Fort Payne High School

Newsletter

THE MEDIA MESSENGER

FORT PAYNE HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY’S NEWSLETTER

April 21, 2017

 

Notes from FP Graduates:

Recently, I asked several college students what they thought the FPHS Library program could do to help students be better prepared for the “real world.” I only inquired about library services and reading (research, reading, and writing), but the FPHS alumni who wrote to me were eager to share their overall experiences and advice.

 

* This is a portion of one of the letters I received from a former student.

“Good morning! Good to hear from you and I hope you and everyone else is doing well. Thank you for doing this - I've often thought about how unprepared I was after high school, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s not always tough; however, sometimes it is.  Each person struggles in different ways and in different areas compared to their peers.

 

Research: I remember doing a research paper in high school, although I don't remember the teacher, where we had to have flash cards, each with an important quote or statistic that we planned on using in our paper. We had to have the entire article printed out and those parts with supporting information highlighted in those articles. We were shown several websites where we could find reputable articles (and no, Wikipedia doesn't count in college either! Haha)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY! TONS of college students struggle with this!! Typically with format or finding the appropriate style to use. Teaching students how, of course, will help but giving them sources/websites to use in case they forget. Organization of papers and staying in the same tense throughout has been another issue. Formatting is also an issue. Some professors will not grade your paper if your font is too small or if it isn't double-spaced. Pay attention!

 

The curriculum now requires some type of writing assignment in each class, if not, at least in each major at some point. My roommate had to write a collaborative 20 page paper with a group. Unfortunately, it's case-by-case. At Auburn we have The Miller Writing Center, they will proofread and make suggestions for your papers for free. Utilize your sources!”

 

Check This Out:

Brenwood Homepage

Three students get perfect ACT scores, Date: March 31, 2017

 

Three Williamson County School students earned a perfect 36 on the ACT on their third time taking the test, used by colleges and universities in the admissions and financial aid process.

 

Ravenwood High junior Stacey Xiang, Independence High junior Tyler Hart, and Brentwood High sophomore Namrah Ajmal all aced their most recent ACT test. Despite the same result, each student found out about their perfect score in their own unique way.

 

“My mom sent me a picture and I hadn’t looked at it, but my sister had and she told her friends,” Ajmal said. “I have a class with them and they walked in and congratulated me. I was so confused, but then we had a fire drill and I checked on my phone and was so excited.”

 

Hart said he was at a Power Monday when he saw his score online and his first thought was to call his parents. “I just called my parents and was freaking out,” Hart said. “My mom was actually on the treadmill running so she was actually out of breath, but my dad was really excited about it.”

 

All three students took the ACT at least three times before earning a perfect score, and all three preached the same thing: practice makes perfect.

 

“There’s very little difference in knowledge from, say, a 33 to a 36,” Xiang said. “My advice to students taking the ACT is to read more, whether it is fiction, nonfiction or anything. It will help your reading comprehension.”