It’s once again time for another round of OHS seniors to get ready for their exciting opportunities in post-secondary education. Parents and teachers and staff members all come together in early September to meet with students in regards to their academic planning. Everybody’s excited to get going but they aren’t all exactly sure how. This is where the senior parent meeting and back to school night come in. These events, each led by Orono staff members to collaborate with parents, are a useful guide through many aspects of senior year such as class expectations and application processes.

Senior parent night was held in the high school cafeteria on September 15th. It is estimated that atleast 150 parents attended  given the fact that counselor Katie Dorn “ran out of handouts” they printed for the event. The handouts presented were a college comparison worksheet, helpful reminders for college applications, and packet on graduation rates/college acceptance rates/GPA/etc. Over 45 minutes the staff informed parents about ACT scores, transcript transferring, financial aid, and the importance of students choosing what feels right rather than just what they think they’re supposed to do. Associate principal Caryn Boyd even described this time as a “triangle” where parents, students, and staff all serve an equally vital role in the process. All in all it was a productive night and parents left with some very valuable information.

For parents that either don’t have seniors at home or wanted to know more about our academic process in general there was also a back to school night. This time was spent in classrooms following  their child’s schedule. The teacher of each class would go over topics such as curriculum, grading scales, and classroom expectations. High school history and psychology teacher Andy Gagnon described the time as an ability to “promote excitement that [he] has for psychology” and to “encourage parent-teacher contact”. Staff members were given a chance to express passion for the subjects they teach and answer questions. These “class” time were about the teachers rather than the parents.

With nights like these Orono high school has started off another exciting year and they’re working hard to make the post-secondary transition as smooth as possible.