Parents: 10 Tips to Prepare Your Teen For Sophomore Year

For many parents, their teens’ high school years represent a difficult balance to strike. During freshman year, students may still need significant support and guidance from their parents, but by senior year, most parents hope that their students will soon be capable of venturing out on their own. The transition to independence during a time of such high stakes can be delicate to maneuver for many well-meaning parents who want to encourage freedom while still providing a safety net. Sophomore year in particular can sometimes prove trying for the relationships between parent and teen. While freshman year represented transition and likely a great deal of excitement about the start of high school, by sophomore year that newness has worn off and students can no longer take as much time to acclimate as grades and coursework gain momentum. If you’re the parent of a rising sophomore, you probably already know that during sophomore year your teen will begin to take the first major steps towards realizing his or her college dreams. In this post, we outline ten considerations for supporting your teen through this transformational year. For many teens, the years after high school seem like a distant and abstract time. The reality, though, is that the future will be here before either of you knows it, and there’s no better time to start discussing it than now. Be an open sounding board for your teen as he or she discusses possible career choices, college preferences, and other ambitions. Try to offer insight and perspective without being overbearing. For some useful conversation-starters, see these posts: Although your teen’s first experiences with actual standardized testing probably won’t be until the PSAT during fall of junior year, you can encourage him or her to get a realistic idea of his or her starting point by taking a practice test during sophomore year. Make sure your teen knows that it’s still early to get a very good read on standardized testing potential, but that having some rough idea of a starting point will ultimately make standardized test prep a little easier later on. Starting during sophomore year, your teen is able to gain actual experience in certain career fields. Depending on your teen’s age and the laws in your state, he or she may be eligible for an actual job. Even if he or she is not, you can still encourage your teen to gain experience through volunteer opportunities or unpaid internships. Start a conversation about your teen’s interests and consider different angles for applying them towards a future career. Have conversations about interests and ambitions. Try to inspire some more thought about the future. While it is still a bit early to think seriously about a future career, it’s never too early to bounce ideas around. Taking personality and career tests can actually be a fun way for your teen to start to consider options and to frame his or her strengths and interests in a productive way. Encourage your teen to explore some of these tests. Many are available online, and taking them with friends can even be a fun, social activity. To get started, point your student to Career One Stop . Career One Stop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and provides career, training and job search resources. Interest and skills assessments give you an idea of careers you might possibly pursue based on your unique passions and experiences, while career profiles and videos provide insight into professions you might not have otherwise considered. Another casual and fun way to explore future career options is through career days at school. You can help your teen to make the most of these events by perusing the event flyers in advance to preview who is visiting and what presentations sound most appealing. If your teen is interested, encourage him or her to make a list of the presenters he or she would like to see. Your student might even wish to compile a list of questions for these professionals in advance to truly maximize the experience. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. Sophomore year is the year that the college search begins to get real. If your teen has not already, he or she should begin to keep a college list. This list will grow and change with time, but it should reflect schools that your teen might consider attending. As time goes on, it will narrow in focus and your teen’s true college ambitions will become clearer. To learn more about starting a college list, see these posts: Some parents tend to think that because you yourself handled the college application process with ease, you’ll be a great resource for your teen when it’s his or her turn. While you may still be a great source of support and inspiration, in actuality, the college admissions process is changing rapidly and it likely bears little resemblance to the one you undertook. Rather than taking on the role of the teacher, make learning about the college application process into a team endeavor. Set aside some time with your teen to do some online research, pick up a few relevant, updated books or magazines, or chat with someone who’s gone through the process recently. While freshman year was a time to explore new options and branch out, sophomore year is time to focus in. Encourage your teen to identify the activities for which he or she truly has a passion, and to invest more time in these while letting other, less productive activities go. Ideally, your teen should eventually focus in on two or three extracurriculars that represent broad interests, ideally incorporating some kind of service element. If your teen needs help thinking about extracurriculars, point him or her to our posts A Guide to Extracurricular Activities: Grade 10 and A Guide to Choosing Electives in High School . Again, sophomore year is early to get serious about the college search, but there are plenty of fun ways to explore different options and, by doing so, gain some more insight into what your teen is looking for in a potential college. One fun way to do this is by perusing online college tours. Many of these have gotten very technologically advanced and include sound, 3-D video, and easily navigable experiences. You might choose to virtually tour any of the colleges on your teen’s preliminary college list, or for a list of some schools offering online college tours, check out the site eCampus Tours . Here, you’ll find a virtual tour of over 1,300 colleges searchable by state. Â   For many families, financial considerations play a significant role in choosing a college, and even for families who don’t need to weigh these factors, scholarships are still a smart way for students to gain recognition for their achievements. Many students are surprised to hear that sophomore year is a great time to begin reviewing scholarship applications. Many scholarships have stringent application requirements and if you don’t begin researching them early, you could be ineligible by the time application deadlines roll around. For example, to be eligible for the National Key Club scholarship program, students must be members of the Key Club with two years tenure. Other scholarships have strict GPA or standardized test score requirements. Begin your research early and arm yourself with knowledge about the scholarships best suited to your teen. Guiding your teen can be a delicate balance. On the one hand, you want to be a source of support and a shoulder to lean on. On the other, though, you want to provide the structure and accountability that many teens need. If you feel your teen needs a little extra boost from an outside source, consider the benefits of the Near Peer Mentorship Program , which provides access to practical advice on topics from college admissions to career aspirations, all from successful college students.

Should Newspapers Shut Down Their Presses (responses) Assignment

Should Newspapers Shut Down Their Presses (responses) - Assignment Example I think that the youth around the world would rather have access to news when they want it. Unlike Fahri’s viewpoint that we will have to worry about all media organizations, I think with the increase of digital media, there will actually be more media outlets instead of less. Post Two: I think that Farhi’s argument that printing news is adaptable but only if papers printed all of the time. By the time news hits the press, it is all over the web. By the next day when it hits the newsstands, it is old news, actually making it less efficient. What is the point of calling it news if it is old? I disagree that it will affect all news sources. I am siding with Shirky in the fact that newspapers are old and the wave of the digital world are increasing. There are now more opportunities to share news online. People that are growing older are starting to dabble in using technology so while newspapers will not phase out completely because some still like to hold that paper in their hands and read it, they will find that what they are really interested in can be found online and even local news that is relevant even in small towns can be found on social media sites. Post Three: I feel like that there has to be at least one side to every argument. However, being a student learning about journalism and being young at that, I think we have to acknowledge and embrace change. What happened to radio? More people are listening to satellite radio or stations that provide specific music. Traditional radio phased out. Newspapers will do the same. There might be a few that hang around for the sake of people who like to hold a newspaper but with reading devices such as the Nook or Kindle, you can read the digital versions immediately. Everything that we need to know can be found through the Internet. I am with Shirky on the fact that newspapers will not adapt but instead society will adapt without newspapers.

Black Exodus of 1879 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Black Exodus of 1879 - Research Paper Example † The Black Exodus of 1879, often referred to as the Exoduster Movement, took place in late nineteenth century US, where there was a large-scale migration of the black Americans from southern states (primarily from regions adjoining the Mississippi River) to Kansas. This was the first movement of the black Americans (in large numbers) away from South, after end of the US Civil War. At this time, there were increasing instances of racial strife that led to widespread violence and brutal murders (of both black and white community members) in the southern states. The protection accorded to the black slaves by the Reconstruction era under Federal Bureau, disappeared with the end of Reconstruction, and with the start of the next phase known as Redemption, the former slaves became more vulnerable and were again at the mercy of their former owners. After the 1876 election, many of the former slaves felt unsafe and decided to migrate to other regions that were deemed safer. While some migrate d towards the abolitionists states in the north-eastern regions, there were large-scale movements towards Kansas (held under Republicans and the famous John Brown). The black Americans that moved to Kansas in 1879 came to be known as the Exodusters, and their movement created a great deal of worry for the southerners and led to significant debate amongst the southern and northern states. In the black exodus of 1879,  Benjamin "Pap" Singleton played a prominent role.5  During this movement, nearly forty thousand Exodusters  migrated from the  South  and went to live in Colorado Oklahoma,  and Kansas.6   The  term Kansas Fever Exodus  refers to the immigration of nearly six thousand former slaves to Kansas, from  the southern states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.7 Benjamin Singleton, at the time of the exodus, was residing in Kansas (Morris country), and he had started the demand for rights to black immigration immediately after the end of the civil war, and owing to his deep involvement in the movement he is also known as the â€Å"Father of Exodus.† There are various speculations as regards the actual cause for this sudden exodus of the black Americans from the Mississippi region towards Kansas in such large numbers. Some authors contend that this movement was primarily owing to the feeling of insecurity arising from the sudden fall i n political ascendancy of the black community, after the Reconstruction era ended. Other writers feel that some of the crafty northern politicians lured these former slaves in order to garner support in the forthcoming elections. Some authors also claim that agricultural failure in 1878, a subsequent fall in labor prices, and various other external causes led to discontent amongst the black population, which ultimately made them move northwards, and search for a better and a more stable livelihood.8 Another strong influence that made many of the black Americans move to Kansas or to other parts in the north and western regions, were the news and letters detailing the prosperous conditions of some of the former slaves who had already migrated and settled in these regions, right after the civil war. In this context, the paper will now discuss the Black Exodus of 1879, and will examine the reasons and causes behind the movement. It will explore the effects of this movement, as in change of black population demographics. The paper will include notable figures that were involved in the movement while examine the opinions of various African Americans of that era about this movement. Discussion The era of reconstruction After the end of the US Civil War in 1865, the period of Reconstruction started which lasted until around 1877, when there were large-scale efforts to rebuild South on new lines and