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Tips for Taking Your “Behind the Wheel” Exam

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By Hannah

1. Book your DMV Appointment in Advance.

You can book your DMV appointment right from your couch! It’s normally best to pick the DMV closest to where you live. If you’d like to schedule an appointment click this link: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/make-an-appointment/

2. Make Sure to Study.

Even though you’ve already passed your written exam, you should still set aside some time each day to study your driver handbook.  You never know what might pop up during your Behind the Wheel exam!

 Here is a link to the handbook: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/california-driver-handbook-pdf/

3. Practice, Practice, Practice

Put your permit to good use and make sure that you are following driving laws to the best of your ability at all times. If you are always adhering to the laws then it will be a piece of cake the day of. If the thought of an exam or test makes you squeamish, try going for a practice test with a parent or guardian.

4. Which Car Are You Taking For A Spin?

Make sure you let your parents know the date and time of your exam beforehand so that they can set the time aside. It is also vital to remember to ask to borrow someone’s car for the exam; and remember, they must have registration and insurance.

5. Keep it Cool

Remember to get a good night’s rest and eat a good meal the day of the exam. Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the test but also stay focused and take deep breaths if you feel nervous.

Good luck!  For more test information, you can visit: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver-education-and-safety/educational-materials/fast-facts/preparing-for-your-driving-test-ffdl-22/

Scholarship Tips and Tricks

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By Kamryn M.

When applying for any kind of scholarship, I have a little checklist of items that I need to have done before I can submit my application- knowing that I have done my best work. In this blog, I will be going over tips and tricks that I always keep in mind when filling out any application. Keep in mind that what works for one person might not always work for you! If something does not work for you, you can always change it!

Start the Process Sooner:

The first tip I have is to start by looking and making a list of scholarships that interest you. It is best to begin looking before your senior year of high school; the sooner you start looking the better. That way, you are able to have an extensive list of scholarships that you can apply for. The earlier you start looking, the earlier you can begin compiling all of the needed items required for each scholarship. This will also help for items that might take a while to get to you, for instance, mailed transcripts or letters of recommendation, which are difficult to obtain at the last minute. When it is time to start applying, begin to check back to the list you have made to check if their requirements have changed; you still have time to collect any last-minute requirements before the application becomes available.

Always Have a Letter of Recommendation:

One of my biggest tips for scholarship applications is to make sure that you have multiple letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation could be from anyone: professors, employers, youth group leaders, co-workers, and even counselors. Always make sure that you have at least three recent letters of recommendation at all times- you never know when you will ever need one. It would be best to continue to gather letters of recommendation to help build your collection. The more you have, the better. Some letters work better for different things. Use letters from teachers or academia that showcase your academics when applying for a academic scholarship, and use letters from volunteer leaders when applying to a community service scholarship.

Stay Organized:

One of the most prominent struggles people have with applying for scholarships is that they are not organized. Applying for scholarships is so much easier and hassle-free if everything is kept in one safe and well-known spot. For me, I find it is the easiest to keep everything surrounding scholarships in one binder. That way, I can keep all of my letters of recommendation, transcripts, essays, and personal statements together in one safe spot where if I need it, I can grab it and go. For example, having a binder separated with categories and clear sheet protectors is one of the easiest ways to keep yourself organized and ensure everything is safe and protected. If you are more of a computer person, you could do something similar with organized folders on your laptop. Always make sure to keep items that are alike together in their categories.

Make a Schedule:

Another way to stay organized while applying for scholarships is to make yourself a schedule. List all of the deadlines for the scholarships you’re interested in the inside of a planner, notebook, or calendar. This way, you know when everything is due and when the last day to submit your applications or have them postmarked by is. These are dates that you do not want to miss- colleges will not extend the deadline just because you forgot to turn yours in. You should also make sure that you are applying often. The sooner you submit all of your scholarships, the sooner you can relax. I always say to fill out and finish at least three applications a week if possible. You don’t want to wait until the last week and have to fill out all of your applications within just a few days- it is not worth the stress.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help:

Possibly the most important tip I have when it comes to applying for scholarships is not to be afraid to ask for help. You don’t have to work through this process alone. You can ask for help from teachers, councilors, youth group advisors,  your parents, and your peers. There is usually someone who has already gone through the process and understands how it works, and they will help you. Whether they’re just reading your essay or helping you find the words for your statement, there is always a helping hand who can make sure that you are representing your best self.

Look Beyond Your Grades:

For many scholarship applications, they want to know about more than your grades. Colleges want to know about your extracurricular activities, jobs, and volunteer work. Scholarship boards tend to look for the most well-rounded student to give a scholarship out to. Of course, they still care about your grades, but not all scholarships are based solely on academics. While reading through applications, most readers are looking for applicants who put their whole heart into their application. They are looking for applicants who are not afraid to be themselves and talk about their life struggles, growth, and personal hardships. All in all, make sure that you are sincere and you are reflecting on yourself on a deeper and more personal level.

Apply for Any and All Scholarships:

My final tip is to apply for any and all scholarships; even if you think you will not qualify – apply anyway. Even if you might not be eligible, it’s possible that you could still get the scholarship. Occasionally there are scholarships that no one who applied actually qualifies for, so the scholarship committee will give them out to the next best applicant. Just because you might not qualify, according to an application’s qualifications list, does not always mean that you will not get the scholarship. Apply for as many scholarships as possible, whether it is a $100 scholarship or even a $10,000.  Apply, apply, apply! You can never succeed if you do not ever try. The worst thing that could happen is being told no. And even then, you still got your foot in the door for many other scholarships and materials ready to go.

These are all tips and tricks that I use while filling out scholarship applications. Following these steps helps ensure that I have done everything to the best of my ability and that I will be able to apply for as many scholarships as possible before their deadlines.

Happy Applying and Good Luck! 🙂

3 Steps to Balancing Family, Friends, and School

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By: Elise S.

Being a teenager can be challenging, especially when it comes to balancing your life. Finding a proper balance between school, friends, and family takes practice and time while adding extracurricular activities, personal well-being, and possibly a part-time job can seem monumental. Here are a few things you can do to help you not only survive, but thrive as you attempt to balance your life as a teen:

1. Prioritize. One of the first things to do is to set your priorities. This not only gets you started on the right path, but once you have a solid sense of your priorities, making decisions about how you spend your time will be easier, and everything will fall into place.

Make a list of the commitments in your life and group them into categories. For example: work, school (classes, SAT Prep), extracurricular (sports, IORG, student council), family, faith (youth group, church, daily devotionals), friends (social activities, book club). 

Next put them in order of importance. This is one of the most difficult steps because it feels like you’re saying some things don’t matter. That’s not what prioritizing does; it’s really all about putting things in order of importance. While that might sound like an easy task, it is something that should be done with intentionality and probably some help from a wise family member or friend. 

There are some critical questions to ask yourself when taking on this task. When you are looking at what you want your future to be, who and what will get you there? Will your family help and encourage you? Will your education be important to your career? Will your friends contribute to getting you to where you want to go? Will the extracurricular club or group help further you as a person or look good on a resume? Should you take on an internship or job so you have some experience in your field? By looking at what you want to do in the future and analyzing what is going to get you there, you can prioritize and balance the things that are going on in your life.

Using the example above, prioritization in a teenager’s life could look something like this:

1. Faith (For strength and foundation)
2. Family (For support)
3. School (For learning & exploring)
4. Extracurricular activities (For application building and growth)
5. Friends (For fun and support)
6. Work (For experience and money)

Of course, everyone will have a different set of activities to prioritize, but the most important things to remember are to tailor it to yourself and understand why you are prioritizing it the way you are. For a great way to approach prioritizing, take a look at this video by author and educator, Steven Covey: https://tinyurl.com/y9h599c3

2. Have a Schedule. Another important step to balancing life is to keep a schedule. Not just a school schedule but also for things like family nights, work, events, and calls with friends. Making a schedule doesn’t have to be limiting and rigid. In fact, every schedule should include down-time and time for self-care. The schedule should be in writing, and in a place you can access it. There are many online tools for scheduling that you can access right from your smartphone, like ZenDay – Calendar + Reminders, Any.do, and Fantastical – Calendar & Tasks, or you could just use a simple appointment calendar.

Whatever you do, keep it close and respect it.

3. Be Flexible. Finally, you should remember to allow for flexibility in your scheduling and be willing to revisit your priorities. There will be times when family has to be your top priority, and times when school is going to take the top spot. As long as you remember priorities, your schedule will align with what’s most important. 

Remember the wise person who helped you come up with your priorities in the first place? Keep in touch and meet up to discuss how everything is going. Sometimes priorities shift in importance. Don’t be afraid to change your priorities if needed.

Taking these three steps will make a big difference in balancing your life. And maybe, having broken them down into steps, this task is not as challenging as it may have seemed in the beginning. Once you go through the process of prioritizing things, making a schedule, and keeping flexibility in mind, you will be that much closer to achieving balance in your life and succeeding in whatever comes your way.

13 Apps and Sites to Help You Conquer This School Year

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This year has been full of challenges, but luckily there are many resources to help students and educators through it. We have compiled a list of 13 sites and smartphone applications that can help with organizing, editing, and studying.

Forest

Having trouble focusing? Forest helps you stay off your phone while doing schoolwork. When you set a designated amount of time, the app plants a tree to help you stay on task. If you exit the app to go on social media or play a mobile game before the designated time is reached, the tree will die. While there are no real-life repercussions for that tree’s demise, it is still effective in guilt-tripping the user into concentrating on their work. Plus, the virtual coins earned in-app go towards planting trees in real life! You can download it here: www.forestapp.cc/

Any.do

Any.do is an app that helps people stay organized, in or out of school. Sometimes, to get started on a project, it really helps to see all of your tasks organized in a big to-do list. This app allows tasks to be sorted by priority, organized into smaller subgroups, and shared with others. The sharing feature can be particularly useful in a group project. It includes a calendar that can display scheduled reminders as well. This app can be downloaded at www.any.do/.

Calendly

If you ever have trouble scheduling a meeting time for a group project, Calendy is the app for you. It offers a free plan that allows you to compare the gaps in your schedule with the rest of your group easily, without the back and forth emails or text messages. Organizing a time for a Zoom meeting has never been easier! This site is found at calendly.com/.

Kanban Flow

Similarly to Any.do, Kanban Flow helps users create to-do lists and visualize tasks. The difference is that Kanban Flow is much more group-oriented. The multi-user oriented to-do lists help greatly with keeping your group on schedule and productive. Kanban flow also allows you to limit the number of tasks you have in progress to help prevent burnout or procrastinating on assignments. Tasks can also be sorted into subtasks, allowing everyone in the group to closely track the progress made. This can be accessed through the app or site and is found here: kanbanflow.com/.

Hemingway Editor

If you ever need an editor in a crunch, Hemingway Editor is the site or you. This site grades your writing for readability and shows how you can improve it. Among other features, it displays the amount of time it takes to read the inputted text, which can be useful when giving a presentation or speech. Hemingway Editor also suggests simpler words or phrases in the place of more complex ones for ease of readability. It also displays the amount of adverbs and phrases in the passive voice inputted. You can try it here: www.hemingwayapp.com/.

Quizlet

 Quizlet is a site made up of user-made flashcards on almost any topic. You can create your own flashcards or browse their selection for any you find useful. Quizlet allows users to create folders of related flashcards, so if you’re studying for a unit test, the feature can come in handy. Teachers can also create classes with flashcard sets that they want to share with the class. This makes it easy to share study resources and materials. Within sets, there are different ways to learn. You can study with classic flashcards, write them out, test for spelling accuracy, and take a test. If you’re looking for a more fun-based approach, there are two minigames you can use to study! The first is a simple matching game where you drag topics onto their definitions. The other is an asteroid game where you must type in the term or definition before an asteroid with the corresponding term hits a planet. Quizlet has both an app and a site, which can be found here: quizlet.com/.

GoConqr

If you are a visual learner, GoConqr can help you. It provides many tools, such as mind maps, flash cards, slides, notes, flowcharts, and quizzes for a multitude of classes. It boasts a library of 25 million learning resources created by over 8 million users. GoConqr also allows users to create private study groups to share materials within. You can also join a public group to share topics and engage with other students and educators. You can access GoConqr at www.goconqr.com/.

Evernote

Evernote is an organizational app that allows you to take notes, make lists, and create reminders. The app allows you to type notes, add attachments, clip web pages, or record memos, all in one place. All of your notes can be organized by tags, and searched for based on content. It also allows the user to scan in documents or handwritten notes. You can download the app here: evernote.com/.

Offtime

Do you have a difficult time preventing procrastination? Offtime tracks usage of your phone and apps so you can see just how long you spend procrastinating throughout the day. It also allows you to block incoming calls, texts and notifications for set periods of time to prevent needless distraction, and can restrict you from accessing certain apps to distract yourself. The app is accessible through offtime.app/.

OverDrive

This app allows users to access millions of books– and all you need is a library card! The app includes free ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, all accessible from a free app. Some of the notable authors in their collection include Emily Brontë, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Ernest Hemmingway. Not only can this help find resources for your AP Lit class, but you can also accomplish some reading in your free time! You can download the app here: www.overdrive.com/. 

Photomath

Stumped on your algebra homework? Photomath allows users to snap a picture of any math problem and provides step-by-step instructions on how to solve it. The instructions are easy to read and help you understand the process. Some problems even have multiple methods to solving a problem, so you’re free to pick the method most comprehensible to you. The app also has a calculator and graphing function for ease of access. The app is accessible here: www.overdrive.com/.

Desmos

Like Photomath, Desmos offers a calculator and graphing utility. Unlike Photomath, Desmos doesn’t provide all of the solutions to your math problems, so you might want to use it if you don’t want to succumb to the temptation of the answers at your fingertips. In addition, Desmos also offers a matrix calculator, a geometry tool, and test practice. Teachers can also utilize it in the classroom through fun and interactive activities. Desmos’ graphing calculator is truly a thing of beauty. Not only can you graph those pesky trig functions, but you can also create art by limiting your functions. There are countless examples on their website, so be sure to check them out! There is both a site and an app, and you can find them at www.desmos.com/.

Todoist

Todoist is an organizational app that helps you prioritize and categorize your to-do list. There is a feature that allows you to earn karma and streaks for completed tasks, so if your productivity is reward-based, this is the app for you! Todoist can also be synched with your Google Calendar and you can share your tasks with others. Plus you can look back and see where you are spending the most of your time! More information on Todoist can be found at todoist.com/.

We hope that these apps and sites help you stay on track for this school year!