This fall, three different workshops were held for high school juniors and seniors.  Workshops were oriented to prepare students for the SAT essay, and for their personal statements on the UC and private college apps.  Sessions were held for two and one-half hours each, from 5:00 PM -7:30 PM at the Sobrato Center located at 600 Valley Way, Milpitas.  The workshops took place on Thursday October 23, November 6, and November 20.  Private sessions were also offered as an alternative option.

The SAT workshops taught students how to write their essay in 25 minutes — the time limit for the SAT essay.  Students were taught how to format an introduction sentence, a roadmap thesis, a clear topic sentence, and body paragraphs.  Together, we collaboratively came up with a Canned Example Bank that students could use to answer any prompt!  Students each wrote one essay and received it back with a score and comments.

In the personal statement workshops, we helped student craft their personal statements to truly show who they are.  To push yourself over the edge and into the school of your dreams, you have to dig deep, find the story that makes you special (and yes, you have one), and sing it loud and clear in your personal statements.   Students were also offered an opportunity to send us their final statement for feedback.

Great work, to all who participated!