Idaho receives $23 million in federal grant

Our goal is to ensure every student graduates from high school prepared to go on to postsecondary education, and once there, they will not need remediation. Idaho was awarded $23 million in federal grant funding to help more Idaho students go on to postsecondary education.GEAR UP has proven to be a successful program in helping more students accomplish this goal, and I am proud we will continue this program in the coming years,Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said.The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) Idaho grant is a federally funded program, matched by state, local and private funds, designed to prepare students and their families for postsecondary education beginning in the 7th grade and through their senior year.

The GEAR UP Idaho program implements statewide services and support to address financial, social and landscape barriers that Idaho students face on their path to postsecondary education. The program is aligned with Idaho’s Students Come First reform laws to improve student achievement, increase high school graduation rates and ensure successful entrance and completion of postsecondary programs.Officials say Idaho was one of 66 out of 236 state and partnership applicants to receive an award this year. Idaho first received a GEAR UP grant in 2006. Students involved in GEAR UP Idaho have shown progress in increasing academic achievement, they say taking more rigorous courses, and showing a greater interest in going on to postsecondary education after high school.

Through the new GEAR UP grant, Idaho will be able to serve 6,000 new students statewide. Local school districts and public charter schools have applied to be a part of the GEAR UP program. The grant program targets middle schools where 50 percent of students are eligible to receive free or reduced lunch.

EU business training courses in Armenia

Within the framework of the East-Invest Project, the Armenian Chamber of Commerce is organizing two training courses in Armenia with EU acquis. These courses aim to provide Armenian companies assistance in export.The first training course was held from October 17 to 21, and it was intended for Starters Category. That is, for those companies that do not have much experience in working with EU countries, that have limited knowledge on EU standards, legislation and legal framework, and on internationalization, but have great potential and wide prospects.

The second training will be held between November 21 and 25, and it is for Advanced Category. That is, for those companies that have close ties and experiences with European companies. The course will be conducted by foreign experts. Top participants will get a chance to take part, at no cost, in large relevant exhibitions to be held in EU countries, and to meet with their European associates.

Study comes first

One hundred fifty-eight thousand that’s how many valid voter signatures it would take to push an early election and recall Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna.Members of the Committee to Recall Tom Luna announced Sunday that they had only collected about 50,000 signatures and thereby failed in their effort to recall Luna.But the real issue isn’t recalling Luna from office. It’s about recalling his policies and preventing further diminishment to the quality of public education in Idaho.

Last year, the Census Bureau confirmed that out of 50 states and the District of Colombia, Idaho ranked 50th in terms of per-pupil spending. That same year, $128 million was cut from the K-12 education investment fund.As University of Idaho students, we should be concerned about public education on all levels. Approximately 82,000 high school students in 115 school districts will be adversely affected by Luna’s Students Come First education reform plan, including our younger siblings or children. As the quality of education decreases in public schools, it will slowly reach the university level. Luna’s education reform plan will only speed up this process.
Students Come First will mandate online education courses and make laptops available to every high school student in Idaho. Luna said the reform is about educating students at a higher level with limited resources, but in reality, students don’t come first. As a result of this reform, class sizes will increase by one or two students and almost 800 teaching positions will be eliminated. Laptops will substitute for the valuable one-on-one time between teachers and students.

Education is about preparing students for the future. Great teachers are able to fill a classroom with knowledge and make learning fun. Through public education, teachers have the ability to leave a lasting, positive impression and they are often the people who have one of the greatest impacts on our childhood. To help students succeed, teachers cultivate hidden talents and qualities in students.Talents that won’t be found in a student’s reflection as they stare into a computer screen.

King of Prussia Rotary Club invited top graduate students apply for study abroad grant

The King of Prussia Rotary Club is pleased to invite top graduate students that are continuing their studies abroad in 2013-14 to apply for a $30,000 Global Grant. The grant program is provided by Rotary District 7450, comprising 53 Rotary clubs in the Greater Philadelphia area. The King of Prussia Club will forward the best applications from area students to the District.
The tentative deadline for submission of 2013-2014 Global Grant applications including study proposals to the King of Prussia Rotary Club is December 1, 2011. Applications selected by the King of Prussia Club will be forwarded to the Rotary District 7450 by January 17, 2012 for review. Interviews by the District 7450 Scholarship committee are slated for early February, 2012.

Specific Eligibility Requirements include: Permanent residency in Rotary District 7450; Demonstrated record of high academic achievement; Proficiency in the native language of the host country; Commitment to reside in the host Rotary District where the study will occur; and, commitment to graduate study abroad at a designated university of the student’s choice during 2013-2014 in one of the following areas:

Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution
Maternal and Child Health
Water and Sanitation
Disease Prevention and Treatment
Basic Education and Literacy
Economic and Community Development
Checklist for Global Grant Applicants
Personal Letter of Introduction

new study abroad programs give students majoring in economics or English the chance

Beginning last year, economics majors can spend a semester or a year abroad at the Università Bocconi in Milan, Italy, and starting next fall, junior English majors will be able to study English literature in a yearlong program at Balliol College at Oxford University, said Karyn Jones, director of study abroad at the Center for International and Professional Experience. The programs, which are the only major-specific study abroad programs Yale offers, allow students to explore courses within their field beyond the ones offered at Yale.Two new study abroad programs give students majoring in economics or English the chance to focus exclusively on their chosen disciplines.

The global economy matters a lot more than it used to, and the European currency is kind of in crisis right now, Anthony Smith, director of undergraduate studies for the Economics Department, said.So I think it’s very valuable for students to get other perspectives by studying abroad.Both programs began after departments approached the study abroad office, Jones said. While Yale is not making a conscious effort to provide major-specific programs, she and Dean of International and Professional Experience Jane Edwards said they are receptive to proposals for new options. Having the full support of an academic department is important for a study abroad program’s success, Jones added.The new programs are not the only way for English and economics majors to earn credits toward their majors abroad. For example, economics majors have studied at the London School of Economics, at Cambridge and Oxford, and in Spain in the past, Smith said, but having a program at Bocconi in place helps students to find a good place to go.

Bocconi, a private university in Italy that specializes in economics, management and business, is a top institution for students in these fields, Smith said. Yale began an exchange program with Bocconi last fall, when three graduate students from the university came to New Haven for the academic year. Yale, in turn, can send undergraduates majoring in economics to Bocconi for either a term or a full year, but only one student participated in the program last spring. While two graduate students from Bocconi are studying at Yale for the current academic year, the program was put on hold this semester for Yale students for administrative reasons, Jones said. Undergraduates will be able to go to Bocconi again in the spring, she said.

Jones said Yale students can study at Bocconi without any knowledge of Italian since the school offers many courses in English. Smith added that the school offers some economics courses related to Europe that are not found at Yale.I encourage students to take courses at Bocconi that wouldn’t be offered here things like the history of the Italian economy or the policy of the European Union, he said.Seinne Fleming ’12, the only student to take part in the program so far, said she took classes in monetary economics, financial economics, European economic policy, economic history and financial contracts. While she said taking five economics classes at once was difficult, she added that she felt “very focused” on her major and gained a deeper understanding of economics.

The students from Bocconi that come to Yale are placed in first-year economics graduate courses, said Truman Bewley, director of graduate studies for the Economics Department.Giovanni Compiani, one of the two students from Bocconi at Yale this year, said he was drawn to Yale for its outstanding faculty and academic environment.As a second-year student in a master’s program at Bocconi, Compiani said he is using his time at Yale to help decide whether to pursue a Ph.D.So far, the experience has been very good: the workload is quite heavy, but the courses are interesting and the atmosphere is overall friendly,Compiani wrote in an email.Living in New Haven is not as bad as many people told me.While the Bocconi exchange program is in its second year, the program at Balliol College is set to launch next fall. Balliol, which has the largest English department in the United Kingdom and is well known for the study of medieval literature, will accept three to five English majors entering their junior year. Unlike the Bocconi program, students commit to studying there for their entire junior year, and no students from Balliol will study at Yale.

John Rogers, director of undergraduate studies for the English Department, called the Balliol program an extraordinary opportunity for English majors. He said the school places a greater emphasis on historical breadth in its English literature courses than Yale does. Yale students at Balliol will also get to work closely with faculty in Oxford’s tutorial system, in which students are taught individually or in small groups by an instructor.The students who are selected will be able to live in the center of Balliol College itself and participate in the full life of college activity, Rogers said.The deadline to apply for a spring term abroad was Oct. 15.

Watsonville High students look to new courses to open up career

Noah Garcia examined the circuit board with his teammates last week in a Watsonville High School classroom.The task was to power a small LED light and measure the voltage, and around the room engaged students bent over boards, connecting wires, batteries and resisters.For the students in a new engineering course at Watsonville High School, the project was fun and the class is an opportunity to get a leg up in the competitive worlds of colleges and careers.

We're going to pick up that much more about engineering than everybody else,said Garcia, a 15-year-old sophomore who dreams of a career as a nuclear engineer in the Navy.Principles in Engineering is offered through the school's Engineering Technology Academy, one of the seven academies that center studies around career pathways. At Watsonville, students enroll in academies for their sophomore, junior and senior years.E-Tech, as the 2-year-old Engineering Technology Academy is more commonly known, offers courses in metal fabrication, green construction and engine repair. This year, two pre-engineering courses were introduced. Two more are scheduled to be added next year to complete implementation of a highly regarded curriculum developed by Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit that aims to increase the technological skills of the nation's middle and high school students. Watsonville is the first school in Santa Cruz County to offer the program, which relies heavily on hands-on activities.Cheryl Romo, who teaches the other course, Introduction to Engineering Design, said students who complete all four classes can check a box on California State University applications, giving them an edge for acceptance in engineering programs.

Senior Leonel Valencia, 17, said the program is a good fit for his generation, born into "the era of new technology.So we need to embrace it, added Moises Gutierrez, also a 17-year-old senior.Diana Villanueva, 17, signed up, even though she's a senior at Pajaro Valley.Girls are not really into math and science. They don't see it as a useful tool in life, Villanueva said, explaining why boys have a more than 3-1 advantage in the class.But they're wrong, Villanueva said. She's been attracted to architecture for as long as she can remember, her interest nourished by watching homes being built. As an architectural engineer, she hopes to combine her love of math and art.Watsonville sophomore Antoinette Martin, 15, is less sure about which branch of engineering she'll pursue, but she has no doubt she's headed on the right career path.As soon as I heard about the class, I took the opportunity. Technology is changing so much, and engineering is part of the change process,Martin said.It's exciting, something new, kind of like a puzzle."

Students who study abroad tend to graduate faster, study finds

Sixty percent of UT students who study abroad graduate in four years, compared to 45 percent of non-participants, according to a study by the assistant director of the Study Abroad Office.A University task force, assembled by President William Powers Jr. in July is looking for ways to increase UT’s 51 percent four-year graduation rate, according to a separate study by associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Marc Musick.

At an open forum about the task force last month, Musick said some people think study abroad hinders the amount of time it takes students to graduate, but he said the study by Heather Barclay Hamir, director of the Study Abroad Office, shows that it has the opposite effect.This is a common perception, that it slows time to earn a degree, and what she found is that’s just not true, Musick said.Hamir said the study is quantitative research, so the results do not explain the reason for the results, but there does appear to be a correlation between graduating in four years and participating in programs like study abroad.

When students participate in these enriching educational activities, it deepens their educational experience, and that causes students to stay at that university, Hamir said.According to Hamir’s study, differences in the likelihood of graduating from UT were not attributable to motivational factors or differences in academic performance.What my research shows is that there’s something about study abroad different from academics that’s keeping them at the University until graduation,Hamir said.She said the cost of many study abroad programs include expenses that students would also have living in Austin and attending UT. Hamir said scholarships are available for students who want to study abroad, and there are a variety of study abroad programs that range in cost.

The more flexible you can be about where you go, the more options you’ll have so you can fit it into your financial comfort zone,Hamir said.She said it takes planning for study abroad to be integrated into a student’s four-year degree plan.We’re trying to reach freshmen so they have the information in order to plan, Hamir said.Advertising junior Casey Lewis studied abroad last summer with the Hong Kong International Advertising Maymester. Lewis said she understands the study’s results because the study abroad process takes planning.Lewis said she and her classmates on the Maymester created an advertising campaign geared at Hong Kong culture. She said she is developing similar advertising campaigns in her classes this semester and said the experience in Hong Kong translates to these projects.I feel like I’m more prepared for my classes, Lewis said.I think it was harder over there because it was a totally different culture, but I’m doing it for my own culture so it seems easier.She said the trip further sparked her interest in completing her degree on time so she can travel to Asia again when she enters the workforce.
It definitely lit the fire,Lewis said.When you’re in school you’re tied down, but when you graduate you’re able to do whatever you want and go wherever you want.