Owatonna High School students will be taking the ACT test on April 28. A new state requirement makes juniors take the ACT to graduate high school. All juniors will spend the whole school day taking the ACT which includes English, math, reading and science sections. In addition to the usual test, students will be taking the writing test, which is normally optional. Juniors will also be released after the ACT test  to either take lunch or go home.

Seniors don’t report for school. Enjoy the day off!

Teachers have to go through ACT proctor training to hand out the test and teach the rules and regulations to all juniors. Most rules and regulations will be announced on April 21 and on test day. Juniors are to bring a calculator to the classroom and to leave all personal devices at home or in the school vault. The way the test is designed is to give a composite score along with scores in each subject.  A composite score is the average of all sub-scores in the ACT. A composite score of 21 is a good goal to set for many students, as it is the national average. Nicole Adams the assistant principal and director of test taking said, “Just give the ACT your best effort. Get a good night sleep before hand. Take it seriously, but don’t stress over it. You could always take it again.”

Sophomores and freshman will attend a career fair rather than take the test. The career fair will include information on professions in medical, business, journalism, social work, automotive, fitness and art. Freshman will have to attend two booths while sophomores will attend four.

Freshman and sophomores will then be listening to Cara Filler,  a speaker who delivers a presentation on traffic safety, risk taking and peer pressure. Sponsors for the day’s guest speakers are Student Council, Subway, Hy Vee and ERA. Student Council will be selling root beer floats  at Hy Vee  April 25 and 26 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. costing one dollar. All profits raised will go to funding the guest speakers. Students will participate in Rachel’s Challenge, a program based on writings of Rachel Scott, the first student killed in the 1999 Columbine shooting. Finally only the freshman will listen to Dave Eisenmann, a speaker who talks about online and technology safety.