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Letter to the Editor: Welcome back to school

Hello Williams families,

I want to welcome all back to what I am expecting to be an amazing year.

Let’s talk about goals. What are your short term and long term goals? Sometimes it helps (as in a high school setting) to think about your overall goals for when you graduate and then set smaller goals in order to achieve what you want. For instance, if your long term goal is to be a veterinarian then you should realize that after high school there will be an additional eight years of schooling with classes that are heavy in science and math and will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Some short term goals would be to be vigilant about your grades and to challenge yourself with your course selection. One might even look to challenge one’s self academically outside of school. Maybe even look at the types of monetary aid (scholarships and grants) early on in your high school career and what those require in order so you can have a better chance of receiving some of these when you graduate.

Another example is, say you decide that you want to be something not collegiate and more along the line of tradesman. Small term goals for that would be to get information about your chosen trade. Is there any training needed for this? Where would I get that training? What classes do I need to take and what other things can I do to set up success for this long term goal?

Answering questions such as this can help guide you through high school and develop your short term goals.

I am here to help guide students and families through the many decisions that start in the 9th grade pertaining to this and will offer my experience and training to help all of you navigate high school and set yourself and your student up for success. You just need to ask. So come see me, call, or email (jpowers@wusd2.org) and we can set some goals together.

Finally I want to pass on something I learned about goals a long time ago. That is that they should be S.M.A.R.T. goals. That is: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. This has helped many a person both young and old achieve both long term and short term goals.

Jim Powers Counselor Williams High School


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