College – Your Last Year Must Do’s

In this article we’re going to discuss what every student should do in his last year of college so that things don’t pile up on you and you’re ahead of the game.

It’s the first semester of your last year. You look at the calendar and think you’ve got plenty of time to prepare for what comes next. It couldn’t be further from the truth and here’s why.

In your last year of college this is where you’re doing your final research project for your major. Depending on what that major is, it can be a real whopper. For example, if you’re a marketing major, your assignment may be to research a company from the ground up and report on how it became successful. You may also be asked to design a fictional company and market it from square one. Whatever the assignment you can be assured that it will be very time consuming. You won’t have as much free time to prepare for life after college as you think. Therefore it is a good idea to start on several things as early as possible so that they don’t pile up on you.

The first thing is deciding what comes after college. You basically have two choices here. You can either continue your education by going for a masters degree or you can decide that a BA is good enough and go out looking for a job.

In the case of the former you don’t want to start applying for colleges at the end of your last semester or you may find that your advanced education career isn’t going to start when you’d like. Most colleges have deadlines for applications and they’re long before your last semester is over. So start applying for colleges early. If the college you’re attending has its own masters program and you plan to register, make sure you do this early. Even though you may be a current student your college also has deadlines. You don’t want to miss them.

In the case of the latter where you’ve decided that you’ve had enough of school and want to get a job, you still want to get a jump on this. For starters, employers look favorably on students who start sending in applications early. This shows the prospective employer that the student is serious about his future, and many times a student will get a job just because he applied to the company early.

Also, you want to make sure that you make a list of companies you want to apply to. Finding a job can be a long process and sometimes you can go on fifty interviews before you find something. You’re going to need all the time you can get to not only get applications for these companies but also to do the research on them. You don’t want to go into an interview cold. You want to be able to tell the H.R. person something about the company so they can see you did your homework. This can sometimes mean the difference between getting a job or not.

Finally, you want to start on your résumé right away. Printers take a long time to get these together. Plus, there is lots of proofreading that needs to be done. You don’t want to save this for the last minute.

By following these few simple tips, you can make your last year of college go a lot smoother.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to college-facts.com/ College
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Make The Most Of Your College Visit

Though it’s been a long time since I applied to college, I can still remember it distinctly. I know you already have a lot on your plate and I hate to be the one to give you even more to do. However, the truth is that if you want to make the most of your college visit, you are going to have to do some homework.

Your first assignment is reading. Before your visit, learn everything you can about the school. As questions occur to you, jot them down. You’ll be glad you did. Once you’re on a tour or in the admissions office, the pressure of the situation might make you draw a blank. Not only do you need to get answers to the questions you have to help you make the best decision about what school to attend, but your questions will make you a stand-out among the students who did not take the time to demonstrate your level of interest.

If you know anyone in your community who graduated from the school you’re visiting, or if there are kids from your high school who currently attend it, you might want to get in touch with them. Talk to them about their experiences. You’ll make sure the visit is worth making, and if it is, you’ll have even better questions to ask once you get there.

Call or email the admissions office before the date of your visit to see if there are activities beyond the tour and interview that are available to you. When I was interviewing, I was sometimes able to have lunch with students on campus. Seeing who I’d be going to school with helped shape my opinion of the schools in realistic and important ways. The students who attend your prospective college will be your peers for the next few years, and they offer a valuable window into the culture of the school.

You might also want to ask the admissions office if you can call or email the department heads of your particular fields of interest. When I was applying, I was especially interested in Latin, and so I made arrangements to talk to people working in the Classics department to find out how I could continue to pursue my interests once I matriculated. Taking such a step also doesn’t hurt how you look to your interviewer. Colleges want to know that you are passionately interested in your educational development, and in what they offer in that way.

Review more industry related articles by Elizabeth Saas at

Biology Experiments for Teachers. Human Senses: Sensitivity to Temperature

Outline. One finger of each hand is acclimatized to hot or cold water and then dipped into lukewarm water.

Prior knowledge. The general idea of receptors sending impulses to the brain

Advance preparation and materials
A supply of hot and cold water

Apparatus – per group
3 jars or beakers large enough to accommodate a finger
Thermometer

Experiment

(a) Collect three jars or beakers of about the same size. Fill one with cold water (10-15 °C), one with hot water (40-50 °C) and the third with warm water (about 25 °C).

(b) Place the first finger of the left hand in the cold water and the first finger of the right hand in the hot water. Leave both fingers immersed for at least one minute.

(c) After one minute, remove both fingers from the jars and dip them repeatedly but alternately in the warm water for about a second at a time Notice the temperature sensation in each finger.

Discussion

1 What impression did (i) the left finger, (ii) the right finger give about the temperature of the
warm water?

2 Why should there be any difference in the sensory information from the two fingers? How could you modify the experiment to test your suggestion?

3 Does the result mean that the skin of your fingers is incapable of judging whether an object is hot or cold?

4 What does the result suggest about the way in which the skin responds to temperature

Discussion – answers

1 The finger which has been immersed in cold water will register warmth. The finger previously held in hot water will register coldness.

2 The difference in sensations can be attributed to the difference in the temperature of the fingers after one minute’s immersion. This can be tested by repeating the experiment with the left-hand finger in the hot water and the right-hand finger in the cold water. The sensation on dipping them both into warm water should be the reverse of the first experiment.

An alternative explanation is that the warmth receptors in the hot water become adapted, i.e. after prolonged immersion they no longer send impulses to the brain. Consequently, on transfer to lukewarm water, there are few impulses sent to the brain from the warmth receptors of this finger, whereas the warmth receptors in the cold finger fire normally.

3 The results suggest that the fingers detect whether they are gaining or losing heat rather than the actual temperature of an object. Metal objects at room temperature will feel cold to the touch because heat is conducted away from the fingers, while wooden objects at the same temperature feel less cold.

4 The results seem to imply that the thermoreceptors respond to change in temperature rather than to any particular temperature. In fact, there is a steady discharge of nerve impulses from cold and warmth receptors at all temperatures within certain limits but increased bursts of impulses occur during sudden changes of temperature.

D G Mackean is the author of GCSE Biology, IGCSE Biology, and many other Biology text books. He has a site of biology-resources.com/ Biology Teaching Resources at biology-resources.com/ biology-resources.com which includes a bank of experiments for teachers, sample PowerPoint presentations, and many biological drawings

Can Career Training Level the Playing Field?

The United States is well known as a land of opportunity and as a result people from all over the world flock to its shores. However there exists here a class of people who are, sadly, ignored or forgotten. They are typically referred to as inner-city or underprivileged children. Unfortunately this label has almost become a stigmatism instead of a reminder that there are a number of people who need help to attain a more satisfying standard of living. Many of these young people are aware that attending a four year college or university would be a great way to lift them up from poverty. But, as the old saying goes, “It takes money to make money.” If you are already poor how can you afford to pay for the astronomical cost of obtaining a college degree? And if you cannot afford to pay for the degree how can you get a well-paying job? These are questions that the disadvantaged regularly have to grapple with and few are finding any worthy answers.

One excellent answer is online career training. Career training is a much more affordable alternative to an expensive college degree. It is training that provides specific yet comprehensive knowledge and skills to a student. All that is needed is a computer and internet access. From there it is up to the student to decide which course or subject matter is most interesting and then enroll. There is no need to drive to a campus and wait in long registration lines. Instead enrollment in a career training course can be done in the privacy of your own home right over the internet. Once your enrollment is accepted your training can begin immediately. Career training allows students to work at an individual pace, thereby getting the most benefit from the training. Upon completion of the training the student is fully prepared to enter the work force and earn a great salary. Since career training is so affordable the student will not be burdened with a lot of debt. In fact the training can be paid in full before the course has been completed. There will not be any huge student loans to pay since career training is much less expensive than a standard university education.

According to the U.S. Department of education, over 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require at least some postsecondary education. Career training can provide that necessary additional education. So if you or someone you know needs a helping hand why not look into career training and take advantage of living in the land of opportunity.

Copyright 2006 Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the President of online career training school, Malibu Institute. For more information on master certificate courses and career education offered, go to: MalibuInstitute.com www.MalibuInstitute.com

Space—Should You Care About Exploding Supernovas?

“Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.” The late astronomer Carl Sagan wrote and narrated those humbling words for his PBS Television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.” According to NASA, millions around the world saw the series. And millions more have read his book, “Contact” which was made into a motion picture.

Supernova SN 2006gy

In my previous article, “New Planet, Red Star,” I wrote about headline news in the cosmos—the discovery of a planet in the constellation of Libra that might support life and therefore be habitable. Now NASA reports their space-born Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ground-based optical telescopes have discovered an exploding supernova, a massive star they call SN 2006gy. Is it as important? Yes and here’s why.

The Universe Makes No Mistakes

The universe acts in accordance with natural law. Brainy humans figured out that physics is a good way for the concrete material brain to follow the logic of it. There’s no hit and miss in the universe; matter and antimatter act and react in the same orderly fashion all the time. The planets orbit our sun in the same systematic trajectory. No alarm clock warns, “Hey, time to get moving, stay in your lane, don’t bump into anything along the way.” All space matter know exactly what to do, how and when to do it—which is more than you can say about us.

Since an exploding star like SN 2006gy is a dying star, astronomers hope to learn answers to how the first generation of stars died. Depicted by scientists as cataclysmic, these observers say explosions of stars the magnitude of SN 2006gy probably occurred often while the universe was forming. I get chills just thinking that at this moment astronomers are looking at the collapse of the largest supernova in the universe ever seen by man. Pretty awesome.

To put things further into perspective, Dr. Nathan Smith of the University of California, Berkeley said that unlike most supernovas that fade quickly, “the light from the explosion of SN 2006gy has remained bright since it began its disintegration in September of last year (2006).” That galaxy far, far away is called NGC 1260, some 240 million light years from earth. Yet its dying supernova is bright enough for us to see it happening.

Closer to Home

But a similar energy force may be ready to light up our own galaxy soon. A massive star called Eta Carinae, which is only about 7,500 light years distance from earth resides in our own Milky Way. Working together as a team, astronomers from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas, Austin expect Eta Carinae to explode as a supernova. Earthlings will have front row seats to the greatest show on or off the earth when we witness the death of one of our own galaxy’s stars—far enough away to not affect us with radiation.

Said one astrobiologist, “Eta Carinae’s explosion in our own galaxy could be the best star-show in the history of modern civilization.”

Explosions vs. Black Holes

Until the discovery of SN 2006gy, scientists thought supernovas collapsed into black holes. But with the new data coming in, Dr. Nathan Smith at Berkley posits another view. “We have runaway thermonuclear reactions, the star explodes, spewing what’s left into space. In terms of the effect on the early universe, there’s a huge difference between these two possibilities. One pollutes the galaxy with large quantities of newly made elements, and the other locks them up forever in a black hole.”

Does it Matter When You’re the Matter?

If you have read science fiction or watched the television series Star Trek you are familiar with the term antimatter. But antimatter is not just science fiction. Since I’m no physicist, the best way I know to describe it is sort of like looking in a mirror and then meeting your reflected self in person and killing one another. When a particle and its antimatter particle meet, they destroy each other and in the process create a tremendous explosion. Antimatter is created and destroyed in stars all the time, including our own sun. In fact here on earth that kind of energy is harnessed for brain scans.

Depending on advances in physics, according to Washington State physicist Kelvin Lynn, antimatter if harnessed in significant quantities at unimaginable cost, could propel space rockets to the farthest reaches of the universe. Its energy potential is inconceivable, beyond any nuclear explosion. In the past the government made it know that research was underway. Then came the gag order from the U.S. Air Force and silence. “I think,” Dr. Lynn said, “we need to get off this planet, because I’m afraid we’re going to destroy it.” Apparently Lynn is not the only one with similar thoughts.

**The results of Dr. Nathan Smith and his colleagues’ studies on supernovas will appear in a forthcoming issue of “The Astrophysical Journal.” NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama manages the Chandra program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As freelance writer/editor I think it’s important to establish good working relationships with my clients. Both time and cost effective, I focus on one manuscript or one news release or the text of one book jacket, until the project is completed. Beginner or seasoned writer, the process is the same. You will find my portfolio on my website, plus other examples of how I can help you with your work. SIGNED copies of my novel “The Sword & The Chrysanthemum, Journey of the Heart” are available in paperback at reduced rates directly from me. Or, you can get unsigned copies at standard rates from Amazon.com and bn.com. An ebook is also available. susanscharfman.com susanscharfman.com

Is College Degree Worth Money Investments?

No issue is more disturbing and debatable for those concerned with college education than the issue of real value of college degrees. The tendency towards escalating cost of tuition fees made many people wonder whether a genuine payoff and opportunities college degree can offer to a graduator, in the long run, worth a high-priced investment.

This problem became especially acute for low-income parents, because the majority of them can’t afford to take an additional burden for paying such a fabulous sum of money for education of their kid. Annual tuition fees in different colleges range in average from $12,000 to $25,000.

Undoubtedly, such numbers provoke many people to think it over and weigh all arguments for and against college education.

Considerable rise of college charge caused a reappraisal of real value of higher education, in general, and college degree, in particular. A college degree, which can be interpreted as an official recognition for the successful completion of a vocational or an academic program, is now called into question. Many high-school graduators prefer well-paid employment to spending 4-6 years in college to earn a piece of paper which doesn’t even earn them squat back.

Though, money is not the only sticking point on a way to higher education, perspectives and vision of the future can’t be underestimated in the ultimate choice of a person, who foresees the necessity of obtaining college degree for success, regarding it as a necessary component of success formula in life; for prestige, considering a college degree to be a valuable and expensive contribution to his collection of achievements; or for money making, viewing it as an additional plus while getting fixed up in a job.

From my perspective, there are obverse and reverse of this issue. On the one hand, college degree is not a guarantee of anything, nor is it a factor of success in life. Timing and luck play a big part, as do personality, perseverance, confidence and native intelligence.

There are many people who succeeded in life without being college educated and having a certificate of their intelligence. History knows many that sort of examples, it is enough just to mention such celebrated minds as Ted Turner and Mark Twain, who weren’t tainted with the influence of college education. It proves that skills and inborn intelligence help much better in specific areas and often trump degrees.

On the other hand, a college graduator has a wider range of opportunities, can choose a high-paid job in his specific field easier than his counterpart – high-school leaver and also can expect to have higher income in future. “According to the Census Bureau, over an adult’s working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million; associate’s degree holders earn about $1.6 million; and bachelor’s degree holders earn about $2.1 million.” Overall, those with degrees tend to fare better than those who don’t have them.

So, I can only add that future college applicants and their parents have to speculate on this question very carefully, because a decision to enter a college and obtain baccalaureate degree are one of the most important choices a person has to face in life.

Remember that a real importance, a genuine price and benefits you can get from a college degree in long-term outlook can be defined only by you.

About Author

Linda Correli is a staff writer of

“Books for Them or Book’em”

Darien Collier is a seventh grade student who attends an “urban-city school.” He has been diagnosed with a behavior disorder and is one of fourteen students in the behavior disorder (BD) class. His behavioral disorder is further aggravated by an emotional disorder (ED). Earlier this school year, his education was interrupted due to a sixty-day sentence and imprisonment to the department of correction.

One day at the dismissal of school (which is at 1:15 pm for some special education students), Darien asked for permission to wait inside a grade level office until his aunt arrived. I believe this is a tactic Darien uses to disassociate himself from the “special ed” kids for social purposes. I’ve noticed that many of his friends are “regular ed” kids. He was granted that permission and did in fact go and sit in the grade level office until the regular dismissal of school at 2:15 pm.

At the dismissal, Darien walked out into the hallway to socialize with some of his peers. Moments after he had began mingling with the other students, he was confronted by a school security officer. This particular security officer and Darien has had a rough history. Darien has received long-term suspensions on a few occasions because of his defiance when given directives from the security officer. Darien has expressed to his mother and the principal that he feels threatened and targeted by the security personnel.

When the security officer saw Darien, he approached him and told him that he had no right to be on the property. The security officer ordered Darien to leave the school’s property. Darien tried unsuccessfully to tell the security officer that he had been given permission to stay and wait for his aunt. The security officer continued to order him to leave the property. Finally, Darien became defensive and angry. He became argumentative and verbally abusive. He then took his coat off and threw it to the floor as he took a fighting stance. The security officer called for backup. When Darien heard the call, he gathered his belongings and began to walk through the hallway.

Two more security officers arrived within a couple of minutes and someone pointed Darien out to them as he walked away. The security officers caught up to him and ordered him to turn around and leave the property. Darien became angry and belligerent. The security officers eventually had to physically restrain and handcuff him. Darien received a ten-day suspension from school for verbally threatening a staff member and he was also arrested for Disorderly Conduct. When his probation officer was notified, Darien was also charged with probation violation.

Well, this story sounds rather typical for an inner-city, poor, black, male, student. And the truth of the matter is there are too many of these stories being told everyday in schools where the demographics are similar to this one. But I submit to you that there are many critical elements of these stories that are not being told. And I want to share a few issues that I have with this one.

First and foremost, the entire incident involving Darien and the security officers took place while an assistant principal stood nearby but looked the other way. In fact, it was that assistant principal’s office that Darien had been sitting while he waited for his aunt to arrive. But yet the administrator did nothing to resolve the conflict between the security officer and the student. Once that conflict escalated, the administrator amazingly stood there and said or did nothing to intervene. After the situation was brought under control and a second administrator was charged with handling the investigation of the incident, the first administrator did not even offer information even though he was a first hand witness to the entire incident. Oh…and by the way, the inept administrator was Darien’s grade level principal the year before. So he was very familiar with the student’s disabilities. What could have possibly been the motive for the level of incompetence demonstrated by this administrator? And since Darien was being held to a high level of accountability for his actions, what about the administrator?

Darien is a behavioral disorder student who receives special educational services. Everything we know about students with Darien’s disability, tell us that they are not likely to make good choices when left unsupervised. Since he also suffers from an emotional disorder, it is understandable that he might become easily frustrated and angry when he feels mistreated. So, why did the teacher leave him unsupervised for approximately an hour? Why did she not communicate with other staff members that she had given the student permission to break from his normal routine? And where’s the accountability for her?

The security officer who first confronted Darien refused to allow him to explain why he was still at school beyond his normal dismissal time. Even though he (security officer) saw the assistant principal standing there, he never requested assistance to help manage the escalating situation. After he realized that he had lost control of the situation, he called for extra security instead of the assistant principal. The security officer has worked in the school for years and never received any formal training for dealing with students with disabilities. In fact, the security officer has received no training in how to manage difficult students. Who will hold the security officer accountable for his poor judgment and handling of this situation? After the investigation was done, the assistant principal who handled the discipline for this situation went to the head principal for advice and guidance. The head principal offered little help except to say, “suspend him for ten days”.

I don’t remember things happening this way when I was younger. When I attended public schools in the same socio-economic community as Darien, this could have never happened. The schools I attended may not have had the most talented instructors nor the most capable administrators. Security officers and other support staff might not have had the highest level of training and certification. But there was never a day when I felt unsafe at school. I never had to think about whether or not the staff truly cared about me. In fact, many of the difficult questions I had about my future, I could depend upon adults at the schools I attended to help me find answers. I guess you might say that I was “school dependent.” A lot might have changed since I attended public school, but I know one thing that has changed for the worst. More and more of our children are school dependent.

School officials must understand that they often represent the last hope in determining whether or not our youth in low socio-economic communities will be able to overcome the many challenges they face. I am very concerned that our children go to school every day and have to ponder the reality of whether there will be books for them or if they will hear the words “book’em.” We may talk about all the ills in society that lend themselves to broken families and homes. And sociologist and other behavioral scientist have analyzed, theorized, and standardized us until we’ve become paralyzed from all the information about why these particular youth are not being successful. It is all too easy for school officials to treat these kids as though they are just some statistic. But I submit to you that we ought to look deeper into the hearts and souls of these precious young people who so desperately need us.

You see, earlier that day, Darien surprised the teacher and asked for a pass to go and speak with the head principal. This was a surprise since he usually was sent reluctantly as a consequence for misbehavior. But this day he respectfully went into the office and began to cry for a different reason. After he gathered himself, he poured out his heart. He took responsibility for many of the bad choices and decisions that he had made in his young life. He went on to express his frustration with feeling “targeted” by teachers, security officers, administrators and even his own peers.

But Darien didn’t stop there. He made a commitment to “turn his life around.” Instead of cheating, stealing, and lying, he decided he wanted to try a different route. He wanted to be honest, hard working, and make something out of his life. He said he was determined not to “end up in prison” like his father. The principal told him that he was proud of him.

But I wonder what is going through Darien’s mind today as he sit in a jail cell at a juvenile detention center? Are our children entering our schools and leaving them feeling confirmed that there is no justice? At age fourteen, how much could Darien have contributed to his life’s circumstances? How did all the black males involved in this incident allow one of our sons to experience the violent injustices that our fathers gave their lives in an attempt that we might have hope? Where is the compassion for our youth?

The juvenile code in the state of Illinois, as well as in all other states, is supposed to be rehabilitative in its philosophy. But at every level of the continuum of that system (e.g. arrest, detention, probation, confinement to department of corrections, etc.) Darien and other youth that look like him, are disproportionately represented. Is this happening in part because our schools are becoming nothing more than “feeder programs” for a criminal justice system? I wonder if our young black men are realizing the self-fulfilling prophecies they so often hear spoken to them by so-called professionals whose job should be to give them hope.

While I realize school officials have a monumental challenge in today’s society with educating the nation’s youth. And I recognize that an ever increasing violent society is cause for us all to be concerned. But I pray that we will not lose our way and our focus. All of us as stakeholders must persevere for a high quality education to be afforded to all our nation’s youth. We must not give in to the temptation of allowing the kids that need us the most, to be passed on from school halls to prison cells. We must work hard that our youth do not see us as the enemy. They must not see in us the demons that they face every evening as they see their fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters arrested and drug off to fill our prisons. Instead, they should be met with a sense of dignity and respect at our school doors. We must never allow Darien’s day to end in this way again.

Dwayne Cotton founded the School Resource Officer Program for St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department and Cahokia School District in Cahokia, IL. He was born and reared in East St. Louis, IL. He attended East St. Louis public schols and received his formal education at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.

For the last ten years, Dwayne has concentrated his law enforcement career in the field of school-based policing. He shares a philosophy of community-based policing that enables him to work effectively with both those who serve in the discipline of education and law enforcement. He has worked tirelessly to help leaders in both field better understand how much they need each other in today’s society.

Dwayne has trained and consulted with school board members, administrators, teachers, and support staff. He has also served as a trainer/consultant to law enforcement agents on the local, state, and federal levels. He has received many awards and recognition for his public speaking and as a trainer.
His work on several boards allow him to continue to impact policy in schools and law.