Guidance Resource Library

• Khan Academy – Khan Academy offers daily schedules for students ages 4-18. The free website also has courses in math, physics, U.S. history, grammar, economics, and biology. High school sophomores and juniors can also find free SAT practice questions and tests.
• edX – EdX is an online platform that offers more than 2,500 courses online for free. Taking an online course is a great way to boost your resume and prove to colleges you can handle challenging material. Take time to learn a new skill or explore a possible major from institutions like MIT, Harvard, University of California-Berkeley, and more.
• Coursera – Coursera is another e-learning platform that allows you to be taught by professors from Ivy League schools and other elite schools like the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Duke. All the courses are available for free, and topics available include C++, marketing, engineering, and psychology. By taking these advanced courses, you can explore a possible major choice when you go to college.
• Quill – Quill is an interactive writing site perfect for anyone who wants to brush up on their craft before writing their college admissions essays. On Quill, you can gain editing skills by proofreading passages, practicing grammar skills through short activities, and advancing your writing.
• Duolingo – Duolingo is an excellent app for high school students, no matter what level they are at in learning a language. It features comprehensive guides for nine commonly taught languages and can be helpful to beginners and more experienced speakers. The app also turns learning into a game, with intuitive, step-by-step progressions that involve vocabulary and grammatical concepts. Best of all? The app is free and available for Apple and Android devices.
• Codecademy  – Coding is one of the most valuable skills that you can pick up and Codecademy will teach you how. On the free portion of the site, you can choose what to learn, including building websites to analyze data. You’ll learn by doing and can start writing code within a few minutes of joining the site.
• Phlearn – Learning how to photoshop is not something that many high school students learn how to do. Through Phlearn, you can learn for free with video streaming on demand. It will teach you more about Photoshop, Lightroom, and mobile editing, as well as the fundamentals of taking great pictures.
• YouTube EDU – If you are a visual learner, check out YouTube’s channel on education. You can pick up some tips for studying at home, including how to study more effectively, stay focused, and create a study space. The channel also has crash courses on subjects like chemistry, SQL, and illustration. You can find fitness videos, cooking videos, and fun DIY activities.
• Skillshare – Skillshare has a plethora of courses available for free. For example, if you have an idea for starting your own Etsy store, you can take the “Building an Etsy Shop that Sells” course. Or, you can take a Productivity Masterclass to learn how to study more efficiently when in high school and college.
• New York Times and Verizon – NYT and Verizon have teamed up to offer every high school student in the U.S. free access to the New York Times. Students can educate themselves to better understand the pandemic and other events going on in the world. Included on the site are English, social studies, science, math, and current event resources to keep students active.
• Department of Sound – During a four-week self-paced course entitled Summer of Sound, students can learn the basics of music, including how to produce music and podcast production. Students must pre-register for the course, with the first session starting June 15. Classes are available in English and Spanish, and students must be at least 13 to participate.
• Chegg Flashcards – Whether students are cramming for a final or are stuck on a concept, Flashcards can help them find the answers they need. The online platform is a community-driven library of flashcards, forums, and study guides. Students can use the free version to ask questions (to the community of nearly 7 million users) and sift through suggested flashcards within a particular subject or topic. The paid version ($7 per month if paid annually) gives students access to more than 400 million pieces of content. The Chegg Prep App is available for Apple and Android devices as well, so students can study anytime, anywhere.
• Quizlet – Another study platform, Quizlet allows users to create their own quizzes, flashcards, diagrams, and games to design their own fun, interactive learning experience. Students can also search through more than 250 million study sets and take the material with them wherever they go—since the app is also available on mobile devices.
• Desmos – Desmos is a free online graphing calculator that students can use to graph functions, plot data, and evaluate equations. The site and mobile app are both extremely user-friendly and include valuable guides and resources to help students get the most of the calculator. It’s also very simple to print, export, and share the graphs and solutions students create.
• EasyBib – Citing sources is a necessity for high school students, but creating bibliographies can be tedious. EasyBib has been around for more than a decade and keeps making it easier for students to cite their sources correctly. With the free mobile app, students can simply scan a book’s barcode, or use the search function to cite a website, database entry, image, or more than 50 other options.
• Cold Turkey – The plethora of online resources comes with plenty of online distractions. Cold Turkey helps students stay focused by blocking applications and websites for a set amount of time. There’s also a mobile version that does the same thing for phones—making students quit all their distractions, cold turkey.
• Focus Booster – Studies have shown that the Pomodoro Technique—a focus strategy that involves timed combinations of concentration and short breaks—can help students stay focused on a particular task. Focus Booster gives them the tools to implement this study technique and develop a deeper understanding of their work habits.
• Evernote – Evernote gives students the ability to take notes however they want and organize it all in one place online. They can type out their notes, take a photo, create checklists, record audio, forward emails, and even write notes by hand onto a screen (for devices with that capability). Once it’s on Evernote, students can search and organize their notes using notebooks, categories, and tags.

• Naviance – One-stop shopping for College and Career exploration as well as managing college applications and important documents.
• The College Board – Register for the SATs, SAT Subject Tests, and send your test scores to colleges and universities.
• ACT Student – Register for the ACTs and send test scores to colleges and universities.
• The Common App – One application that can be sent to over 900 colleges and universities.
• The Coalition for College – One application that can be sent to 150 colleges and universities.
• The Common Black College Application – A single application that can be used to apply to over 50 Historically Black Colleges & Universities.
• NCAA Eligibility Center – Any student-athlete intending to play Division I or II collegiate sports must register with the Eligibility Center.
• Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators– The guide to Pennsylvania’s Postsecondary Career Schools.  

Local Trade Affiliates

• Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers (BAC) Local 1
• Carpenters Regional Council
• Cement Masons and Plasterers Union Local 592
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local 98
• Ironworkers Local Union 401
• Plumber’s Local Union 690
• Sheet Metal Workers Local Union #19
• Steamfitters Local Union 420

• FAFSA & FSA ID – Create your required FSA ID and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
• PHEAA – The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency which provides informational resources for families as well as various programs to assist with the financial aid process.
• Fastweb – Free Scholarship Search engine
• RaiseMe – Students can earn micro-scholarships for a variety of activities, and the site can help students find the best matches for their talents and their budget. This tool takes some mystery out of the financial aid process, and the ability to earn early may motivate financially strapped or otherwise reluctant students to dream bigger.
• Going Merry – A scholarship search that offers a common application for multiple scholarships.
• Scholly – Find scholarships, preview college essays with a pay-to-search tool. Simple, straightforward interface and search features make this an accessible way to face a daunting task. An approachable tool that empowers students to face the overwhelming task of financing their college educations.

• Healthy Minds Philly – Free resources and screening tools for mental health
• NAMI/Keystone Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness – resources and information on mental illnesses
• Active Minds – Active Minds is the nation’s premier nonprofit organization supporting mental health awareness and education for young adults.  They are dedicated to saving lives and to building stronger families and communities through education, research, advocacy, and a focus on young adults ages 14–25.
• Division of Behavioral Health – Philadelphia’s Division of Behavioral Health provides mental health services for adults and children requiring medical, social, and educational services. The office provides these services through an extensive network of contracted provider agencies located throughout Philadelphia.
• Coalition to Support Grieving Students – Bereavement resources for families and community members
• A Child in Grief – Additional bereavement resources for families

National and statewide mental health hotlines

For immediate assistance, contact the following crisis hotlines:

• 24/Hr Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention Service 215-686-4420
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio: 1-888-628-9454
• Crisis Text Line: Text “PA” to 741-741
• Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990

• Working Papers – All students between the ages of 14 – 18 years old must apply for working permits before they may begin working. During this time of the pandemic, please refer to the website for updates on procedures for acquiring the application for your working papers.
• Selective Service – Selective Service registration is required by law as the first part of a fair and equitable system that, if authorized by the President and Congress, would rapidly provide personnel to the Department of Defense while at the same time providing for an Alternative Service Program for conscientious objectors.
• Voter Registration – Pennsylvania’s Voter Registration application for anyone 18 years of age or older.

• The Air Force is responsible for aerial military operations, defending U.S. airspace and air bases, and building landing strips. The Air Force Space Command is under this branch. Service members are known as airmen. The reserve components are Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.
• The Army is the largest of the five military branches. It handles major ground combat missions, especially operations that are ongoing. The Army Special Forces unit is known as the Green Berets for its headgear. Service members are known as soldiers. The reserve components are Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
• The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It’s responsible for maritime law enforcement, including drug smuggling. It manages maritime search and rescue and marine environmental protection. It also secures ports, waterways, and the coasts. Service members are known as Coast Guardsmen, nicknamed Coasties. The reserve component is Coast Guard Reserve.
• The Marine Corps provides land combat, sea-based, and air-ground operations support for the other branches during a mission. This branch also guards U.S. embassies around the world and the classified documents in those buildings. Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) members are known as Raiders. All service members are referred to as Marines. The reserve component is Marine Corps Reserve.
• The Navy protects waterways (sea and ocean) outside of the Coast Guard’s jurisdiction. Navy warships provide the runways for aircraft to land and take off when at sea. Navy SEALs (sea, air, and land) are the special operations force for this branch. All service members are known as sailors. The reserve component is Navy Reserve.

Contact a Recruiter Directly or Apply Online

• Army
  • Army Active Duty & Army Reserve: 1-888-550-ARMY (1-888-550-2769)
  • Army National Guard: 1-800-GO-GUARD (1-800-464-8273)
• Air Force
  • Air Force Active Duty: 1-800-423-USAF (1-800-423-8723)
  • Air Force Reserve: 1-800-257-1212
  • Air Force National Guard: 1-800-TO-GO-ANG (1-800-864-6264)
• Navy
  • Navy Active Duty and Reserve: 1-800-USA-NAVY (1-800-872-6289)
• Marine Corps
  • Marine Corps Active Duty and Reserve: 1-800-MARINES (1-800-627-4637)
• Coast Guard
  • Coast Guard Active Duty and Reserve