High School Navigator: A Teenager's Guide to Becoming College Material

by Jim Hudon, Linda W. Hudon, Gail D. Pepin

WHAT'S HIGH SCHOOL NAVIGATOR ABOUT? High School A teenager's guide to becoming college material is written for students about to enter 9th grade. It can also be used by students beginning in 10th or 11th grade. It is designed to help these students develop an early awareness of their options during high school - the choices they can make in all of the areas that will help them to develop as turned-on, involved human beings. These are the same areas of development that colleges are interested in when they look at the student's application for admission - not only academic courses, but community service, work, sports, arts, organizations, reading, and other activities. Navigator does this in a workbook format, incorporating the ideas that American industry is using to foster "continuous process improvement" and to improve product quality. The workbook exercises guide students to take a look at what they've done already (review), to evaluate their experiences (reflect), to set goals for future accomplishments (set goals), to make plans that will help them achieve those goals (plan), and to carry out their plans using a journal and grade tracking system to document their activities (do). This process becomes a continuously repeating circle that leads students to an awareness of their true interests and strengths, while keeping them in touch with high school, social, and college admissions expectations. Rather than just telling students what they should do, our book shows them how to do it and guides them through the process. We have created a teen-aged character, named Chris, whose examples and comments illustrate how to use the workbook. We have kept reading and preaching to a minimum and made this a work-in-progress that students write for themselves, rather than read, highlight, and forget about. Once completed by the student, it contains all of the information he or she needs to fill out college applications. In addition to the workbook aspects of the book, we have included yearly timelines of college-related things to remember and to do. These include tasks that help students make possible career choices, select colleges to apply to, register for and take the appropriate standardized tests, apply for financial aid, and apply for college admission. There's also a reprint of "What We A statement on preparing for college" from the academic deans of 12 colleges, information on developing a reading list, a sample post card to send for information from colleges, a sample college application, advice on writing college application essays and interviewing, a place to record basic information that applications ask for (like SAT and ACT scores and high school code numbers), and a selected bibliography of books on college-related topics such as selecting a college and finding financial aid. We see the book as a guide for the student. We also hope it's a communication catalyst for students and parents. It provides topics for discussion and guidance on how to get things done early to take some of the anxiety out of getting ready to apply to colleges. The transition from home to college will always be challenging, but spreading the preparation out and making it systematic and doable will certainly help. This book may be especially useful to parents who haven't gone to college themselves. It provides a lot of answers in a low-key way that is palatable to both kids and adults.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997