Preparing for College & Career Planning

Check out the College & Career Planning page on the Media Center Webpage to find out some tips on filling out applications, visiting colleges, and exploring careers that might not include a 4 year degree.  There is also a link to Mrs. Colella's Scholarship page, the FAFSA site, CFNC and The Common Application site.


There are links to a couple of blogs -The Uncommon Grad and Applying to College written for students about the college experience that you might be interested in reading. 


If you are interested in more information on community colleges, careers without college, the military and four-year colleges, check out the Career & College Information Libguide. http://ashley.nhcs.libguides.com/careerandcollege

Nonfiction Speed Dating in the Media Center

Mr. Jarman's AP English classes were in the media center Friday for a little speed dating.  The students had four minutes at each table to review the books that were on their table and write down any titles that they had an interest in reading.  The groups rotated around nine tables that had a variety of books about science, history, social issues and memoirs. 


The dating was a success with most students finding something of interest to read and there were only a few instances of students missing out on getting their first choice because someone else beat them to the title.  The students left with a list of titles to read in the future and some of them took photos of their favorites with their iphones.

Two More Libguides Added

We have added two more Libguides to our collection this past month.  One of them is on Suicide Prevention.  There was interest in this topic since September 10th was World Suicide Prevention Day, a great many resources have been pulled together to be accessible all year long.  Resources include suggested books, national organizations and help sites.


The second Libguide is on Banned Books Week.  This guide contains information on challenged books and links to sites that are concerned about challenged materials such as the American Library Association and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  The guide also contains videos, an infographic and teacher resources.

Preparing for The New PSAT exam

For Juniors taking the PSAT in October, Kaplan Test Prep will be hosting free online PSAT Cram Sessions to help students prepare for the upcoming New PSAT.  Sessions will be offered at the end of September through October. To sign up for a Cram Session today, please visit kaptest.com/psatcram. Space is limited.

The New PSAT is fast approaching! To help students walk into the New PSAT feeling prepared and confident, Kaplan is hosting free prep. Our Online Cram Sessions for the New PSAT are packed with the most important material to boost students’ scores on every section, including:

• Overview: Summary of test format, structure, and scoring
• Strategies: Learn 10 Top Score-Raising Tips
• Plan: Detailed study schedule leading up to the test
• Timeline: What to do after the PSAT, from the SAT & ACT to college applications
• Comparisons: How the New PSAT relates to the New SAT- and why that matters

 The first Cram Session will be on September 30th with other sessions continuing through October.

Visiting College and Public Librarians present to Senior English classes.

The librarians from UNCW, CFCC and the NHCPL came to speak to Ashley High School's senior English classes about the resources available for conducting research in each of their respective libraries. Seniors are working on their Graduation Projects. 

If you need to get to the presentation and links they created for you, please go to the Parent and Student Resources page and click on Getting Started On Your Senior Project.  Remember they came here to make sure that you are aware of the resources they have and also to encourage you to make use of their services.  

If you are planning on attending a 4-year college or university next year, it would be a good idea to visit UNCW as Ms. Kaylor and Ms. Raymer mentioned, so that you become aware of how those types of libraries are organized.

L to R - Susan DeMarco, Beth Kaylor, Carla Sarratt, Melissa Raymer, and Jacob Deininger.

Public Library Digital Access Cards for All Students

New Hanover County Public Library has provided Digital Access cards to each student at Ashley High School this year.  With the card you may access all of their online resources, such as databases, ebooks, movies and music.  The cards will come in handy when looking for additional resources for research and for entertainment if you want to watch a movie, download some music or read a book online. 

The other important factor about these cards is that they will give you access to Tutor.com.   Tutor.com is a 24/7 available homework help site manned by real people.  You will also have access to Learning Express which provides free practice exams for SAT, ACT and AP courses and the site also has practice tutorials for science, social studies, math and writing.

The digital access cards will go live on Tuesday September 1^st.  Keep the cards in your wallet or backpack to use all year.  All resources are available online which means no fines can be accumulated for overdues.

We Have Our Own App

The Media Center has an app you can download to access all of the resources available online. You will be able to get to the databases, ebooks, libguides and our home page for the media center.  There are also links to Ashley Readers blog and library news.  The app works on iphone and androids.  Follow the link below to get a QR code to access the app.




App Access Link

New Website for the Media Center

We've changed the platform of our Media Center website to the Libguides format.  Hopefully you will find it beneficial.  Items that were on the old site have been transferred over but there are several new pages that we didn't have before.  Students check out the Driving Safety, Testing Information, Your Digital Footprint and Maker pages.  Teachers check out the Classroom Links and Video pages.  A Parent & Student Resources page has been added to include homework help, career and college information.


As you might remember we started subscribing to Libguides in order for our students to get familiar with the platform.  All community colleges in North Carolina and most colleges and universities are using this platform.

Smithsonian TeenTribune

The library has added a link to TweenTribune.  It works the same way as Newsela did except it is free.  TeenTribune and TTEspañol  is a free online educational service offered by the Smithsonian for use by K-12 grade Teachers and students. TTribune consists of daily news sites for kids, tweens, and teens, and includes text, photos, graphics, and audio and/or video materials prepared by the Smithsonian and others about current events, history, art, culture and science. TTribune also includes lessons, instructional and assessment tools, and opportunities for the registered users to communicate with other participants. 

Each weekday, TTribune searches the Internet for grade-appropriate stories from reputable news organizations, such as the Associated Press, and local newspapers and TV stations.   A link to the site is posted in the right-hand column with other news links.