September 7

PSAT

The PSAT is scheduled for Saturday, October 13th at Rodriguez High School. The test costs $16 and I will begin selling to 10th and 11th grade students on Monday. Students can purchase the test with cash or check. If paying by check, please include your address and driver's license #. Students can purchase the test from me before or after school in my office or during lunch in the cafeteria.

Here is a message from College and Career Tech Melissa Vallejo.

Hello,

The PSAT (Preliminary SAT) test will be on Saturday, October 13th at 8:00am here at Rodriguez. The test will cost $16.00 and is currently available to all of our 10th grade students & any 11th graders that would like to re-take this test to possibly qualify for the 'National Merit Scholarship'. (Find out more about that here: https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424)

We hope students will be excited about this early start in getting them prepared for College & take advantage of this test! All my best~ Mrs. Vallejo

Here is some info I found on a school guide website that may answer some of your questions:

The PSAT is a two-hour test given once a year in October. Many students take the PSAT, not only as preparation for the SAT taken in senior year and widely used as a major criterion for college admissions, but also to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Competition.

As with the SAT, the PSAT has separate math and verbal sections and a third section testing English grammar. Each subject is scored on a scale of 20 to 80 and these scores are combined to create the National Merit Scholarship selection index.

Almost all students take the PSAT during their junior year, but many students take the PSAT when they are sophomores to get the feel of the test. However, it is only the scores from the PSAT taken in your junior year that are considered for the National Merit Scholarship competition.

This scholarship competition awards approximately 8,200 scholarships annually. The selection process starts with the choosing of National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists and Commended Scholars. Cutoffs vary from state to state but typically Semi-Finalists score in the top one percent of students in their state and Commended Scholars between the top one to four percent. Most of the approximately 16,000 Semi-Finalists become Finalists, and half of those ultimately receive National Merit Scholarships.

The most common reasons for taking the PSAT/NMSQT are:

To receive feedback on your strengths and weaknesses on skills necessary for college study. You can then focus your preparation on those areas that could most benefit from additional study or practice.

Students will find out their 'AP POTENTIAL'-which AP classes they will benefit from in their strengths
To see how your performance on an admissions test might compare with that of others applying to college.

To enter the competition for scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (grade 11).

To help prepare for the SAT. You can become familiar with the kinds of questions and the exact directions you will see on the SAT.

To receive information from colleges when you check "yes" to Student Search Service.

My College QuickStart
All students who take the PSAT/NMSQT receive access to My College QuickStart - an easy-to-use, online, personalized college and career planning kit. This useful tool incorporates the responses that you provided when you took the test.

Your information is presented in four main parts:

My Online Score Report - an enhanced score report that allows you to review each test question, your answer, and the correct answer with answer explanations.

My SAT Study Plan - a customized SAT study plan based on your PSAT/NMSQT test performance, highlighting skills for review and practice.

My College Matches - a starter list of colleges based on your state and indicated choice of major.

My Major and Career Matches - major and career matches that are compatible with your general interests and personality type.

My College QuickStart is available using the access code printed on your score report, and it can be utilized throughout high school. Score reports are distributed by your school after December.

For information on the PSAT and the National Merit Scholarship Competition consult your high school guidance counselor. For additional information about the PSAT, as well as the SAT, visit www.collegeboard.com.

HBCU Fair

I put this event in the blog a few weeks ago. Here is a reminder it is this Sunday. We encourage our students to check it out!

FSUSD College Fair

Don't miss the annual FSUSD College Fair on Sept. 18. This year it is being held at Rodriguez High School. This event is for students of all grades and their families. There will be over 45 college reps there and names will be drawn for prizes. There is also Transfer, FAFSA, NCAA, and Naviance workshops.

Hot Lunches

Hot lunches will start being delivered to Early College on Monday, September 10th. Child Nutrition Services has purchased a transport cart which keeps the food at temperature for the students. Lunch is delivered to Ms. Williamson's room 1635 everyday. Many of our students are eligible for free lunch but have not been picking up their meals. Lunches are also available to students for $3.25 and that includes a main entree, fruit, vegetable, and milk.

Parent Night

Last night we held our 11th and 12th grade Parent night. It was a pleasure talking with so many ECHS parents.

We are looking forward to 9th and 10th grade parent night next week Thursday, September 13th at 6:00 in the Rodriguez High School Library.

Here is a link from Mr. Voyce's Senior Project video from last night:

https://drive.google.com/a/fsusd.org/file/d/16dIfE7TLswPnm8Nf8belr6RYVnWJvgEr/view?usp=drive_web

Here is a link to Ms. Valles' Counseling slides from last night:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gIVLa28nfnpGlvB1JrP9joS47GL-N_1rNNoj6LeQpL0/edit?usp=sharing

PTSO

The Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) supports teachers and students from both RHS and ECHS. We would love to have some parents as members to represent ECHS. In previous years the PTSO has supported ECHS with our academic awards by donating frozen yogurt and gift cards for the students. We will be honoring the students who made the honor roll and earned their academic letters again next month. The PTSO also puts on the Grad Night trip to Disneyland that our seniors went on for the first time last year. The first general meeting of the year is on Wednesday, September 12th at 5:30-6:30 at RHS. Starting at 6:30 they will host a Grad Night meeting for any parents that want to get involved in the planning. Parents of seniors are encouraged to attend at 6:30 and don't have to be a PTSO member.

Physical Fitness at ECHS

Ms. Cordes is getting our 9th graders into shape. Today the students ran a mile to get their baseline time. The students will be setting fitness goals all year and will be working towards meeting them.

College Tutoring

As a reminder we have School After School support every Monday and Thursday for 3:00-4:00 for help with high school classes.

College tutoring is available in the tutoring center. Students just have to submit a special admit form just like when they add a class and a purple card.

ECHS Student of the Week

10th grade student, Jacob Francisco is this week's ECHS student of the week! Last semester Jacob did very well with his high school classes and got an A in both SCC classes that he took (Spanish 32 and Photography 35). Jacob is a member of National Honor Society, Robotics, and Magazine Clubs. Jacob is also actively involved in Leadership here at ECHS and runs the Twitter account the Early College Student Voice @theechsvoice. Jacob is a huge part of what makes ECHS such wonderful place!