Arrowhead High School seniors are preparing to take on the college application process with the assistance of the English staff. A college essay workshop is scheduled to occur at Arrowhead Union High School on Saturday, October 3; Wednesday, October 7; and Thursday, October 8.

Arrowhead English teachers Kathy Nelson, Terri Carnell, and Liz Jorgensen are assisting Arrowhead seniors in the process of college essay creation.

The college essay workshop will occur in three sessions and will be held at North Campus in room N199.

If students want to sign up, they can do so on the Arrowhead homepage. Students are asked to sign up before Monday, September 28. Sign up information can be found here. A Skyward alert also was sent out to senior parents informing them of the workshop.

Session one will occur on Saturday, October 3 from 8-11 AM. According to the online flyer, during this session, attending students will learn what colleges are looking for, and view examples of college essays.

Session two is on Wednesday, October 7 from 5-8 PM. This session will guide students through the process of writing an essay. Students will be asked to make plans, create outlines, and complete drafts.

Session three is on Thursday, October 8 from 5-8 PM and during this session, Arrowhead’s English staff will be available to sculpt and edit final drafts.

Carnell says, “College essays showcase students’ personalities in a creative manner instead of listing important information on an application.”

Carnell teaches English at South and North Campus and will be attending the College Essay Workshop to help students create sufficient essays for their applications.

Carnell says the hardest thing about writing a college essay is “finding a topic,” because, “it’s tough to narrow life to one powerful story.”

According to Carnell, the workshop “helps students understand the application process, provides time to write, and enables students to get one-on-one peer and teacher feedback.”

Senior Blake Carr says the most intimidating thing about college essay writing is “everything,” but Carr also says a college essay is a “big factor,” of the application process “but not the most important.”

During the summer of 2015, incoming seniors had the opportunity to take a week-long College Essay Workshop for a quarter credit. Fifty five students signed up for the summer college essay workshop.

The fall sessions are for enrichment only and as of September 24, 31 students have signed up for the three sessions.

Jorgensen says Arrowhead plans on offering the College Essay Workshop again next summer and fall, for interested seniors.