It’s that time of year again for panicking seniors to start applying to colleges. It is hard for seniors to decide what they want to do with their life in less than a couple of months.  Luckily, the school put together a presentation for the seniors this past Thursday, September 22 about financial aid and college tips to calm the nerves of all the seniors.

To start the night out, guidance counselors Matthew Shervington, Kate Miklos, Colleen Dzwonczyk and Evelyn Kabke all started out with introductions and then continued explaining Naviance.

 Naviance is an online website that is a new addition to the school this year. This website allows an easier way for students to apply and plan for their college applications.

Senior Kayla Gemmill is getting ready to apply for college and feels the Naviance aspect of the presentation helped her the most.

“I think that hearing about the Naviance portion helped break down where to start with applications and what is the next step…”, said Gemmill.”  “…with Naviance, I am able to easily request transcripts and letter of recommendations, which is much easier than using the paper copy…”

After the guidance counselors concluded the Naviance portion, the audience then turned their attention to English teacher Tim Groth to discuss the essay portion of the application.  The essay is a major part of the college application that could make or break the school’s decision to accept the student.

Groth was able to provide tips and guidelines  to write the perfect essay.

“I would say my two most important tips is to make sure the essay is focused and to make sure to proofread the essay multiple, multiple times…,” said Groth.

It is inevitable that you will make a mistake, but there are ways to prevent it. Grotg feels that there is one

big mistake a student can make.

“I think they [students] make the mistake of writing one general letter and trying to fit the mold of all the schools, but they need to make it fit a club/organization or a certain institution…,” said Groth.

To finish off the night, a representative from Penn State York spoke about financial aid. Financial aid is a hard concept to understand because of how much there is involved in it. The representative was able to clarify what exactly it is to a high school student. Senior Gabby Maiorano attended the event and felt she really benefited from hearing the representative speak about financial aid.

“I was not really sure what the whole idea was behind financial aid. I mean I knew that it would help me with paying for college, but it is a very confusing idea,” said Maiorano. “The representative almost dumbed down the idea that made sense to a high school student. I was glad that I went to the meeting because it opened my eyes up to what to expect in the way of paying for my college…”

If a student was not able to attend the meeting, Naviance has provided the presentation online in the Document Library section of the website.