It’s never too soon to start preparing for life after graduation. Energy Institute High School Dean of Students Noelle MacGregor held a workshop during lunch recently to help freshmen create and build resumes in Naviance.

“It’s essential for students to start tracking their activities, community service, and awards now,” said MacGregor. “If they wait until senior year when they start applying for colleges and scholarships, they may forget some of them.”

All HISD high school and middle school students and their parents have access to Naviance on their school website. Students are encouraged to become familiar with Naviance as soon as possible (for information on Naviance, see this page).

At the resume workshop, students learned how to create an account in Naviance and then find the resume link under the “About Me” tab. Students followed the directions on a Naviance Resume Building Workshop handout and entered this year’s activities. The handout also included noteworthy events that have taken place at Energy High School this year, including guest speakers, meetings, field trips, fairs, and much more. MacGregor encouraged students to continue adding activities as they happen.

Students were also reminded about steps they should be taking as freshmen to prepare for college:
• Research colleges and universities on Naviance
• Add at least five colleges to the “colleges I am thinking about” list
• Become familiar with the average GPA, test scores, etc., for schools they are interested in
• Look at tuition costs and set a goal for scholarship dollars
• Search for scholarships online using the Naviance national scholarship search tool and ask about various community organizations’ scholarships
• When the time comes, apply for at least five scholarships
• Consider applying for a summer program that relates to your college or career of interest
• Find a place to volunteer using volunteermatch.org to find approved organizations in Houston

For questions, please contact your school guidance counselor, call HISD College Readiness at 713-556-7196, or email collegereadiness@houstonisd.org.

Also be sure to check out this fantastic resource page, which lists dozens of available scholarships, some of which have deadlines that occur during spring break.