Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Counselor's Desk

by Donald Crane

If one has never thought of Christmas as being exciting, they should work at a school.

The nearer the holiday, the more excited students get. Of course, completing a term and taking semester tests even adds to the excitement.

When I was in public school, we never ended a semester before the Christmas holidays. We always returned in January to about two weeks of school and then took finals.

That cast a bit of gloom over the holidays for me. I usually had a class or two with questionable grades. I could have used some of the holidays to study a bit, but it never seemed to occur to me at the time. I may have worried somewhat about my possible grade but not so much as to ruin my winter holidays.

There were too many other things to worry about then. My greatest concerns back then seemed to center about whether or not it was going to snow.

Over the holidays, it will probably not occur to some of our seniors to complete those financial aid and ACT applications they picked up last week. The Free Application for Federal Financial Aid cannot be mailed until after Jan. 1.

I attended a financial aid workshop at Henderson State University last week, and the word was to mail early if one expects to get state assistance grants. The parent's 1996 tax statements must be completed for those.

The ACT applications must be mailed before Jan. 10 to register one for the test no Feb. 8. The ACT on Feb. 8 will be the final one for seniors who are trying to meet scholarship deadlines. Deadlines vary and even this test may be too late for some.

After Christmas, it won't hurt a bit to mail those college admission applications. If the student is still undecided as to their choice of schools, they can apply to more than one. Most Arkansas schools do not charge an application fee, and even if a student is accepted to a school, they are not obligated to attend. Just mail those applications.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and comes back determined and refreshed for the new term. And above all, let's try to remember the real meaning for the Christmas season. That is the only way we can experience real pace on earth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.