Villa Walsh Academy
NEWSLETTER 455 Western Avenue • Morristown, NJ 07960
VOL. 41
No. 4
GUIDANCE REMINDERS Sophomore students will begin meeting with Mrs. Devins next month to discuss PSAT results, the school year, and their future goals, both academically and socially. Students will also have the opportunity to view their high school transcript, as well as see the importance of being involved in extracurricular activities. Career Day is scheduled for ursday, April 10, 2025. e student planning team is beginning to coordinate this day, and we are very much looking forward to hearing from our alumnae! Upcoming Testing: PSAT 10 – April 2, 2025 – for 10th grade students PSAT 8/9 – April 9, 2025 – for 8th and 9th grade students More information will be forthcoming closer to the testing dates. For all students and families – please remember to utilize the Guidance webpage for resources, including summer programs, pre-college opportunities, and scholarships.
COLLEGE CORNER e Class of 2025 is reminded and encouraged to notify Guidance with college decisions. While we know the waiting part of hearing back from colleges can be challenging, we ask for you to keep the faith. • Students should also update the Guidance Office with any scholarship awards or admission decisions. • Research scholarships! Some national sources include: www.fastweb.com and www.collegeboard.org. ere is also scholarship information on the Guidance webpage and individual college websites. • Students are also encouraged to look for scholarship opportunities through their residential high school and/or local library for additional opportunities. • Any senior who would like to review or discuss college decisions should please stop by the Guidance Office.
December 2024 / January 2025
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD: Villa Walsh Academy has earned the College Board's AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for expanding young women’s access to AP Computer Science A (CSA) and AP Computer Science Principles (CSP). rough these diversity awards, the AP Program acknowledges 1,153 schools for their work toward improving female representation in computer science during the 2023-24 school year. VWA is one of only 69 schools nationwide to achieve this accomplishment for both AP computer science courses. PEER TUTORING Peer tutoring remains available for all students who feel they could bene t from some additional help with a class. e sign up for requesting and providing peer tutoring can be found on the door of the guidance office. Please stop in or email Mrs. Devins if you have any questions.
AP CAPSTONE Starting with AP Seminar during sophomore year, and continuing with AP Research in junior year, the courses use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills needed for college. e twelve sophomores in AP Seminar are embarking on their rst performance task -- a team project and presentation -which will be part of their overall score from the College Board for this course. Placed into groups, students will collaborate to select a topic and formulate a research question that drives their investigation of an academic or real-world problem or issue. As part of the rst performance task, each group member will write an individual paper of approximately 1,200 words about some approach, perspective, or lens of her group’s topic. In addition, the team will work together to develop a multimedia presentation to present the argument for their proposed solution; the presentation also requires oral defense based on questions posed by the teacher.