On Monday, April 8, LHS hosted a college workshop presentation for sophomores and their parents called “Life After Libertyville, “ the event is held to inform sophomores and their parents about the steps they should be taking to stay on track for their future college decisions.

The workshop included information presented by college counselor Ms. Amy Belstra, along with four senior student speakers who gave their own college application stories and advice.

The four seniors, Cooper Miller, Stephanie Gay, Brianna Reed and Tess Aumuller began the night by sharing w

hat colleges they applied to, where they ended up going, and what their intended major is. While three of the four students had plans to attend college in the fall, Miller assured the audience that that is not the only choice a student can have; a gap year is a legitimate option as well. Stephanie Gay, who is a member of the Drops of Ink staff and will be attending TCU to later go into the military, discussed the option of going to a Reserved Officers’ Training Corps or ROTC school, a much less popular choice amongst students.

During the presentation, Belstra introduced the different post-high school options, what colleges are looking for during students’ high school careers, standardized testing, financial readiness and many other helpful topics. Other than the average four-year-college that most LHS seniors choose, Belstra discussed two-year-college, trade school, military school, a gap year and going into the workforce. She also informed students that every college is different in their requirements, some colleges may require a different number of years for core courses such as math, english and social studies. This workshop, along with many other College Resource Center (CRC)  sponsored events, also had a focus to ease any anxiety and assure emotional readiness amongst students as they creep closer to their senior years. For sophomores, these reminders included; establishing independence, becoming friendly with your counselors and working together with your parents. Regularly meeting with school counselors and the CRC can help make preparing for college easier and less stressful.

These college related events are part of the LHS effort to keep the college-readiness level amongst it’s students high. The audience left that night with a lot of  information on what they should be preparing for for the next three years and how they should prepare.