FEBRUARY

What were we up to in January?

January was all about Course Request Meetings.  We've enjoyed meeting individually with our Class of 2025 to help prepare them for their senior year!  If you are a junior and have NOT met with your counselor yet, please reach out to set your appointment ASAP!

FRESHMAN COURSE REQUEST MEETINGS!

• Meeting Window is open from February 5 through February 27.
• Check your school email for an email from Mrs. Ramirez/Naviance to get your Freshman Link to sign up for an appointment with your counselor.  You can also visit with your specific counselor for their appointment link.
• Do not schedule your meeting during your English, math, science, or social studies class.
• Report to the Counseling Office 5 minutes prior to your meeting.
• Bring your phone to scan the Google Form Course Request.
• Use your reminder email the day prior or 15 minutes before as your pass.
• Work with your teacher for any missed assignments.

****Don't worry, Sophomores!  You're up next in March!  We'll see you soon!

PSAT SCORES ARE IN!

Student PSAT Scores are available to be viewed on student College Board Accounts at this link or online at studentscores.collegeboard.org using the log-in students created. Students may also access using the Big Future School mobile app. Once students sign-in to College Board to review their scores, they will have access to additional information on Careers, Colleges, Scholarships and details on free SAT practice through Khan Academy.  If students have forgotten their College Board login credentials, they can contact College Board directly and come by the Counseling Office to receive a .PDF of their testing report.

AP UPDATES:

Stay tuned for more updates!  Ms. Heslep will be finalizing the ordering of exams for the spring in the next few weeks.  Make sure you read her emails!

Check out the AP Calendar to make plans for your exams.

AP/DC UPDATES:

Unsure about the differences between Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Credit (DC)?  How do these courses earn credit for college?  What are the requirements to enroll?  What are the costs involved?  How do high school students transfer their credits to their university?  Plan on attending the AP/DC Information Meeting via Zoom on March 20!  We'll send link information soon!

CALENDAR ITEMS:

• Course Request Meeting
• Every student will meet with their counselor to select courses for the next year.
• Counselors will be sending a Google Calendar link to make the appointment.
• Students will NOT schedule during a core class.
• Students will report to the Counseling Office 5 minutes prior to meeting.
• Students are responsible for making their teacher aware the class prior and making up any missed assignments.
• Dates
• Juniors (January 16-29)
• Freshmen (February 5-27)
• Sophomores (March 4-April 5)
• Follow-Up for Students that Haven't Met with Counselor (April 8-19)

• Guidance Lesson
• February 28 and 29 (Theology Classes)
• Don't Go Bacon My Heart:  Dating & Conflict
• Check out the bulletin board by our office for resources from each guidance topic.

• Coffee with the Counselors
• Our next meeting will be April 3, 8:30 a.m., in the Athanaeum
• Topic:  Cell Phone Addiction

PARENT CORNER:

When Texting Your Teen,

Follow These Four

(Not So) Simple Rules

by Nancy Brandt | September 13, 2023

Like most parents, I text with my teens regularly, and I feel fairly competent:

I’m a good communicator, know the lingo, and understand the ins and

outs of texting with teens.

Or so I thought.

Last week my oldest daughter, a college junior, sent me this text:

“Sometimes, when you ask a ton of questions about whatever I’m

doing or use excessive punctuation, it stresses me out.”

Wait, what? I scrolled through our texts, looking for evidence, and

quickly found this offending text: “How was your interview?!”

Ah. I was trying to convey a mix of excitement and shared nervousness.

But to my daughter, the question mark/exclamation point combo meant

one thing: stress! I checked in with my other two daughters, and they

strongly agreed with their sister: too much punctuation is bad.

If I wasn’t aware enough to recognize that punctuation was a big deal,

what else might I not know? I reached out to a few dozen students

between the ages of 15-22 in different parts of the U.S. and received

remarkably similar responses.

Here are the top four things I learned and that you need to know when

texting with your high school and college-age kids:

Parent rules for texting a teen

1. Punctuation matters (a lot).

It turns out punctuation causes a lot of miscommunication and reading

between the lines (often incorrectly).

Here are some guidelines:

Avoid using periods. They make your kids nervous and your meaning

unclear. Here’s a sampling of comments I received on the topic:

“The use of periods makes it seem much more serious and makes us think

we did something wrong.”

“Many periods instead of exclamation marks make me feel like my mom

is mad at me or something.”

“It’s easy to read too much into a simple question when it ends with a period.”

Avoid using ellipsis. Similar to periods, but maybe worse: an ellipsis leaves

too much for your teen to try to figure out. What are you leaving unsaid? As

one teen said to me, “Don’t end a sentence in ‘…’ — that is STRESSFUL!”

Avoid punctuation combinations. My earlier example of “How was your

interview?!” It’s too much and, again…stressful.

Exclamation points are fine. This is the preferred form of punctuation and

usually comes across as positive (Unless you’re saying, for example, “Call

home immediately!”).

The safest bet: is no punctuation (if you can bear it). This is painful for me,

a stickler for grammar and spelling, to suggest. But if you look at your kids’

texts, you’ll see that most of them use no punctuation, so if you want to speak

their language, consider doing the same.

2. Know your emojis, and use them sparingly — and

appropriately.

It turns out parents aren’t great with emojis.

Top complaint: using too many emojis

“Go a little lighter on the emojis.”

“Stay low-key with emojis. You only need a few.”

On the complaint list: Using emojis without knowing what they mean (some

emojis have sexual connotations, so you DEFINITELY don’t want to use those).

Low key. Right, got it.

3. Bitmoji is good!

While overusing emojis is bad, it turns out that our kids think it’s good and

funny when we use Bitmoji. Don’t know what Bitmoji is? It’s an app that

lets you create a cartoon character/avatar that looks like you, and you can

add it in text messages. (My friends and I love our Bitmojis and find them

hilarious.)

Here are a few comments from teens on the topic:

“Bitmojis can be very funny if used at the right times.”

“I find it super funny that my parents will respond with their Bitmojis only

or that my mom and I can have a full conversation with Bitmoji.”

“My mom getting a Bitmoji would be GREAT.”

4. Timing is everything.

Be quick. Teens appreciate it when you reply to them immediately and

get impatient when you don’t (Sound familiar?). Give them the benefit

of the doubt. Don’t get mad if they don’t reply to you immediately (“If I

don’t reply right away, don’t assume I’m ignoring you. Sometimes I’m

driving or with friends and just not looking at my phone. Those are good

things!”).

What day is it? Texting your college kids on the weekend may lower your

chance of a quick response. One college freshman admitted, “When my

parents text me, I always read it, but 9 out of 10 times, I wait and usually

forget to respond for a couple of days. Especially if I get a text Thursday

through Saturday.”

And, finally, remember that kids don’t love it when we text them for no

reason, so make sure your texts have a purpose.

RESOURCES:

• Need to see your Counselor?  Email or stop by!  Our doors are always open!
• The Shade (Elijah's Story from 1 Kings 19)
• Calming Room in the Counseling Office (check-in with counselor first)
• Reset, Relax, Recharge, Refresh, Return!
• Fidgets, Aromatherapy, Sound Machine, Cozy Chairs/Blankets, Journal, Coloring Books, & More!
• 20 minute limit....and then return to class
• Children's TeleHealth
• 6-8 FREE weekly therapist appointments scheduled during non-core periods during the school day (referral through your counselor)
• Mental Health Navigation Line
• 972-525-8181, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Helpline sourced through Grant Halliburton to assist families with finding therapists (based on need, insurance, etc.) in the DFW area
• Coffee Days (mom support group for mothers of young people with mental health and emotional health conditions, offering opportunities to share experiences, resources, and information.)
• granthalliburton.org for upcoming meetings
• Additional Community Resources

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the John Paul II Counseling Office is to provide a proactive, comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate program to address students' academic and career goals in addition to supporting their personal and social needs. This is accomplished through a partnership with parents/guardians, staff, and community members to enable all students to become successful, productive citizens and lifelong learners in a diverse and changing world.

VISION  STATEMENT

The John Paul II High School Counseling Office is guided by our commitment to provide a safe, nurturing environment where the entire learning community addresses the unique needs of students to ensure students reach their fullest potential and successfully manage their lives as healthy, responsible, competent and productive citizens who respect themselves and others. Collaborating with students, parents, faculty and staff, we will foster the development of the entire person – mental, spiritual, academic and social. School counselors believe that every student can succeed through the collaborative efforts of school, home, and community leading to responsible and productive citizenship in the 21st century.