Advice for Seniors

Advice for Seniors: NHS Scholarship Winners 2009 Respond

Compiled by Sondra Rodriguez

Teachers and parents try tirelessly to prepare high school teens for college and to make the most out of four years of high school, but the advice is generally ignored. Maybe this is because the advice is coming from an older generation – from people who don’t understand what it is like to be in high school today. Or maybe it’s because as teenagers, it’s expected to let parental advice go in one ear and out the other. However, when students are both giving and receiving the words of wisdom, they seem to be taken seriously.

Since 1946, the National Honor Society has sponsored the NHS Scholarship program, which offers a total of $200,000 in scholarships to seniors. The 2009 NHS Scholars were asked,

“What suggestions would you offer to rising seniors to help them manage their senior year effectively, and negotiate the college admissions planning process to their benefit?”

Here are the winners’ responses, which have been separated into seven categories:

Words from the wise. These seniors are now well-into their first year of college, having survived both their senior year in high school and the college admissions process. We thank them for their input and hope current NHS members find this advice of value.

For more information, visit the following web sites: College Board , Fiske Guides, Princeton Review.

About the author: Special thanks to Sondra Rodriguez, a Journalism and Mass Communications major from Abilene Christian University (TX) for compiling the information included in this article during her summer internship with Leadership Logistics, a Reston (VA)-based company.

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Current NHS seniors can visit www.nhs.us/scholarships for more information about the NHS Scholarship and other scholarship programs available from the National Association of Secondary School Principals.