Originally published on 14 September 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Weber setting up his file folder for his animation videos | Photo by Nancy Lin
Fifteen-year-old Weber Lin was an Arcadia High School freshman when schools closed their campus in March and resorted to virtual learning. One day he and his parents read a CNN online article about a group of people in Montana who were making 3D-printed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help with disposable mask shortages in local hospitals. They shared their ‘Montana Mask’ design with the public, which started a worldwide grass-roots effort to alleviate PPE shortages everywhere. And Weber saw an opportunity to join the cause.
Using a 3D printer he had won at a previous competition, Weber printed reusable ‘Montana Masks’ for a local urgent care clinic as his Eagle Scout project. Arcadia Police Chief Robert Guthrie also asked for an order of the masks for his police force. The venture was such a success that it grew into a much larger endeavor. He started a GoFundMe campaign raising over $3K, acquired six more printers, and created over 3,000 pieces of PPE (masks, face, shields, and ear savers) which he distributed to frontline workers from Hawaii to the East Coast and even to South America.
Weber assembling some 3D printers | Photo by Nancy Lin
Weber later learned that the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, an annual global competition for students to inspire creative thinking about science, added a COVID category this year. Having already worked on providing masks in March and April, he thought entering the competition’s COVID category was a natural extension of his efforts to help stem the spread of COVID-19. He spent over 150 hours producing a public service announcement (PSA) to help people, even kids, to better understand the coronavirus.
The idea was to create an entertaining and educational PSA with an unusual angle – from the point of view of the virus. Weber has always enjoyed making videos for school projects, even adding a bit of fun with green screens and stop-motion clay animation. For the Breakthrough Junior Challenge video, though, he really pulled out all the stops. He converted the family dining room – which he had previously used as a makeshift 3D printing PPE factory – into a production studio. His PSA includes a file folder that moves by itself and body parts that magically fall apart and come together. But what truly makes this amazing is that he’s completely self-taught, never having taken any formal class in film-making or video editing.
That project advanced Weber into the top 30 semifinalist stage and he is now in the Popular Vote phase. If he wins either the overall popular vote or the COVID category popular vote, it would shortcut him into the final round of judging for a chance to win a $250K scholarship, a new $100K science lab for his high school, and a $50K prize for his favorite STEM teacher.
With your help, Weber can win the popular vote and Arcadia High School can get a science lab. Please enter your vote before September 20. Use this link to his video and instructions on how to vote.
Share the video with friends for a SECOND VOTE (making sure they only vote by going THROUGH the link too; just “liking” your shared post will not count for votes)
IMPORTANT: ONLY LIKES/SHARES ON THE OFFICIAL BREAKTHROUGH PAGE COUNT!There is a max of 2 votes (1 like/1 share) per FB account owner.
Whether he prevails in the competition or doesn’t, Weber is already a winner in the eyes of all the frontline workers whose health and lives he helped save.
Originally published on 11 September 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Benjamin Franklin appointed the first postmaster general in 1775 but it wasn’t until the passage of the Postal Service Act in 1792 that the post office department was created. In 1970, it became what we now know as the United States Postal Service (USPS).
For all the noble purposes its creation was intended, the USPS has seen its share of negative press and not by its own doing. In 1986, a series of incidents involving postal workers killing managers, fellow workers, and police officers originated the derogatory expression ‘going postal.’ Since then, anyone having a meltdown is described as ‘going postal.’
President Trump recently threatened to block aid for the agency unless it quadruples its prices for package shipping. That could adversely affect the USPS’s partnership with Amazon to deliver the online giant’s packages at a discounted rate. Yet, its financial woes may have nothing to do with shipping prices but are due to a congressionally-mandated retirement health plan that no other agency is required to observe.
All these, however, are a cause for concern among USPS employees as they wonder if they will have jobs when the dust finally settles. I would like to advocate recognizing the invaluable service that these men and women provide and rescuing them from an uncertain future.
Our
mail carrier Rudy has been working in our neighborhood since my daughter
Brianna was four years old. She thought then that Rudy was a relative because
each time he delivered our mail, we would chat and ask about each other’s
family members as if we knew them personally.
Rudy
and I swapped accounts of the challenges in finding caregivers for parents with
dementia and the travails of the ‘sandwich’ generation – adults who have aged
parents and young children to look after. We commiserated with each other when
these parents we had been worrying about passed away.
It
was Rudy who chased after our hyperactive cocker spaniel Charlie when he bolted
out into the street as we were chatting by the front door one day. As fast as
Charlie ran, Rudy was faster and got our dog safely back in no time.
I don’t know everything that happens in our neighborhood, but Rudy sees them all and that’s how I find out. He is privy to a lot of joyful occasions as well as the heartbreaking events. He was the one who told me that the well-known interior designer who owned the gorgeous French Regency residence nearby was moving to South Pasadena to open a larger office. Four years ago, he excitedly informed me that the teenager who lived close to us had qualified to compete in swimming at the Summer Olympics – he was as proud of her as her parents were!
A USPS office | Courtesy photo
When an internationally famous pop star suddenly died about a decade ago, Rudy told me a neighbor of ours was bereft not only because she knew him personally – she was one of his back-up singers – but also because his worldwide tour was going to be her major break.
A sad occurrence Rudy relates concerns an older resident who lived on her own. He says, “I always made it a point to stop for a few minutes to look in on her and would run errands for her. One day, I found out that some of her relatives were trying to extort money. I took it upon myself to let her exploiting relatives know that I was aware of what was happening, and that I would report them to the proper authorities if they attempted it again. She has since passed away and her estranged daughter is now living in the house. I wish she had been there when her mom needed her.”
Perhaps the most heartrending event Rudy has witnessed unfolded only a few weeks ago. He recalls, “There was an electrical accident at the house that’s being built up on this street. I saw the man who was working inside come running out with his body on fire. People had gathered, telling him to roll around the grass but there really wasn’t much of that left, there was mostly debris from all the construction. The man’s clothes had burned and he was naked, so I asked someone to get me a towel to cover him with. The paramedics arrived rather quickly and rushed him to the hospital but, tragically, he passed away the following day.”
As
to the job itself, Rudy says, “It is generally a pleasant job. The mail
processing at the facility where I work is quite organized – the mail being
distributed to carriers is balanced out so that there aren’t days when we’re
delivering them until dark. That’s not to say that it isn’t stressful, though,”
he admits. “There’s always the pressure to work faster and more efficiently.”
It’s usually the mail carrier who is the first to see changes in the area and Rudy has observed a shift in demographics in the last decade. He reports, “There’s a lot of construction going on. Older residents are moving out and are being replaced by younger families. The pandemic caused an increase in online shopping which has meant more packages to deliver, but I already had more packages than other carriers’ even before the lockdown because there are more young people on my route and they tend to shop online.”
I ask what he likes about being a mail carrier, and Rudy replies, “The people are all very friendly, warm, and caring. There’s one elderly gentleman who keeps an ice chest with cold water and soda waiting for me on his porch. Another older lady calls me on my cell or home phone when she hasn’t see me for days, to make sure I’m okay. Everyone takes the time to chat or say ‘Hello.’ It’s the people that make it a gratifying job.”
Rudy
has been working for the post office for 31 years. He and his wife will be
celebrating their 39th anniversary next month, after having raised
four children ranging in age from 38 to 25. He’s eligible for retirement and is
looking at all his options. He loves the job and enjoys his daily rounds in the
neighborhood but he thinks it might be time to hang up his mail carrier hat. It
will be a gloomy day when he decides to – we can’t fathom having someone other
than Rudy deliver our mail.
| Courtesy photo
A
mail processing clerk who graciously agrees to answer my questions on condition
of anonymity because he is contractually prohibited from speaking with the
media on behalf of the post office without their prior approval, has been a
USPS employee for six years now.
When I inquire if he feels the agency gets undeserved bad publicity, he says, “I’m not sure that USPS gets all that much bad publicity. At the end of the day it is a service that customers pay for; and when a customer has a bad experience they will want to complain about it (sometimes rightfully so). Maybe some people wrongfully believe their tax dollars are being spent to support the Postal Service and would like to have more say in how it is handled. As a service it is not without its shortcomings, but postal workers fulfill a vital role in society. Everyone notices when the package or letter they’ve been expecting arrives late and a lot of people are working to make sure it won’t.”
I ask how the budget cuts affected employees, his workplace, and the performance of his duties, and he replies, “At my facility only overtime hours were cut; but in a facility with hundreds of employees, that equates to a lot of work time. The only changes I have experienced were cuts to overtime and operational hours, i.e., operations were to be shut down at prescribed times to facilitate a regimented flow of mail; but that meant unprocessed mail was held for the following day.”
“This led to delays in processing for delivery, which meant most days were heavy (for this time of year) and ultimately led to sending large amounts of mail to the carriers every day,” he continues. “That affects how long they are out on the road and, in turn, how quickly they can return with mail to be sent out processed. These policies would not have held up under the volume of the election mailings [opinion based on having worked during previous elections] – the amount of mail that would have been delayed would have been astronomical. During the 2016 election, mail-in-ballot volume increased processing time for outgoing mail by 1-2 hours a day for multiple weeks leading up to the election itself.”
As to accounts in the media about rotting food and dead animals at some postal offices, he clarifies, “The only parcels we work on are 1-day Express and those were unaffected. Live animals, perishables, organs, et. al. are only supposed to be sent 1-day Express. If those items were sent by another method it would be handled by another facility; and those stories do not surprise me with parcel volume as high as it is coupled with the cuts we had experienced.”
“The
atmosphere at work is fairly neutral, trending toward concern,” he adds. “There
was a lot of confusion and frustration with the policies enacted at the
beginning of August. There is some uncertainty with regard to funding and the
longevity of the Postal Service, should the recent strains put on it persist.
“It
is largely a good place to work, notwithstanding. Like many jobs there are
supervisors and managers you like and those you don’t; coworkers you like and
those you don’t. There is plenty of opportunity to advance or branch out into
different jobs other than what I do currently. More recently, it has been
stressful with wearing a mask all day at work and the political climate making
our future uncertain. But I have work that keeps me busy enough to not worry
too much.”
As he points out, the USPS is a good place to work at. It is also a compassionate agency. According to the USPS website, it has a long history of providing career opportunities to veterans, reservists, and their family members. It employs more than 97,000 veterans across the country. Former military members make up over 18 percent of its personnel, which means it employs veterans at three times their share of the national workforce.
Besides being a good employer, the USPS offers affordable postal and shipping rates and small business owners rely on it to get their products to customers. While the recent delays due to the budget cuts caused havoc on their shipping budget and even resulted in lost income for some, that is not the norm. The USPS has reliably delivered parcels and packages to their destination in a few days.
Compared with those of other countries, we enjoy the least expensive postal delivery system – a fact most of us don’t fully appreciate. Being an avid traveler with an annoying habit of sending postcards to friends and family from wherever I am, I have first-hand knowledge.
We spend 55 cents to send by first-class mail a one-ounce letter, and 15 cents for each additional ounce, $1 for a flat/large envelope, and 35 cents for postcards anywhere within the United States – that’s 3,797 million miles of land area. We pay $1.20 to send a letter or card to most countries in Asia and Western Europe.
The
Royal Mail, on the other hand, charges 76p for first-class (approximately $1.30)
and 65p (approximately 86 cents) for second class mail within the United
Kingdom. Tom, my son-in-law, is from England and his entire family lives there.
It costs his friends and family from ₤1.55 (about $2.06) to ₤1.66 (about $2.21)
to send him a one-ounce card during the holidays. And having been to the U.K. a
few times, I know that it costs at least ₤1(about $1.33) to send a postcard here.
My
sister, who lives in Switzerland with her husband and daughter, spends CHF 2.00
(about $2.12) to send a letter to me. I have to add that the Swiss postal
system hasn’t been as reliable as in the past – the last time I sent my niece a
birthday card, it took seven weeks to get to her, when it used to take only
five days.
I have relatives in the Philippines who have limited themselves to sending me e-cards during Christmas because the price of international postage stamps is prohibitive. To give you a clear picture of what I mean, the minimum wage there is 537 Philippine pesos (PHP) or $11.05 per day and sending a one- ounce letter (up to 28.35 grams) to L.A. county costs 140 PHP or $2.88. That’s over a quarter of what a Filipino minimum-wage worker makes in one entire day!
U.S. stamps | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Even
as we pay affordable rates for postage, we complain each time the price
increases. So the USPS created the ‘Forever’ stamp we can use even when the
rate goes up. I haven’t heard of any other country’s postal system that has
resorted to that.
Speaking of stamps, the United States has some of the prettiest stamps you can find. And I know what I’m talking about – I have quite an impressive stamp collection that spans 74 years and covers 65 countries. Okay, I’m old (because who else but an old person would have a stamp collection, right?) but not quite as old as the oldest stamps in my collection. It just so happens that my long-deceased grandfather worked for the Philippine post office and he bequeathed to me his commemorative first day cover of the July 4, 1946 Philippine Independence Day stamp (Philippine independence from American rule, which is different from when the United States liberated it from Spanish colonization in 1898). In fact, it was how my hobby started. But I digress.
Postal workers perform essential functions which cannot be replaced by a machine. The ZIP code, which was introduced and implemented in 1963, allowed for automated mail sorting. And since I’ve only ever received or sent out letters and cards with ZIP codes on them, I thought a letter would not get to its destination without it. Until I was proved wrong. Two weeks ago, Tom received a card from his childhood friend in England. Instead of putting the ZIP code, his friend inadvertently wrote Tom’s entire 10-digit cell phone number!
While a missing ZIP code isn’t exactly an adversity to overcome, America’s postal workers have battled natural calamities to get our mail delivered. The motto ‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds’ aptly describes what they accomplish.
Our mail carriers are a part of our daily lives – they cheer with us when we celebrate milestones and grieve with us when we mourn our misfortunes. They are a thread in the fabric of our community.
Originally published on 1 September 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
University of Mississippi | Courtesy photo
The road to college
It’s after Labor Day and that usually means the end of summer. Classes have begun in mid or late August so your children are settling into the new school year by now.
Before I launch into the college guide, let me touch on a topic that often times causes family discord. Counselors tell their students to follow their passion when it comes to deciding what to pursue in college. That makes a lot of sense because people generally learn better when they’re studying something they are interested in. However, we also hear about researches that find STEM degrees are the most valuable, with the liberal arts the least valuable, to employers. Parents, anxious about their children’s earning potential, career future, and over-all financial stability then discourage their children from taking liberal arts in college and push their children into the STEM fields.
On the other hand, employers also emphasize that they’re looking for applicants with excellent communication skills even when the job isn’t STEM-related. The contradictory information is enough to make anyone’s head spin. The one thing researchers and career advisors agree on is that earning a college degree will pay off in the long run. So whether your children are looking to get an engineering degree or are more interested in the humanities, the important thing is for you to support your children’s choice and help them to be ready for college.
My daughter’s high school administrators preached to their students that the college application process doesn’t start until the spring of their junior year and, therefore, they shouldn’t be working on it until then. As our family’s experience belatedly proved, however, the process really begins on the first day of 9th grade. Hence, I advocate that your children start preparing as soon as they get into high school. Doing so makes a world of difference in their college search outcome.
In last month’s college search guide, I said that the College Board is expanding the use of the adversity score to the SAT in an effort to make college admissions more equitable. It had many detractors, however, and the College Board recently announced that it’s dropping the adversity score and will now use what it calls ‘Landscape.’
While it pretty much includes the same factors that were in the ‘Adversity Score,’ the College Board claims ‘Landscape’ is more transparent and provides admissions officers more consistent background information.
In an article published in the Wall Street Journal on August 27, education writer Douglas Belkin, reported that the adversity score (also called environmental context dashboard) was a combination of 15 socioeconomic metrics from a student’s high school and neighborhood.
‘Landscape’ will add six ‘challenge’ factors that provide the ‘summary neighborhood challenge’ and the ‘summary high school challenge indicator.’ The factors are college attendance, household structure, median family income, housing stability, education levels, and crime.
Belkin noted that this is the second time that the College Board has rolled back efforts to reflect students’ socioeconomic backgrounds – it dropped a similar effort 20 years ago due to unfavorable reaction from colleges. And this will most probably not be the last word on the matter. The current admissions process is intrinsically flawed and band-aid solutions can’t make it right.
I still think that adding ‘screening methods’ misses the point. Every student is different and can’t be lumped under a general category. But admissions officers can’t reasonably learn about each one when they have approximately 30 minutes to scan each application. With ever more American students applying and interest among foreign students to study here increasing, the competition will not diminish any time soon.
| Courtesy photo
FRESHMAN
Instill in your children good time management and organizational skills early on. High school is so much busier than what they’ve been through yet. These skills will help them have a happy, productive, and successful four-year experience.
If your children didn’t develop good study habits in lower and middle school, they need to buckle up and be serious about academics. Encourage them to immerse themselves in the culture of their high school and get involved in various extra-curricular activities that support their interests, and which they can carry on into the next three years.
Your children should find the time to meet with their school’s counselor to map out a four-year curriculum that meets all the requirements for graduating and going into college. Most colleges or universities require: four years of English; four years of mathematics; four years of science with advanced work in at least one of the three disciplines – biology, chemistry, physics; four years of a world language; three years of history, including American and European.
They should take the most challenging courses they could handle. If their high school offers Advanced Placement (AP) subjects in ninth grade and your children decide to take the course, they have to be ready to take the exams after they complete it. Colleges usually only recognize 4s and 5s to show competency. Highly selective institutions also expect As on AP courses on students’ transcripts.
SOPHOMORE
By this time, your children should be fully transitioned into high school. They should be picking up where they left off – taking AP courses, working on extra-curricular activities they had identified in their freshman year, playing sports for their school, etc.
Practice exams for standardized tests are given in your children’s sophomore year so make sure they are registered for the PSAT. Taking these tests will help them identify their weaknesses and study for them. Several companies and organizations offer test preparation courses; your children should register to one if they need help getting ready for these exams (ACT: www.act.org; PSAT: www.collegeboard.com; Educational Testing Service: www.ets.org; Kaplan: www.kaplan.com; National Association for College Admission Counseling: www.nacacnet.org; The Princeton Review: www.princetonreview.com).
It may seem too early to do this, but your children can start looking at colleges that offer courses in their fields of interest. Or they can begin considering all possible options, if they haven’t determined what they are thinking of taking in college.
| Courtesy photo
JUNIOR
This is a very hectic, even stressful, time in your children’s high school life. It is also the last complete year that college admissions officers will see your students’ grades and accomplishments. It is a decidedly important year for them; they need to put the effort to show admission officers that they are capable of doing the work and are qualified for admission to the school to which they will be applying. If your children are thinking of applying to universities through early action/decision, their junior year grades and work will become all the more significant.
Aside from the rigors of school, sports, extra-curricular activities, there are standardized tests to take. Your children should be taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) early next month. I would like to remind parents not to put extra pressure on their children as they get ready for the standardize exams – they are stressed enough as it is and a higher than average SAT score does not guarantee admission to their dream university.
You and your children should be going to College Fairs being held at their high school. They should be gathering information about colleges and universities – courses and diplomas offered; standardized test requirements for admission; deadlines for early action/decision, if being offered, and for regular admission.
SENIOR
It is going to be a marathon for your children! From the moment they get in the doors of the school, they are going to be putting much of their focus on college applications. If your children are applying for early action/decision, they should have taken all the standardized exams required by the university during their summer after junior year.
Make it a point to attend your children’s “Back to School Night” because the counselors will most probably be giving parents information about the college applications that will be starting in earnest.
The organizational skills that I have been talking about since your children entered 9th grade will be put to the test during their senior year. Encourage your children to create a calendar with standardized testing dates, counselor meeting schedules, application deadlines.
Your children should have a binder with separate sections for each college or university and a log of what needs to be accomplished for each, like: required standardized tests (SAT or ACT, SAT II grades; AP test scores, etc.); writing supplement; how many letters of recommendation they require; application fee; how to send the application.
Ideally, you and your children have visited the colleges they are thinking of applying to. One of the first things they have to do is finalize the list of colleges and universities to which they will send applications – eight was the norm when my daughter was applying. However, students now are sending in 12 or more applications. This new normal, though, has only added to the competitiveness of the process. I would suggest limiting it to 12 because applying to more schools doesn’t make a university with a 4% admission rate a more reachable goal.
They should be ready to write their personal statement; they should also have provided stamped envelopes to the teachers giving them recommendations.
One factor that makes the college admissions process really stressful for parents is the feeling of not knowing what’s happening. School counselors generally only have time to meet exclusively with students so parents feel shut out. However, there are books you can read to help demystify this process. A book I would recommend is called “Getting In! the Zinch Guide to College Admissions and Financial Aid in the Digital Age” by Steve Cohen, Anne Dwane, Paulo de Oliveira, and Michael Muska.
The professional guidance and insight the authors of this book provide will give you the ability to help your children navigate this complicated process. Use the book constructively; do not make it another source of stress for yourself and your children.
Over the course of writing a College Search Guide, I have also met a few outstanding independent counselors and I highly recommend them should you feel more comfortable getting regular, face-to-face time with a counselor.
Greg Kaplan is a local independent counselor and can be reached at greg@earningadmission.com and his website is www.earningadmission.com. There is a Boston-based counseling group called College Vine, which offers near-peer mentoring; one of their counselors is an Arcadia High School alumna, who is currently a senior student at Cornell.
If you are applying for financial aid, be aware that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov) submission date starts on October 1st to align with the college application schedule.
It goes without saying that as busy as your children are when they go through the college application process, they should also get the best grades they are capable of. The colleges to which they are applying will require their first quarter grades if they’re looking to gain admission through early action or early decision.
Originally published on 3 August 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Bern University | Courtesy photo
The road to college
For the August College Search Guide, I would customarily write that I hope your
children got the chance to decompress and savor the summer break. These are
extraordinary times, however. Our usual activities have been upended and we’re
constantly challenged to get to a place of normalcy in our daily lives.
The announcement a few weeks ago that the Los Angeles and San Diego school districts will not be reopening their campuses for the Fall term until the foreseeable future caused much disappointment for students who have been learning remotely since mid-March. Parents of these students who, by default, became de facto teachers are as frustrated as they are exhausted.
Fortunately, the pandemic engendered tutoring services, some of which are conducted by high schoolers and college students, and are free of charge. These organizations, like ‘Sailors Learning,’ will continue providing assistance to elementary-age children, middle-, and high-schoolers through the remainder of this year. You and your children might want to take advantage of their help.
Much has been written about the negative effects of campus
closures – including the loss of social interaction and students struggling
with their schoolwork. For some high-schoolers, though, remote learning gave
them relief – they got extra sleep, they were less stressed, they could email
teachers questions without being embarrassed, they were able to focus on
lengthy assignments – which made up for them not being able to hang out with
their friends. Some even flourished – those who were typically behind got the
extra time to catch up and ended the school year with excellent grades.
That said, the pandemic does not change the reality that every
fall marks the time when the process of getting ready for college application
begins – whether your children are just starting 9th grade or are
already in 12th grade. The only difference is the pace at which they
are working on their resume. They start building all the components that go
into their transcript as soon as they get into high school. By the time they
reach their senior year, they should have a transcript with excellent grades
balanced with an equally impressive array of extra-curricular and enrichment activities.
This year’s ‘Back to School Night’ will undoubtedly be a virtual event and something you shouldn’t miss. There is so much going on which administrators need to inform you about – including an update on campus reopening safely and social distancing protocols they plan to have when that happens, to addressing issues voiced and implementing reforms advanced by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
You and your children should determine their interests and career
goals and see what courses the school offers which appropriately meet those.
These should be the guidelines for your students during the four years they are
in high school. The outcomes of their work then determine which colleges or
universities they should consider when they put together their list of where to
apply.
An important factor in the admissions process is the students’ (and parents’) preconceived ideas about where they should apply and what their dream school is. Oftentimes, kids apply to the same dozen or so most-recognizable university names. This creates an unreasonable expectation which, more often than not, leads to unhealthy behavior. There are innumerable institutions that offer excellent teaching; there is a school out there that is the right fit for your child.
| Courtesy photo
FRESHMAN
High school is vastly different from middle school. Teachers
have higher expectations from the work students turn in. Your children need to
develop their analytical skills as their teachers will require deeper thinking
and subject exploration from their papers. They should also have better time
management skills to handle the more rigorous course load and extra-curricular
activities.
In the first few days of 9th grade, your children
will have several things they will be making decisions on, and tackling. I have
to add here that high schools send their profile to the college or university
to which your children are applying. Admissions officers will know what
opportunities were available and if the applicant took advantage of them. I
have listed them here with a brief description or explanation:
AP COURSES: Make sure your children choose the AP subjects they will need in the course(s) they will be taking in college. They shouldn’t pile up on APs to pad their resume because they will need to take the AP (and SAT II) exams for these subjects. Some universities only accept 4 or 5 on an AP exam for it to have any merit at all. While college admissions officers favor students who took on challenging AP subjects, they don’t look kindly on low AP grades either. Encourage your children to take courses they are truly interested in; students who study something they really like generally do well in it.
CLUBS: Your children should join the clubs they actually want to be involved in; encourage them to participate actively. Ideally, your children would start a society based on their interest or something they feel strongly about. It can be something socially impactful, or it can be a fun club for student members to take a respite from their heavy academic load. In my daughter’s school one student formed a Superhero Club where they went to all the openings of the latest Marvel or DC Comics films. Needless to say, this was years before the pandemic, when we could still go to the movies.
ATHLETICS: This is an essential component of high school life that is being severely impacted by the pandemic. As you most probably have heard or read, even professional sports are beleaguered by COVID-19 infections. Schools will be challenged to find a way students can participate in sports at this time.
ARTS CLASS: If your children’s school offers art electives, encourage them to take a course. Usually, in the first year, the grade level dean encourages students to try various classes on offer so they can determine what they really want to focus on in the next three years.
LANGUAGE: Besides the core subjects – English, History, Math, Science – a world language is a requirement for admission into college. In some elementary schools, students can take Mandarin and Spanish immersion classes. The Pasadena Unified School District, for one, offers French in addition to Mandarin and Spanish. If they continue on, these children will be ready not merely for college; they will be well-equipped for an increasingly global society.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: Your children should do something they feel strongly about and work it every summer; it shows commitment to the activity they took on. This is going to be an essential component in your children’s transcript. Admissions officers are looking for depth of community involvement.
SUMMER CAMP/ENRICHMENT COURSE: If your children have a passion for a particular activity, they should pursue a summer program related to it. Guidance counselors in some schools compile a list of the most engaging courses locally, out-of-state, or internationally.
It goes without saying that all the above activities are
merely supplements to good grades in the core subjects. Loading up on
extra-curriculars at the expense of grades is definitely ill-advised. While admissions officers at all the
universities talk about their holistic approach in their selection process, a
student’s GPA remains a very critical, if not the single most important,
component of your children’s college application.
SOPHOMORE
Your children have fully transitioned into high school, the
demands of which were drilled into their subconscious the past school year. They
have to put 9th grade behind them and face 10th grade with
renewed energy and enthusiasm.
JUNIOR
This is going to be your children’s busiest school year. Make
sure your children confer with their school’s counselor to ascertain they have
all the courses required for graduating and for college. They need to know what
standardized exams they’ll need to take for the college application. They
should research which colleges and universities offer the course(s) they would
like to pursue.
SENIOR
By this time, your children should know where they will be applying and have visited the schools. They should have taken all standardized exams required for college applications, firmed up their college/university list, researched all kinds of scholarships, lined up teachers to write their recommendations, perfected their personal statement, and learned how to complete the common application.
Originally published on 16 July 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
| Courtesy photo
Remote learning became the default method of delivering teaching when the coronavirus lockdown was enforced in mid-March. Students, who thought this was a short-term measure, were all excited to get an extended spring break. It was cause for celebration!
However, that thrill wore off as the reality of studying from home for an extended period of time became apparent – they missed social interaction with friends, guidance from teachers, and support from school administrators. It also brought to light a very basic problem – students were having a hard time keeping up with their classwork.
Monish Muralicharan, 14 years old, Sanjay Adhikesaven, and Abyan Das, both 15-year-olds, who were then freshmen at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, were talking with a parent of an elementary schooler who found out that their child was having trouble grasping topics and adjusting to distance learning. That chance discovery mobilized them to take action – they were going to match these children with appropriate tutors and founded an organization called ‘Sailors Learning.’
Their mandate is to provide the service free of charge to make it accessible to parents of all backgrounds whose elementary- and middle-school children need a tutor. They ensure students are matched with tutors who fit their schedules, academic needs, and areas of struggle. Additionally, they offer extra-curricular classes to students interested in science, math, coding, and history.
While their parents are involved in a small capacity – re-sharing posts on Facebook and LinkedIn to spread the word – Monish, Sanjay, and Abyan claim joint ownership of ‘Sailors Learning.’ Via email, they relate whose brainchild it was and why they named it such.
Sanjay
begins, “At the beginning of quarantine, we all were on a call and thought of providing
tutoring. We understood we were struggling in distance learning so the
struggles would be the same or even harder for elementary schoolers. We wanted
to pick an interesting name, and we thought ‘Sailors’ was a cool name because it
also represents reaching new depths, which is what we want to do here at ‘Sailors
Learning.’ At first, we had the idea for us to tutor children to help them out.
However, we decided to make a platform to allow other students to also be tutors
so we can help more people.”
“We are using tools such as Wix, Google Meets, Gmail and many other messaging sites,” Monish describes. “Since we are an online tutoring service, we use many different ways to communicate with our tutors and parents which is mostly email. We use Google Meets as our main platform for extracurricular classes. However, in one-on-one tutoring, the parent and tutor can choose to use other platforms such as Zoom. Wix has been a big part to our success as we use it to make a great website. A website is a core to having an online service and Wix has helped us make that possible.”
Continues Monish, “Currently, we do not have a supervisor because we wanted to have an independent nonprofit as high schoolers. As for curriculum, in our extracurricular classes we stray away from the common core and basic topics taught in school. Having a teacher will not help as they would be looking for school-related topics. The whole point of our group classes is to teach out of school subjects, that way the students who enroll are signing up for things they want to learn, not things they need for school. For our one-on-one tutoring service, the tutor helps the student with whatever they need, so the curriculum does not need to be supervised. As for the service itself, we only have qualified tutors – we have an interview process and we pick the best teachers. We have seen many other tutoring organizations where they accept anyone but we wanted our students to have the best quality learning. Finally, we pride ourselves on creating this nonprofit from the ground independently.”
And
it was getting started that proved to be the greatest challenge. Monish
discloses, “I believe that for most businesses, nonprofits, and companies that
is the first step, and the same is true for ‘Sailors Learning.’ We had no previous
experience running anything so we struggled at the start. But soon we split the
work up into parts for each founder and we got going and led to the point where
we are now.”
‘Sailors Learning’ currently has about 50 students and 17 tutors they found through word of mouth, Facebook, LinkedIn, and friends. They’re growing the tutor base and looking to expand it further as they plan on continuing to use their resources to help other children after remote learning is lifted. They are thinking of expanding to help high schoolers as well.
Abyan supplements, “We are a nonprofit organization so that means that tutors will receive volunteer hours. ‘Sailors Learning’ offers coding, science, three levels for math, history, a book club, and we are opening new classes for summer including engineering and a creative writing class.”
These
‘sailors’ are regular teenagers. Monish enjoys playing the clarinet, table
tennis, chess, video games, and participating
in debate tournaments. In his free time, he plays games, watches TV, exercises,
and listens to music.
Monish tutors coding on Fridays and science on Saturdays. He explains, “I love science because of the wide variety of subjects and learning about the world. I love coding because it is fun to type words and solve a problem or create a game. I allocate about two hours a day managing ‘Sailors Learning’ over my other commitments. For tutoring, I spend three to four hours a week creating content and teaching.
“We
didn’t think about volunteer hours when we started ‘Sailors Learning’ – we just
wanted to help children. That, for me, has been rewarding. First, I get to run
a nonprofit with my friends and it has strengthened my relations with them.
Second, I love to tutor children in specifically science and coding. Finally,
the most important is how we all make a platform for not only children to learn
but for tutors to teach.”
College isn’t too far off Monish’s mind – he’s aiming to get into either Berkeley, UCLA, or Stanford.
Sanjay, like Monish, counts playing games and table tennis as his major interests. In his free time he goes on walks or participates in debate tournaments. He spends two to three hours a day working on the management part of the organization and about three hours a week tutoring and creating classes in coding and history.
Adding
to what Monish mentioned, Sanjay says, “There were a few challenges that we
encountered. First, there was the nonprofit application process, which was new
to us since this was the first time we created a nonprofit. Second, we saw the
problems that can arise, such as a tutor not being available and having to find
a substitute.”
“I think ‘Sailors Learning’ has helped me in many ways. I developed better relationships with my friends. And while I like to tutor, I also enjoy making this platform for students and teachers, which can reach a much broader scope,” concludes Sanjay.
He plans to pursue something STEM-related in college, and has looked into schools he could possibly apply to.
Abyan Das | Courtesy photo / Sailors Learning
Abyan allots two hours a day working to improve the organization he co-founded. He also tutors the extra-curricular history group class once a week for three to four hours. His hobbies are soccer, tennis, and debate. When he has a bit of free time, he plays video games, reads, or participates in debate. The head marketer for ‘Sailors Learning,’ he is looking to pursue marketing or business and hopes to get into a UC college. Besides the early challenge of filing for a nonprofit, he says getting their name out in the world has proven to be daunting.
“I
don’t get anything out of ‘Sailors Learning’ except spreading learning,”
expresses Abyan. “The whole point of this organization was to help children
learn, especially now due to COVID-19. However, we want to make this a
long-term plan and continue helping children.”
It
doesn’t matter that they live in Pleasanton, California – they are happy to
tutor kids in all the markets they can reach. As they emphatically point out
“Education is education and shouldn’t be limited to the local area.” And since
it’s all done online, it doesn’t matter if the student lives 350 miles
away.
Monish, Sanjay, and Abyan would like ‘Sailors Learning’ to be a long-term endeavor and they might have that wish granted – Los Angeles and San Diego USD announced this week that campuses will not reopen this fall and remote learning will continue into the foreseeable future. More tutors, not fewer, will be needed and will be greatly appreciated by all students struggling with their coursework.
Originally published on 9 July 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Karly Hou, shown at Harvard Square, is Wave Learning Festival’s Chair and Founder | Courtesy photo / Wave Learning Festival
When students were sent home during the coronavirus lockdown in March, they were left to their own devices as they studied remotely. Many didn’t have access to resources and teachers for guidance, which made it difficult to keep up with schoolwork. Parents of young children became active partners with the schools in providing learning for their kids. Some of them were also working from home so they had to juggle their time among their many responsibilities.
Karly Hou, who attended Henry M. Gunn High School in Northern California, was a freshman at Harvard University at the time. She had a brainstorm – organize an online platform to help students and parents during the quarantine period.
Fellow first-year Harvard student Kevin Tan, who went to Arcadia High School, along with a handful of other students from Stanford, Cal State San Luis Obispo, Northwestern, Rhode Island School of Design, Williams, and University of Pennsylvania, teamed up with Hou to form Wave Learning Festival. It is now on its third ‘wave’ of summer courses and has attracted middle- and high-schoolers from all over the world.
Via
email, Hou and Tan reveal how they know each other, how they created Wave
Learning Festival, and what they hope to accomplish.
“Karly and I have the same favorite study spot on campus: Cabot Science Library!” begins Tan. “It’s a truly amazing place for collaboration and seeing familiar friendly faces. There have been many times when those late night study sessions spontaneously broke into TikTok tutorials or just general chatter. Karly just has this amazing energy with her all the time, and we’ve been on the same wavelength since day one.”
It
was this energy which Tan enthuses about that led to the creation of Wave
Learning Festival.
Hou
says, “In March, we were all sent home from college. While it was a stark
transition, we were able to continue some sense of normalcy through online
classes and club meetings. But I saw friends at my old high school struggling
to maintain their studies, posting about their confusion and lack of
communication and support from the school. I thought, if PAUSD (my district),
one of the wealthiest school districts in California, was struggling like this,
what must students across the country be dealing with?
“Around the same time, I saw notices of summer camps and community programs shutting down without replacements or refunds, and started reading article after article by exasperated working parents on the difficulty of balancing their full-time jobs with the new job of keeping their kids engaged.”
Nick Danby, teaching ‘Great Speeches of History | Courtesy photo / Wave Learning Festival
Those concerns, and how to address them, became an obsession for Hou. She discloses, “I had been thinking this idea over in my mind for around three days straight, and I finally realized I had to get started because I couldn’t think about anything else. I made a document to quickly outline my ideas on the structure of our program, set up a team structure broken into five subgroups, and set up some basic materials – email addresses, a Slack workspace, a shared Google Drive, etc. The name – Wave Learning Festival – came about on a whim. After some deliberation, I decided to just roll with it since a) we could tie it into the idea of our classes running in ‘waves,’ b) the ocean imagery could give us a lot to work with as a theme, and c) nobody on the team had any grievances with it.
“I then reached out to some of my close friends from college and high school, as well as a few passionate friends I’d met through other events and, luckily, almost everyone was really excited about the idea. We got straight to work. Four days later, we had enough logistics set up and a website launched to start working with teachers; a couple weeks later, we introduced our first wave of classes. It’s incredible to me that we were able to organize everything so quickly, and I think that’s because we were all motivated by this shared belief in helping the community.”
For
anyone else, working on a passion project would be accomplishment enough. But,
by now, you would conjecture that Hou is quite the over-achiever.
“Balancing Wave with the end of my courses/my summer internship has definitely kept me very busy, but I’ve been more than happy to stay occupied during quarantine,” discloses Hou. “The good thing is that we got started right before finals, when classwork was winding down, but it was definitely hard to force myself to actually study, since working on Wave was so much more fun! Once summer started, I was able to get into a more set schedule of working my internship at Two Sigma in Houston from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., then taking a break before working on Wave through the evening. I spend my weekends working on Wave, so I’d say it comes out to be 20-plus hours a week right now, not counting the time spent thinking about it as I’m falling asleep at night. It definitely feels less tiring than it might seem, since I have so much fun on both projects. Happily, I still have some free time to hang out (virtually) with friends, bake cakes with the family, and do some painting.”
How she manages to do all that seems like a Herculean undertaking – it’s exhausting just seeing this young lady’s timetable on paper.
Arcadian Kevin Tan is Wave Learning Festival’s Associate Director of Logistics | Courtesy photo / Wave Learning Festival
Tan isn’t a slacker either – he is the Associate Director of Logistics for Wave Learning Festival. He describes, “I do a lot of the work on the back-end to make sure that we have a palette of phenomenal classes each wave. I work directly with the college and high school students who sign up to teach a course, and I make sure that through Wave, we can translate those ideas into classes that work well in a remote setting. It’s really amazing how such a small group blossomed into something so much bigger. I remember for our inaugural wave, we had 12 courses running, and since then, the logistics team has been working tirelessly to work with the demand and enthusiasm from students and teachers alike. We have over 50 classes planned for our upcoming third wave of classes, and we’re hoping to include even more in the future!”
“I’ve
been working to get almost 100 courses live on our site this summer, and I can
tell you that is no easy task,” Tan expounds. “Being remote, I can work
throughout the day focusing on the logistics – from interviewing our teachers
to moderating ongoing classes to make sure they are safe. The team has put in a
lot of time to make sure that the classes are of high quality and that student
safety is never compromised. I’m really excited to get our content team
integrated into the workflow so we can continue to scale this project
throughout this summer.
“When I’m not working on Wave, I do research at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Lee Lab – their computational biology projects are a perfect transfer to remote – which I started this summer. With my mentor Anna Lappala, we’re finding novel ways to computationally model 4D chromosomal folding. I’m also taking online courses and working with a few of my friends to address social issues highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic or the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Hou
and her collaborators designed Wave seminars to vary in duration and format. Most
of them are a two- to three-week series with classes that meet three to five
times a week and a few are one-time sessions. Any student can sign up at their
website, and classes are held live through Zoom. There are no formal
assessments or assigned homework – the goal is to help students learn about
topics they’re interested in and have fun.
“We leave optional readings, assignments, and projects at our teachers’ discretion to enhance student learning,” explains Hou. “Our educators have been pretty good at measuring students’ progress through interactive discussions, projects, and informal quizzes. Although some of our courses only run once, many of our most popular courses from each wave return for future waves. Each teacher comes in with their own idea of what topics they’d like to teach. Our prompts are completely open-ended, so people can apply to teach whatever they’re passionate about – whether it be astrophysics or poetry, filmmaking or public speaking, hip hop or medical ethics!”
Madison Abbassi, a rising junior at Palo Alto High School, teaching ‘How Cancer Work’ | Courtesy Photo / Wave Learning Festival
Instructors are carefully hand-picked from a pool of applications. Wave team members interview each applicant and work with them over the course of two weeks to review and refine their curricula. In addition, at least one team member sits in on each class to help with logistics and ensure things run smoothly. Some past instructors have also joined the team to help work with future teachers, passing on some of the experience and insight they’ve gained from going through the same process.
Wave
seminars are all held online and are open to anyone who is awake at the time
and can speak English. Says Hou, “We originally promoted it only within the US,
but news of the program quickly spread around the world. We’ve now registered
students from 31 countries: the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK,
Spain, Germany, Macedonia, Russia, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines,
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Bahrain, UAE, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Libya, South Africa, Venezuela, and
Brazil. So far, over 2000 students have signed up to learn with us in Wave
Three! Registration for Wave Four opens on July 14th with sessions beginning on the 27th.
Wave Five begins on August 17th and each runs for three weeks. Interested
families can enter their email address at our website to receive a notification
when registration goes live. We think we’ll run over a hundred classes for Wave
Four and maybe more for Wave Five to meet student demand.
“We
are hoping to continue Wave into the near future, likely transitioning to a
support format during the school year to assist students with their in-school
coursework, provide some extracurricular opportunities, and set up career
panels and college information sessions to help increase accessibility to this
kind of information. We are planning to host our summer programming next summer
as well, and now that we’ve set up so much infrastructure already, we
anticipate being able to offer even more courses and serve even more students.”
Wave Learning Festival came about to fill a need caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, from all indications, the Z Generation’s altruism and responsiveness come early on in their life compared to the generations before them. And they do it all in the spirit of having a fun time. Even if the lockdown didn’t happen when it did, Hou would undoubtedly have come up with a fantastic idea to be of service to others at some point. The pandemic only hastened the process.
Originally published on 2 July 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
St Salvator’s College, University of St Andrews (Fife, Scotland), U.K. | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
The road to college
Your children have been going through the greatest upheaval in their young lives. The coronavirus crisis has affected all of us in ways we’ve never before experienced. Among the biggest challenges for the adults in our household are concerns about our well-being, both physical and mental, and worries about our fiscal health. Our children sense our anxieties, adding to their own feeling of isolation from the world. Know that there are resources available, including the American Psychiatric Association and the Child Mind Institute, that can help adults and children cope at this difficult time.
As I touched on in last month’s College Guide, summer jobs will be hard to find in our current situation. Some of the retail stores and restaurants which, in years past, hired teenagers aren’t enjoying as much traffic because people aren’t confident about being out and about. News about resurging coronavirus cases are fueling trepidations about reopening the economy as our financial experts envisioned.
That said, there’s the reality that your children are facing
– building impressive resumes to look attractive to admissions officers. Whether
school campuses will be open in the fall or classes will continue to be held
remotely, your children need to be up to speed and ready to tackle the rigors
of high school. Guide them to find activities that make for a productive
summer.
RISING FRESHMAN
High School is going to be an exciting phase in your
children’s academic life. Having completed middle school and their tween years
where they found their identity, they are now ready to assert themselves in
this new environment.
If your children have not shown much interest in reading during their elementary or middle school years, you need to encourage them to spend this month reading – just for the sheer pleasure of it. Persuade them to look for different authors and genres; familiarizing themselves with various styles and themes will help them find their own voice. Reading will expand their vocabulary as they gain maturity in their writing and that will prepare them for composing their personal statement.
RISING SOPHOMORE
As mentioned above, summer is an opportune time for reading. Encourage your children to spend part of their day on this pleasurable and educational pursuit.
Your children should find an enrichment program or perform
community service work related to something they are passionate about. Sustained
effort and interest in one particular cause show that your children are
sincere, and not just padding their resumes.
If your children are so inclined, they can start researching
colleges. Nowadays, they can go online and get virtual campus tours of most
colleges or universities.
| Courtesy photo
RISING JUNIOR
Your children should be preparing themselves for one of the busiest years of their high school career. They should be immersed in community service work, professional internships, and enrichment programs. They can likewise start researching colleges and going online to get virtual college campus tours. This will also give your children some idea about the college application process.
Summer is the perfect time for them to read extensively to
expand their vocabulary and prepare them for writing their essay for the
college application.
RISING SENIORS
This is the year that will test your and your children’s
mettle. Be prepared for the marathon (which actually started in the spring of
their junior year). They should still be continuing the community service work
they began back in their freshman year, getting an internship, or looking for
avenues to use their talent.
If your children didn’t get the chance to visit the school prior to the coronavirus outbreak, they might want to do a virtual tour. It will help them narrow down their list to a more realistic number of applications.
They should also be thinking about their personal statement.
Likewise, some universities require a supplementary essay specific to them,
with topics that range from the practical to the philosophical. Admissions
officers are constantly on the lookout for something fresh and original in applicants’
compositions. However, it requires a certain amount of creativity and proficient
writing skill to come up with a treatise that will impress seasoned
readers.
That said, your children might also find some time to actually enjoy this summer before they get swallowed up by the vortex of college applications.
| Courtesy photo
COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS
Unless your children are spending this summer agonizing
because they’re waitlisted at their first choice school, they must be very excited
to have completed high school and are anxiously looking forward to the next
phase of their education. By this time, they should have put in the deposit on
the college they plan to attend. Some colleges will be sending out the
procedures for class registrations, information on housing, meal specifics, and
such other details to the incoming class.
Let your children take the lead on the college moving
arrangements and only offer guidance when they ask for it. In all likelihood,
your children will be moving away from home, maybe going to the other side of
the country. They need to practice being on their own and the preparations for
moving will be a good place to start.
If your children will be attending a university across the
Atlantic, as my daughter did, there is a whole set of preparations you have to
attend to. Applying for a student visa should be your priority as it could take
a month to secure. You and your college-bound student need to communicate
closely with the school as their requirements may differ greatly from those of
American universities.
Email or call the university to know when to wire the tuition and other college fees. Make sure your student has the necessary information on how to register for classes, how to apply for housing, and what essentials to bring to school. Research where to find items – including bedding (sizes are different from what’s standard here) and small electric appliances (voltage and shape of plug are different) – that your student will need. Knowing beforehand what stores you have to visit saves time.
Make sure you have enough time to spend helping your children settle into their new environment. When my daughter left for college in the U.K., we arrived there three weeks prior to freshers’ week. We opened her bank accounts, shopped for household items, and familiarized ourselves with the area (nearest grocery stores and hospital to her housing, for instance).
For most parents, sending their children away to college across the country is difficult enough. Letting 18-year-olds live on their own 5,000 miles away for four years is almost unthinkable. It takes a great deal of courage, on your part and your children’s, to make that plunge. But you’ll find that they grow into confident, responsible, and self-reliant adults and it was the best decision you both made.
At this juncture, let me address another situation. If your children weren’t accepted to any school they applied to, then they have to decide if they want to attend a community college. Most of these institutions will accept new students close to enrollment time. Some of them have arrangements with the UC system so graduates can attend a UC school for their junior and senior year. This has the double advantage of ensuring your children get a college diploma from a four-year university and saving on the cost of their education.
There are some instances when your children might gain admission during the spring term to their first-choice school (this scenario happens if the university wants to keep their ranking and your children did not receive a perfect SAT score but they met all the other requirements for admission. If your children have highly desirable qualities that will enhance the university’s student body, admissions officers will wait until after their school has been ranked so your kids’ SAT scores will no longer affect their place). Confer with your children’s college counselor about how to accomplish this.
Some college applicants who are on the waitlist for their dream university ask to be deferred (this will only work if your children met all the academic qualifications for admission to the school with only the problem of the university not having the space for your student this year).
Of course, there is the option to take a gap year after high school. One of my daughter’s classmates used it doing humanitarian work in Africa. This alternative can help your children stand out in a sea of similar-looking applicants. Several universities consider this as a major boost in an applicant’s resume. Admissions officers tend to see the student in better light – this person has some tangible experience to bring in and, therefore, adds to the school make-up.
The gap year option has become front and center during the coronavirus crisis for those who feel paying a full tuition isn’t worth the price when schools may not reopen their campuses and classes may be held remotely. For other students, waiting until campuses reopen offers them the full experience of freshman year. Fortunately, there are companies and organizations out there offering life skill courses and useful seminars for gap year students, one of which is Mind the Gap’s LIFE READY. (Read related article here)
Whether your high school graduate is going directly to college, going by the community college route, or taking a gap year, recognize their decision as a first step towards their independence.
Originally published on 22 June 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
| Courtesy photo
Until a few short years ago, the gap year was a British tradition – when a high school graduate spends a year before going off to college to pursue an interest or to work on a humanitarian project in another part of the world – we in America had only heard or read about. Then, ever so slowly, the idea took hold here among the wealthy. The coronavirus pandemic, however, made taking a gap year a realistic, even practical, option for students if school campuses aren’t going to be open in the fall.
An organization called Mind the Gap, was founded by Abby Brody to address the range of shortcomings in higher education and as a result of the need to bridge the chasm between what students learn in school and life skills they need in the real world. Its 15-week semester, called LIFE READY Program, will launch in September this year.
Brody
expands on this via email, “The cracks in the traditional path of higher
education have turned into more extensive and exposed gaps during the COVID-19
pandemic. We have been studying the crisis in higher education for the past two
years and the research is clear: gap year students have an advantage (in school
and life), but this advantage has previously been for the privileged – we are
changing this in real time. In being passionate about our mission we realized
quickly we were on to something huge when the A-list of educators jumped (and
continue to jump) at the chance to be a part of our team.
“We all share the spirit that gap semesters/years must be part of the narrative of education for all, and that means beyond the elite. Going directly to college and making the large financial commitment required may not be in the best interest of all students, irrespective of their financial means. At Mind the Gap we know it’s scary to step off the hamster wheel of our country’s established education system, but, alone especially, it’s just not serving most best. Having the gift of time and experience beyond the walls of a classroom is an outsized advantage. LIFE READY, our gap year program is step one in our journey to create alternative pathways that allow our youth to find happiness and success. It is no longer one size fits all.”
Continues
Brody, “We think it is an absurd expectation to think that high school
graduates are ready to pick a major or make the most of this experience from
the current K-12 education. How can they? Life, up to this point, has been ‘school,
after school, homework.’ Repeat. They study, they take a test, they forget.
Repeat. And school alone reflects little of the reality of life.
“COVID did not create the issues we are seeing in higher education today, but it has absolutely put a bright spotlight on it and accelerated change (and, but many, understanding and acceptance of that change). Parents and students should be questioning the ‘path’ of our education system. The student debt crisis is very real. The workplace of tomorrow is different than today and the skills required no longer fit in ‘majors.’ We are being challenged to think differently and not all march down a singular path that has less than ideal outcomes for many. Our youth and the world need better, now more than ever.”
Abby Brody | Courtesy photo / Mind the Gap
“We are the first gap year program created by education researchers and experts with the proper lens for filling the systemic gaps between school and life,” Brody declares. “As mentioned, we have extensively studied the ‘why’ students are failing for the past two years and as a team have decades of experience working with this age group. Our team is the best of the best and has a track record of creating successful startups in the education space. David Dunbar, lead curriculum designer, created City Term, one of the most transformative educational experiences. Ivan Cestero, Clair Sellers, and I were founding members of Avenues: The World School. Our work at Avenues was to rethink K-12 education. We’ve done it before, we are doing it again – and in a major way.”
The
course being offered by Mind the Gap, however, has a hefty price tag of $5,000
per semester, which could be a major deterrent for the many families who are
financially strapped and are the most adversely affected by the coronavirus
pandemic.
“We
are planning in early July to add a variety of a-la-carte options for, say, the
devoted gymnast who is using her gap semester to focus first on that, and
second on becoming life ready,” says Brody. “We are realists, and we get that
this new, new world does not offer only binaries. In addition, we are
considering, based primarily on early indications of interest, offering second
and third cohorts during the first semester starting in a staggered manner as
we have capped our registration at 300 persons and while the quality of
programming and experience is paramount, we feel we can bring that plus offer
more broadly the curriculum to those who might have a bit different timing
and/or needs.
“Further, we are expecting to open up registration via sponsorships/scholarships in time for Fall 2020 so that we are accessible by virtually anyone who has graduated high school in the past five years who really wants in! For our LIFE SET academies (which will launch in the future), our recipe is simple. Value of degree costs less than the degree.”
Abby Brody | Courtesy photo / Mind the Gap
“This is not school,” clarifies Brody. “While we could partner with a community college like others have, it’s always at an additional cost and we don’t want to walk away from our mission that is student focused. And we don’t just want to bring college bound students into our program. At Mind the Gap we are okay saying out loud that college does not serve everyone. Our graduates may go straight into the workforce or go into a vocational setting.”
“We
will be leveraging a collaborative learning platform called jigsaw,” Brody
explains. “This platform is not a lecture platform like how most distant
learning is looking online with ‘Zoom’ class. Our platform allows ‘Fellows’ to
customize their screen to have documents, videos, chats and live speaker views
at the same time. We chose this platform as it facilitates collaborative work
which we value and mirrors how we think.
“Most work is live on this platform. There will be pre-recorded videos for life hacks, but these are interviews with professionals in the field. No lectures. We are anti lecture! We know based on brain science that we learn through stories and the act of doing, not passive listening. So all of our videos are narratives of professionals in the field telling their stories. How they got where they are.”
Adds Brody, “The LIFE READY program is always in the now. We plan on changing every semester to meet the need of the day. Therefore this fall we will touch on public policy and governance inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. We also use our student ambassadors to pilot our thinking wanting to make sure that we are choosing topics of interest. The course topics are less important to us. We use the topics to teach the meta skills of the workforce: critical thinking, etc. all topics this fall are taught through an impact lens as impact is core to the ideals of Gen Z!”
The
whole rationale behind Mind the Gap is to teach students lessons and skills not
being provided by institutions of higher learning and is not to be confused as
a means to get hired by the organizations they partner with. Elucidates Brody, “We
think ‘Fellow-First’ and believe in their personal journey. The gap space
should be purely about that, a time to discover who you are and where you want
to go. While we will have partnerships with companies as part of the
curriculum, it is not with the lens of future employment.
“However, company partnerships will play a huge role in our LIFE SET academies that we are launching in the future. These will be vocational settings and we hope to create these academies in careers that are not being served by the current higher education system. For us, that equation is simple. If the cost of a degree is less than the market value of the degree then that vocation is not being served by traditional four-year institutions. A great example is teaching! We have a teacher shortage in the United States because of this reality.
“Our plan (and words we live by, too) starting with Gap, is: Life Ready, Set, Go. LIFE READY (gap time), LIFE SET (vocational education for vocations not served by current four-year institutions), LIFE GO (ongoing professional development and networking).”
Only two years ago, educators and counselors believed that a four-year college degree was worth being in debt for – because the alternative was not viable for a balanced life. (Read related article here) It’s ironic that the coronavirus pandemic, which upended life as we know it, is also fortuitously uprooting long-practiced models of how we prepare students for life beyond the classroom.
Originally published on 11 June 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Michelle Dong of Arcadia High School | Courtesy Photo
The high school class 2020 is a generation whose lives have been upended by the global pandemic. While it can be argued that being asked to stay home as we wage a war against a disease is a far cry from having to fight a war on the battlefields as the boomers before them had done, these teenagers have seen much devastation during their lifetime.
Today’s 17- or 18-year-olds have been raised in a digital world. They know only too well the harsh realities – climate change, gender and racial discrimination, socioeconomic inequality, pandemics, violence, hunger, poverty, and homelessness millions around the world suffer each day – and grew up before their time. They worry endlessly about their future even as they seemingly spend countless hours playing ‘Animal Crossing’ on their computer. They are going to be agents of change.
Michelle Dong, who is 18 years old, graduated virtually from Arcadia High School on June 4 and will be attending UC Irvine in the fall. She said that while the pandemic didn’t alter her plans for college, it made her more aware of her decision-making process. She had to consider which college would support her during this time of uncertainty.
“When I constantly hear about the rising death toll and infected cases, I feel helpless and worried about the future,” Michelle discloses. “On my part, I ensure that I practice all the necessary social distancing and health and safety precautions. Fortunately, on an economic level, my family was not impacted deeply by this pandemic. However, it’s saddening to see my favorite local stores close or struggle to maintain business. This pandemic has propelled me to look into public health and examine how disease prevention education can impact a community. I also feel a moral responsibility to educate myself and those in my community to progress through these challenges. ”
“I think my generation must adapt to new changes and innovate new ways of living.I feel that with quarantine, my generation can examine society and develop their stance on what is morally right and wrong. We will be entering a turbulent economic landscape and I hope my generation will be the change that is needed in our world.”
Marc Soong of Stanford Online High School | Courtesy Photo
Marc Soong of Alhambra turned 17, three days before his virtual graduation from Stanford University’s Online High School on June 7. It was to have taken place at Stanford University’s Stanford Memorial Auditorium and he was scheduled to play ‘Liebeslied’ (Love’s Sorrow) by Fritz Kreisler, transcribed for the piano by Sergei Rachmaninoff. He is matriculating at Stanford University in the fall.
“As someone who isn’t too social, I feel that the graduation canceling would have a greater impact on others than on me. However, I was looking forward to performing for my classmates and meeting them, many of whom I have only seen online,” confesses Marc.
But his disappointment is eclipsed by more worrisome thoughts. Says Marc, “As the number of deaths from the virus surpassed 100,000, more than lives lost in several U.S. wars, I feel overwhelmed. Because I can’t go out and also since I’m not well versed in communications or medicine, but also because I’m only one person, I feel somewhat helpless that I can’t do more about the coronavirus. I realize how lucky I am – that I have a place to live, and food to eat, and very supportive parents – and there is a guilt-appreciation feeling in that.
“There are lessons to be learned from that. Our generation must value community over individual greed. We should focus on science and rational thought when it comes to making decisions and dealing with environmental problems rather than personal biases. Our generation will have to focus on working together with other countries and really find ways to deal with climate change, as well as develop vaccines for those diseases that continue to plague us.”
Kate Tadeo of Monrovia High School | Courtesy Photo
Seventeen-year-old Kate Tadeo graduated valedictorian at Monrovia High School’s drive-thru commencement ceremony held on June 3 and has been designated a John W. Kluge Scholar through the Columbia Undergraduate Scholar Program.
Kate says, “At first I was pretty bummed when I learned we would be ending the school year much differently than anticipated, but as the days went by I realized how fortunate I was to even be healthy during the global pandemic that is going on. Though it’s a little sad we didn’t have that traditional end of high school, it was out of anyone’s control and I’m just glad to spend more time with family before I leave for college.
“I’m
attending Columbia University in the fall and, to date, they are still planning
on holding fall semester on campus. Although I haven’t picked any courses yet,
I’m going into my undergrad education on the pre-med track. I am sure that will
include courses or even labs on possibly gaining knowledge on new diseases,
like COVID-19. I might end up doing research on potential unknown diseases and
how to prevent the worst. Additionally, many universities have made such
impressive progress with cancer research and I would like to be a part of the
generation to find a cure.”
“If
anything, I think this pandemic has shown that it is important for society as a
whole to learn from our experience and follow the guidelines set in place. While
some people disregarded them and even protested against them, I do not
understand how one could ignore and protest against an airborne disease. It is necessary
to pay attention to the facts presented by credible sources and immediately
take action to minimize the casualties.”
Continues
Kate, “There are so many things in the world that need to change and I think
this generation is very passionate in bringing about just that. I have so much
hope for my generation to move past a lot of the societal norms various
generations before us have just passed down. Even right now it’s amazing seeing
so many people around me be so passionate about the Black Lives Matter movement
and I genuinely hope this is the generation that can finally put an end to the
four centuries of systemic racism this country has undergone.
“I
am passionate about gender, racial, and social inequality and though I know it
is a long, ongoing challenge, it is one we face in everyday conversations with
those around us. Though my part may be small now, as I just try to convey
through conversation the importance of equality for all regardless of race,
gender, socioeconomic circumstance, it is important to relay the message to
whoever possible, whether that be a loved one, a good friend, or maybe even an
acquaintance who maybe says a comment invalidating a certain group of people.
“I also feel climate change is a very real, daunting concern that this country’s government should be paying more attention to. Although right now I live with my parents and eat their diet and I drive a car, I hope to at least reduce my own carbon footprint starting next year by possibly cutting most meat out of my diet and walking or taking the train instead of driving. At the end of the day we all need to acknowledge our privilege and incorporate it into how we can elicit positive change.”
Eric Dong of San Marino High School at the JFK Museum at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts | Courtesy Photo
Eric Dong (no relation to Michelle), who is 17 years old, will be graduating from San Marino High School during an in-person commencement ceremony tentatively scheduled for July 31. He says, “I’m not too bothered that we spent the last semester at home. Though it will be disappointing if I am unable to say my good-byes to my friends and wonderful teachers in person. Senior activities such as prom and grad night are postponed, which is unfortunate since I’d prefer not to attend these parties over summer, and some people might not want to go then.
“I’m
still excited to go to college this fall. However, if Brown decides to switch
to on-line classes or the virus is still active, I might take a gap year so I
can enjoy the full experience of freshman year. I will continue volunteering at
Union Station, work to earn some of my own money, or intern to gain experience
during the gap year.”
“The
economic upheaval, the thousands of people infected daily, and the lives lost
are devastating news for everyone, and I have become more sensible and
appreciative of life, taking careful steps to stay safe and healthy,” says Eric
about the coronavirus pandemic. “In an effort to help stem the contagion, my
brother and I have provided 1,500 face masks for the families and children at
Union Station Homeless Services in Pasadena and joined the International Leadership
Foundation (ILF) in donating tens of thousands of medical-grade face masks to
Rhode Island, Mercy Medical Center of Long Island, and Columbia Medical Center.”
A
dynamic youth activist, Eric also recently participated in events held by the
ILF and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation to fight against violence
and racism.
Declares
Eric, “I see myself as an agent of change in the environmental science area
since I am passionate and ready to take steps to mitigate the harm caused by climate
change. Last year, I spent my summer interning at MIT EAPS Cziczo Lab for
Clouds and Aerosols where I investigated factors causing the formation of ice
clouds by examining water samples from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I
isolated positive and negative particles via Particle Analysis by Laser Mass
Spectrometry and collected 2,000 sets daily, and created graphs and charts to
display analyses. I am co-author of two research papers: “Ice Nucleation of Sea
Spray Aerosols Generated Across Marin Biogeochemical Boundaries” and
“Fluorinated Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation from Hydrofluoroolefin
Emissions.
“My
interest was motivated by my visits to my brother in 2015 and 2016 in China when
he was seeking treatment for a medical condition. I witnessed scores of
children unable to breathe, attend school, play sports, or fully live their
lives. I brought 3M filtration masks for my extended family there, but this
small gesture felt futile. I later learned that people as far flung as Japan,
Korea, and California are also feeling the effects of Chinese smog. The
consequences of environmental degradation shocked me. I decided then to
concentrate in Environmental Science and Engineering when I go to college and I
intend to achieve an ambitious goal – to create tangible change by fostering
clean air and pure water.”
As young as Eric, Kate, Marc, and Michelle are in years, they are painfully cognizant of all that is wrong. What they do with their awareness, coupled with their drive to do good, may very well determine the course for humanity and effect change in the world.
Originally published on 1 June 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
University of Connecticut | Courtesy Photo
The road to college
Seniors are about to have their virtual graduation or have
recently done so. Having spent the last semester of their high school
sheltering in place, these teenagers have been looking forward to the loosening
of the lockdown orders so they can finally get out of the house.
Businesses, though, are taking a cautious approach to
reopening and there will be limited options for these young people on how to
spend their summer months. In the past, teenagers went to summer camps, found
internships, or joined organizations like Habitat for Humanity or Doctors
Without Borders to do service work in impoverished areas of the world.
Those who had been anticipating to land summer jobs are
going to be very disappointed. The coronavirus pandemic upended entire countries’
markets and wiped the economic expansion we had been enjoying here. Experts worldwide
are predicting a recession that’s deeper and lengthier than what we saw during
the financial meltdown of 2008.
While we don’t need Challenger, Gray & Christmas to tell us that teen summer jobs outlook this year is pretty grim, I’m including the report they recently released:
“Teen employment skyrocketed during the summer months of
2019 to the highest number of jobs added since 2001, according to an analysis
of non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics by global
outplacement and executive and business coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas,
Inc. However, the global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed everything and total
jobs added for teens may fall well under 1,000,000, according to one workplace
authority.
“A month ago, we would have predicted another summer of
massive teen hiring. We had one of the tightest labor markets on record,
historically low unemployment, and high consumer confidence – the perfect
recipe for companies that traditionally hire teen workers, like retail and
entertainment venues, to beef up staff,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior VP of
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“Everything has changed. Many of these venues have stopped
operating as non-essential businesses with reopening timelines in question.
Grocery and department stores that are on a hiring binge now come with an
inherent risk that did not exist before the outbreak. If we are able to weather
this crisis and get businesses back up and running by June, we may see a surge
in teen hiring then, however, teen workers, as well as any job seeker, may be
much more wary of accepting public-facing roles,” he added.
Last summer saw 1,737,000 jobs gained by teens, 25% higher
than the 1,388,000 jobs gained by teenagers in the summer of 2018. This was the
highest number of teen jobs gained since 2001, when 1,742,000 jobs were added.
However, many companies are in a holding pattern and
thousands of others are not open for business at all. A recent Challenger
survey found 37% of companies have instituted hiring freezes. Another 11% have
implemented permanent layoffs and 49% are likely to in the next three months.
Meanwhile, 4% report they are revoking internship offers for the summer, many
of which tend to go to older teens.
Nearly 10 million workers have filed initial jobless claims
over the last two weeks. Challenger predicts job losses in the Leisure sector
alone could top 14 million.
“The teen summer job is the first step in people’s
careers. It is vitally important to helping young workers gain valuable skills
that they will draw upon later in their jobs. Many employers want to see some
job experience from even their entry-level workers,” said Challenger.
“The year with the lowest summer hiring since 1998 occurred in 2010, during the recovery from the Great Recession, when 960,000 teen jobs were added in May, June, and July. This year may see even fewer as conservative estimates suggest businesses will likely still be closed for much or part of May,” he added.
| Courtesy Photo
FRESHMAN
The sheltering-at-home order caused an upheaval in all
students’ regular schedule. It was tough for 9th graders who were
just getting used to high school and the workload associated with it. Remote
learning, although helpful in providing continuity in students’ education,
could not replace what they would get in the classroom. However, I hope your
children were able to keep up with their curriculum.
Some schools may have eliminated final exams and given pass or fail grades in lieu of the letter grades, which must have been a disappointment for straight-A students. But that shouldn’t deter them from continuing to get excellent grades because the student’s GPA is the single, most important component of their transcript. And with the UC system’s decision to drop the SATs and ACTs from their requirements, students’ GPAs have become ever more significant.
If your children can find summer enrichment activities, they
should definitely pursue these. They also need to do a lot of reading to help
them prepare for all the essays they will have to write when they start sending
out their college application.
SOPHOMORE
Your children’s end-of-year marks in 10th grade
should have improved over last year’s if they didn’t do well in their freshman
year. College admissions officers want to see students who continue to better
themselves.
While the UC system has dropped the standardized test
requirement, not all universities have. So your children need to take the virtual
ACT or June SAT subject tests. This year the College Board eliminated the essay
portion and the testing time has been shortened.
JUNIOR
The school year that just ended was a pivotal one for your
children as it would be the last full year that college admissions officers
will see on your kids’ application. It should reflect your children’s efforts
at getting the best marks they could muster, and an improvement over the first
two years of high school.
This is going to be their busiest summer with standardized tests like the ACT, SAT, SAT IIs, and APs. If they have not seen the schools they are considering applying to, they might consider taking virtual tours.
Your children should start thinking about their essay topic;
checking in with their school counselor to make sure they have taken all the
required courses for graduation and college; and lining up teachers they would
like to ask for recommendations.
SENIOR
It was a disappointing last year for students who were not
able to properly say goodbye to their friends and teachers and didn’t get the
opportunity to walk across the graduation stage. But I hope you watched their
virtual commencement ceremony and celebrated at home with your graduate.
Your children have accomplished a major milestone – successfully completing high school and getting accepted into a college or university! This period in their life will never again be repeated, so let them revel in what they have achieved. Give yourself a pat on the back while you’re at it, you’ve been a major influence in whatever path they choose to take from here.
A San Gabriel Valley Inquirer 