With the beginning of the second semester, the reality that our seniors are going on to new opportunities is hitting all of them a little harder. This is the season where students who rarely associate with each other start to act like old friends, sharing past experiences and looking forward in apprehension to a future their parents and teachers have worked to prepare them for. And all have different goals they are working towards for life beyond Bios.
We encourage our students as early as seventh grade to begin choosing three colleges that they may be interested in attending. They observe the websites, visit the campus with their parents, check out student comments, and see what majors are offered.
Lori Greene and I meet with the seniors throughout the year, asking if they have questions or need help signing up for colleges or in applying for scholarships. Lori and I also attend college counselor meetings at different colleges and universities in the Valley. With this information, we can provide the tools necessary to assist our students with available options.
Each one of our graduates have identified different goals for their future upon graduation. These goals range from a future in student ministries to biochemistry to business major. All are taking different paths to their future. Tentative, not so tentative, and firm plans for future education for our current fourteen seniors include the following: three heading for premed, music education, major in equine skills, engineering, art, biomedical engineering, nursing, lineman apprenticeship, business, and student ministries.
If you read through the list a couple of times you should notice a few things. First, there is quite a variety. Next, out of the fourteen, six are math or science related. And out of our fourteen, thirteen are heading off to college - which really stands out in a state where only 67% of high school students graduate from high school as reported in the June 8, 2011 issue of Arizona Capitol Times and the US Department of Education. In addition, 53% of the Arizona graduates do not go on to college as reported in the Arizona Republic on December 9, 2010. In that same article, it was written that in a study done by the Arizona Regents, 52% of high school graduates in Arizona lacked the grades or courses to be admitted to a four-year college.
Nine of those soon-to-be graduating Bios students are intending to go to a four-year university. Of those nine, six have all or most of their education paid for through scholarships. The other three have partial scholarships. Four of those students that will be attending a four-year university are attending Christian universities.
Three of the 14 graduates will be attending Chandler Gilbert Community College and one graduate is undecided.
Receiving full and partial scholarships and earning good grades are both the result of the hard work by graduates, parents, and teachers. We work diligently to challenge each student everyday. This shows up in the students’ hard earned grades and in their achievements in the college entrance exams they take - the SAT and ACT. In May 2012, Bios will graduate our third group of students from high school. Our three-year average of SAT and ACT scores is as follows with comparable Arizona and national scores.
| SAT | Reading | Math | Writing |
| Bios | 555 | 586 | 575 |
| Arizona | 517 | 523 | 499 |
| National | 497 | 514 | 489 |
| ACT | Composite | English | Math | Reading | Science |
| Bios | 28.8 | 29 | 30.4 | 29 | 26 |
| Arizona | 19.7 | 18.6 | 20.3 | 19.9 | 19.6 |
| National | 21.1 | 18.6 | 21.1 | 21.3 | 20.9 |
As you can see, our students excel in these standardized test scores as compared to national and Arizona college bound seniors. But that is not the best part.
Our seniors also shine brightly in community service. As a group they have volunteered to serve monthly on the Alzheimer’s floor at an adult living facility, made three trips to the San Carlos Reservation to build homes and serve their young children, plus hundreds of hours in additional recorded service in their community and churches.
Even as reality of the future sets in, our seniors have each been prepared for their years after Bios.
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