Monday, March 26, 2012

Homeless To Harvard


Harvard has been the backdrop and subplot to many great movies. From Good Will Hunting to the ridiculous Stealing Harvard, Harvard is the setting where dreams are made and broken.Yet the story of Dawn Loggins eclipses any Hollywood plot.
18 year old Loggins, from North Carolina, has made international news. Loggins grew up in an environment beset by school bullying and parents in the grip of drug-abuse. Fellow students taunted the teenager, who often turned up at school looking bedraggled. Despite this hardship, and a series of school transfers, Loggins somehow managed to hold course and become a Straight A student.
The story has echoes of Liz Murray who's auto-biography, 'Breaking Night, My Journey From Homeless To Harvard'. Her story became a bestseller and was later dramatized for an Emmy winning drama.
Murray too had a dysfunctional family background and found herself on the streets at the age of 16. She finally won a New York Times scholarship for needy students. Harvard is viewed by the media, with some justification, as the passport to a life of prosperity.
Murray has since become an author and international public speaker. She has shared the stage with world figures including Tony Blair, the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev. She is also the founder and director of Manifest Living, spreading a message of empowerment to teenagers around the world.
At Harvard Loggins plans to work on her degree in biology, so that she can realize next the chapter of her remarkable life and study animal habitats. Like a Charles Dickens novel, this rags to riches tale has the power to move and inspire. In the tradition of any great cliche, dreams come true for those who hold the course.
Harvard is often viewed as the passport to a life of prosperity. Which is why student applications are soaring from around the world. This year Harvard accepted just 5.9% of applicants. Which makes Dawn's achievements all the more impressive.
A word on Harvard's financial aid policy. Harvard has the highest financial aid budget of any US university at $172,000,000 for needy students. Financial Aid is reserved for students whose family finances are under $60,000. Infact Harvard's financial aid is so generous that fees best or equal 90% of other higher education institutes.
Students qualify for aid regardless of race, nationality or background. Their only requirement? Students in possession of an outstanding resume.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Taking Into Account Some Age Care Courses


Young individuals seeking to be gainfully employed to a career which exists to serve society at large while not failing to adhere to their ideals at the same time might be glad to know that caring for the elderly positively conforms to both of these concerns in a satisfactory manner. People who are interested in experiencing firsthand this endeavor won't find any lack regarding the educational courses as well as practical training programs that caters this type of career involving the care for the elderly. Moreover, what makes this kind of career challenging and all the more fulfilling is the responsibility which necessitates that its adherents have to accomplish tasks which in effect not only benefit their elderly wards, but likewise deem to be satisfactory conditions for the elderly patient's loved ones. On the other hand, the current shortage of professional elderly nursing professionals and staff, which is currently a global issue, will guarantee that taking age care courses will enable you to be certifiably qualified and be hired by clients no matter where you are.
After you've dealt with all the necessary measures to ensure that you've got practical as well as insightful training regarding how to care for senior citizens.You'll spend the initial periods following the completion of age care courses looking for an entrepreneurial network or collective who organises disparate caregiver professionals to be hired to different homes or facilities individually or as part of a staff made up of members from the community itself or from separate professionals with the same expertise or perhaps you can go it alone and opt to offer your services as a freelancer. Whichever of the two options you choose, sooner or later you'll find a senior citizen, perhaps a couple or even a group, in the case of homes for the elderly, which you'll be taking care of depending on their present and upcoming needs. This brings us to another important aspect of elderly custodianship, mainly the issue as to whether it's better to lead the senior citizens to home for the aged or prefer to assume guardianship to them day-to-day in the comfort of their homes. This inquiry can be resolved by directly asking for the senior's opinion, although you can alternately deal with the matter, with the patient's loved ones' approval of course, yourself if the senior is stricken by debilitating physical or mental illnesses.
Any of the two decisions the senior will choose can be explained by the ensuing explanations, which you'll no doubt be tackling in due time when you attend courses in aged care. Socially active patients prefer the transition toward facilities of the elderly, since they have a chance to participate in regular activities alongside fellow seniorities. Independent patients are more likely to seek caregiving help from the comfort of their own homes, mostly due to the fact that this allows them to assume dignity and the option to admit or ward off visitors at any given time. The capability to likewise cooperate with the caregiver in terms of taking care of the home itself as well as chores and outdoor activities is also a plus.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The History Of Harvard And Stanford


Harvard was initially established in 1636 due to the benefactors of Boston, MA's State Legislature. Harvard is actually the oldest advanced schooling institution in the United States Of America. Amid their founders was a man known as John Harvard. Not long after Harvard's death the institute honored his name and named the area after his own educational institute after the well-known British School, Cambridge.
Stanford's founding meanwhile, was born of a father's love. Leland Stanford founded the school in remembrance of his son, Leland Stanford Jr. who passed away due to typhoid as a teenager. Stanford, a railroad tycoon, invested $40,000,000 to the institute. As if a indication of circumstances to occur, Stanford's first pupil had been Herbert Hoover. Hoover, who slept alone on campus that first night, would ultimately go on to become leader of the United States.
Over the course of the 20th century Harvard's international reputation developed. This was due to the growth of the student population, financial endowment and prominent lecturers. Radcliffe College, established in 1879, would become the sister school of Harvard and the most prestigious school for women in the US.
Interestingly, Stanford began as 'co-ed'. However, soon reviewed the decision after an overwhelming number of female applicants. Jane Stanford limited the number of female enrollments to just 500 before the number was revised to 3:1 until the 1960's. Today, no gender discrimination is in place.
The esteem and respect for these bodies is in no small part due to the galaxy of famous alumni who've shaped the planet.
Harvard, for example, has managed to graduate 8 United states Presidents, such as Obama and Bush, Seventy five Nobel Laureates as well as Sixty four active billionaires including the earths most youngest, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is actually a member of Silicon Valley, alongside Stanford university in Palo Alto.
Among Mark's neighbors are past Stanford learners, Dave & John, also referred to as Hewlett Packard and, after that ofcourse, there's Google. Stanford students, both past and present, make up the center of these technological and commercial titans.
As a sidenote, the following stars of Hollywood have passed through Stanford and Harvard respectively. They include Reese Witherspoon, Ted Danson and Sigourney Weaver for Stanford. While Elizabeth Shue, Tommy Lee Jones, Natalie Portman and, of course, Good Will Hunting's Matt Damon attended Harvard.
So what are your prospects of becoming a member of these educational icons then? This season only 6% of 36,36 Thousand applicants were approved to Harvard, while 7% were given the distinction of signing up for Stanford's elected few.
Interestingly, both Harvard and Stanford admit a significant number of foreign students, with Harvard's as high as 1 in 10. Of these pupils all our eligible for educational funding. Harvard bests counterpart Stanford right here, by using a school funding account of over $172 million for its learners.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Digital Media Courses Bring a Fresh Approach to Film Schools


Film school is a place to explore the medium of film, discover new ways of looking at the world, and develop the movie-making skills required to create your own masterpiece. But hand-in-hand with the development of your creative vision comes the need to master the tools of film production. Digital media courses provide those necessary skills.
Digital media skills are becoming increasingly in demand by film and television production companies. While the ability to create visual pieces through traditional film making methods is still highly valued, these production companies now require film makers who can utilise more modern tools of the trade.
Tools such as computer multimedia, digital editing and design suites, internet and web based video channels, even smart phone applications, are commonly used by today's film production units. Without a thorough understanding of these new media tools, film school graduates will struggle to find work. Many audio-visual careers now involve working with internet-based platforms, such as creating online videos for websites and smart phones. Even in traditionally analogue industries like film and television, most production studios now use modern digital equipment and expect their production team to be able to utilise these tools efficiently.
A good film production school will offer digital media courses that enable students to become proficient in these new media production tools.
What can students expect from digital media courses?
Considering the highly competitive and ever-changing nature of the film production industry, students of digital media courses should have a good grounding in the following areas of study:
  • Digital photography composition and production
  • Digital audio mixer controls and lighting rig systems
  • Using high-definition digital cameras for filming
  • Adding backdrops to scenes using digital green screen techniques
  • Editing film on digital editing software
  • Stylising and colour grading images using graphics applications
What can students expect from their film school experience?
In addition to becoming experts in the technical aspects of their work, a good film school should provide students with the opportunity to learn about the more timeless aspects of their craft.
Developing a love of film and appreciating the different genres, styles and methods of great film making is just as important as understanding the tools and techniques of film production.
A good film school should teach students about theories of film and help them to develop an understanding of industry practices. Other aspects of study should include:
  • Media industry awareness
  • Ethical and legal media issues
  • Health and safety on production sites
  • Script writing for film and TV
  • Researching, recording and presenting information
Upon completion of study, a digital media courses graduate should have a film reel which demonstrates their mastery of digital media production tools as well as their professional filmmaker's eye for style and design.