It's that time of year!  In preparation for the 2017-2018 school year, students can preview what's ahead with these NMHS Back to School events:

Schedule Pick-up Day
Tuesday, August 22
8 AM to 11 AM: Juniors and Seniors
12 PM to 3 PM: Freshman and Sophomores
Stop by for a copy of your schedule!  Lockers ($10) and parking permits ($40) will be available as well (cash only).

Open House
Tuesday, August 29
2 PM to 6 PM
Students and parents are invited to meet their teachers and staff, tour the school, purchase and try out lockers, secure a parking permit, pick up their schedule if they hadn't already, etc.

We in the Counseling Office look forward to seeing you at these events and working with you in the upcoming year!

Once a high school senior has filed their FAFSA as well as been accepted to a higher education institution, that school's financial aid office gets to work on the student's financial aid award package.  After interfacing with the appropriate federal and state agencies to confirm what free money (grants and scholarships) and federal education loans the student is eligible for, the financial aid office lets the student know what college financial aid is being offered to them and gives them the opportunity to accept or decline the different sources.

But what if the federal/state free money and federal ed loans won't totally cover your cost of attendance?  Visit HomeRoom, the blog of the US Department of Education, to learn their suggestions:

7 Options to Consider if You Didn't Receive Enough Financial Aid

Here are the latest additions to the scholarship page:

Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Essay Contest - February 28 deadline
Must write an essay of 500 words or less about an African-American who has inspired you. Minimum GPA of 2.0. $5,000 scholarship award each for 15 high school seniors.

State Farm Good Neighbor Scholarship - March 2 deadline
Established to provide financial assistance to fifty high school seniors who plan to attend college, technical, or vocational school, but may not be able to meet the expenses of a higher education without such aid and often do not qualify for other scholarships.  Cumulative GPA requirement of 2.50 to 3.20, and applicant must demonstrate financial need.  $2,500 award each for up to 50 high school seniors.  Also, scholarship is renewable for up to one additional school year if eligibility is maintained.

Also, don't forget about the NMHS Local Scholarship Application, featured at the top of our College & Career Planning page--deadline of February 1!

For more information about these and other scholarships, visit our College & Career Planning page!

This Title I Parent Meeting for current junior students and their parents will take place at 5:30-6:30 PM, Tuesday, January 31, 2017, in the NMHS Theatre.  Get ready to learn more about college admissions testing, the college search and application process, scholarship searching, and basics of the financial aid application process--all essential for students to know as they approach their senior year!  

Joining the counselors for this presentation is Marcus Hilliard from the Georgia Student Finance Commission, the agency that administers Georgia HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships/Grants.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Murray County Schools will be going through the AdvancED accreditation process this Fall.  As part of this process, we invite feedback from parents and students alike.  Please follow the applicable link below to access the confidential, online survey and share your feedback.
Survey for Parents:  http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/7810904
Surveys for Students:  http://www.advanc-ed.org/survey/public/3786140

Additionally, it's time for our annual School Safety Survey.  This survey link is for students attending a high school in the Murray County Schools system.  We value your response to this as it helps us keep in touch with our students' perception of school safety and guides our safety measures.
Safety Survey for High School Students:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/79MRWLD

Thank you for your feedback!

America wasn't built from behind a desk, but now this country is suffering a skilled trade skills gap and nobody seems to be talking about it.  Georgia is no exception--even as unemployment rose in recent years, there were still more skilled trade job openings than there were skilled workers qualified to take those jobs.  Go Build Georgia is an initiative to usher Georgia career seekers into these high-demand skilled trades (such as welding, brickmasonry, plumbing, electrical tech, and carpentry).  These tend to have shorter postsecondary training but can still have higher salaries and more job security than meets the eye.

For stats on the national and Georgia's skilled trades gap and a skilled trades career exploration tool, please visit GoBuildGeorgia.com.

We're used to hearing about 'summer melt' in reference to the way students lose learning momentum after they have been away from school for the summer.  This article from Inside Higher Ed describes another level of summer melt--that of students who are accepted into college but ultimately lose momentum in following through with enrollment.  There are ways to prevent this summer melt between high school graduation and higher education, and it seems that a student's social network--particularly parents and friends--plays a key role in helping the situation.  Please follow the link to learn more!

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/04/04/new_research_points_to_a_summer_melt_issue_for_low_income_students#sthash.vaaXS5Eh.rtZmJgbJ.dpbs

University of Houston-Clear Lake Professor Keith Parsons contributed this article to the Huffington Post as an open letter to students making the transition from high school to college.  Balancing wit with frankness, Parsons describes to those students the shift in expectations and responsibility that come with the transition to higher education.

Click here to read "Message to My Freshman Students" on Huffington Post