An Important Message from the College and Career Center

"Besides the fairly constant COVID-19 updates, there is literally a barrage of updates coming in regarding all things college admissions, extended deadlines, optional ACT/SAT testing, etc. etc..  If you wouldn't mind to share <this new link> so your students and families can either subscribe to get the updates automatically, or simply check the website as they choose: https://bit.ly/2Ul57hQ

There's simply so much that has changed and will continue to change in the days, weeks and moths ahead. I'd like to reassure our students that colleges are adapting and changing as well!  Colleges know that transcripts and activity lists will probably not look the same as in past years... there will be tests that are not taken, chances to improve that will not be an option, and letters of recommendation shortened...Colleges understand the myriad of opportunities our students are privy to within our community...How we all, as Palos Verdes High School, handle our current situation, and how our students cope with this period of global pandemic is what colleges will want to know and understand, as context will certainly be the most important aspect in future college applications.  

So may I ask you to please encourage your students to put aside ACT/SAT prep and rather use this down time to find ways to be the best version of themselves... find ways to serve and help others... within their immediate family or within the community.  Encourage them to rise to the occasion... to be a great big brother or sister and play that board game or help with the math homework; take advantage of the incredible MOOC's <massive open online courses> available from universities like Stanford, MIT, BU, etc. that are free of charge and cover topics from astrophysics to anime. Encourage your students to use the resources that are available to them... even if only to log on to their Student Sign On portal and click on Naviance or even simply check our website to explore info and resources under the CCC tab..."

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And, from me:  one of the many places to search for MOOCs, as well as free books and audiobooks is here: 

http://www.openculture.com/


Also, 
https://openlibrary.org/ 
(I just tried to borrow Stephen King's The Stand, about a deadly virus that sweeps the world, and it works well. You can read the book online for free, or listen to the audio version. By the way, if you like thrillers and can deal with the subject matter, it is a riveting story that has an interesting plot twist and ending.)

Keep abreast of current events, including state and local updates, directly from the source if possible. Here's an update followed by excellent questions from reporters by Governor Newsom that I found by searching YouTube for "Newsom":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QivbmvWAfc8

There are many interesting news points provided, including how to get extensions for home mortgage payments, what's being done to ramp up testing, information about the medical ship that is scheduled to dock at the L.A. port on Friday, Elon Musk's commitment to delivering needed medical equipment, Bloom Energy's initiative to repurpose ventilators, the latest health statistics, and challenging questions from reporters at the end.