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Winston-Salem, NC 27101
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Your Child and College Admissions
So you have a child in high school and haven’t quite figured out what all you need to do to help your child navigate the process of preparing for college. Hopefully, you have met your high school counselor and have information on choices for the many possible courses your high school student could take to prepare for college admissions. It is important to challenge your child academically but also to be in classes in which the student can be successful. Class rank plays an important role in the admissions process.
What else is there to consider? Your child should be taking the SAT or ACT during the Junior and Senior years. Most universities accept scores from either test. If you have a question, go online and research schools that you are considering. Sometimes students can improve scores by taking the test more than once. Many tools are written both in prep books and online to help your child. Prep courses are also offered to help. Some are individualized to address specific weaknesses. If your child is a self starter and a great student, using online tools or books may be enough. Many students benefit from more direct and personal instruction. Your high school child may balk at the idea of more instruction but it is worth the time and effort.
You will also want to keep a log or folder of all the extra curricular activities in which your student is involved along with special recognitions and awards both in school and in the community. It is easy to forget activities during the freshman year when filling out applications for colleges. These along with interesting special talents and personal characteristics can help a school know what your student brings to the campus. It isn’t completely about grades and test scores especially if you are in the competitive range already. | |
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| | | The essays for college admissions are also important. A well written essay that shows off the student’s strengths and unique qualities is important. Often high school English teachers are willing to look over an essay and make recommendations. Examples of essays can be found on the internet. One site is www.admissionsessays.com.
Take some time to see admission deadlines, early applications, and visit schools to get a feel for the best fit for your student. It is worth your time and effort to be involved. Most high school students are not totally self sufficient and want your support. Be organized and have fun. You won’t regret the time you took when you leave your child at the college’s door.
One additional great site for guidance and information is www.cfnc.org .
Forsyth Woman Magazine
- July 2006 -
Getting a Game Plan on Life
by Katie Moosbrugger
It seems they’re all the rage. Corporate executives have been using them for years. Adults struggling with issues from weight loss to spirituality to aging to relationships to stress often turn to them. Teenagers are now phoning them. Oprah features them regularly on her show. And Dr. Phil certainly acts like one.
We’re talking about life coaches. These specialists are trained to listen to individuals, and then help create multiple action plans to lead them through personal transitions, reach specific goals, resolve challenges, and modify certain behaviors. Most life coaches are not therapists, physicians or psychologists, but rather partners who help ensure success for those seeking a fuller and happier life.
Winston-Salem resident Penny Hazen is a life coach (soon to be nationally certified by the International Coach Federation) and has been running Hazen Life Coaching for nearly three years. But Hazen has been “coaching” adults and children through her work in school counseling and in church youth ministry for 30 years.
Inspired by a friend who is a life coach, Hazen enrolled in a school for life coaches taught by Dave Ellis, president of the Brande Foundation, and a nationally recognized life coach, author and workshop presenter. From this experience, Hazen felt empowered to bring some of Ellis’ teachings, particularly his Falling Awake work (a step-by-step program of ideas, strategies, tips, techniques, exercises and resources designed to improve the quality of life) to the forefront of her life coaching business.
And just last month, Hazen retired from her full-time counseling career to follow her dreams as a full-time life coach.
Talk about self-help. Recently, Hazen has coached men and women to succeed in life and career transitions, family dynamics, motivation, overcoming artistic blocks, book writing, and in creating full and balanced lives. She has led workshops on: Falling Awake: Creating the Life of Your Dreams by Dave Ellis; Your Dreams/Your Life: Life planning for older teens; Falling Awake weekly growth group, as well as a three-day visioning process for small business; Weight Loss Success from the Inside Out; and Emotional Stress Defusions. Hazen has also led a visioning retreat for The Downtown Middle School to plan 20 years into the future. Additionally, she teamed up with her partners, Fran Bates Oates and Karen Hickerson, to form an alliance known as Empowerment for Excellence to produce Falling Awake retreats, Introduction to Life Coach Training, group coaching, Falling Awake book studies, and more. On top of all this, Hazen also donates coaching time to One to One Women Coaching Women, a non-profit organization that coaches women who otherwise could not afford it.
“I believe that every person has the brilliance to solve life’s challenges and, with the assistance of a dedicated coach, each person can create the life of their dreams,” Hazen advocates.
So, how does life coaching work?
First, Hazen explains, coaching is for people who are generally well but want to take their life to a new level of success or happiness. “We begin by creating a very large picture of what the client wants in all areas of his or her life. Then we help the client create multiple pathways to accomplish these goals,” she says.
For Hazen’s clients, most of the coaching is done by phone giving them freedom to be where they want to be when talking with a coach. This style of coaching also allows Hazen to keep regular clients in such places as Maine, New Hampshire, Illinois, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and California.
Next, plan on using a coach for several years, not just one or two sessions, in order to see real results. “Coaching contracts are for at least six months because the client learns over time how to most powerfully use a coach,” Hazen explains. Hazen Life Coaching recommends at least three to six hour-long sessions a month for a minimum of six months.
According to the Brande Foundation, clients who employ a life coach can expect the following benefits:
1. Life with more joy.
2. Deeper intimacy.
3. Contributing more to the world.
4. Improved health and vitality.
5. Fuller celebration of life.
6. Improved personal and professional relationships.
7. Deep self-acceptance.
8. Clear future visions.
9. Improved work-place morale.
10. Emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.
And it’s not just clients who are seeing these benefits. “My life has changed significantly since I “fell awake” to my dreams and became a life coach. And I practice what I preach. I have two regular coaches and two partners who coach me when I ask them. With these practices, I have broken through many mental barriers – ones that we all can relate to,” Hazen says.
For more information on Hazen Life Coaching, visit www.hazenlifecoaching.com. Keep checking the web site for a new weight loss group coming this fall, as well as a country-wide teleconference course in weight management.
Trick of the Trade
Penny Hazen, life coach and owner of Hazen Life Coaching, offers a sneak peak at one tried-and-true technique she teaches her clients:
“In order to begin thinking about the life of your dreams, I ask people to write one idea each on a series of 3x5 index cards. I ask them to begin thinking about what they want in all areas of their life. What do you want in your personal relationship? Your family? Your partner? Your career? Your health? Your spiritual life? What do you want for fun and relaxation? From your home and workspace? I tell my clients to generate many, many cards, and to use their environments to help think more about what they envision for their lives. Then, I tell them to go back and choose the most compelling cards. I encourage them to turn these particular ideas into goals that are so specific they can actually envision attaining the goal themselves. This is one way to begin ‘falling awake’ to the life of your dreams. It will leave you inspired.”
© 2006 Forsyth Woman, Inc. • 3550 Stancliff Road • Clemmons, NC 27012 • 336-749-1947 • Contact Us
| | | | This article was written for a Music Education Journal. It was written following a Falling Awake Workshop in April 2006 in Winston-Salem. The decision to leave the church followed Anne's first Falling Awake workshop with us. Becoming very clear about what one wants to have for the life of his/her dreams often creates big movement in one's life. Enjoy this wonderful article. Perhaps you can relate to Anne.
“Measured Silence: Falling Awake in the Meantime”
--Anne M. Saxon
Last fall, I resigned from my full-time church music position after several years. Life had changed dramatically for me as I was experiencing an “empty nest.” Therefore I went on a self-appointed sabbatical to “switch gears” so to speak, and refuel myself. This was difficult to do and somewhat painful for myself and others, but I did it anyway, as I found I was depleted.
As Choral Music Educators and Conductors we don’t often allow ourselves to take a sabbatical. Our profession is such that we are always “on,” always giving, always working to stay ahead of the fast pace of our personal and professional expectations. After all, how can we enjoy the fireworks on the ‘Fourth of July’ if we haven’t finished programming our Christmas and Easter music! My experience was that church work never seems to have a “down time,” a slow season, or quite simply, a break. I seemed to constantly be in a mode of the sacrificial giving of myself and my talent, and fell prey to the vacuum of it. Ironically, I quit teaching because I felt I had nothing left at the end of the day and thought that music in ministry would be more filling. Then my kids grew up and left home and here I was like a “ship without a sail,” and the purpose of all of my “busy-ness” suddenly lost its meaning. It had been an emotionally stressful year as well, and I needed time to process things and figure out what I was supposed to do next.
At first I rested. On several occasions, during that first couple of weeks, I found myself sitting down for a moment only to fall asleep and wake up an hour or so later. I took my little dog, Sebastian, on long walks, and rediscovered the beauty of nature. I now had more time to assist my aging mother, and we both took pleasure in our frequent lunches and little outings, talking about everything under the sun, or nothing. I had time to clean up my house, at least a layer or two! In fact, I likened it to “cleaning out the closet of my life.” My husband especially enjoyed the fact that I was rediscovering how to cook again, and I found pots and pans I forgot I owned! I took time to re-cultivate friendships that somehow had fallen by the wayside. And, after a particularly stressful year, I had time to begin to heal. This time for me was like a precious gift.
In January I began substitute teaching in the local school system, as it was time (truly!) to start earning a steady income again. I substitute teach in many different areas and grade levels, gaining insight in the lives of children and what they experience through the educational process. I keenly feel the chaos and noise and hurriedness in which they live, and wish for them a way to experience beauty and tranquility. At the very least, silence and calm.
Then, at a recent children’s choir festival I conducted, a third grader thanked me for smiling a lot, seeming to indicate that in his world adults don’t smile very much. A fifth grader asked me why I was so nice, and another asked why I was so calm. During the final performance a few of the children closed their eyes while singing the most beautiful section of a song, and a couple of them even allowed tears to well up in their eyes. It was a transcendent experience for me, like “falling awake.” It was a pivotal moment and has given me a greater sense of purpose and clarity. I can now begin to create the next chapter of my life and do so with great excitement and expectation.
Measured silence and falling awake: that which happens when we stop and listen for ourselves.
Anne Saxon is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Central Carolina Children’s Chorus in Winston-Salem, NC.
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