YOU CAN"T CRAM FOR THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!

In education, cramming is the practice of working intensively to absorb large volumes of informational material in short amounts of time. It is often done by students in preparation for upcoming exams.

Cramming is a pretty common form of studying. Allowing students to do nothing approximately 95% of the time is usually why it is chosen over a variety of other methods. Most tests are on a certain part of a subject, like the first five chapters of your world history book. Cramming is definitely not the best method to study for your world history test but it will work in a pinch. The ACT is different than your average run of the mill subject test. Essentially it’s a compilation of every test you have ever taken in your academic career. You can’t stay up the night before the ACT and relearn everything you have ever learned. But you can start this week reviewing information commonly seen on the ACT. Pace yourself, spend some time doing ACT prep each week. Sheridan High School Juniors take the ACT on April 25^th……So that’s 13 weeks to prepare.J

The ACT is a no-cramming zone!

Miss G………as in Gifford not as in the symbol for gravitational acceleration

Failing at Financial Aid

Everyone knows there are many different forms of financial aid… FAFSA, scholarships, loans, grants, work study.  Everyone also knows that it takes time and effort to receive these forms of financial aids.  Another thing everyone (should) know is that you may FAIL to receive a certain type of financial aid.  You may take an hour to fill out a scholarship form but it ends up going to someone else.  You may file the FAFSA and learn you do not qualify for work study at your college. 

Do not become discouraged if you do not receive something though. That is one life lesson to learn… it is okay to fail at something.  Failing to receive one form of financial aid does not mean you will fail at receiving every form of financial aid. Keep trying! Remember to file your FAFSA, fill out as many scholarship applications as possible, contact your college and find out if they have any special financial aid options for you, and do not quit!   

It is said that Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before inventing the light bulb.  He accepted failure.  You can too!

May the force be with you!

Lauren Johnson 

FAFSA Frenzy!!!

Be sure to check with your local school to know when your FAFSA Frenzy/FAFSA completion initiative is! This is something you will want to attend. Financial aid experts will be available to assist you and your family in understanding the financial aid process, and questions you may have while filling out the FAFSA! There will even be opportunities for you to win scholarships!!!

For more information on the date, time, and location of your FAFSA Frenzy/FAFSA completion initiative visit wyo4ed.org for a complete listing!!!!

Until next week,

Faith Helton

Let's get real for a second here. We're talking about financial aid. Going to college is quite the endeavor; paying for it is just as intense. But fear not. It's not near as stressful and/or scary as it may seem. Now, we've already talked about "The Pie" and how you have to Commit to the process. These are both awesome points. But I'm here to add one more little tid-bit:

RELAX!

While filling out the FAFSA and applying for scholarships can be intense, it's nothing to lose sleep over. There's almost always someone to help you with it. If you're freaking out over it, go ask your school counselor for help with scholarships or the FAFSA. If you're confused about how your school of choice handles financial aid, call up their financial aid office. They're always willing to help out new students. Heck, if you're lucky, you can even asked one of your beloved WyCAC advisors. What a spoil of riches!

But seriously, relax. Enjoy the ride. You only get to do this once in your life. Might as well have fun with it, right?

Peace be the journey, y'all.
Tedward

Commit Now

I’ll skip the part where I explain what financial aid is – if you’re confused on that “Think about Pie.” What I’ll focus on, however, is how your commitment to the “process” is going to determine your success in this academic undertaking.

In the collegiate world of thinking, financial aid is viewed as a process; a process because the act of receiving financial aid can be lengthy and even when you’re DONE – you may not be DONE. There are due dates, deadlines, specifications to meet, and qualifications to uphold, and through it all, you have your commitments to being teenager. So how is this all going to work?

Commit Now:

·         To the task of recognizing that due dates for financial aid are not arbitrary.

·         To understanding that the possibility of $500 for the 15 minutes it takes to fill out a scholarship form is a great return on investment.

·         To spending downtime researching & applying for scholarships, grants, or other forms of aid.

·         To achieving a great GPA and holding it until the day you graduate (“Even when you’re DONE – you may not be DONE”).

·         To utilizing the resources made available to you through your school or district.

This list is not necessarily comprehensive, and the problems that you encounter will always beg you to consider your own circumstances, but the bullets above are nevertheless great guidelines for moving forward in the “process.” I assure you that every step you can take through financial aid to reduce your monetary burden will yield huge gains as you move into college graduation and onward with your life. As one last note to serve as an emphasis, Commit Now to engaging yourself fully in your financial aid, and leave yourself in a position to make college more fruitful and easier to attend.

T.D. Bjornestad

Financial Aid:Thinking about pie

What is financial aid? Financial aid is monetary aid to use in pursuit of higher education. You might be more familiar with the term money for college. An easy way to think of financial aid is in relation to a pie. The pie is divided in to slices and the slices represent different sources of cash that will be used to pay for college. When you put all the slices together they should equal the cost of attendance.  So your FASFA is like your order form for a pie. You submit your order form with your information and your parent’s information. That order form will get processed and sent to your college. Your college financial aid office uses that processed order form to build your pie. Pies can be made up of many different pieces: scholarships, loans, grants, work-study as well as how much cold hard cash your family will be expected to contribute. Yum Yum gotta love ya some pie.

Pie for breakfast...anyone?

Heather

Hakuna Matata

Happy New Year!!!! I hope you have gotten all of your college applications in. So now you’re ready to pay for that college education……right? If you’re like me the concept of forking over your entire semester’s tuition, out of pocket, just is not the cool thing to do. So let’s take a couple minutes and talk about scholarships, but before we have that conversation allow me to introduce myself. 

Heather Gifford your Sheridan High School College Advisor reporting for duty. I have recently graduated from the University of Wyoming. I spent lots of time in Sheridan growing up, but I went to high school in a little tiny town in Montana. I have six toes on both feet, love mustard and enjoy building bird houses competitively. Now those three facts are just straight up lies. Both of my feet are equipped with the normal number of digits, I have a strong dislike for mustard as well as most other condiments. I also strongly regret never taking any sort of wood working/shop class in high school. This means the only things I am qualified to build are out of toothpicks or Popsicle sticks. 

Scholarships! Scholarships! Scholarships! If you plan on paying for college with scholarships you have your work cut out for you. So jump on it and start applying. Once you get that array of scholarships you can relax and Hakuna Matata. It means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy. Hakuna Matata! NOT…. When your classes start you’re going to have to put in the study hours to keep those scholarships. Some scholarships are going to come with some sort of academic requirements. In order to keep that scholarship you may have to achieve a certain GPA. Make sure you are aware of any such requirements at the beginning of the semester.

Hakuna Matata

Heather