Figuring out what extracurricular activities to do or join in school isn’t easy. Everyone knows that extracurricular activities look good on a college application; however, you don’t want to spread yourself thin by doing too many at once. In fact, colleges value being able to see commitment and excitement for a few activities that you are passionate about; they want to see passion and commitment to activities that you find meaningful. By joining clubs that…
Kids around the country are still suffering academically from the pandemic, but more than three years after schools shut down, it’s hard to understand exactly how much ground students have lost and which children now need the most attention. Some new reports offer some insights. All three were produced by for-profit companies that sell assessments to schools. Unlike annual state tests, these interim assessments are administered at least twice a year and help track student…
Extracurricular activities are sometimes given as much weight as a student’s academic profile. This is especially true for highly specialized students with unique plans for the future. Colleges and universities will weigh your extracurricular profile more heavily, since your musical talent is just as important as your grades for admission. For students in the arts, depending on the rigor of the program and school you’re applying to, your extracurricular activities will matter even more than…
The United States now has 46 million people age 65 or older. That’s a record number, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. More of these senior citizens are adopting tech, but most also say they need help using new electronic devices such as smart phones. Falling behind on technology puts seniors at risk for social isolation, which makes them vulnerable to poor health and earlier death. It’s also expensive. A study by…
Young people give us hope–young people who don’t give up or give in, who have loud voices and the courage to use them to say enough is enough. Young people whose empathy, compassion and sense of justice in the face of violence, oppression and tragedy are humbling. So, too, do books give us hope–they can save lives and change lives. Here are some of our favorite books for empowering students who are leading the charge,…
Here are our best FAFSA tips with everything you need to know about filling out the FAFSA. You should fill out the FAFSA form as soon as possible on or after Oct. 1, but you should definitely fill it out before your earliest FAFSA deadline. Each state and school sets its own deadline, and some are very early. Check deadlines for your state here. It’s important to get a StudentAid.gov account username and password (FSA…
Peaceful, student-led protests and activism have been a powerful force for change throughout American history. In 1925, for example, students at Fisk University staged a 10-week protest to speak out against the school’s president, who didn’t want students starting a chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. In 1940, almost 2,000 students protested after New York University decided to pull a black player from its football roster to accommodate the University of Missouri’s segregationists. And campus-based activism, including…
High school students face many of the same relationships dynamics as elementary and middle school students, yet relationships operate in distinct ways in these later adolescent years. The buffering effect friends provided in earlier childhood, for example, seems to disappear. “Not only did the presence of friends not reduce stress,” writes Lydia Denworth in the 2020 book Friendship: “It made things worse. Cortisol levels went up.” By the time students reach high school, relationships become more stable. “In middle…
Journaling provides teens with a regular opportunity to practice and improve their creative writing , reading, and communication skills. Kids with difficulty writing or communicating in other contexts will benefit from this. With daily journals, teens learn to find their voice, communicate openly, gain confidence, and become more comfortable expressing themselves. The term “journaling” encompasses a lot of different things, however: the list of birds you’ve seen in your neighborhood; the descriptions of sights you…
From teachers to students, anyone who’s been to class since March 2020 has had to deal with COVID-19. But for the class of 2023, that connection is a little deeper, as the pandemic hit during their freshman year and turned their time at school upside-down. “Kids were talking about ‘What are we gonna do after spring break?’ And I remember saying that we might miss a couple days, maybe a week after spring break at…
