Parents of the HS Class of 2026

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
563

Honestly, the whole build-a-resume exercise is exhausting! My D26 has fairly significant social anxiety (a 504 Plan, multiple meds, etc.), and I feel like we waste way too much energy in our house trying to get her to “participate” in various activities, clubs, etc. – just so she has “enough” for her college apps. I will avoid stepping on the nearest soapbox, but I often wonder if the end goal is worth it.

Whew, ok, moving on… D26 started school this week. I have been getting a lot of one word answers, but can report her fav teacher based on the first 2 days is H Pre-Calc (her school doesn’t offer AP Pre-Calc, I actually didn’t even know that was a thing until last week!!) and her least favorite so far is AP Physics 1 (also a dual enrollment).

Her fall sport (diving!) just started, and she was selected for a sports leadership advisory (only 12 juniors out of 1,100 juniors are in this group). Not sure what other activities she will get involved in this year. Maybe a foreign culture/language club? And she plays intramural / AAU basketball in the spring/summer.

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564

When we did college tours with D19, a number of colleges said they prefer depth rather than breadth, and a couple even made disparaging remarks about kids who suddenly found a lot of ECs to do in junior year….D19 really only had 2 or 3 ECs, but she had been doing them all through high school, and she did just fine with her colleges. Especially if there’s other things going on - I wouldn’t push it.

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565

I don’t know if it is just the area we live in but it doesn’t really seem like the kids in my daughter’s school are really “building that E.C. Resume” I am happy to say that my daughter’s core group of friends just seem to do the things that they enjoy for the sake of actual enjoyment! My Son is a freshman at a private school so I may very well see a different story there. Time will tell

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566

It could be the school/area we live in, I suppose. (My D attends a test-in public high school.) Or maybe it’s just my kid – the things she does for actual enjoyment are along the lines of hanging out with friends at Starbucks, watching sports on TV, and scrolling Tiktok!

567

EC resume building is not common in our area either and S26 (who is very happy with his 3 ECs and doesn’t want any more) would have never chased leadership opportunities but now they are falling in his lap. He is attending a brand new school, so now they need people to start up and run all the clubs and teams at the school. The school’s senior and junior classes are small while the soph and fresh classes are large, so a lot is falling on the upper class students.

So he was now put on the leadership team for the soccer team tasked with creating the culture and traditions of the program (he is totally excited about that). Nobody has yet stepped up to form the youth and government club (youth leg and model UN), which he cares about, so him and his best friend are starting it up. They already found a sponsoring teacher and now are sweating over the needed paperwork (in all fairness his friend is probably the one steering this while S26 is helping). And, in a funny to me twist, he told me yesterday he was also asked to be on the leadership team of the fellowship of Christian athletes. Only S26 is not Christian and only attended the meetings at the old school, because his entire friend group attends. So he politely declined that offer :grin:

A lot of leadership for a kid that really doesn’t seek it. He is really more a follower than a leader, although I see why teachers and coaches tag him for those positions. He is calm, even keeled and drama is not his thing.

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568

Our high school is large and has all sorts. There are those who get into tippy-tops and have unbelievable schedules, and there are the slackers on the other end who may or may not even get to CC, and a lot of normal kids in between those. X26 has the school musicals, Latin club (including a couple of national exam and convention awards), and a particular summer camp that they have attended since first grade (moving through into CIT and counselor as appropriate) as depth for all of high school or earlier, as well as occasional art classes (depending on after school schedule in a particular semester), and probably will add a summer architecture school after junior year. And maybe algebra peer tutor if that works out. No leadership positions (not their thing). I think that’s totally fine for the level of schools they are targeting but more importantly, all those are being done because they enjoy them and want to do them. They have plenty time for gaming which is their other big hobby!

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569

The challenge we’re having at the moment re: extracurriculars is 2-fold: (1) a fair # of them are pricey; and (2) none of the clubs at school really interest my kid.

For example, Speech & Debate team is a $400 fee. Robotics? $450. Mock Trial? Also a high fee. Even something like chess club is $100 fee. And no, we don’t qualify for any aid for those fees.

D26 has tried a few of these already earlier in HS. She did Robotics for a couple of years, but learned that she truly hated the intensity of the competitions, didn’t like how they got zero advising help from the faculty advisor of the robotics club, didn’t like how only 1 kid did all of the programming himself and wouldn’t let anybody else do it, and didn’t like how the faculty advisor signed them up for competitions pretty much every weekend.

D26 did mock trial last year to give that a try, learned that she hated how a big part of that was having to be an actor and she hates drama class sort of stuff. Ironically, in the club description for mock trial this year, it talks up about how acting skills are helpful, so if you like drama, come join us!

D26 thrived in the in-class formal debates they’ve done in the past in history and english classes, so she thought about doing speech & debate, but it costs way too much AND that club description also spent half of the paragraph description talking about acting skills needed for it. So that’s out.

There’s some health professions-related clubs at school. She’s not a pre-health kid. Chamber orchestra club? She doesn’t play an instrument. FBLA? Nope, that one is $185. Newspaper club? Doesn’t want to be a journalist. Science Bowl? That’s $150. Yearbook? Nope, forget it. Science Fair? She doesn’t want to do a science project and the faculty advisor is the chemistry teacher who she doesn’t like very much.

You get the idea.

So she’ll stick with NHS for now and will get a part time job of about 12 hours a week. The NHS officers just decided last week to increase the required # of volunteer hours, so that will take more time this year than last.

She’s really into American history, especially military history. Volunteering at something like a VA hospital would seem to possibly be a good fit, but that’s an hour’s drive from us and she’s in school every day from 7:30-3:45. Am thinking of some other options…some self-directed stuff she could do in that realm instead. I have some ideas.

In the area of comp sci-related classes, our school doesn’t offer AP Comp Sci A, only AP Computer Science Principles (which she took in 9th grade). The school doesn’t offer any programming classes because they don’t have anybody to teach it. D26 wants to learn more about how to program, so we’re probably going to have her take a Python class next summer at the local community college. Our high school doesn’t do dual enrollment.

Lots to think about.

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570

Wow! Latin club dues are $40, including a tshirt and lunches so I think it’s really just to cover costs. Convention is extra. I don’t recall D19 having to pay for mock trial, though the parents had to arrange transport to the various schools/courthouses and provide supper for practice and trial nights. Not sure about other clubs.

571

School fees here are crazy too (suburban public school). If I tally up all the school fees I pay per year, I get to over $1000 per kid per year. Soccer team: girls $300, boys $200 plus fundraising, youth and government club - 2 conventions per year in a hotel around $280 per convention. Then we add the full fees for AP and CLEP tests, which our district does not cover.

I’m not complaining though, compared to paying for private schools this is pocket change :wink:
I have never heard of financial aid being offered for anything but am thinking there must be a way, because otherwise these opportunities clearly exclude part of the student body.

572

I could totally see the test in public schools being more competitive, we don’t have those in the suburbs but in the city we do, I don’t really believe many students apply to what are considered the “top” schools at my D26’s HS My S28 was heavily recruited for his sport and is at a private school so I believe we will see a totally different vibe there. Students definitely apply to the ivies and highly ranked schools.

573

I suspect that “acting” is not specifically the talent that is being used in these activities, but rather a joint skill set of being comfortable speaking in front of people, recall of positions and facts, and other such aspects. Certainly their is overlap in the skill sets of being a good actor, a good trial attorney, and a good debater. But, there are some important differences, mostly emotive aspects of acting are not required to be a good debater, etc., although a great orator can certainly evoke emotion. Note, this isn’t directed at you or your child, but to others who may avoid speech or debate or mock trial opportunities because they do not want to act.

I’m shocked at the club fees. I suspect that no club at our school would exist with such fees.

I think your ideas on the history opportunities sound really interesting.

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574

Ugh sorry to hear about those fees they definitely add up. Thus far no fees for my D26 Math Team I have bought a T-shirt each year but it was not mandatory. Figure Skating Team because it is a team run by students, the students have to cover their ice time but my daughter coaches at that rink so she doesn’t pay for ice time. She also managed to get her figure skating club to pay for the competitions to keep the cost down. It was by starting this team that she ended up on so many committees. It was harder then you would think to get it approved and up and running, luckily our School Districts superintendent was supportive and helped push it through the road blocks. I have no idea what the clubs will be like at my son’s school just Day 2 there

575

Nice sometimes our kids surprise us, same thing for my daughter she like to stay out of the limelight but really wanted to skate in HS so she started a skating team and was forced out of her comfort zone she got to know the principal, Athletic director and superintendent very well and then was asked to be on a bunch of committees

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576

I don’t remember acting so much as practicing the case thoroughly for D19 - who did do drama as well, but this was very different. We watched a couple of the county finals that she was in. And I think it was great prep for the real world for those students to have to argue cases in front of actual lawyers, and at the ones we were at, they had an actual judge presiding though I understand this is not always the case. I do remember specifically that they cannot fake accents - because at one stage we had to provide D19’s passport to prove that her accent was genuine - so to the extent that there is any acting it’s definitely limited. The description on the school page only talks about training students in the different aspects of running a criminal trial.

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577

“ get to over $1000 per kid per year. Soccer team: girls $300, boys $200 plus fundraising, youth and government club - 2 conventions per year in a hotel around $280 per convention. Then we add the full fees for AP and CLEP tests, which our district does not cover.”

Wow so many fees for sports we don’t pay for sports at either of my kids schools, I do pay for the AP’s classes at my D26 school but those fees are waived for any student that qualifies for free or reduced lunches

578

lol there can never be enough time for gaming!!!

579

D26 has applied for some jobs at local movie theaters in addition to McD’s. Have a couple more places for her to apply this week and we’ll keep our fingers crossed in the meantime.

She started doing the Modern States’ Spanish course this weekend. Am using this as a back up plan to being able to test out of a foreign language in college because we all have our doubts with the AP Spanish teacher, who is brand new to teaching.

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580

What do high school kids put on their resume? Any template available online that someone here has tried? S26 wants to apply for a part time job, no idea where though. So far only Kumon is on the list. But he wants to start with making a resume.

581

Heyy!! I worked at Kumon as a tutor as well! Easy money, to be honest, depending on your manager. I think I’ve watched the entirety of Grey’s Anatomy while grading.

Anyway, the resume should include a few things.

  1. Name, Age, Number, City + State, Email, and LinkedIn website
  2. A brief blurb of who you are and what your interests are. Make sure you tweak this part to match the core values of the place you’re applying to. You don’t want to talk about education when you’re applying for a Jimmy John’s! Here’s what I said when I applied for Kumon.

I am a _____ High School freshman with a passion for education and community with a knack for leadership and communication. I believe strongly in discipline, a positive attitude, and a willingness to learn as necessities for success

  1. Then you want to put your “experiences”. As a high schooler, you won’t have a lot to put, and I think the manager will understand that. I put: my volunteer experience with the FabLab, my experience as a captain in my school’s robotics team, Co-Founder of my school’s rocketry team
  2. Then you’re going to want to put your “education”. Which basically means your high school and any certification courses you’ve taken. Like, I have a certification in Fusion360 and Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.
  3. Then you’re going to want to put your “skills”. These basically are buzzwords. Don’t try to be modest! Pour 'em all out and make sure these skills can clearly connect to one of your experiences. You don’t want to say that you have leadership skills but have no way of proving it on the resume! I put: Leadership, Tutoring, Working with kids, Organization, Project Management, Collaboration skills, and Critical Thinking.
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582

D26 did not get selected for a Humane Society volunteer interview. Frustrating. But she has an interview later this week at Taco Bell.

Took the kid out for more driving practice this weekend. She’ll probably take her driving test in Dec. The route to school is a 35 min drive that involves rush hour freeway traffic, so it’ll be awhile before she’s ready to drive to school on her own.

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