depression in many ways. Many teens feel isolated, tired, and down when they have these things. So to deal with it many people find being out with friends, getting good sleep, or just doing something you love can help you cope. I spoke to a student named Sierra who told me that exercise is an excellent way to feel better. Teens can also practice mindfulness techniques learning to control things such as breathing and focusing to help them feel better. The problem is some students don't turn to these things to cope. They turn to alcohol, drugs, self-harm, and even teen suicide. Teens find the worse things as the easier way out. Teachers need to know how to locate and handle students with these problems. I spoke to Mr.Johnston on what to look at it when determining if a student is suffering from extra stress, anxiety, or depression. We need to bring attention to these problems and feelings in order to teach students how to properly and safely feel better.
The world around teens is a new and constantly changing place with the texting, and tweeting, and changing of status on social media. We regularly look at electronic screens and absorb other people's lives. In this process we compare the lives of others to our own, especially teens. We decide our bodies, friendships, fun, and lives are lesser than that of other peoples. We are comparing ourselves to live up to standards of other people’s lives instead of focusing on the life in front of us. Not only are we doing it but we can’t stop. An article on phychologytoday.com talked about how one reason we are doing it more is because the devices we use are addictive. We have a compulsive need to look at our phones leading us to scroll social media and once we do we can’t stop because it triggers a dopamine release giving you a sense of pleasure.
I also found that teens today are more pressed than ever when it comes to getting good grades. Not to say students of the past decades haven’t been stressed about grades but today they are more inclined to get perfect grades. Students think as though good grades mean a successful and happy life and bad grades mean failure. Plus, more students than ever receive a secondary education, many even though it's not really what they want. They have been taught that it is necessary and to get there they have to have perfect grades and impeccable test scores. While students in past times have strived to get good grades such as B’s or the average, C’s, teens now find themselves pressured to have top scores and straight A’s. Many people would say this is kids working harder and it is true. However, in order for kids to do this work they stress and continually compare themselves to other students, leaving them feeling inadequate.
Teens deal with stress, anxiety, and depression in many ways. Many teens feel isolated, tired, and down when they have these things. So to deal with it many people find being out with friends, getting good sleep, or just doing something you love can help you cope. I spoke to a student named Sierra who told me that exercise is an excellent way to feel better. Teens can also practice mindfulness techniques learning to control things such as breathing and focusing to help them feel better. The problem is some students don't turn to these things to cope. They turn to alcohol, drugs, self-harm, and even teen suicide. Teens find the worse things as the easier way out. Teachers need to know how to locate and handle students with these problems. I spoke to Mr.Johnston on what to look at it when determining if a student is suffering from extra stress, anxiety, or depression. We need to bring attention to these problems and feelings in order to teach students how to properly and safely feel better.
AP classes: to take or not to take?
Written by: Noah Clifford
In 1952 a pilot program consisting of advanced courses in 11 subject areas. In the 1955 - ‘56 school year The College Board, a nonprofit dedicated in expanding access to higher education, took over the administration of the program: renaming it “The Advanced Placement Program.” It began that school year with 130 schools and 1229 students, just last year the program had over 1200 school with 525,000 participating students.
Though the popularity of these Advanced Placement exams continues to increase many still raise the question: are these classes worth it?
The appeal to take AP classes, for most students you ask, is relatively the same: “to help boost my GPA”, “to help improve my odds for getting into a good school”, “to make me look more competitive for college,” remark students Chris Bridges, Lawson Robertson, and Zachary Crain respectively. The motives for taking these classes are almost always academically driven; students rarely take these classes of their own volition.
In fact, many student feel forced to take Advanced Placement classes, they feel it necessary in order to get into a good college. “I mean, in a way, it feels vital to take AP classes, otherwise you’ll be behind everyone else who are taking these classes when it comes time to apply to college.” admits senior Lawson Robertson.
Some would argue, however, feeling forced to take these classes is not such a bad thing. “I mean it’s not great to feel forced to take a more difficult class; but, all in all, it will help prepare us for the rigorous courses we will be forced to take in college,” remarks senior Zachary
Crain. It seems some students understand the competitive nature of college, and any move they can take to get ahead now is of great importance, even if it's just preparing for college in an academic sense, such as with more rigorous classes.
All in all, there are great colliding forces in the decision to take or to not take Advanced Placement classes. Some back off for fear of their inherent rigor, some give in in attempt to stay ahead, or with, their peers. In the end, it’s up to what kind of student you want to be: do you want to push yourself academically or do you want to float comfortably through high school?
Citations: Mentalfloss.com
Though the popularity of these Advanced Placement exams continues to increase many still raise the question: are these classes worth it?
The appeal to take AP classes, for most students you ask, is relatively the same: “to help boost my GPA”, “to help improve my odds for getting into a good school”, “to make me look more competitive for college,” remark students Chris Bridges, Lawson Robertson, and Zachary Crain respectively. The motives for taking these classes are almost always academically driven; students rarely take these classes of their own volition.
In fact, many student feel forced to take Advanced Placement classes, they feel it necessary in order to get into a good college. “I mean, in a way, it feels vital to take AP classes, otherwise you’ll be behind everyone else who are taking these classes when it comes time to apply to college.” admits senior Lawson Robertson.
Some would argue, however, feeling forced to take these classes is not such a bad thing. “I mean it’s not great to feel forced to take a more difficult class; but, all in all, it will help prepare us for the rigorous courses we will be forced to take in college,” remarks senior Zachary
Crain. It seems some students understand the competitive nature of college, and any move they can take to get ahead now is of great importance, even if it's just preparing for college in an academic sense, such as with more rigorous classes.
All in all, there are great colliding forces in the decision to take or to not take Advanced Placement classes. Some back off for fear of their inherent rigor, some give in in attempt to stay ahead, or with, their peers. In the end, it’s up to what kind of student you want to be: do you want to push yourself academically or do you want to float comfortably through high school?
Citations: Mentalfloss.com
CTE Classes: How they help students succeed in life
By: Alyssa Manley
Career Technical Education Classes, also known as CTE classes, do more than just teach students to pass a test or memorize information. With many different topics to choose from, they prepare students for their future and help them know what to expect in the real world after high school.
Jackson Wright, a sophomore at A.C. Reynolds, takes the CTE class Microsoft Excel. He has learned how to “easily and professionally use Excel,” something that can help him in his future career. He says that it “opens up job opportunities… that require spreadsheets and various forms of charts and tables.”
Jackson isn’t the only one reaping the benefits of CTE classes, though. Bonnie Cole, an Interior Design 2 student, has gained many skills through her class ranging from “job applications and job interviews,” to “house buying.” She likes CTE classes because they are career based and “help you learn what trade you want to go into for a living.”
A parenting and child development student, says that the CTE class “made her realize she didn’t want kids anytime soon.” Although she isn’t a parent yet, she did learn things she can use in everyday life. “I learned how to take care of children and how to change a diaper.”
Although most CTE classes are career specific, some focus on the bigger picture. Career Management, a CTE class taught by Ms. Ebner, helps students learn and prepare for careers in all fields. She teaches lifelong skills in work ethics, personal development, and listening. She says that CTE classes discover their strengths and abilities which guide them to their true passions and if they just follow what they love the money will follow.”
But with all the classes to choose from, some students still are unsatisfied. An “appropriate dining knowledge and attire,” CTE class would make Jackson Wright very happy. Some other ACR students suggested that we should have more CTE classes, too. These classes include small business start-up, owning and managing a farm, video game designing, and peer-student counseling.
All in all, you can see that CTE classes definitely prepare students for their lives outside of high school, no matter what they plan to do in life. Whether their plans involve going to college, the military, or even straight into the workforce, CTE can always provide students with something meaningful to learn.
Jackson Wright, a sophomore at A.C. Reynolds, takes the CTE class Microsoft Excel. He has learned how to “easily and professionally use Excel,” something that can help him in his future career. He says that it “opens up job opportunities… that require spreadsheets and various forms of charts and tables.”
Jackson isn’t the only one reaping the benefits of CTE classes, though. Bonnie Cole, an Interior Design 2 student, has gained many skills through her class ranging from “job applications and job interviews,” to “house buying.” She likes CTE classes because they are career based and “help you learn what trade you want to go into for a living.”
A parenting and child development student, says that the CTE class “made her realize she didn’t want kids anytime soon.” Although she isn’t a parent yet, she did learn things she can use in everyday life. “I learned how to take care of children and how to change a diaper.”
Although most CTE classes are career specific, some focus on the bigger picture. Career Management, a CTE class taught by Ms. Ebner, helps students learn and prepare for careers in all fields. She teaches lifelong skills in work ethics, personal development, and listening. She says that CTE classes discover their strengths and abilities which guide them to their true passions and if they just follow what they love the money will follow.”
But with all the classes to choose from, some students still are unsatisfied. An “appropriate dining knowledge and attire,” CTE class would make Jackson Wright very happy. Some other ACR students suggested that we should have more CTE classes, too. These classes include small business start-up, owning and managing a farm, video game designing, and peer-student counseling.
All in all, you can see that CTE classes definitely prepare students for their lives outside of high school, no matter what they plan to do in life. Whether their plans involve going to college, the military, or even straight into the workforce, CTE can always provide students with something meaningful to learn.
The Counseling Department: The support structure of ACRHS
Written by: Noah Clifford
The school counselors here at A.C. Reynolds High School work very diligently to keep their students on track to graduate and accomplish their academic goals. Many students seem to underestimate the rigor and challenge that our counselors face; with roughly 300 students per counselor, each counselor undoubtedly has their hands full as far as their career is concerned. Regardless of the plethora of work these counselors have on their plates, every single counselor graciously shares their time to help each student with their academic goals and struggles.
Joseph Ainsworth, a counselor here at A.C. Reynolds, believes “the counseling department is analogous to an emergency room.” He further elaborates, “There are so many different crucial processes happening around us that we need to address. Without addressing all of the needs of the students then we inevitably miss out on being the most supportive professionals that we can be.”
An important example of these many crucial processes is the department’s exclusive role in academic advising for the student body, “Academic advising is vital to a student's success. Without the consult from a school counselor the student may not have the right information to adequately prepare for whichever opportunities present themselves after graduation,” remarks Ainsworth.
“[The counseling department] needs to make sure that the students are in the appropriate classes for graduation and that no one falls through the cracks.” Say Ms. Kohn, a counselor here at A.C. Reynolds.
Ms. Kohn also mention the support staff which assists in various niches within the counseling department; such as helping students receive specific resources, scheduling appointments, and acting liaisons who help refer students and counselors to various resources. “This is a far bigger role than just counselors.” admits Ms. Kohn
Lauren Ward, A.C. Reynold’s social worker, has a very important role within the counseling department, and within the school itself, “I try to provide supports by helping students and families eliminate the barriers that might impact their education.” Ms. Ward “work[s] with addressing student and family needs, promoting and referring families and students to community agencies.
Joseph Ainsworth, a counselor here at A.C. Reynolds, believes “the counseling department is analogous to an emergency room.” He further elaborates, “There are so many different crucial processes happening around us that we need to address. Without addressing all of the needs of the students then we inevitably miss out on being the most supportive professionals that we can be.”
An important example of these many crucial processes is the department’s exclusive role in academic advising for the student body, “Academic advising is vital to a student's success. Without the consult from a school counselor the student may not have the right information to adequately prepare for whichever opportunities present themselves after graduation,” remarks Ainsworth.
“[The counseling department] needs to make sure that the students are in the appropriate classes for graduation and that no one falls through the cracks.” Say Ms. Kohn, a counselor here at A.C. Reynolds.
Ms. Kohn also mention the support staff which assists in various niches within the counseling department; such as helping students receive specific resources, scheduling appointments, and acting liaisons who help refer students and counselors to various resources. “This is a far bigger role than just counselors.” admits Ms. Kohn
Lauren Ward, A.C. Reynold’s social worker, has a very important role within the counseling department, and within the school itself, “I try to provide supports by helping students and families eliminate the barriers that might impact their education.” Ms. Ward “work[s] with addressing student and family needs, promoting and referring families and students to community agencies.
