SALEM HIGH SCHOOL

April 10 - Tri-M Music Honor Society 2025 Talent Showcase

April 11 - PSAT Grade 10*

April 17 - Salem High School Career Fair

April 17 - Reports Cards Posted for Term III

April 18 - Good Friday - No School

April 21 - 25 - No School April Vacation

*April 11 - PSAT - PSATs are being held during school hours for scholars currently that are Class of 2027.

**Attention class of 2025 - scholarships are consistently being updated and posted on the website and Naviance. Many deadlines are quickly approaching. Please log in and apply, apply, apply. Reach out to your college and career counselor if you need assistance!

The Salem High School Tri-M Music Honor Society hosts its 2025 Talent Showcase Thursday, Apr. 10 (7 p.m.) at the SHS M. Ruth Norton Auditorium. Admission is as follows:

• General admission: $10
• Students/Senior Citizens: $5
• Table of 8: $70

Grade 9-12 students are invited to apply for KidWind Academy, a week-long summer program (July 13-18) to learn about offshore wind and the career opportunities it offers. The program is free, and students earn $100/day for their participation (total: $500).

The program takes place at Mass Maritime Institute. Students live in the dorms while taking classes, engaging in hands-on activities, hearing from guest speakers, and taking field trips to wind facilities.

• Housing, food, transportation all included at no cost to participants
• Deadline to Apply: Friday, Apr. 25 at 4 p.m.
• Learn more at KinWindAcademy.org

If any parent, guardian or student needs support to complete the application for KidWind Academy, contact bbain@salemsafe.org

Salem High School Tutoring Center

Be About It!

#GoWitch

The Future of Salem High School is Bright! Check out these members of the Class of 2029 that took advantage of our Shadow Day Program.

Shadow Days:

Shadow Days will be held during the school day. Students will be paired with a student in 9th grade and follow their schedule with them. We look forward to welcoming your student into the Salem High School community.

Ellen '29 is looking forward to Humanities courses, Volleyball, and Softball! #GoWitch LET'S GO WITCHES!

Tian '29 is looking forward to Engineering, Physics, and Band! #GoWitch LET'S GO WITCHES!

Congratulations to Salem High School Colorguard in being recognized as the 2025 NESBA Champion!

It’s not an exaggeration to say that no one in the history of Salem High School athletics has been elected a team captain more times than Quinn ‘Rocco’ Ryan.

An unprecedented three-year Witches football captain, Ryan is also a two-year captain in baseball and captained the basketball team this winter. Those six total captaincies illustrate the natural leadership and charisma Ryan has displayed since arriving at Salem High as an eighth grade football player.

Salem News: https://www.salemnews.com/sports/2025-salem-news-student-athlete-award-nominee-rocco-ryan-salem/article_f91b7504-0421-11f0-883d-17e5237c720b.html

How to Access your College and Career Counselor:

1) Scholars can ask for a pass from their teacher to see a counselor

2) Scholars can email their counselor regarding a concern or to make an appointment.

3) Scholars can also use the counselors' YouCanBookMe Links below

Kerry McHugh - https://kmchugh.youcanbook.me

Alice Ryan - https://msryansalemhigh.youcanbook.me

Maureen Beaudet - https://maureen-beaudet.youcanbook.me

Rachael Kozlowski - https://mskoz.youcanbook.me

Claribel Paulino - https://cpaulino.youcanbook.me

Alexandra Kirby - Early College Coordinator - akirby@salemk12.org

Meet your counselor! No matter where your scholar is on their journey in high school, their counselor can help provide valuable and useful information to guide them to post secondary success. Your scholar’s counselor will meet both individually and in groups to create a high school and postsecondary plan that meets your scholar’s unique needs. Please feel free to make an appointment anytime to get to know how this department can help your family and scholars in any way!

The U.S. Education Department (USED) has announced that the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be launched through a new process. Starting on Tuesday, October 1, USED will release the 2025-26 FAFSA form for testing with a limited set of students and institutions. The department will make the application available to all students on or before Sunday, December 1. This process will allow USED to test and resolve issues before making the form available to all students and contributors.

Massachusetts students can find information about college financial aid on this shared web site and through the Department of Higher Education’s Office of Student Financial Assistance.

Salem High School Counselors will continue to work with our community partners to provide continual support around the financial aid process as the year progresses including workshops, one-on-one support in person and virtually, and student lesson planning.

Deciding what colleges to add to your list? One great resource to examines what factors goes into your college choice is Big Future at https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search.

Location: Houston, TX

Mascot: Shasta (Cougar)

Enrollment: 47,980

GPA Average: 3.5

SAT Score Average: 1150

ACT Score Average: 25

About University of Houston: https://uh.edu/about/

Virtual and In-Person Tours: https://uh.edu/hilton-college/Contact-Us/virtual-tour/

Website: https://uh.edu/

Education Required: Bachelor's degree and many will pursue an Master's degree.

Typical Tasks:

1. Keyword Research

• Identifying Target Keywords: SEO specialists research and identify the most relevant and high-traffic keywords or search phrases that their target audience is using to find products, services, or information related to the website.

• Tools Used: They use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz to analyze search volumes, competition, and keyword difficulty.

2. On-Page SEO Optimization

• Optimizing Content: Ensure that web content (blogs, product descriptions, landing pages, etc.) is optimized with relevant keywords in key areas such as titles, headings, body text, and meta tags.

• Meta Tags Optimization: Writing and optimizing title tags and meta descriptions to make them compelling and relevant to both search engines and users.

• Internal Linking: Strategically adding internal links within the website to improve navigation, user experience, and the flow of link equity (ranking power) across pages.

• URL Structure: Making sure that the website URLs are user-friendly, descriptive, and SEO-optimized (e.g., using hyphens rather than underscores, avoiding long and confusing URLs).

3. Technical SEO

• Website Speed Optimization: Ensuring the website loads quickly, as page load speed is a ranking factor for Google. SEO specialists may work with developers to compress images, minify code, and implement other techniques to speed up the website.

• Mobile Optimization: Making sure the website is mobile-friendly and passes Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, as mobile responsiveness is critical for ranking.

• Site Architecture and Navigation: Ensuring the website has a clear, logical structure with an easy-to-navigate design, making it accessible to both search engines and users.

• XML Sitemap and Robots.txt: Ensuring the website has an updated XML sitemap and proper use of robots.txt to guide search engine crawlers on which pages to index or avoid.

• Fixing Crawl Errors: Monitoring for crawl errors (using tools like Google Search Console) and ensuring search engines can properly index all important pages of the website.

4. Off-Page SEO (Link Building)

• Building Backlinks: SEO specialists work on strategies to earn high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites, as backlinks are one of the strongest ranking factors.

• Guest Blogging: Writing guest posts for other websites in exchange for backlinks to the company's site.

• Outreach: Reaching out to other businesses, bloggers, or influencers to request backlinks or collaborations that will benefit the site's SEO.

5. Content Creation and Optimization

• Content Strategy: SEO specialists often collaborate with content creators (writers, designers, etc.) to develop an SEO-driven content strategy.

• Content Optimization: Analyzing and optimizing existing content on the website to ensure it’s aligned with SEO best practices (i.e., keyword usage, internal links, etc.).

• Creating SEO-Friendly Content: Writing or advising on the creation of articles, blog posts, landing pages, and other types of content that are optimized for both SEO and the target audience.

• Content Updates: Updating old content to keep it relevant and aligned with the latest search trends or algorithm changes.

6. Performance Monitoring and Analytics

• Analyzing Traffic and Rankings: Using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track website traffic, user behavior, and keyword rankings.

• Reporting: Regularly reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rates, rankings, and keyword performance.

• Identifying Opportunities: Based on the data, SEO specialists identify areas for improvement and adjust strategies accordingly.

7. Competitor Analysis

• Benchmarking Against Competitors: Conducting research on competitor websites to see how they’re performing in terms of keywords, content, and backlinks.

• Identifying Gaps: Analyzing competitors' strengths and weaknesses in SEO to find gaps or opportunities that the website can take advantage of.

8. Staying Updated on SEO Trends

• Continuous Learning: SEO is constantly evolving, and specialists must stay informed about the latest updates to search engine algorithms (e.g., Google’s core updates), new SEO techniques, and industry best practices.

• Testing and Experimenting: SEO specialists regularly test different strategies, tools, and tactics to see what works best for improving rankings and traffic.

9. Local SEO

• Google My Business Optimization: Optimizing a business’s Google My Business (GMB) profile to improve visibility in local search results, including Google Maps.

• Local Citations: Ensuring consistent business information (name, address, phone number) across local directories and other platforms.

• Local Reviews: Encouraging customers to leave positive reviews on Google and other review platforms to enhance local search rankings.

10. SEO for E-commerce Websites

• Product Page Optimization: Ensuring product pages are SEO-friendly by optimizing product titles, descriptions, and images.

• Optimizing Product Filters: Making sure that filters (like size, color, category) are properly set up to avoid creating duplicate content or crawling issues.

• Structured Data (Schema Markup): Implementing structured data on product pages to enable rich snippets (such as star ratings, pricing) to appear in search results.

Expected Income: 70,000

Job Growth: 6% over next ten years

Related High School Coursework:

• Computer Science
• English Language Arts
• Mathematics - Stats and Data Analysis
• Graphic Design