Adulting 101 - Personal Finance & More

Welcome to the first in a regular series of life skills posts on the basic information you'll need throughout life that isn't taught in school. We'll cover the basics of how to feed yourself, do your laundry, be a good roommate, transportation issues, and personal finance.

Codecademy has a nice overview of what they call 'non-technical life skills' in a brief, free lesson that covers making a budget, saving for retirement, picking health insurance, interest rates and compounding, and more. You'll have to create an account, but you can access this lesson with the free basic account.

Codecademy's Non-Technical Life Skills

Emergency Childcare for Essential Workers

If you are an essential worker (as defined by the Governor's Office) in King County you can qualify for free childcare. There are employment and residency verification requirements. See the documents below. Right now, they are only available in English, but the district is working to get other languages as well.

King County Emergency Childcare for Essential Workers

CCA of WA Family Center COVID Response and Referral Center

Coronavirus Anxiety Workbook

Just in time to meet the mental health challenges that ride herd on COVID-19, The Wellness Society has published this helpful workbook to help you manage anxiety about the coronavirus, as well as providing tools and skills to help manage anxiety generally.

Coronavirus Anxiety Workbook

Welcome "Back"

Welcome back from what I sincerely hope was a restorative spring break. The weather was certainly cooperative! Today is the start of the Essential New Learning phase of our school closure, in which the district moves forward with remote learning in earnest. While it's no replacement for coming to school every day, I hope that it will help you remain connected to your advisory and to the school community as a whole. As you get ramped up on your new design lab opportunities, I will continue to offer regular updates here.

As always, if you have specific questions, do not hesitate to email me directly. I monitor email throughout the day and will make every effort to respond in a timely fashion.

College Admissions Status Update

The National Association for College Admission Counseling has published a central repository of the impacts of COVID-19 on the college admission process across schools worldwide. See changes to admission events, deposit dates, testing requirements, and more as a result of the coronavirus pandemic all in one place.

NACAC College Admission Status Update

Wednesday Grab Bag

School District Grab and Go Meal Sites King County is a list of food resources at school districts in King County that offer meals to all children up to age 18 regardless of where those children are enrolled. If your housing situation is uncertain, you can still access food at these locations. Includes what is available over Spring Break.

The Garage is offering Free virtual counseling sessions available for high school students age 13-18 years old.  Meet with one of the Garage Counselors while maintaining Social Distancing!  Appointments available Mondays and Tuesdays. Sign up for a private, confidential session here


Autism Acceptance Month & Holocaust Remembrance Month (Thanks, Stacy!)
Here are a couple of ways you can participate in this month's remembrance and awareness campaigns:

Check out how Artificial Intelligence is is preserving Holocaust survivors stories and our ability to converse with them even after they die.
Watch Atypical on Netflix (note: the actor does not have autism, but does give insight into the world of families that we often serve).

Visit Autism Society's Autism Awareness Month website to learn about and find ways to celebrate and spread awareness about autism.

Visit US Holocaust Memorial Museum for observances and remembrance activities this month.

Career and Technical Scholarship (CTS) application is now open!

The Career and Technical Scholarship is now open for Washington residents of any age planning to go to community or technical college on their path to a high-demand, family-wage career in the trades, STEM or health care. This scholarship offers $1,500 per quarter in scholarship funding for anyone planning to enter the workforce after earning their certificate, apprenticeship and associate degree. The scholarship can be used to cover tuition, fees and other costs of attendance like housing, transportation, food and more.

The application closes on June 4 at 11:59 pm. Watch this video for tips about how to apply! Haga clic aquí para obtener más información en español.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out at awards@waopportunityscholarship.org.

That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief

In light of the governor's order yesterday to keep school closed through the end of the school year, the article below is especially apropos. When our closure was temporary, we could find some reassurance that at the end of the closure things would return to normal; we would return to school, reengage in projects, exploration, and learning, but most importantly we would get to reconnect with our school community. With the order to keep schools closed through the end of the year, that reassurance is gone and everything is up in the air. For the class of 2020, this loss is particularly acute. So much comes together for seniors in the final semester, both academically and socially. All of that is now replaced with uncertainty, and the sense of loss, of having the world pulled out from under you. While there are a lot of details to sort out in order to relieve the uncertainty, all you can do about that sense of loss is move through it. Acknowledging it as grief is the first step.

That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief

This brief interview with David Kessler, one of the foremost authorities on grief and loss, is both insightful and accessible. Here's a snippet:

What can individuals do to manage all this grief?

Understanding the stages of grief is a start. But whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren’t linear and may not happen in this order. It’s not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There’s denial, which we say a lot of early on: This virus won’t affect us. There’s anger: You’re making me stay home and taking away my activities. There’s bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There’s sadness: I don’t know when this will end. And finally there’s acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed.

Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance. I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually.

Kessler's Grief.com site is a valuable resource for information and help around grief and loss. His FAQ on grief is particularly helpful:

Frequently Asked Question about Grief and Grieving

More Community Resources

You can never have too many resources for place to turn in the community if you need assistance. The guide at the link below was put together by our Swedish School-Based Healthcare colleagues and has tons of resources for COVID-19, but also for any of the other needs that can arise when you're staying home all the time. There's information about Food assistance, Mental Health assistance, LGTBQ concerns, Financial assistance and more.

Health and Community Resources

Things to do...

Our advisor, Lori, passed along this list of things to do during our stay at home order, ranging from free online performances to online educational opportunities. Pretty nice to have all in one place!

Free Activities and Resources While You are Stuck at Home