Term 2 Progress Reports

Seasons Greeting from Hull High School!

Term 2 progress reports will be mailed today.  We had a technical glitch with giving you the ability to download a progress report from your student's ASPEN account, so we are going "old school" and printing them out and mailing them home to you.  You can still see your child's current grade in all of his/her classes by logging on to ASPEN.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress report or about the ASPEN system, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Upcoming Events at Hull High School

Friday, December 21:  Term 2 Progress Reports
Winter Break:  Monday, December 24 through Tuesday, January 1

Guidance Office Updates

Here are a few updates/reminders from the guidance staff:

• Freshmen/Sophomore Parent Evening has been rescheduled to January 9th!  Information below.  We hope to see you there

• Financial Aid Night was held on December 3rd.  If you were unable to attend and are the parent of a senior, please review the re-cap post here: http://hullhighschool.blogspot.com/2012/12/financial-aid-night-recap.html.  Lots of important information was handed out and students/families will begin applying for financial aid soon!
• PSAT Scores were handed out to all students who tested last week.  Students were given a presentation to help them analyze their scores.  They also have access to an electronic score card, test prep information, and a college research tool through the College Board's website.  A link for this information can be found on their score card.  If you'd like more information on your son's/daughter's scores, please visit this post: http://hullhighschool.blogspot.com/2012/12/psat-scores-are-in.html.  There is a link to a video that will better explain their scores.
• Student ASPEN accounts were also handed out to all students last week.  Below is a brief outline of what information they can find on this site.  They all received training as well.  For any students who were absent on the day they received their code, Ms. Vaughan will be after school in the library tomorrow (Wednesday, December 19th) to offer additional training. 

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable winter vacation!!!

Scholarships - 12/18

New Scholarships are listed under the break. 

Hull Public Schools Winter Concert Series

 

Hull Music Department

presents

Memorial Middle School

Winter Concert

December 18^th, 2012

MMS Auditorium

7PM

Hull High School

Winter Concert

December 19^th, 2012

Joseph C. Doniger Auditorium

7 PM

Week of 12/12

Upcoming Events at Hull High School

Winter Concert

Wednesday, December 19th at 7:00PM

Student Art Contest Submissions

HHS art teacher  Amanda Held has submitted some student artwork to a contest called Dream@50.  The contest commemorates the soon to be 50th year of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.  Ms. Held had to choose three winners and two-runner-ups.  Overall winners will be selected by a panel of judges in Boston and the runner-ups could be chosen for Curator's Choice.  Congratulations to our student-artists!

First Place Winner:

Brendan McCue:  Hands of Faith

Runner-Ups:

Crystal Truglia: Fighting for Peace

Gabrielle Williamson: My Mosaic Day Dream

Here is the link for more information about the contest:

http://thedreamartcontest.com/2012/about_contest

PSAT Scores Are In!

This week during English classes all students in grades 9-11 will be getting their PSAT score reports.  Score reports will be given directly to the students and they'll be given a presentation on how to interpret their results.  Below is a handout from the College Board for parents that better explains all the information on the score report.

Here is a link to a video that will also help explain the results as well as introduce you to My College Quickstart, an online tool for SAT Prep and college planning: http://www.collegeboard.com/html/demo/

Upcoming Events at Hull High School

Hull High School Theatre Arts presents:

The Wizard of Oz

Friday, December 7 @ 7.30 PM

Saturday, December 8 @ 1.30 PM and 7.30 PM

Sunday, December 9 @ 2.00 PM



Hull High School Alumni Holiday Concert

Any former members of the Hull High School Band or Chorus are invited to attend a rehearsal for our Winter Concert on Wednesday, December 12^th.  The rehearsal will be held in the High School Band Room and will begin at 6:00 PM and end at 7:30 PM.  Please e-mail (ibarkon@town.hull.ma.us) or call (781-925-3000 ext. 1115) Ian Barkon, Hull High School Band Director, by December 10^th so that preparations can be made. 

The concert will be on Wednesday, December 19^th at 7 PM in the high school auditorium.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Financial Aid Night Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to hear the presention from MEFA on financial aid.  We hope you found it helpful! 

If you weren't able to make it, we have a limited number of information packets still available in the guidance office.  Please have your son/daugher pick one up from Mrs. Troy.

We also strongly recommend you visit the MEFA website directly and sign up for emails so you can get the most up-to-date information on financial aid.  Here's the link:  www.mefa.org/seniors.  You can also download additional information and utilize the "Ask an Expert" feature, where you can ask financial aid questions specific to your situation.

Here are a few bullet points of some of the most important information:

• There are two forms primarily used to determine financial aid.  The FAFSA is required for any student applying for financial aid.  Some colleges may also require the CSS Profile form.  Check with your schools to determine exactly what is needed.
• The FAFSA cannot be filled out until January 1st, but you can apply for a PIN number today.  You'll need a PIN to access the form and it can take a few days to process.  Here's the link: http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp.  Both the parent and the child need a separate PIN number.  The parent PIN remains the same for all of their children.
• The CSS profile can be filled out now.  Here is a link to the College Board's CSS Profile Information: https://profileonline.collegeboard.org/prf/index.jsp.  This link includes a link to actually fill out the form as well a list of schools that require the profile. 
• Financial aid deadlines will sometimes differ from admissions deadlines.  Students should be looking up financial aid deadlines on their colleges' websites.  This is most often found under the "Undergraduate Admissions" link or the "Financial Aid" link.  For example, here is a link to the Curry College Financial Aid page:  http://www.curry.edu/programs-and-courses/undergraduate-programs/tuition-and-financial-aid/applying-for-aid-and-forms.html.  You can see that they'd like you to have your FAFSA in by March 1st, despite accepting applications for admission after this date.

Fianlly, here are answers to the most frequently asked scholarship questions:

What types of scholarships are available for my son/daughter?  There are four different types of scholarships available to students:

1. College specific scholarships – these are either merit or need-based scholarships offered to the student directly by the college/university to which they are applying.  Information about how to apply and how they are awarded is typically available on that school’s website under Financial Aid.
2. National Scholarships – these are scholarships funded by organizations and are available to students across the country.  Students can search for these scholarships through various online search engines.  We recommend the students use the “National Scholarship Search” link on their Family Connection page (click on the “Colleges” top tab and scroll to the bottom of the page).
3. Regional Scholarships – these are scholarships funded by organizations in Massachusetts and/or New England for students in this region only.  Often they will ask HHS to promote their scholarships or they will post them on the national search engines.  If we are asked to promote them we will post them on the Hull High School Blog.
4. Local Scholarships – these are scholarships funded by organizations in Hull for Hull Students.  They are typically awarded on Senior Awards Night, which takes place in May/June.  Some organizations ask HHS to choose the winner based on a given criteria, while others prefer to have the students apply directly to them and then they choose a winner.   If these scholarships have an application process it will be posted on the blog. 

Does HHS give out scholarships?  The high school does not sponsor any scholarships.  We do help facilitate local organizations in awarding scholarships to our students (these are the Local Scholarships mentioned above).

What should my son/daughter be doing to find/apply for scholarships? 

• Students should check the Financial Aid section of their colleges’ websites for important information on merit/need-based scholarships.  They should also frequently check their email, as colleges will begin sending information/reminders to them via email after they apply.
• Students should consistently check the HHS blog (www.hullhighschool.blogspot.com) for scholarship postings
• Students should use the National Scholarship Search engine on Family Connection to research national scholarships.

How does my son/daughter request a transcript for a scholarship?  Students should fill out a Transcript Request Form in the guidance office.  Students should give their counselor at least two days to process the request.

Here is the direct link for scholarships on the blog:

http://hullhighschool.blogspot.com/search/label/Scholarships