Message of Hope: Suicide Prevention

Gracelyn Duffee Elmendorf listens to what mental health officials have to say about depression and suicide.
But what they say about the subject is nothing compared with living through it, she said.

Elmendorf’s first husband and their son both committed suicide. They were predeceased by her husband’s grandfather, who also took his own life.

“If they haven’t been through it, it’s fiction,” Elmendorf said. “You have to go through this to really understand all the dynamics involved.”

Elmendorf has set out on a mission to educate others and prevent other tragedies like hers from coming to pass.

You can hear her speak  on November 4th at 7:00pm at the First Baptist Activity Center. For more information you can email me at school scollier@capefearacademy.org

An Anti Bullying Message From The President

Here's a great video from the president. An important and timely message. Check it out: Obama on You Tube

Trick or Treat: FOR GOOD!!

If you think Halloween is only about candy and politically incorrect costumes, think again. Halloween can be about candy, costumes AND helping provide basic amenities for children around the world.

We believe the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF fundraiser is a cause worth getting involved with this Halloween.

The campaign was started in 1950 by Mary Emma Allison to provide aid to children struggling to recover from World War II. Allison enlisted the help of other parents and children through a nationwide network of churches. UNICEF adopted the campaign after several Halloweens with sizable monetary donations.

Children around the United States carry an orange UNICEF box while trick-or-treating on Halloween. Upon ringing the doorbell and saying "trick-or-treat," children would ask if the candy givers would like to donate to UNICEF and place donations inside the orange UNICEF box.

We propose getting some donation boxes for your Halloween party and festivities.

Party guests would not be forced to donate, but could donate as little as the spare change in their pockets. The important fact to mention if you decide to participate in the campaign is any donation is helpful, regardless of the size of the contribution.

How you can get involved:

• Donate online – unicefusa.org
• Donate by phone – 1.800.FOR.KIDS
• Donate by text message – text TOT to 864233 to make donations
• Download the iPhone app – UNICEF USA
• Host a Halloween party – register your Halloween party with UNICEF to receive an official fundraising kit.
• If you forget to collect the official UNICEF Trick-or-Treat boxes or register your party, you can still collect donations for the campaign.
• Donations can be dropped off at a Coinstar machine by selecting the "U.S. Fund for UNICEF" donation option (code #5555) or mailed to: Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF
  U.S. Fund for UNICEF
  125 Maiden Lane
  New York, NY 10038

please refer to UNICEF for more information

original article

The All Important Test Score

How does an admissions office like the one at the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Michigan weigh an applicant’s standardized test scores?
I asked the deans of each institution that question in recent interviews recorded for a coming online course, “Introduction to College Admissions,” that I helped create with my colleagues at The New York Times Knowledge Network.
In the first of two excerpts, above, Eric Furda, the dean of admission at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that “it will surprise people how quickly we go over something like test scores.” He then advises applicants, as they try to gauge whether their applications will be “competitive,” to pay particular attention to the standardized test scores of those students enrolled at Penn or other colleges who fell in the “middle 50 percent test range” of the class (in other words, those whose scores would have ranked in the 25th through 75th percentiles, when compared to the class as a whole).

Mr. Furda doesn’t specify those scores in the interview, but for the current freshman class at Penn they are: SAT critical reading, 660 to 770, out of a possible 800; SAT math, 690 to 780; SAT writing, 680 to 770; and ACT composite, 30 to 34, out of a possible 36.
Those prospective applicants who might be discouraged by the scores, take note: a quarter of those students in the current freshman class scored lower. And yes, to be fair, a quarter scored higher. I also note that Penn, a private Ivy League institution, is among the most competitive colleges in the nation, and that the median scores at most of the nation’s 2,000 or so other four-year colleges are substantially lower.
In another interview for the course, below, Ted Spencer, director of undergraduate admissions at Michigan in Ann Arbor, a flagship public institution, makes clear that his office has no minimum “cutoffs” when it considers applicants’ standardized test scores. In fact, he says, he would be more inclined to admit an applicant with low test scores and a strong grade point average than a high-scoring student who did not perform to his or her potential in high school.

this article originally appeared in The New York Times

How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

My son, Stefan, was running in a half marathon in Philadelphia last month when he heard someone coming up behind him, breathing hard.
To his surprise, it was an elite runner, Kim Smith, a blond waif from New Zealand. She has broken her country’s records in shorter distances and now she’s running half marathons. She ran the London marathon last spring and will run the New York marathon next month.
That day, Ms. Smith seemed to be struggling. Her breathing was labored and she had saliva all over her face. But somehow she kept up, finishing just behind Stefan and coming in fifth with a time of 1:08:39.
And that is one of the secrets of elite athletes, said Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive of the New York Road Runners, the group that puts on the ING New York City Marathon. They can keep going at a level of effort that seems impossible to maintain.
“Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals in running,” Ms. Wittenberg said.
You can see it in the saliva-coated faces of the top runners in the New York marathon, Ms. Wittenberg added.
“We have towels at marathon finish to wipe away the spit on the winners’ faces,” she said. “Our creative team sometimes has to airbrush it off race photos that we want to use for ad campaigns.”
Tom Fleming, who coaches Stefan and me, agrees. A two-time winner of the New York marathon and a distance runner who was ranked fourth in the world, he says there’s a reason he was so fast.
“I was given a body that could train every single day.” Tom said, “and a mind, a mentality, that believed that if I trained every day — and I could train every day — I’ll beat you.”
“The mentality was I will do whatever it takes to win,” he added. “I was totally willing to have the worst pain. I was totally willing to do whatever it takes to win the race.”
But the question is, how do they do it? Can you train yourself to run, cycle, swim or do another sport at the edge of your body’s limits, or is that something that a few are born with, part of what makes them elites?
Sports doctors who have looked into the question say that, at the very least, most people could do a lot better if they knew what it took to do their best.
“Absolutely,” said Dr. Jeroen Swart, a sports medicine physician, exercise physiologist and champion cross-country mountain biker who works at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa.
“Some think elite athletes have an easy time of it,” Dr. Swart said in a telephone interview. Nothing could be further from the truth.
And as athletes improve — getting faster and beating their own records — “it never gets any easier,” Dr. Swart said. “You hurt just as much.”
But, he added, “Knowing how to accept that allows people to improve their performance.”
One trick is to try a course before racing it. In one study, Dr. Swart told trained cyclists to ride as hard as they could over a 40-kilometer course. The more familiar they got with the course, the faster they rode, even though — to their minds — it felt as if they were putting out maximal effort on every attempt.
Then Dr. Swart and his colleagues asked the cyclists to ride the course with all-out effort, but withheld information about how far they’d gone and how far they had to go. Subconsciously, the cyclists held back the most in this attempt, leaving some energy in reserve.
That is why elite runners will examine a course, running it before they race it. That is why Lance Armstrong trained for the grueling Tour de France stage on l’Alpe d’Huez by riding up the mountain over and over again.
“You are learning exactly how to pace yourself,” Dr. Swart said.
Another performance trick during competitions is association, the act of concentrating intensely on the very act of running or cycling, or whatever your sport is, said John S. Raglin, a sports psychologist at Indiana University.
In studies of college runners, he found that less accomplished athletes tended to dissociate, to think of something other than their running to distract themselves.
“Sometimes dissociation allows runners to speed up, because they are not attending to their pain and effort,” he said. “But what often happens is they hit a sort of physiological wall that forces them to slow down, so they end up racing inefficiently in a sort of oscillating pace.” But association, Dr. Raglin says, is difficult, which may be why most don’t do it.
Dr. Swart says he sees that in cycling, too. “Our hypothesis is that elite athletes are able to motivate themselves continuously and are able to run the gantlet between pushing too hard — and failing to finish — and underperforming,” Dr. Swart said.
To find this motivation, the athletes must resist the feeling that they are too tired and have to slow down, he added. Instead, they have to concentrate on increasing the intensity of their effort. That, Dr. Swart said, takes “mental strength,” but “allows them to perform close to their maximal ability.”
Dr. Swart said he did this himself, but it took experience and practice to get it right. There were many races, he said, when “I pushed myself beyond my abilities and had to withdraw, as I was completely exhausted.”
Finally, with more experience, Dr. Swart became South Africa’s cross-country mountain biking champion in 2002.
Some people focus by going into a trancelike state, blocking out distractions. Others, like Dr. Swart, have a different method: He knows what he is capable of and which competitors he can beat, and keeps them in his sight, not allowing himself to fall back.
“I just hate to lose,” Dr. Swart said. “I would tell myself I was the best, and then have to prove it.”
Kim Smith has a similar strategy.
“I don’t want to let the other girls get too far ahead of me,” she said in a telephone interview. “I pretty much try and focus really hard on the person in front of me.”
And while she tied her success to having “some sort of talent toward running,” Ms. Smith added that there were “a lot of people out there who were probably just as talented. You have to be talented, and you have to have the ability to push yourself through pain.”
And, yes, she does get saliva all over her face.
“It’s not a pretty sport,” Ms. Smith said. “You are not looking good at the end.”
As for the race she ran with my son, she said: “I’m sorry if I spit all over Stefan.” (She didn’t, Stefan said.)

Article From New York Times

By GINA KOLATA

Published: October 18, 2010

Becky C's Scholarship and Opportunity Update

 

Change the date!  The date for the Sophomore-Junior College Night has been changed from Tuesday, September 21^st, to Monday, November 1^st, due to a conflict with the speaker.  We apologize for the inconvenience.
 
     Private College Visits to CFA: (held in the Quiet Room unless otherwise noted)
 
  October 22:   Duke University at 10:30 a.m. (rescheduled)
      November 1:   Elon University at 2:00 p.m.
     November 2:   Radford University (VA) at 2:00 p.m.
      November 12:  Campbell University at 11:30 (on-site admission to be held)
      November 15:  Peace College at 11:15 a.m. 

College Information:  
Cornell, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt Information Session – Regional presentations will be held in the following cities:  Durham on October 17 at the Durham Marriott Convention Center; Winston-Salem on October 19 at the Marriott Winston-Salem; and Greenville, SC on October 20 at the Hyatt Regency Greenville.  All presentations are scheduled from 7:30-9:30 p.m.  To register, visit http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/joint-travel-program. 
Louisburg College Open House – Visit the campus on October 23^rd, from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. to determine if Learning Partners is the right choice, a program which provides academic support programs for students with disabilities and ADHD. 
 
Meredith College Senior Visitation Day – This event is scheduled for Friday, October 29.  Register online at www.meredith.edu/admissions/sr-visit-reg-form.htm.   
National Portfolio Day (hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University) – Representatives from art schools around the nation will be available on Saturday, November 6, from 1-5.  For listing of schools, see poster on the College Information bulletin board. 
PGA Gold Management Visitation Day at Campbell University – Juniors and seniors interested in the golf industry are invited to this event on November 12.  See Ms. Copenhaver for the registration or visit www.campbell.edu/pgagm.   
Salem College Open House Events – The Fall Visit for Seniors will be held on October 24-25 with other dates scheduled for November 13 and December 3.  To register, visit www.salem.edu.
 
UNC-Charlotte Open House – Dates are at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays -- October 30, November 20, March 26, and April 16.   Visit http://admissions.uncc.edu for information. 
Explore UNCG – This visitation program will be held on October 23, and students may register by visiting www.uncg.edu/adm/visit.   
Scholarship Information:  
AXA Achievement Scholarship – Awards of $10,000 or $25,000 will be given for students who meet the following criteria:  have been active in the community; have led a project that benefits others; have overcome personal challenges.  Learn more at www.axa-achievement.com.  Deadline to apply:  December 15. 
Belk Scholarship (Davidson College) – This is the college’s most prestigious merit award, which covers the comprehensive costs of attending Davidson.  CFA may nominate one candidate no later than November 15.  If you are interested in being considered, please see Ms. Copenhaver right away. 
Boston University Trustee Scholarship – This is a four year, full tuition award to BU.  The deadline to apply is December 1.  For information, visit www.bu.edu/admissions/trustee.   
Coca-Cola Scholars – This foundation is awarding $3,000,000 a year to 250 deserving students!  Apply online at www.coca-colascholars.org by October 31. 
Emory Scholars Program – Four outstanding students may self-nominate for this prestigious award at Emory University. These awards are based entirely upon the student’s merit, not financial need.  The nomination and complete application for admission must arrive by November 15.  Please see Ms. Copenhaver if you are interested in being nominated.    
Gates Millennium Scholars Program -- Students are encouraged to apply for this prestigious scholarship.  The award is renewable up to five years and is open to students attending any U.S. accredited college.  Criteria include:  significant financial need; cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.3; and leadership through community service or activities.  Applicants must be African American, American Indian, Asian Pacific Islander American, or Hispanic American.  If interested, see Ms. Copenhaver.  Deadline to apply:  January 10. Visit www.gmsp.org.  
Gladys Baars Campbell Full Endowed Scholarship (Campbell University) – This scholarship is for students from southeastern North Carolina and recognizes academic excellence, leadership, and community service.  It includes all tuition, fees, room, board, and books.  Criteria include:  3.5 unweighted GPA, 1800 on SAT (CR, M, W), ACT score of 27 or above.  If you are interested in being nominated, please contact Ms. Copenhaver.  Deadline for scholarship application is November 5. 

 
Levine Scholars – UNC-Charlotte introduces a new scholarship, which includes full tuition, room/board, a new laptop, and summer experiences totaling $90,000!  If you are interested in being nominated from CFA, please see Ms. Copenhaver for more information. 
Peace College Scholarship – There are two opportunities for scholarships at Peace.  One scholarship offers full-tuition for students with a 4.0 GPA and SAT score of 1300 (CR and M) or ACT score of 29.  The second opportunity is for students from a private high school.  The award is up to $4,000 yearly for a female student with a GPA of 2.5 or better and a combined SAT score of 900 (ACT of 19).  If you wish to be nominated, please see Ms. Copenhaver by January 15. 
 
Roanoke College Scholars Program – Students receive $175,000 over four years.  To apply, visit www.roanoke.edu/scholars.  Deadlines:  January 10 for the February competition.   
Ron Brown Scholar Program – This prestigious scholarship encourages underrepresented minorities to apply. Visit infor@ronbrown.org for information and the application at www.ronbrown.org.   
Thomas Wolfe Scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill – This award is for full undergraduate support for student writers.  Applications will be received through November 1.  Go to http://english.unc.edu/creative/tws for an application and complete instructions.  
University of Toledo Presidential Scholarship – This award includes full tuition/fees for four years and a stipend for study-abroad.  Criteria include:  3.8 GPA; 1340 SAT/30 ACT.  An application and the scholarship must be submitted by December 1.  Visit www.utoledo.edu/admission/apply and www.utoledo.edu/admission/presidential.  

 
Other Opportunities: 

 Catalyst Conference at UNC-Chapel Hill -- Every year, the Catalyst Conference brings a selected group of 80 high school students from across North Carolina to UNC-CH for a weekend-long exploration of social justice issues affecting both America and the larger world. Through leadership and personal development sessions, we aim to empower participants so they can serve as catalysts for positive change in their own communities. The Catalyst Conference serves a vital need, as encouraging today’s youth to take an interest in national and worldly issues is vital to securing an educated and passionate group of future leaders. These 80 students will face a challenging task; they will be asked to view the world through the eyes of another and come to a realization of the underlying similarities that connect us all.  The conference will be held from February 25-27, 2011 for students in grades 9-11.  Visit http://campus-y.unc.edu for information and an application or see Ms. Copenhaver.  Deadline to apply is November 8. 

 College Discovery Day – Discover your future in theatre, as you meet more than 20 colleges on November 20^th at Greensboro College.  High school seniors audition and present portfolios, underclassmen prepare for senior year, and everyone gets an in-depth look at college theatre programs in North Carolina. 
Learn and Earn Online at CFCC – The spring schedule for the online college courses is available.  The only courses available are STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  Visit http://cfcc.edu/gateway/LEO.html for information.
 
Nestle Very Best in Youth – This award is for students ages 13-18, who have distinguished themselves academically and through service and leadership.  Winners receive $1,000 to the charity of their choice and an all-expense paid trip for them and one parent to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on July 23, 2010.  To apply, visit http://verybestinyouoth.nestleusa.com before November 1. 
Prudential Spirit of Community Award -- This award seeks to recognize students who have demonstrated exemplary community service and is presented at the local and state levels, as well as the national level.  Students apply online at http://www.spirit.prudential.com/ or www.principals.org/spirit by November 1.  Print the application and bring it to Ms. Copenhaver.  The scholarship committee will select the school representative.  Any student in grade 9-12 is eligible to apply.  
Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics – This is a wonderful opportunity for 10^th and 11^th graders to pursue their interests in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in a university research setting in North Carolina for four weeks during the summer at NO cost.  Visit http://summerventures.org/ for complete information and video.  More information will be available in the US Office in the coming weeks.  Deadline to apply:  January 31. 
UNCW Spring Courses – Anyone interested in registering for a class at UNCW for the spring semester, must submit an application by November 1.  You must be 16 years old; have a GPA of 3.5; and a SAT score of 1100 on critical reading and math.  See Ms. Copenhaver for an application.

Psychology in the Lunch Line

Hide the chocolate milk behind the plain milk. Get those apples and oranges out of stainless steel bins and into pretty baskets. Cash only for desserts.
These subtle moves can entice kids to make healthier choices in school lunch lines, studies show. Food and restaurant marketers have long used similar tricks. Now the government wants in on the act.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced what it called a major new initiative Tuesday, giving $2 million to food behavior scientists to find ways to use psychology to improve kids' use of the federal school lunch program and fight childhood obesity.

A fresh approach is clearly needed, those behind the effort say.

About one-third of children and teens are obese or overweight. Bans on soda and junk food have backfired in some places. Some students have abandoned school meal programs that tried to force-feed healthy choices. When one school district put fruit on every lunch tray, most of it ended up in the garbage.

So instead of pursuing a carrot or a stick approach, schools want to entice kids to choose the carrot sticks, figuring children are more likely to eat something they select themselves.

"It's not nutrition until it's eaten," said Joanne Guthrie, a USDA researcher who announced the new grants. The initiative will include creation of a child nutrition center at Cornell University, which has long led this type of research.

Some tricks already judged a success by Cornell researchers: Keep ice cream in freezers without glass display tops so the treats are out of sight. Move salad bars next to the checkout registers, where students linger to pay, giving them more time to ponder a salad. And start a quick line for make-your-own subs and wraps, as Corning East High School in upstate New York did.

"I eat that every day now," instead of the chicken patty sandwiches that used to be a staple, said Shea Beecher, a 17-year-old senior.

"It's like our own little Subway," said Sterling Smith, a 15-year-old sophomore. (Hint to the school: Freshen up the fruit bowl; the choices are pretty narrow by the time Smith gets to his third-shift lunch period.)

Last year, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine for advice on its school lunch and breakfast programs, which provide free or subsidized meals to more than 31 million schoolchildren each day. The institute recommended more fruit, vegetables and whole grains with limits on fat, salt and calories. But it was clear this wouldn't help unless kids accepted healthier foods, Guthrie said.

"We can't just say we're going to change the menu and all of our problems will be solved," she said.

The agency requested proposals from researchers on how to get kids to actually eat the good stuff. Cornell scientists Brian Wansink and David Just will get $1 million to establish the child nutrition center. Fourteen research sites around the country will share the other $1 million.

"Findings from this emerging field of research - behavioral economics - could lead to significant improvements in the diets of millions of children across America," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

Cornell's focus will be developing "smart lunchrooms" that guide kids to make good choices even when more tempting ones are around.

"We're not taking things away from kids," Wansink said. "It's making the better choice the easier, more convenient choice."

Wansink is a prominent food science researcher, known for studies on the depiction of food in paintings of the Last Supper and how the placement of a candy jar can affect how much people eat from it.

Christine Wallace, food service director for Corning City School District near Cornell University, met him a few years ago and invited him to use her 14 schools as a lab.

"We tend to look at what we're offering and to make sure it's well prepared and in the correct portion size, and not the psychology of it. We're just not trained that way," Wallace said.

For example, some Corning schools had express lines for a la carte items - mostly chips, cookies and ice cream. The idea was to reduce bottlenecks caused by full tray lunches that took longer to ring up. But the result was a public health nightmare.

"We were making it very convenient for them to quickly go through the line and get a bunch of less nutritious items," Wallace said.

After studies by Wansink, they renamed some foods in the elementary schools - "X-ray vision carrots" and "lean, mean green beans" - and watched consumption rise. Cafeteria workers also got more involved, asking, "Would you rather have green beans or carrots today?" instead of waiting for a kid to request them.

And just asking, "Do you want a salad with that?" on pizza day at one high school raised salad consumption 30 percent, Wansink said.
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Medical Writer | Posted: Monday, October 18, 2010 2:00 am

From CNN Health: More Children Using Marajuana

More kids and teens are smoking marijuana at younger ages, according to data collected by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. From 2008 to 2009, there was a 9 percent increase - to 7.3 percent of people age 12 or older - who currently use marijuana. During the same time period, the average age of first-time marijuana users decreased to 17 years old.
The human brain is still developing throughout the teen years and in to a person's 20s That's why the Office of Drug Control Policy says using marijuana at the age of 12 can lead to addiction, respiratory illness, weakened motor skills, and cognitive impairment not only while the child smokes but for years after a person quits.
 Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Policy, says parents need to know why marijuana use early in a child's life can be dangerous.
"We recognize American families are facing many challenges today, but failing to adequately prevent young people from using drugs now can lead to a lifetime of devastating consequences," said Kerlikowske in a press release announcing the data.
Proponents of the legalization of marijuana have jumped on the survey's findings. The Marijuana Policy Project released a statement in response to Kerlikowske's comments, suggesting that the data demonstrate that legalizing the drug could curb the trend of more young people becoming marijuana users.
"Unlike alcohol and tobacco – which are sold by licensed, tax-paying vendors who are required to check customer ID – marijuana use continues to increase among young people largely because it is sold in an uncontrolled, unregulated criminal market by drug dealers who are perfectly happy to sell to minors," said Steve Fox, with the Marijuana Policy Project, in a statement.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy says parents concerned about whether their child is using marijuana should begin following three steps to insure their children stay drug-free. Kerlikowske said parents need to know the risk factors associated with marijuana use, be able to talk with their children about drug use, and regularly clean out their medicine cabinets so old, unused medicines are thrown away and not abused.
This article is from CNN Health

‘Feel Free. Be Yourself. It’s the Only Marketing Device That Can Work.’

By STEVE SINGER

Steve Singer

 

I have been a college admissions junkie since 1972. Since 1985, I have been director of college counseling at Horace Mann School in the Bronx. At the end of this month, I will retire from a job I have dearly loved.
Each day, I encounter warm, energetic, funny and shockingly intelligent kids with a genuine hunger to learn. But for all of their talent and brains, they seem to be hard-wired to worry about getting into college.
They have always worried. The difference between now and 1985, though, is that it is much harder for them, and for kids like them, blessed with extraordinary educational and cultural opportunities, to get admitted to the colleges they would most like to attend. In 1985, they looked askance at classmates and friends at “peer” institutions, who represented the “competition.”
This wasn’t the case then; it certainly isn’t now.
The students they compete with are students they can’t see: from projects in Dorchester, Mass.; from split levels in Los Alamos, N.M.; from farms in Manhattan, Kan. Just as significant are the students from favelas in Rio, walk-ups in Sofia, rice paddies in the Mekong Delta. Colleges that once admitted 20 percent of their applicants now admit 9 percent. Those whose admit rate was 80 percent now admit 25 percent.
Kids can take solace, if they are able and willing, in that everyone is in the same leaky boat.
Even linebackers, bassoon players, alumni children and “development cases” need stronger credentials.
What do colleges want? Great grades. Astronomical test scores. The hardest courses. (Fair enough, almost.)
They also apparently mandate exquisite, compelling, heart-rending, profound and hilarious essays. Student leadership at the national level (O.K., the state level). Oscar nominations (see, you don’t have to win). A 4.2 — not G.P.A., everybody seems to have that — but in the 40-yard dash. More. Better. Now.
There are many reasons. Of major importance is the conscious choice of colleges and universities to recruit, intensively, the most talented and interesting adolescents on this planet (so far) from the most varied cultural, economic and ethnic communities.
They have chosen this path out of perceived necessity. They must enhance, or at worst maintain, their academic prestige and financial health. They also choose God’s work, lifting up youngsters who, without higher education, would be doomed to lives of poverty, disease and despair.
Most of the work is just heavy lifting. The task for college admissions is to meet “enrollment goals” set by the officials at the top of the organizational charts. These were once modest in number. Now, they are not. Trustees feel pressure. So do presidents. So do faculty members, and the pressure flows down. Admissions is middle management, where there are no tenure tracks.
Admissions numbers — applications, admit rates, student yield, extracurricular achievements, diversity — can affect bond ratings, national rankings, standings with your traditional “rivals.” Bad numbers threaten prestige, contributions and the ability to do “good works.” They threaten jobs.
What does “Upstairs” want? More. Better. Now. Thus: sales, marketing and enrollment strategies, devised and implemented by some of the most distinguished adults at some of the most distinguished institutions of higher learning, and tactics, which are downloaded on the heads of 17-year-olds.
The grown-ups are not bad people. They believe in education. They like kids. They also make their choices. No applicant has the “right” to, is “entitled” to, or “earns” or “deserves” an acceptance letter. Virtually everyone could do honors work. Every kid has the right to be 17.
This is not a tragedy. We have the strongest and most accessible system of higher education in the world. You can get an exceptional education at hundreds of outstanding colleges. You can enrich yourself intellectually, materially and spiritually. The most common response to this? “Yeah, right.”
That’s kind of tragic. The adults are allowed to scramble the brains of high school kids. But if they and their bedraggled parents — poor and otherwise — want to “beat” the system, they have to give up a most cherished fantasy, reinforced every waking minute by friends, relatives, dry cleaners and, if you are so fortunate, the doorman: you attend a “name” college, or you are relegated to the dustbin of human existence.
Do not let them do this to you. Rebel. Be ornery. This is a buyers’ market. Take advantage. Have a great senior year. Apply to the usual suspects. They are good colleges. But write your applications in your own voice. What do they want? The average admissions officer works about 70 hours a week for a salary that will require at least one roommate in a tiny apartment. She or he can’t spend more than, say, 15 minutes per application.
Everyone is trying to come across as Edmund Wilson, Erwin Schrödinger or Edna St. Vincent Millay. What do they want? Actually, essays that make them feel like they’re in their room with a 17-year-old kid, albeit thoughtful and accomplished. Feel free. Be yourself. It’s the only marketing device that can work.
But first, find strong colleges that are suitable for you, that can compete on the merits with the usual suspects and that will actually admit you. These are eminently findable. Learn enough about them to genuinely appreciate what they offer. Apply, enthusiastically, with care. Get admitted. To a few. So no matter what, you are in good shape.
Now, aha, the shoe is on the other foot. Now you have the power. They need you, an enrollment goal. Now you can write to them:

Dear College:
I was delighted and deeply honored to receive your admissions offer.
However, I can attend only one of the many fine colleges that have admitted me. It has been very difficult for me to make a final decision, but I have made it.
Unfortunately, I must decline your wonderful offer. I am certain that you will enroll many fine students, and I wish you well in your future endeavors.
Sincerely …

Preschool, Psychology And How Even Young Kids Use Statistics

Children are natural psychologists and by the time they reach preschool they understand that other people have desires, preferences, beliefs, and emotions too.

Exactly how they learn this isn't clear but a new study says that one way children figure out another's preferences is by using a topic you'd think they won't formally encounter until college: statistics.

In one experiment, children aged 3 and 4 saw a puppet named "Squirrel" remove five toys of the same type from a container full of toys and happily play with them. Across the children, the toys that Squirrel removed were the same (for example, all five were blue flowers).

What varied, however, were the contents of the container.

For one-third of the children, 100 percent of the toys were the same type (so, in this example, all were blue flowers). For another third of the children, only 50 percent were that type (that is, half were blue flowers and half were red circles). Finally, for the last third of the children only 18 percent were of that type (that is, 82 percent were red circles). Later on, children were asked to give Squirrel a toy that he likes.

The children were more likely to give Squirrel the blue flowers if he had selected them out of the container that had other toys in it.

More amazingly, the proportion of other toys mattered as well; they gave Squirrel the blue flowers more when the container included only 18 percent blue flowers, and slightly less often when the container had 50 percent blue flowers. When the container had 100 percent blue flowers, they gave him toys at random.

That means the child inferred that the puppet liked blue flowers best if the sample of five toys didn't match the proportion of toys in the population (the container). This is a statistical phenomenon known as non-random sampling.

In another experiment, 18- to 24-month-olds also learned about the preferences of an adult experimenter from non-random sampling. They watched the adult choose five toys that were either 18 percent or 82 percent of the toys in a box. The adult played happily with the toy either way, but the toddler only concluded that the adult had a preference if they'd picked the toys from a box in which that toy was scarce.

Statistical information isn't the only way children learn about the preferences of other people, emotion and verbalization are also important, but this is a new cue that no one had identified before, says Tamar Kushnir, Assistant Professor of Human Development and the director of the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory at Cornell University, who carried out the study with Fei Xu of the University of California, Berkeley and Henry M. Wellman of the University of Michigan.

"Babies are amazing," says Kushnir. "Babies and children are like little scientists. Mostly they learn by observing and experiencing the world. Just let them do it. Later on, there will be time for formal instruction, but when they're really young, this sort of informal learning is critical."

Citation: Kushnir, T., Xu, F.&Wellman, H. M. (in press), 'Young Children Use Statistical Sampling to Infer the Preferences of Other People', Psychological Science, 107, pp.1084-1092. Published online before print July 9, 2010

Parents Are the Key to Safe Teen Drivers

Car crashes—the #1 killer of teens—take over 4,000 young lives every year. That's 11 teen deaths each day that can be prevented. As a parent, you should know that the main cause of teen crashes is driver inexperience. All new drivers—even straight-A students and "good kids"—are likelier than experienced drivers to be involved in a fatal crash. It's a fact.
The good news is that you can make a difference by getting involved with your teen's driving. Take advantage of the "Parents Are the Key" tools and resources. Learn about the most dangerous driving situations for your young driver—and how to avoid them.

Steer Your Teen in the Right Direction

As a parent, you have the greatest influence over your teen's behavior. In fact, leading experts believe parents play a key role in preventing teen car crashes and deaths. Take the first step: Talk with your teen about staying safe behind the wheel. Then, keep the conversation going. You can steer your teen in the right direction, and "Parents Are the Key" has proven steps that can help.

More information from the CDC

Can Facebook Keep Your Child Out Of College?

As the first generation to grow up with the Internet, our kids think nothing of revealing the most intimate details of their lives (and ours) online -- with little consideration for the consequences.

Over the years, parents have been warned about dangers kids can face online. But, with the surging popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and easy blogging tools like Tumblr and WordPress, a new threat to our kids' well-being has emerged: Reputation damage.

Stories abound about high school students being rejected from college and young professionals losing out on -- or even losing -- jobs as a result of content posted on social networking sites.

"In talking with admission officers, we've certainly heard some of the scenarios where students may use social networking negatively -- where they post photos of themselves drinking alcohol, or in some sort of setting that they wouldn't want to present to an admissions officer," Jeff Olson, vice president of Research at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, tells ParentDish.

Kaplan's 2009 survey of college admissions officers revealed about one out of 10 admissions officers had visited an applicant's social networking profile as part of the admissions decision-making process. Also, in a 2009 report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 88 percent of admission officers surveyed said they believed social media was either "somewhat" or "very" important to their future recruitment efforts.

And, in a webcast presented last year by The Wall Street Journal, admission officers from several schools directly addressed the topic of social networking posts as a factor in college rejection.

"If there is something that is compromising on your Facebook page, or that you have done on the Web that you may not be proud of, you should probably do everything you can to clean that up before you get into the admissions process," Janet Rapelye, dean of admission at Princeton University, advises in the video.

Kids, teens and young adults in the United States spend time online in staggering numbers -- 93 percent of kids ages 12 to 17, and young adults ages 18 to 29 -- use the Internet, according to a September 2009 Pew Research Center report. But in reality, Internet use starts much earlier.

By law, any site that collects personal information from kids under the age of 13 must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998. They must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children and maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of the information they collect.

However, these guaranteed protections go out the window when a child turns 13. And, in reality, younger kids can register for any site using false information, gaining access to chat rooms, discussion forums and social networks where their privacy -- and yours -- can be compromised.

The bottom line? Your kids and tweens might already be creating an online trail that could haunt them for years to come. So what should you do?

Enter a whole new field of business expertise: Online reputation management.
A major player in the industry, ReputationDefender addresses reputations of individuals from children as young as 5 or 6 through young professionals planning their next career moves, company CEO Michael Fertik tells ParentDish.

Parents of kids and teens can subscribe to the company's MyChild product for $14.95 per month, with a similar service available to those 18 and older. These Web-based applications search the Internet for references to a child via their last name, city, e-mail addresses and screen names.

"It's not just Google alerts," Fertik tells ParentDish. "It's a deep dive. Most of the Internet is not indexed by search engines, so our tools troll discussion forums and social media that are not as easily accessed."

Much of the negative content found via MyChild typically is either mean things other kids have said about the client, or "dumb" things kids have said about themselves, Fertik says. In most cases, parents are able to get the content removed without professional intervention.

 many cases, however, the issue for high school and college students and young professionals is that there is little or no useful information about them available online -- or someone else with the same name dominates search results -- which some schools and employers use in assessing their suitability.

To this end, companies such as ReputationDefender and Brand-Yourself -- a business formed two years ago by Syracuse University graduates -- offer services to help ensure individuals are portrayed well on the Web.

"For some of the college kids, it'll click, and they'll realize they need to clean up their Facebook profile," Brand-Yourself partner and chief marketing officer Patrick Ambron tells ParentDish. "But it doesn't occur to them that they're missing an opportunity to basically separate themselves with positive online representation."

Earlier this year, Syracuse University announced it had purchased six-month subscriptions to the Brand-Yourself's service for all 4,100 of its graduating seniors to "help students monitor and shape their online presence during the job search process."

CareerBuilder.com, the largest online job site in the United States, details the lengths employers will go to to dig up "digital dirt" on applicants, reporting that 70 percent of U.S. hiring managers surveyed have rejected job applicants based on information about the candidate they found online.

With those kinds of statistics, you may want to check your own Google grade first.

First posted on Parent Dish

Choosing High School Activities Wisely

You hear it from your friends, your relatives, and even from the media: what you do now (whether you're five or 15 years old) can affect your chances of getting into college. There's some truth to this—colleges do look at your academic record from ninth grade on.
But this philosophy can steer you in the wrong direction when it comes to choosing extracurricular activities. Ambitious students may be tempted to choose their activities based on what might look good on a college application. Okay, oboe players may be more rare than pianists, but learning the oboe when you'd rather be throwing the football makes your extracurricular activities seem like the hardest, most boring homework ever.

What Doesn't Matter

Here's the secret: colleges don't care what activities you choose. A well-rounded college class (which is the goal of all admissions offices) includes both accomplished musicians and talented athletes-along with yearbook editors, chess players, student-body leaders, artists, volunteers, computer enthusiasts, and a host of other interesting people.
High school is a good time to figure out your interests and abilities, and then get involved with activities that use those talents. You'll naturally want to spend more time on things that interest you. And that's what colleges look for: students who demonstrate long-term involvement and commitment to a few activities.
"College admission people are looking for kids with a passionate involvement in something," says Josie Collier, a counselor at Frank W. Cox High School (VA). "The 'what' doesn't seem to matter."

Depth vs. Breadth

Don't look to fill up that activities space on a college application with the names of 15 different clubs and activities. Here's a good rule of thumb: as you get farther along in your high school years, your number of activities should go down, not up.
Why? Younger students (high school freshman and sophomores) need to try different activities to figure out what they're interested in. By junior year, many students know what they most enjoy. Then, they can concentrate on contributing more of their time to their favorite activities and less time (or none at all) to activities they don't particularly enjoy.
But just spending more time hanging out in the band room or locker room isn't the goal.
"Colleges want students who have shown long-term, in-depth interest and true talent in extracurricular activities," says Scott White, guidance counselor at Montclair High School (NJ).
That means taking on more responsibility and leadership roles in your area of interest. If you're a musician, for example, you may want to try out for county or state band, volunteer for section leader, or help give music lessons for beginners. If community service is your passion, you might start as a weekly volunteer at the food bank, then help plan a fund-raising event, and end up as a member of the organization's planning committee. You don't have to be president of your high school class to demonstrate leadership ability (although that's good, too!). Colleges—and the "real world"—need leaders in every field of interest, from astrophysics to zoology.

The Balancing Act

Of course, extracurricular activities should never get in the way of your schoolwork. (Yes, sometimes your mom actually does have a point.) College admission officers look at your grades and courses first. Activities often come in a distant second or third in admission decisions (unless you're the number-one high school running back in the country or the first teenage author recommended by Oprah).
So take a look at your schedule. Where are you spending your time and energy? If you're stressed out, or feel like you have too much to do, you may need to cut out an activity that no longer means that much to you. Or you may need to improve your time management skills (which will come in handy in college, too).
Real balance is spending the most time on the things that are most important to you and your future.
Written by Jennifer Gross.