Found Not Lost

I just saw this commercial on TV over the weekend and decided to check out the website today. I love North Carolina because there are so many programs such as this one that not only encourages but also enables students to continue on to college. Under the N.C. Learn and Earn program, high school students can start earning college credits while still in high school. By the time they graduate from high school they would have also either completed an AA degree or are qualified to go into college as a junior. This can save families two years worth of tuition!

Students can earn college credits in high school two ways: they can attend a designated Learn and Earn High School or complete the Learn and Earn Online Curriculum. The following details about both methods is from their website:

Learn and Earn High Schools

* There are 60 Learn and Earn high schools located on the campuses of community colleges and universities across the state.
* Learn and Earn students take both high school and college-level courses and may attend classes with college students.
* In no more than five years, students graduate from high school with a diploma and two years of college credit or an associate’s degree – FOR FREE.
* All college courses transfer to any state college or university.
* Most schools accept students through an application process.
* Click here to see if there is a Learn and Earn high school in your county.
* Contact your school guidance counselor to find out how to apply.

Learn and Earn Online

* Students who cannot attend a Learn and Earn high school can still take college courses through Learn and Earn Online.
* Students at EVERY public high school in the state can sign up.
* Students can take courses during the school day and at night.
* As a part of some classes, students will have a teacher in their classroom and online.
* Students enrolled in the program can graduate in no more than five years with their high school diploma and two years of college credit or an associate’s degree – FOR FREE.
* Click here to see a list of online courses currently available.
* Sign up with the guidance counselor in your high school.
* Need help? Call 1-877-NC-LEARN (1-877-625-3276)

If you are in North Carolina and have a college bound student, make sure you visit the website and get more information about the program.

Do you remember science fairs when you were in middle school? My daughters have had their share and they keep thinking it’s behind them now that they are in high school. Well, that may be true for my daughter who plans on an art major. However, I have another daughter who is on a math and science track. She loves science lab and the projects and experiments. However, she is not to crazy about making presentations and she would hem and haw and procrastinate until the last minute, and I end up staying up all night with her cutting and pasting things. I keep trying to tell her to get used to the process because if she plans to continue on the scientific track, she will be doing scientific posters well beyond high school.

I ran across this amusing but very helpful article on designing scientific posters that I printed out to give to my daughter. It gives some great tips on layout, content and presentation. For instance, he cautions against the very thing that my daughter is guilty of doing and that is cutting and pasting her report into the board. I work with scientists and a lot of them still do this too. It is advised that a poster’s text should be 800 word or less. A difficult feat for most scientist who can get rather long-winded when talking about their areas of interest.

The tone of the article is relaxed on the verge of being sarcastic, witty with a touch of silliness, but always full of useful information. If you have a student who may need information on scientific posters and presenting, this is a very nice article to share.

Everyone must realize by now how the IT field is growing by leaps and bounds and anyone who is in the industry and is good at what they do is guaranteed to remain gainfully employed. Whether you are just thinking of getting into the field or are already in the field and are just looking to get ahead, a Cisco certification can open a lot of doors for you.

It used to be that when you say you’re going into computers, everyone assumes that you will become a programmer. Well even if your exposure to today’s technology is minimal, you’ll realize that the world of computers has gone way beyond simple programming. An IT professional can work as a network security specialist, security administrator, network security support engineer, voice administrator, voice engineer, voice manager, and many other areas of expertise. Some people gain access to those jobs through education, some through experience, but to keep those jobs they all have to maintain a level of knowledge in order to keep up with the ever changing state of technology. A Cisco certification, the guaranteed seal of approval in the IT world, will do that for you.

If you are interested in getting certified, look through their list of general certifications or if you’d like, they also offer more advanced specialist certifications in areas such as Advanced Routing and Switching, Data Center Certifications, IP Communications, Wireless LAN, and VPN and Security. The field is endless. The great thing is, almost every corporation now needs a crack team of IT specialists in order to keep their wheels turning. There is no better time to get in the IT field than now.

My daughter started a volunteer job at our local library today. She will be working in the historical archives section, most likely photocopying and scanning materials for the digital archive. This is what she will be doing for most of the summer. She won’t be getting paid but she is excited because she knows she will be getting more out of this than a measly pay check.

Some benefits for having young people volunteering:

• They increase their knowledge and experience of real life and the world
• They get an opportunity to contribute to their community and become part of it
• They learn to be more independent
• They learn decision making skills
• They learn to care about someone else’s needs
• They learn compassion
• Their volunteer activities will make them a more rounded person
• It gives them a new perspective on life
• They learn to stand for something they believe in

The list can go on and on, but the bottom line is, they contribute to the greater whole and they are better for it.

My daughter, Asi, will be attending school this summer at the North Carolina School of the Arts. We’re really proud of her and I for one am glad she has found something that really interests her. We started getting her supplies together this past weekend. Not only does she need the usual art supplies like pens, pencils, paint, paper and the likes, she also needed household stuff and toiletries since she will be staying at the dorms.

Her dad said he will get her art supplies, so at least that’s off my mind. Now I can worry about bed sheets and cleaning supplies.