Beginning the ’23-’24 school year, college and career advising was primarily provided by a) a field trip to a local college fair in the Fall, b) hosting a college night on our own campus, and c) hosting a career night in the Spring.
Moving forward we added to those tools by beginning to meet with each upper school grade to present about graduation requirements, and also with each student individually in the high school. These are short meetings designed to understand the student’s career aspirations and help brainstorm possible paths forward.
Mr. Mendenhall is your College and Career Advisor and will be assisting to provide you the information you need to be successful in your career and college goals. If you do not yet know him very well, please do not be shy about saying hello–he is eager to get to you know you better!
~Mr. Mendenhall email: jmendenhall@tvcacademy.org
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A Letter to My Students: Thoughts on “GPA” — by Mr.Mendenhall
Dear TVCA students,
As a youth, I saw my Dad wear his Stanley brand tape measure almost every day at work. And that is because he measured things for a living. As a concrete contractor, measuring and bidding jobs was a major component of his daily activities. He could measure the square footage of a driveway or potential new patio in almost no time at all! And so, he carried that tape measure with him always–to every job and into every client meeting.
In schools, students and teachers alike also tend to carry around their own sort of measuring tapes–not least of which tends to be the ubiquitous “Grade Point Average.” For the initiated, GPA becomes the means to see “who measures up.” But be careful, for what exactly are we measuring?
On the surface, this tool called GPA is meant to gauge student performance. But I encourage my students that GPA is merely a measure of academic achievement—just as a diploma or a degree is a related milestone, also marking academic achievement. When asked “why is GPA important?” many of my students were readily able to point to benefits such as college scholarships, job/internship opportunities, and the like… But then I asked them “why is GPA not important?” There was silence in the room. Perhaps a clearer question would have been, “what are we not measuring with GPA?” Certainly we are not measuring a driveway or patio!–but I want to be clear at this point–we also are not measuring human value.
I want our students to know that GPA is not a measure of their value as a person. (At this point, one exasperated student muttered under their breath, “but sometimes it feels like it!”). Which is why I must say it again: “You are valuable human persons whether or not academics come easy or hard for you.”
At a classical school like ours, our vision is not to merely “get you into college.” That would be far too short-sighted. We are not about merely passing a test or competing for class-rank—again, short-sighted. Oh no–we dare to have a more lofty goal–we want to train the heart as well as the mind! We want to form you into a human being that will delight in the journey of life and thrive in our shared human experience regardless of what kind of career you land in. That is why our vision is to engage the students “in the highest matters and the deepest questions of truth, justice, virtue, and beauty.” The human soul longs for such things!
It is noteworthy to point out that growth in these humane pursuits certainly resists a facile measuring rubric…. It requires a more qualitative approach. The ways we measure success in forming human beings is more subtle: it is evidenced in the smiles of our student-athletes, in the poise of our musician-scholars, and in the philosophic questions posed by our Seniors in their final Thesis. These are signs and measures of human flourishing…and we rejoice in them as often as we see them.
Thus, do not let GPA discussions become the dominant feature of your high school experience. There is so much more to life than that! Focus on thriving as a person, and much will fall into place. Carry the right kind of measuring tape. Measure the right sorts of things.
Most Sincerely,
Mr. Mendenhall, Academic and College Advisor
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