Happy Thanksgiving

Well we just finished a great two days of parent / teacher conferences and we are very pleased with the turnout we had. It was great to see so many parents show such an interest in their child's education. I hope everyone will now enjoy the nice long vacation and find time to relax and get ready to start back next Tuesday.

I hope everyone takes time to be thankful for the things you have in life. I know at times it seems life can be difficult and frustrating, but I hope you will take time this Thanksgiving day to celebrate even the little things in your life that you are thankful for. Tell someone close to you how much they mean to you. Let your friends know that you are thankful they are in your life. Remember that on Thanksgiving day we set aside a day to celebrate and give thanks for friends, family and all the blessings we have in life. However, we should try to do this everyday, you will be surprised how much it can change your outlook in life.

Have a great Thanksgiving and remember, I am thankful that you allow me the privilege of being your school counselor.

Digital Footprint & College Admissions

As a school community there has been a significant amount of time and emphasis encouraging students to be smart about your digital footprint - the information that you are posting and sharing through various social media outlets. As a component of that, we have often mentioned that the internet and social media can impact your college admissions, scholarship offerings or even various job offerings. Below are a few articles that speak to this:

Do colleges look at prospective students' social media?

Colleges shift to using "big data" - including social media in admissions decisions

How Social Media can Ruin Your Application

College Admissions: Social Media Tune Up

Colleges are spying on applicants by quietly tracking them across the internet.


Number of Employees Passing On Applicants Due To Social Media Posts.


This is a perfect time to pause and critically look at your digital footprint and consider what it is saying about you and the impression you are giving to future college admissions officers, scholarship committee members, and potential employers. Please make smart choices about what you post online.
I would like to thank a fellow counselor of mine, Brianna, for this great advice.

Blue Chippers

Each quarter of the school year, we honor our outstanding students who have earned a 4.0 grade point average and perfect attendance for the most recent marking period. For the 1st quarter of this school year, I am proud to announce that we have nineteen students who have earned the honor of being Vantage Career Center Blue Chippers. These students are really the "cream of the crop". They have taken on the challenge that we offer every student when they come to Vantage; perform your very best, be here everyday and prepare yourself for future employment and/or college. These are the students that we would have no trouble recommending for a job or writing them a reference letter for college admission or for any scholarships. They come to school everyday, work hard and push themselves to be better than they were yesterday.

I like the Merriam-Webster definition of a blue chipper. The dictionary talks about a blue chipper in terms of a trading stock, in terms of an athlete and in terms of an asset. It states that it is a stock issue of high investment quality...and enjoys public confidence in its worth and stability. For the athlete, it states that it is an athlete rated as excellent. The final definition states that it is an outstanding worthwhile or valuable property or asset. I truly believe these blue chippers are a very valuable asset to Vantage Career Center. They set the bar for all our other students and they model to the other students what is expected of each of them. I understand that not every student is going to be a blue chipper. However, I would hope that all of you will work as hard as you can to do the best that you can. If you do that, and it doesn't make you a blue chipper next quarter, don't feel upset. Whenever you can look in the mirror and know that you worked as hard as you could, then you can be proud of yourself. You can take that philosophy with you the rest of your life and you will not be disappointed.

Today we honor our 1st quarter blue chippers. They celebrated with pizza during their lunch and were able to bring a staff member of their choosing. I hope if you see any of these students in your classroom or the hallways, you will congratulate them on a job well done. I personally would like to thank them and let them know I am very proud of what they have accomplished. Here is a list of the 1st quarter blue chippers:

Brooke Brown (Welding), Joe Callow (Ind. Mech), Justice Clark (Health Careers), Joey Frank (Elec), Levi Hiltner (Ind. Mech), Bryce Hoehn (Network Systems), Logan Jackson (Welding), Nathan Klima (Network Systems), Andrea Kremer (Int. Media), Aubrey Kremer (Int. Media), Zach McDaniels (Auto Tech), Marcy Shoppell (Culinary Arts), Jacob Sukup (Ag & Ind Powerplant), Trishakay Summers (Network Systems), Angela Tenwalde (Early Childhood), Darian Tijerina (Electricity), Austin Van Atta (Culinary Arts), Thomas Waldick (Network Systems), Mason Walton (Bldg/Gnds).

CONGRATULATIONS once again to our Blue Chippers for the first quarter!!!

Not Your Hallmark Holiday

This may seem like it is a little to soon to be writing about the holidays, but they really are just around the corner. I am hoping I can give you some information and some tips to help you through the holiday season and I hope that you would refer back to this post during the next six or seven weeks.

People often talk about the holiday blues or feeling depressed around the holiday season. There is a reason for this. Television, radio and advertisements try to make it feel like everyone is having a "hallmark" type of Thanksgiving or Christmas. If we aren't celebrating like they are on TV, then something must be wrong.  I don't know if you have noticed or not but the ABC Family channel is already running their 50 days of Christmas, or whatever they call it. I personally believe we rush into the holidays a little to early, but that is just my opinion. However, if you have been watching any of the movies on that channel, you will notice a certain theme. It seems like it is always snowing and people are taking sleigh rides through beautiful parks that are all lit up with Christmas lights. The Christmas music is playing, bells are ringing, and in the end everyone is gathered around the decorated table eating a feast made for kings. The movie usually ends with everyone holding hands and going about town singing Christmas carols. The commercials that are on TV can be another problem. It looks like everyone is out shopping and having a great time. They want you to believe that if you don't spend money, you won't be happy. They create the image that you must have everything that is being sold otherwise you won't have a very merry Christmas.

The truth is, the above scenario very rarely ever happens anymore. I don't know about you, but I haven't taken a sleigh ride and sang Christmas carols in a long time. I also realize many of our students have never experienced a Thanksgiving or Christmas like the ones depicted in the movies. I also realize many of you are worrying about what you will have for Thanksgiving dinner or how you will eat over the Christmas season. I hope I can offer you some tips and resources that you can use or maybe a friend of yours could use.

1) Don't expect the holidays to be the same as when you were a little child. They NEVER are. You are not the same as you where when you were a child.

2) Focus on what you have, not what you don't. Ignore the commercials where the husband surprises his wife with a brand new luxury car or a diamond ring. This only leaves you wondering, "What about me?" Remind yourself that it's not the stuff that makes the holidays important.

3) The holidays bring back memories of loved ones, I understand that. Give yourself permission to grieve, and deal with the loss in your own way. If you want to cry, go ahead. If you want to remember your loved one in a special way, go ahead. Light a candle, put together a scrapbook, decorate the grave stone with flowers, or whatever else you find comforting.

I have a short list of places where you may be able to get help with your meals during the holidays, please feel free to use these resources, they are there for you.

           - Trinity Friends Church across from Vantage. Weekly hours are Tuesday from 10:00 am until 12:00 noon and Thursdays from 4:00 - 5:30 pm.

           - Van Wert County Dept. of Jobs and Family Services: 419-238-5430. They can help with a short term family financial need of up to $1000.00

           - Salvation Army: 419-238-9100. They will be able to help or lead you to assistance.

           - Van Wert Ohio Community Action Commission: A regional non-profit that partners with local agencies like the United Way and local churches. Click here for their website.

           - Delphos Interfaith Thrift Store: Not for profit combination thrift store, food pantry and financial assistance entity. 419-692-2942

           - West Ohio Food Bank: A great resource. They work with churches all over Allen, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam and Van Wert counties. They will help. 419-222-7946. Click here for the list of Paulding county agencies, but you can also find all agencies for each county on this page.

And as always, please stop by and talk if you are having problems this holiday season. If you need food, clothing or just want to talk about some struggles you are having, my door is open for you. Thanks and I hope you relax and enjoy this holiday season.

8th Grade Tours

What a great start to our 8th grade tours today. Today, Monday, we had Crestview 8th graders visit us in the morning and the afternoon session we welcomed Parkway 8th graders. It is always so much fun to have the students visit us. One, it is neat to see the excitement on their faces as they walk through each one of our labs. We break the visitors up into 16 different groups, one group for each of our labs, and each group has six minutes per lab. This isn't a whole lot of time but it is just enough to give them a taste of what life is like at Vantage and all the interesting things that are available to them should they choose to come here as 11th graders. The eighth graders are allowed to do hands-on activities in many of the labs. It is always fun to see them use the plasma cutter in Auto Body and watch them jump when the sparks fly, or watch them use the Oculus Rift in Network Systems and see their reaction as they soar on a 3D roller coaster ride.

The second most interesting thing I enjoy watching is our current students and their reaction to the eighth graders. You hear things like, "I remember coming here as an eighth grader and it was really cool, it helped me decide which program I wanted". I even hear many of them saying, "I can't believe these guys are eighth graders, they look so young". It's really funny when our students realize that it has been three or four years ago since they were in eighth grade.

The main purpose for having the eighth grade tours is to give these students a chance to start exploring different career fields. For many of these students, it is their first time seeing how many different fields of work they can go into when they get older. Career advising is an important part of a students education. The state is now pushing that career advising begins at a very early age in the student's education. We need to let the younger students see that they have choices and options when they get older.

I also want to explain to our current students who are reading this. I understand that you are in a certain program here at Vantage. However, if you are not sure if this is the right one for you, come and talk to me about your options. Let's talk about what you want to do when you graduate and let's explore how your current program may help you in other fields. Career advising is an important part of my job here at Vantage and it is also important to Mr. Knott and the entire Vantage team. I hope if you have questions, you will stop by and talk with us. I also hope you will advise your friends to do the same if they have questions. We have a career advising plan here at Vantage that I have included. You can read it by clicking here if you are on our Vantage network.

Well tomorrow is day two of our eighth grade tours. I'm sure it will be very busy. Please take the time to welcome these students to our school. Strike up a conversation with them, ask them if they have any questions and tell them how much you enjoy Vantage. I also want to send out a great big thank you to our students who are leading the eighth graders around. All of you are doing an excellent job. Keep up the great work!

It's Okay To Make Mistakes

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could go through life and never make a mistake? Wouldn't it be great to live our entire life and know beyond a doubt that we never once messed up? Well the answer to those questions is NO. See, it wouldn't be a wonderful life because it simply means we didn't try new things in our life. It would mean that we never ventured into those areas we were so afraid to go and explore. It would lead to a less fulfilling life and one that wouldn't lead to much excitement and/or personal gain and knowledge. Obviously I am talking about mistakes that don't harm you or others. It's okay to make a mistake, especially when we learn from them.

Each school year, about this time, I deal with so many students who will not give their speech in Senior English because they are afraid to talk in front of the class. The students would rather take an "F" for the assignment then have to get up and speak in front of everyone. I realize that public speaking is one of the top fears that people have. This year however, it got me thinking more about peoples fears and what is behind the fear. As I searched a lot of articles on the subject, I found that a lot of our fears come from the idea of not wanting to make a mistake. Maybe we were told over and over again by our parents not to make mistakes. Maybe there was a time in our life that we were laughed at when we made a mistake and it has stuck with us forever. It is this idea of perfectionism and not making mistakes that leads us to being afraid of trying new things or afraid to get up in front of people and making a mistake. I know first hand that when I make a mistake, I am harder on myself than anyone would be. I tend to turn a little mistake into a great big deal and then I beat myself up about it for a few days. I think what we all need to realize is that when we do make a mistake usually no one else notices, and if they do, they really don't care. Think about it, when you see someone slip up in a speech, do you really care? Do you think about it for the rest of the day? I'm sure most of us could care less and we never think about it again.

The problem as I mentioned earlier is that when we fear making mistakes, it hinders us from trying new things. We never want to challenge ourselves or go out on the limb and stretch our comfort limits. I read an interesting article that was written by Margaret Kim and it was on how you can break free from the fear of making mistakes. There were seven great ideas that I hope you will think about. I know I will try them.

1. Determine where your desire for perfection comes from.
2. Examine your beliefs about making mistakes
3. Find instances that prove your beliefs wrong.
4. Develop new beliefs.
5. Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes (I need this one).
6. Make some mistakes. In other words, try something new.

Remember, making mistakes is how you learn. As I think of my granddaughter, I think of when she learns to walk. She will fall over and over again but she will not quit. She will keep at it until she learns to walk. We all did. See babies haven't learned negative associations from making mistakes. Maybe it's time we got rid of the negative associations we have and start walking into new areas that we have been afraid to try.