College and Career Awareness Day

Submitted by Trinity Klein
College and Career Awareness Day: planning for and celebrating your future

On Wednesday, October 17, Gunn High School will devote the entire day to career exploration and college
admittance test preparation for freshman, sophomores and juniors. Seniors will be able to choose from a
variety of college- and career-related workshops.

About Attendance: Roll will be taken for all grade levels. Students who are absent must have a parent call in
for them if it is a legitimate absence. Students who are not participating in the PSAT for any reason, will join
the seniors in Spangenberg Theater.

SCHEDULE BY GRADE LEVEL
Grade
12th grade
8:30am-11:00am: EXPLORE
8:30: Assemble in Spangenberg
11:00am-12:00pm Titan 101: How is Gunn going for
8:45: Keynote Speaker #1
you?
9:20-10:20: Session 1 (all college and career panel
sessions run)
10th grade
9:00am-12:00pm: PLAN (SAC, AC & library open @ 8:30am) 10:35-11:35 Session 2 (all college and career panel
sessions run)
11th grade
11:40-12pm: Closing Assembly in Spangenberg
8:30-12:00pm: PSAT
Afternoon schedule for EVERYONE:
12:00: lunch
12:30: Homecoming games
1:30: float-building

9th
What is EXPLORE & PLAN?
These are the first 2 assessments of ACT’s Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS). Each
exam consists of 4 academic achievement tests: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Additionally, these
assessments contain an interest inventory and a needs assessment based on the student’s perceived
needs. The content of both tests closely mirrors the ACT and scores correlate with established college/post-
secondary readiness benchmarks.

You, your student, and your child’s guidance counselor will get a wealth of information including focused
interventions, course planning information and a breakdown of how our 9th and 10th graders are doing
overall. Very importantly, the results link to college readiness benchmarks. Results help our freshmen and
sophomores to focus on their interests and explore possible careers. These tests link students with relevant
college and scholarship information. We are excited to be able to bring these test preparation exams to Gunn!

Freshmen will have an opportunity to review their EXPLORE results with their guidance counselors in their
Titan 101 sessions in January and February. Sophomores will have an opportunity to review PLAN results in an assembly on February 20th and with their guidance counselors in their sophomore conferences.

Students and families will find this information helpful:
For EXPLORE: http://www.act.org/explorestudent/
For PLAN: http://www.act.org/planstudent/

What is the PSAT?
The PSAT is a test preparation exam for the SAT, the college admissions test sponsored by College Board.
The test is designed for 11th graders. The test measures critical reading, math problem-solving, and writing
skill development. Results are mailed home, but there is an enhanced score report that allows students to
review questions, their answers and correct answers with explanations. This is a wonderful tool for students
to use in assessing what are their strengths going into the SAT and what areas to focus on in preparing for
the SAT. The PSAT also provides a start list of colleges as well as a career match component. The enhanced
score report will be distributed to juniors prior to an assembly on January 23 rd, during which students will hear
an explanation of how to interpret their results and use them to prepare for the SAT. The PSAT Bulletin was
distributed to juniors in their US History classes. Additional copies are available in the main office.
For more information and sample questions with answers, see their website: www.collegeboard.com/psat .

Those students who do well on the test are eligible to enter scholarship competitions sponsored by the
National Merit Scholarship Corporation www.nationalmerit.org.

10th graders will not be allowed to take the PSAT on October 17th at Gunn.

All tests are free of charge to students.

College and Career Sessions for Seniors

College sessions include: Naviance, essay writing, UC application information, CSU application and interview skills. Career panel sessions include: The Arts, Athletics, Medicine, Entrepreneurialism, Travel and Adventure careers.

If you have any questions, please e-mail:
Assistant Principal Trinity Klein: tklein@pausd.org (PSAT)
Assistant Principal Kim Cowell: kcowell@pausd.org (Plan/Explore)
Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky: tjacoubowsky@pausd.org (senior workshops)