Helpful Hints for Incoming Hart Parents
Helpful Tips for Incoming Hart Parents
• Become familiar with the Hart Website www.harthighschool.org and when your students are at Hart, review the site at least once a week, especially the home page, daily bulletins and counselors’ pages.
• Plan to attend the 8th grade Orientation meeting, which will be on the night of Hart’s Open house – March 19, 2024 in the Hart Auditorium.
• If your 9th or 10th grade student is enrolled in Honors English, know that although they will receive a grade bump on their high school transcripts, the UC system will not count this grade bump on the UC College applications.
• Become familiar with the Hart Website www.harthighschool.org and when your students are at Hart, review the site at least once a week, especially the home page, daily bulletins and counselors’ pages.
• Plan to attend the 8th grade Orientation meeting, which will be on the night of Hart’s Open house – March 19, 2024 in the Hart Auditorium.
• If your 9th or 10th grade student is enrolled in Honors English, know that although they will receive a grade bump on their high school transcripts, the UC system will not count this grade bump on the UC College applications.
• This year 11th grade students will be attending the Connecting to Success Business Conference held at COC on October 6th. This is an all day school event where students will get advice and learn from members of our local business community how to be prepared to be out in the workforce. This is a unique opportunity with an opening motivational speaker that is absolutely amazing!
• Don’t be afraid to e-mail the teachers or counselors at Hart. The Hart staff is really good at responding to any concerns or questions you might have.
• Encourage your students to create and maintain a “High School Achievements and Awards” folder, where they can keep track of all their academic, athletic and/or club awards, community service, and other awards they receive throughout their high school years. That way, when they apply for college and for scholarships, they will have all the information they will need to fill out the applications.
• CSF is not automatic at Hart. Students must turn in applications every semester they qualify no later than the posted deadline, and they must sign up to tutor for 3 hours each semester. 9th grade students will become eligible to join after the fall semester, and you can find the requirements by going to the website under students – clubs – California Scholastic Federation. Warning – they will NOT accept applications past the posted time and date, so this is when it is helpful for parents to keep tabs on these type of deadlines, which are posted on the website.
• National Honor Society requires a great deal from high school students, so have your students keep track of their volunteer hours in the file folder mentioned above. You can find the requirements for this organization by going to the website under students – clubs – National Honor Society
• Strongly encourage your students to get involved in something at Hart – it will make a huge difference in how much they enjoy their high school experience.
• Don’t let your kids tell you that they don’t need parental help at Hart. If your student is involved in any sport, band, dance, or many other organizations, parents are the ones who run the individual booster clubs for each particular organization. There will be opportunities for moms, dads and guardians to volunteer during daytime and evening hours.
• Make a point to get to know other parents, whose children are involved in the same activities as your kids. It will come in handy when you need to clarify something or want to learn the “ins and outs” from parents, who are familiar with the program.
• I would encourage you to get involved with the HPO. You will learn so much about this school and how to help your student to be successful simply by getting to know other involved parents. We “older” parents love to pass on what we have learned and what we wished we knew to incoming parents.
• Start touring college campuses during the freshman and sophomore years because it is difficult to cover all the campuses during the junior year. Take advantage of the fall and spring break to visit university campuses so you and your child can see the schools while they are in session.
• Make use of the college materials that were donated and are now housed in the Career Center at Hart. There, you will find multiple books that will help students figure out potential college majors, find the colleges throughout the U.S. that will best fit each students’ needs, and a listing of scholarships that will help them pay for their college education. To find out how to view these materials, go to the website – parents – Hart Parent Organization (HPO) – Scholarship Information.
• It is never too early (or too late) to start looking for college scholarships. In the Scholarship books that were donated and are housed in the Career Center, there are many opportunities for all-age students to apply for various scholarships. If students (as young as elementary school) are awarded scholarships, the money will most likely be put into an account that they will then access when they get to college.