On my white days, I have one class that I always leave feeling a strange mixture of excitement and stress. The ACT prep and college planning class, taught by the one and only Kurt Zeiner, has already got me thinking way more about the logistics of graduating high school and going to a college of my choice. Zeiner puts our class’s future into perspective on a daily basis.
Before I started taking this class, I had a few ideas about where I wanted to go to college and what I wanted to major in, however, now I know what I should be doing in order to find the college that suits me the best. Every discussion we have is so relevant to my future that I can’t help but give my full attention to Mr. Zeiner. His catchy way of lifting my spirits about my chances of getting great ACT scores and doing well in the application process during my senior year leaves me feeling anxious to start planning ahead. More than once, I have gone home and Googled random colleges that I could possibly be interested in just to take a baby step toward my future. The high school uses the Kaplan ACT Strategies, Practice & Review book to prep for the college admission test. Although we are only about three months into the school year, I already feel so much more confident in my ability to take the ACT. The little tricks that are thrown into the ACT just to stump me when I take it are easily practiced, but I never would have known if I hadn’t signed up for Zeiner’s class.
Even as a junior, I am already stressing about the financial aspect of college. One of the many sections of the college application process we talk about in ACT prep and college planning is how to afford the college of your choice. At the very beginning, Zeiner made it very clear that if the only obstacle in the way of my preferred college is money, I will most likely end up going there. Although we haven’t actually focused on the financial part of college, my class made accounts in multiple scholarship websites. Every day I get emails from those sites telling me about different types of financial aid available for every thing imaginable. I always spend time reading over the emails just so I’m familiar with what is available in the future.
I can only imagine how stressful teaching a class on testing and college acceptance to a bunch of eager students can be. However, Zeiner pulls it off easily. From my freshman issues of the 21st century class to now he has always been one of my favorite teachers. Not only does he connect with students, but he is someone we can put our trust in to help us get where we need to go. One time he gave us a gold sheet of paper and told us that the color of the paper was not a coincidence. What we were about to write on that sheet was going to be as valuable as gold to us. Not only did that make my class aware of how important our assignment was, but it visually helped us to make the connection between it and actual gold. Little things like that help make Zeiner one of the most inspirational teachers.
ACT prep and college planning is a crucial part of the junior and senior years in high school. I feel lucky to have such a great program at this school. Even though we have barely made a dent into the school year I already feel so much more confident in my ability to get into a good school.
Amelia Wigton is the Centerspread Editor for El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. She is the daughter of Bruce Wigton and Julie Wigton.
