Benefits of Unlv Tutoring Facebook

Benefits of Unlv Tutoring FacebookUnlv Tutoring Facebook is a wonderful new social networking site, which could prove very profitable to Unlv students. Students are encouraged to post individualized study plans, group projects, and even manage students through this site. Their study software and teaching strategies will be known to many friends through Facebook.Each of these students will receive feedback regarding their efforts. These 'instant feedback' postings may be posted through the entire course of study. Having these Facebook comments on various activities of the student in the course will allow these comments to be posted to a social networking site, and given to friends.Facebook allows a student to post comments, make friends, and have the ability to access the site through their computer. Online courses are becoming more popular, and we've found that Facebook with its ability to communicate from any location, computer, or mobile device allows this kind of technology to be used.Facebook tutoring can provide a wonderful opportunity for students to have the latest information about their courses as well as the learning styles of their friends. Students will be able to know what they are capable of taking part in and what others are feeling when they learn from them.Facebook tutoring helps students know when they are being helpful and when they are putting others in harm's way. A teacher or professor may want to avoid sending a Facebook message to a student who is seemingly not following through on an assignment. It may not be clear that the student wants to work harder and this can be interpreted by the student's friends as being disloyal or lazy.If a teacher posts a photo or link to the course in order to make students aware of what is going on, and to get feedback, the teacher may be more likely to respond and get the student to continue the course. By posting information from the course, the teacher can ensure that students keep their schedules and s tart up the course quickly.Teachers and professors often need to consider the benefits of incorporating Facebook into their teaching strategies. Students who participate in and post personal Facebook photos of themselves and keep them up to date with their courses or other activities may be more attentive and keep up with the course. Teachers may also do some research on the course and make comments, perhaps suggesting tweaks in the course work.

English Collocations with Crime Learn English with Harry

English Collocations with Crime Learn English with Harry Here we’re going to look at 10 collocations with crime. What English expressions can we use when people commit a crime?You will learn the meanings of English collocations:cut down on crime, white-collar crime, violent, juvenile crime, to commit a crime, to combat crime, to turn to crime, alleged crime, and petty crime, and I’ll give you some examples.To complete your vocabulary on crime and punishment, you also need to learn crime and punishment vocabulary. English Collocations with Crime TO CUT DOWN ON CRIMEMeaning: When we cut down on crime, we want to reduce the rate of crime.Example: The police are putting effort into a plan to cut down on crime.Meaning to reduce the rate of crime.That might be to reduce the rate of crime or to cut down on crime in particular arrears, locations in the city centre, or in the suburbs or it might to cut down on particular types of crimes serious crime, or other smaller crimes like house burglaries or car thefts or as we have a lot of problems in London at the moment knife crime.So the police are putting in plans or actions plans where they will try to cut down on different types of crimes.WHITE-COLLAR CRIMEMeaning: White-collar C-O-L-L-A-R is the colour of the shirt, or white-collar shirt, which usually indicates management. White-collar crime is a collocation to describe financial crime, typically committed by a business person or public official. When somebody might take money from a company, or somebody might embezzle money   and take it without people’s knowledge.Example: It is also clear that white-collar crime is on the rise and, for various reasons, is far more difficult to detect.They might, as they do now, take money from people’s accounts through some type of phishing or trying to get people’s account details and fraudulently take the money and transfer to their own accounts. So this is referred as white-collar crime.Nobody gets physically hurt with white-collar crime but people can lose a lot of money bad advice, bogus investments, and other issues related to that topic of white-collar crime.  VIOLENT CRIMEMeaning: this is a type of crime with violence; a crime when somebody is physically hurt. For example, if you’re attacked at the street, pushed to the ground, or youve beaten up.Example: Reasons for violent crime in these areas are mainly alcohol and firearms misuse combined with youth unemployment.There are also other violent crimes, of course, which could be somebody attacking their partner or their children, and these could also be regarded as violent crimes. Violent crimes can take place after a football match where groups of fans from one team attack the individuals, or an individual, from the other team, and these attacks could be with violence, or regarded as violent crime.JUVENILE CRIMEMeaning: the juvenile crime is the crime committed by young people; these are young people committing certain types of crime. These types of crime may not be so serious. For example, they could be spraying graffiti on bus stops, or people’s doors, or things like that.Example: Juvenile crime rates have seen a promising drop in recent years, compared to the spike in the 1990s.There could be a juvenile crime of shoplifting. When they go to a store, and they take some products without paying for it, obviously, but also without knowing what they’re doing. It might be a game to them, but it’s quite a serious situation, so it’s regarded as an act of juvenile crime. And for juvenile crimes usually, the courts have lesser sentences. It might be a warning, or some type of misconduct warning, but they usually don’t go to prison, unless somebody is a repeat offender, meaning they do it time and time again. English Collocations with Crime TO COMMIT CRIMEMeaning: to commit means to carry out, or simply to do.Example: The police are interested in finding a person who committed a crime last night.Or they’re trying to encourage young people to take up some sports or other activities, they don’t get encouraged by other people to commit crimes.So to commit is the act of doing, the act of carrying out that particular crime.TO COMBAT CRIME = TO TACKLE CRIMEMeaning: again, as we’re talking about crime, obviously, a lot of references to police, and police forces, and government actions and laws, so these come together to try to combat crime. Meaning, to reduce the crime rate.Example: In order to combat crime, the police forces have introduced many initiatives.The government has announced an increase in police on the streets in an effort to combat/tackle an increase in crime rates.Everything is done to combat or tackle crime.  TO TURN TO CRIMEMeaning: we use this collocation when we’re referring to something that people might be encouraged to do, or something they might decide to do out of boredom, out pressure from a peer group. To turn to crime means to start doing some criminal activities. Initially small crimes, they lead onto the bigger and more serious crimes.Example: The boy turned to crime because he had no parental supervision.Those children without strong parental supervision are more likely to turn to crime than those children who do.Those children who have a lot of sports or extra-curriculum activities at school are less likely to turn to crime in the future.ALLEGED CRIMEMeaning: crime that is not proven; it is understood that something happened but we have yet to prove it.Example: The alleged burglar was seen entering the building.They someone entering the building, they are not sure if it was the man they’re now looking for, and hence, until they prove it, they refer to him as an alleged burglar, or, in this case, we refer to an alleged crime. Was it a crime in fact? It could have b een a mistake, a mistake in identity.Until it’s proven, it’s not a real crime, but it is an alleged crime. Meaning, they believe it is a crime, or it’s understood to have been a crime.PETTY CRIMEMeaning: small or insignificant or not so serious crime. And petty crime often can be described as things like shoplifting by young kids, spraying graffiti at bus shelters, taking apples from somebody’s apple orchard, or something like that. These would all be petty crimes, usually, they don’t carry huge punishment.Example: Two people responsible for numerous petty crimes over the last four days were caught yesterday.So petty crime something small, minor, insignificant, something not so important.There you have the collocations related with crime. Listen to English podcast Speak Better English with Harry on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

General Test Anxiety - Private Tutoring

General Test Anxiety BobbiM Apr 17, 2014 Ya we know, tests can be scary. Test anxiety is similar to writing and math anxiety except it is a feeling of stress when studying for or taking an exam, regardless of the subject. You might worry about the types of questions that will be on the test, forgetting about and missing the test, or studying the wrong material. Students who experience test anxiety are often paralyzed with fear when faced with a test situation and they end up missing questions they knew. Many different experiences can lead to test anxiety. It might be caused by past test-taking experiences, such as blanking on answers, or failing an exam. It could also be caused by inadequate test preparation. If you know that you are not really prepared to take an exam, its natural to be anxious about it. Test anxiety can also be caused by competition with your friends or classmates. If you are focusing on how others are doing, you might cause yourself undue stress. In addition, test anxiety can be caused by a lack of confidence in yourself as a learner. When students feel that they are not good learners, they tend to scone more anxious about testing situations. If you find that you are talking negatively to yourself about you ability to learn, you may actually be causing yourself greater anxiety. Coping with test anxiety. To cope with general test anxiety, try the following suggestions: -Be prepared. If you monitor your learning to the point where you know which concepts you understand and which concepts are giving you problems, you will feel more confident. Allow enough time for studying, but also have all of the things you need ready for the test. Do you need a pencil, calculator,, notes, or anything else? You dont want to be tracking these things down right before the test, so be ready to go the night before. -Understand the task. Talk to the professor about what the exams will be like. Even better, try to look at some of the professor sold exams. Examining retired tests will give you an idea of what kinds of questions the professor asks and will also help you become familiar with the professors questioning style. It is also a good idea to talk to the professor or to students who have taken the class about the content and format of the exams. -Arrive to take the test a bit early. Get organized and practice some deep breathing techniques to relax. Take a few deep breaths; think of something you find comforting-the sound of the ocean, a walk in the woods; concentrate on and relax each of your muscle groups. -Have an approach in mind. If you find you blank out in exams, try to make jot lists as soon as you get the test. Read each question and just jot down everything you know about it in the margin of the test. Dont look at any answers if it is a multiple-choice type test, just write everything you know before you blank out. -Focus on you. Ignore other students who finish the exam before you. Just because they finish before you does not mean that they know more than you do. It might be that they are done so early because they dont know the answers. But either way, dont worry about what other students are doing. -Get help controlling your anxiety. There are usually several resource areas on campus that can help you. You might need some tutoring in course content, or some counseling to deal with your anxiety, or you might be eligible for alternate testing situations such as increased time for tests. -Visualize your success. Think about how well you will do before you walk into the test and remind yourself that you are well prepared and ready to go as the test is being handed out. The more positive you can be, the less anxiety youll feel. Excerpt from  College Success Strategies  by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Just Roll with It The Ultimate Guide for How to Roll Your Rs

Just Roll with It The Ultimate Guide for How to Roll Your Rs Just Roll with It: The Ultimate Guide for How to Roll Your Rs Are you’re studying a language that requires a rolled R, but you feel like the technique is escaping you?You might turn to popular culture for inspiration.Method #1: Vibrate your tongue. You may remember some variation of this Rrrrrruffles have Rrrrridges ad, which married the rolled R sound to the peaks and troughs of a popular potato chip.Please note, the cartoon baby in this ad defies the laws of phonetics! His method of vibrating his tongue while it’s sticking completely out of his mouth would produce (at best) a really lame raspberry.Method #2: Imitate Catwoman for perfect rolled Rs. Eartha Kitt as Catwoman was a purr-veyor of purr-fect rolled Rs. Unfortunately, this R is a bit too extended for use in most languages, and may cause the sudden appearance of caped crusaders.Third times the charm! Method #3 is a drumroll. If you’ve ever made the noise of a drumroll with your mouth, or imitated a revving motor, you’ve essentially made the rolled R.All you need to do now is le arn how to incorporate it into words and conversations. Let’s find some practice resources, then go step-by-step to creating a roaring rolled R. Isn’t It Trilling? The Rolled RThe rolled  R is also known as a trilled  R.  But its not the only  R,  by farâ€"the languages of the world, and even speakers of the same languages, use many others.An array of RsThe letter R can be pronounced in a variety of ways, used in different languages around the world.English speakers from all over the world pronounce their Rs differently. Americans are known for something called the “retroflex approximant,” produced by touching the tongue to the middle of the palate. (You can see it happening in this video of an MRI taken while an American English speaker pronounces an R.)This video from the English Language Club explains the mechanics of how many standard English-language Rs are made.froehlichDeutsch offers this step-by-step method for pronouncing the uvular/guttural R used in both German and French. (If your German is a little rusty, there’s an option for English-language captions to help you through.)Finally, we come to the alveolar trill. It’s also called “trilled” or “rolling”/“rolled” R, and it’s found in multiple languages.The sound heard round the worldThe rolled R is used in Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Arabic and (sometimes) Portuguese. It’s also part of Hindi and Tagalog.That rolled R not only sounds pretty nifty, but it can make a difference in meaning when you’re speaking one of these languages. For example, in Spanish, it’s the difference between pero (but) and perro (dog).Just Roll with It: The Ultimate Guide for How to Roll Your RsFinally, the moment weve all been waiting for. Here’s a three-step method to get your Rs from stalled to rolling.Step 1: The Naming of the PartsIf you start to research how to roll your Rs, you may see a lot of technical terms bandied about:Hard palateAlveolar ridgeVelum (soft palate)Apical con sonantA few of these terms are truly helpful for getting you rolling.To produce a rolled R,  you’ll basically want to position the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge, where it needs to vibrate.The alveolar ridge arches up from your teeth; your skin will feel a little bumpy. (When you’ve reached the smooth part of your hard palate, you’ve moved your tongue back too far. You’d also produce a choking, hissing sound if you tried pushing air over your tongue when it’s touching your hard palate too far back.)The rolled R is an “apical consonant,” meaning that the tip of the tongue blocks the air flow.But don’t get yourself in a pickle  (see what I did there?) worrying about the technical names too much. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is get a mental picture of how everything works together.In about two minutes’ time, this video is a crash course in the parts of the mouth, head and neck we use to speak. It shows clear illustrations, glosses the technical terms with plain language and provides plenty of examples of each type of sound. While it doesn’t explain the rolled R,  it will give you a good grounding in the terminology.This animated presentation from Glossika Phonics can help you visualize how to position your tongue properly to produce the rolled R.Step 2: Get into PositionTo get your tongue into the proper position, you can start by pronouncing an English word like “dirt” or “dirk.”Once youve said the word a few times, begin againâ€"only stop as soon as you’ve pronounced the D.  Your tongue will be where it needs to be to pronounce the rolled R.Your mouth should be slightly open, with your jaw relaxed.Step 3: Relax and Roll!Once your tongue is in place, with the tip pressed against the alveolar ridge, try repeatedly stammering the D sound (“duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh”). This will get your tongue relaxed, in the right place and in motion.Next, take a breath, hold it for a few seconds, then stammer the D sound agai n as you forcefully expel your breath in a whoosh! of air against your relaxed tongue. Keep your tongue loose as you use your diaphragm to keep pushing air through your mouth, against your tongue.Your tongue should start to roll (or make a trilling sound). Sustain the trill or roll for several seconds. (If you’ve ever taken voice lessons or sung in a choir, you’re probably familiar with breathing from your diaphragm as you sing.)At this point, you should be producing a “motor” or breathy “purring” sound, which is a voiceless sound. (In other words, you’re not speaking or making any sound with your vocal folds/cords while you do it. You’re just letting the air rush out of your mouth, as if you were whispering.)The trick is to start making noise with your vocal cords as you’re “purring,” resulting in a voicedâ€"and rolledâ€"R.Rolling your Rs should produce a bit of a tickling sensation in your tongue and on your alveolar ridge.Can’t get relaxed enough to roll? Daria of Real Russian Club offers many additional tips, including adding motion to your initial stuttering with a cotton swab, plus several tongue stretching and tongue relaxation exercises.This video from Linguisticator offers another perspective: Think of your tongue as “a flag flapping in the wind” while you practice the rolled R. Position your tongue correctly in your mouth, let the air flow and let your tongue ride the wind (much like the reed of a woodwind instrument, like a clarinet).Alternate Method: From Raspberry to Rolled RIf the above step-by-step method fails to trill you, you may need to get childishâ€"or, if you’re a Mel Brooks fan, think of the “Theres only one man who would dare give me the raspberry” scene from “Spaceballs.”Most of us, at one point in our childhood, probably gave other children the “raspberry.” (If we were really cheeky, we may have even done it to an adult!) As you can see, even the very young can make the raspberry” noise.If y ou can give someone the raspberry, you can roll your Rs. The trick is to reverse engineer the process: Start out by making raspberries with your mouth. Your tongue will be vibrating between your upper and lower lips.While you keep your tongue vibrating, try retracting it into your mouth suddenly, until the vibrating tip of your tongue hits the roof of your mouth, just behind your teeth. Now, just add some voice to it. Voilà!A word to the wise: Practice this somewhere by yourself. It can get slightly… messy when you quickly pull your raspberry-blowing tongue into your mouth.Get on a Roll: Practice the Rolled ROnce youve gotten the hang of the rolled R, the only way to master it and use it effortlessly in foreign conversations is to practice, practice, practice!Watch, listen and learnTo see the rolled R in action and watch it being pronounced many times, videos are a great tool. Newscasts and interview programs, such as those found in FluentU’s curated library of authentic videos , can help you see how the rolled R is pronounced.FluentU takes real-world videosâ€"like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talksâ€"and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Hearing natives from countries such as Spain, Italy and Russia use the rolled R in real-life situations will help you master the sound.Twist your tongue to get it rolling Tongue twisters are a great way to limber up your tongue, which is key for producing a good rolled R.Here are a few tongue twisters from various languages:SpanishThis collection of Spanish tongue twisters will help your pronunciation in many areas. This old chestnut is plentiful with rolled double Rs:Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril. Rápido corren los carros, sobre los rieles del ferrocarril.  (R with R cigar, R with R barrel. Quickly run the carriages on the rails of the railway.)Like the lyrics of a folk song, the words of tongue twisters can get changed over time, with oral repetition. Here’s ano ther variation of the ferrocarril tongue twister, presented on video.The story of the tres tristes tigres (three sad tigers) is another tale that can help you get your Rs rolling.ItalianThe tigers roar into this Italian tongue-twister video, along with several other ways to practice your rolled Rs.The first two tongue twisters in the video are particularly good for rolled R practice. The transcription for all the tongue twisters is displayed below the video.Polish These two tongue twisters from Marek Radomski’s online Polish dictionary will have your Rs rolling finer than the most delicate chrusciki!Król Karol kupil królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego. (King Karol bought a coral colored necklace for queen Karoline.)W Szczebrzeszynie chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie a Szczebrzeszyn z tego slynie ze chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie. (In [the town of] Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed, for which Szczebrzeszyn is famous.)RussianIn this video from Antonia Romaker, captioned with both the original Russian and an English translation, you’ll not only practice a trio of great Russian rolled R tongue twisters, you’ll get some advice from a native speaker on how not to confuse the rolled R with similar sounds.Other LanguagesFor students of other languages, Robert Beard’s alphaDictionary site boasts an impressive list of tongue twisters in over two dozen languages.Drumroll, please! You’ve done it! You can roll your Rs. Remember: It’s not just the cat’s meow… it’s child’s play!Michelle Baumgartner is a language nerd who has formally studied seven languages and informally dabbled in at least three others. In addition to geeking out over slender vowels, interrogative particles, and phonemes, Michelle is a  freelance content writer and education blogger. Keep up with her latest adventures in language and learning on  Twitter.

Everything You Need To Know About Amazon Student

Everything You Need To Know About Amazon Student Image via (BGR) Perks *Relevant discounts *Textbook deals *Electronics deals *Instant video and music streaming *Bedroom/bathroom deals for your dorm/apartment *Kindle services *Free two-day shipping *Prime Photos *Eligibility for a scholarship FREE 6-Month Trial Of course, Amazon Student may not be for everyone. Try their 6-month free trial and enjoy the benefits that subscribers have signed up for. Enjoy two-day shipping, photo storage, and exclusive deals. The benefits you won’t be receiving with the free trial are streaming of video and music or Kindle book borrowing, so beware. If you don’t love Student’s deals and discounts, simply change your settings and you won’t be charged a penny. I’m pretty confident that six months of these great benefits will have you wanting more. Membership All you need to do is share school information such as your college’s name and student email address to sign up. Browse through recent searches and recommendations (thank you, cookies). Receive email alerts on new discounts and day-to-day deals. Free release date delivery on video games, DVDs, and books is also offered, so don’t wait for your local retail store to have them in stock or even restock. It’s Amazon Prime, but better … and who doesnt like that there are perks catered to themselves specifically? FREE Two-Day Shipping Image via (Freshly Techy) As a college student, you need reliable and fast shipping because your last-minute Halloween costume needs to get here, like, now. Need a new phone case? Amazon will deliver your new cover within just 48 hours. Get your package in two days with no minimum order size. If there was anything better than free shipping, it’s that your package will get to you for free in two DAYS. Tip:  You can opt out of two-day shipping if you arent in a hurry. Convert the perk to a $1 video credit. Receive your package in 5-7 business days, and watch a movie or episode while you wait. Instant Streaming If Netflix doesnt have the movie you’re looking for, take a look at the Amazon Video library. You can find titles such as Interstellar, In the Name of the Father, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Good Will Hunting. Enjoy Amazon Originals like Chi-Raq    a film that remakes the ancient Greek play, “Lysistrata,” in modern day Chicago’s Southside and Transparent, a series about a family whose unconditional love transcends appearances and preferences. While I do agree their movies and shows selection should be upgraded constantly, most films and TV hits are available to you anytime, anywhere. Make sure to get the Amazon app on your phone and tablet to have access to the streaming library. Kindle Books For the avid reader, Kindle Books offers cheaper prices on books that a college student would be enticed to read. Choose from Best Sellers, New Releases, and Editor’s Picks, among other categories. Borrow and lend books from your own library as well with Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. All Student, and Prime, members can access their friends’ libraries and borrow a book for free. This is especially helpful if you’re taking a class whose reading material is a book found in the Kindle library. If a friend of yours already took the class, they may lend you the book and help you save. Other Benefits If saving on Cloud or Google Drive isnt for you, send and save your photos to Prime Photos with unlimited storage. Clear space on your phone by uploading your memories to Amazon’s Cloud Drive. Once connected, you will be able to access all your photos and videos from any device. Photos and videos will be automatically backed up with the Auto-Save feature so if your phone is damaged or lost, your photos won’t be. Image via (Flickr) You may also be eligible for a scholarship worth up to $5,500. Fifty Amazon Student members are selected to win a total of $275,000 in college tuition and textbook costs. Applications are accepted until November of the year and awarded in gift card form in the middle of the following year. Ive had Amazon Student for a year and a half, and I do not regret it one bit. This membership has honestly upgraded my college experience by faster delivery, money savings, and even relieving some stressful situations. To sign up or change from Amazon Prime to Amazon Student, click here and receive a $5 shopping credit!

$100,000 in Scholarships Awarded to 10 Bright Students Through GoFundMe Program

$100,000 in Scholarships Awarded to 10 Bright Students Through GoFundMe Program Image via Pexels In a world where college tuition is at some of its highest rates ever and more college students are finding it increasingly difficult to pay off their student loans, a bit of good news in the field can be encouraging. On October 20, 2016, GoFundMe, the largest social fundraising platform in the world, announced that it was giving away $100,00 in educational scholarships to 10 promising young men and women. Each student received $10,000 to put toward their college expenses, according to a recent press release. Last month, GoFundMe shared details about the first scholarship program and revealed how parents, teachers, and students have turned to the crowd funding site to help realize their college dreams. All in all, it has been reported that over $100 million has been raised for college tuition and related educational expenses on the site. Qualifying for the scholarship was simple. Each student created a campaign page on the site to share their stories with potential contributors. Some of those stories included an undercurrent of challenges involving loss, grief, abandonment, sickness, and being the first in their family to go to college. Using the hashtag #GFMScholarship, each student shared what winning the scholarship would mean to them and how it would help them achieve their goals. In only a week’s time, over $200,000 had been raised to go towards college expenses. Image via Odyssey Rob Solomon, the CEO of GoFundMe, said in the release, “We’re proud and excited to help these remarkable, determined students achieve their educational dreams. All of us here have been touched by the stories shared by the scholarship winners, and we can’t wait to see how they’ll continue to give back to their communities.” The 10 GoFundMe scholarship winners come from a variety of backgrounds. From Aubrianna, who lost her father to cancer and became homeless with her mother to Sandy, who was abandoned by her mother at age six. From Mayia, who was diagnosed with OCD and Tourette’s as a young child to Alan, who turned away from gang life to be a bright student. Each of these students have one thing in common: receiving the best college education possible. This GoFundMe scholarship helps them get one step closer to reaching their dreams. Here are the winners of the 2016 GoFundMe Scholarship program: Born in the Philippines, Bezaleel (Bez) Balan, grew up in Guam. Her family moved to San Francisco and worked many odd jobs to help her pay for her undergraduate studies. She is now in her final year of graduate school at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Along with working multiple jobs, she has designed an elementary school in Sudan and orphanages in Haiti. Amir Fluellen’s father has been incarcerated for a long time. Raised primarily by his mother who recovered from cancer, he will start his college experience at Salisbury University. The financial burden that his mother’s illness placed on the family limited their ability to help him pay for college and thus he turned to GoFundMe to reach his goal. As a kid, Alan Gonez loved school but after getting involved with a gang and grieving the loss of his friends to gang violence, he chose to turn his life around. He raised his GPA from 1.8 to 3.8 during high school and then obtained a 4.0 and made the Dean’s List at Cerritos Community College. He is currently attending UCLA and giving back to his community. Moving from Mexico to America at the age of 6 only to be abandoned by her mother, Sandy Gonzalez knows too well the fight for immigrants to become permanent citizens. Her grandmother worked hard to become her legal guardian. Sandy is the first person in her family to attend college. In three years she will be able to apply for U.S. citizenship and plans to obtain a PhD in Psychology. As a single mother, Emettra Nelson is fighting to complete her degree in agriculture, food and natural resources at Michigan State. With only 19 credit hours to go, her financial aid decreased and she turned to GoFundMe to help her reach her goal. After her father died of bone cancer while she was in the second grade, Aubriana Mency and her mother were left homeless. Without the stability of home, Mency promised her parents she would work hard in school. She received a scholarship from Hampshire that will pay her first full year. Pauline Muturi entered the U.S. from East Africa. She is currently studying at Florida State University. While she works two jobs and works hard to maintain her good GPA, she worries whether she will be able to complete her studies as she is not eligible for federal student aid. Diagnosed with Tourette’s and OCD in the 3rd grade, Mayia Vranas fought through her disability to maintain straight As. She is now studying physics at UC Berkeley. While she cannot maintain a job and go to school, she will need to take an extra semester of courses and she plans to receive her PhD in the same field. Excited to attend Virginia Tech this fall, honor student Alyssa Wray always placed a high importance on her education. But when her sister contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection, her family’s focus turned to helping her sister recovery. With medical bills mounting, Alyssa turned to GoFundMe to help her with the college’s first year tuition. A childhood emergency in which he was airlifted from his remote Navajo reservation helped Thayne Yazzie realize he wanted to dedicate his life to giving the Navajo Nation access to healthcare. He graduated from Western Washington University, moved back home to teach, and is now attending Eastern New Mexico University working towards his flight certification.

Happy National Tell A Story Day!

Happy National Tell A Story Day! National Tell A Story Day is celebrated on April 27th. On this day, people get together in a library, at home or in front of a camp fire to celebrate story telling of every kind. In the old days, stories were a way to pass traditions and family history from one generation to another. Today, its a fun way to develop a vibrant imagination of children. Everybody, of any age likes to hear an interesting story. So, bring your creative side on the surface and tell some stories that would fire anyone’s imagination. You can either write your own story or read one from a book. If youre a natural storyteller, you may want to take the time to learn how to write short stories, poems or essay. The best way to do this is to hire a Creative Writing Tutor. Creative writing encourages both writing skills and creativity. So, tell stories and be creative! Happy National Tell A Story Day!