For parents who think Measles Parties are a good thing because their mothers had them 50 years ago – new studies out of Harvard have scientific evidence stating that kids who actually contract measles, LOSE THEIR BODY’S OWN IMMUNITY OVER OTHER ILLNESSES. This means that after a child gets the measles, they lose between 11% to 73% of their protective antibodies, which makes them more vulnerable and apt to contract viral and bacteria strains that they were previously immune to.

So when your kid gets measles, they will be more susceptible to the flu and even tuberculosis. Kids who do get the measles, may want to get booster shots for all previous vaccines, like Hepatitis and polio, to mitigate the effects of immune amnesia. One vaccination dose is 93% effective against measles; 2 doses is 97% effective.

Here in the US, we’ve had the largest outbreak of measles since it was declared eliminated in 2000. Why? Misinformation about the virus and social media. Please do your research and get your shots!

Check out one of my student’s projects: GET YOUR SHOTS

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This week’s news about a mass shooting in a high school in Southern California; fraternity-related deaths on 3 college campuses in WA, AZ, and CA; and drug overdoses and suicides at USC, shouldn’t be a surprise to me. I spend vast amounts of time with teens and 20/30-somethings – it’s part of life as a college/career advisor. I’ve noticed that a majority of them suffer from depression and feelings of being isolated or left out.

It’s sad when stories that should be headline news, don’t make it to the headlines because we’re mired in relentless stories of madness from impeachment hearings to escalated climate crisis to corruption at every level. Tension has become the new norm, and our children are feeling the brunt of it. While parents are treading water to stay afloat both financially and emotionally, our kids are figuratively screaming for help.

Sensory overload overwhelms our children. They are inundated with homework, studying for exams, and preparing for college admissions. Access to information at their fingertips, they are so overwhelmed with data that they don’t have the bandwidth to understand concepts beneath the superficial surface. Kids don’t read books for pleasure or to escape for a few hours. They actually don’t read emails or texts if they’re longer than a few words.

Like back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, students didn’t trust the elders (back then they were the “authority figures” or “the man”). This sense of betrayal by the boomers who’ve left them a lifestyle that is doomed leads them to numb the pain by participating in unhealthy activities like vaping or smoking, eating too much (or too little), or any of the other classic signs of depression. Parents, we need to watch their shows, listen to their music, and talk to them. That’s the only way we’re going to understand their fears, frustrations, and views. How many mass shootings, suicides, fraternity deaths, and drug overdoses will it take for us to put down our cell phones, make it home to have dinner with the family, and engage with our kids — while we still can?

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After getting hooked on shampoo and conditioner bars, I decided to stop using plastic containers for my laundry detergent, pet shampoo, and dish soap. I was throwing dozens plastic containers into my recycle bin each week, and it bothered me that I was contributing to the 515,000 tons of plastic waste that ends up on the curb each week. Newsflash: China is not buying our plastic waste anymore so our plastic waste goes to the landfill!

It’s really easy to make 5 gallons of laundry soap.  It only needs a few ingredients and you can make it in about 5 minutes.  I went to Home Depot and bought 5-gallon containers (OK, I bought 5-gallon plastic containers that I’ll reuse indefinitely!), ordered the ingredients online, and now I have a year’s supply.  I refill glass containers with a spigot so it’s easy to use.  I love the fresh smell from using wholesome ingredients. 

While I was on a roll, I also made 5 gallons of dish soap that I also use in my liquid soap containers in all of the bathrooms. Next I made a gallon of pet shampoo.  I wanted to make sure my giant dogs (black labs/German Shepherd) liked it before making 5 gallons. 

The best part, I don’t have to lug heavy gallon containers of laundry detergent, dish soap, and pet shampoo from the grocery store to my car, and then from my car to the house, anymore. I save lots of money, too.  And the most important part is that I am reducing the amount of plastic containers that end up in the landfills!

We’ve become reliant on using paper in our lives because we have a throw-away mentality.  By continuing to use virgin paper products, we’re directly harming the environment, and this needs to change!

Just about every paper item we regularly consume can be replaced with a better, more sustainable option, like using cloth napkins instead of paper towels, buying recycled toilet paper without cardboard tubes, and many more!  Check out the video below for tips:

Suicide attempts on college campuses just reached 13% in 2018. This is really alarming – and sad at the same time. College mental health programs are struggling with ways to address this rise. One college now requires students to take an online suicide-prevention training course to learn techniques to help peers who are suicidal. They also require professors to take a similar course so they can recognize at-risk students.

Most students experiencing stress don’t seek professional help but instead confide in friends or peers. College resident assistants (RAs) are often the most likely support person to hear from students who are suffering from depression or anxiety.

When I was an RA in college, one of my students left me a strange note that didn’t make sense to me (I was 19 years old at the time). I noticed that his car was in the student parking lot but he wasn’t in class and wasn’t in the dorm. Panicked, I organized a search team and we combed the redwood forest and entire campus to find him. This had a happy ending because he was a victim of poor communication skills – not depression. He had left me a note attempting to tell me that he was leaving campus to visit his family, but his writing style was difficult to decipher, hence, the search party.

Giving students and professors tools to recognize suicidal red flags can save lives. These at-risk students should definitely seek professional mental health therapists to help them navigate the transition from home to college and other life obstacles. I like the combination of friends/peers and professionals looking out for one another – it makes college a safer place for all.

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As California Mother of the Year, I am outraged about how cell phones failed during last month’s PG&E outages. Cell phone companies should have backup power and solutions for power outages. Earthquakes, fires, and other natural disasters are going to become regular occurrences – thanks to the climate crisis – and as an industry that services everyone from life-saving doctors to emergency dispatchers to people who rely on medical devices, CELL PHONE COMPANIES NEED TO SUPPLY SERVICE, ESPECIALLY DURING POWER OUTAGES.

I am organizing Micro Communities where neighbors work together to make sure everyone is okay and to get help for those who are not. Each Micro Community leader works with their local fire departments to keep them abreast of problems so fire chiefs can better assess disasters and get word out to residents about evacuation plans specific to their areas. Cell phone coverage is essential in our communication.

I certainly hope that cell phone companies are implementing solutions to power outages and maintaining their equipment, unlike PG&E. One benefit we have is the ability to change cell phone carriers – something we don’t have with PG&E.  Check with your cell phone provider to demand cell coverage during power outages, or tell them you’ll find a provider that will. Money talks.

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In September, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at DNA’s Comedy Lab in Santa Cruz.

Sethumadhav Perumalla was a featured speaker, and his TEDx Talk is embedded below.

“Influence on Teenagers” by Sethumadhav Perumalla: Sethumadhav discusses online misinformation that only a clown could believe. He explains how teenagers are easily influenced in ways that harm themselves and others. Acting on and spreading false medical information can lead to illnesses and deaths. Insulting people online leads to mass cyberbullying through copycat behavior. People shouldn’t be swayed into believing or repeating online information without enough evidence. How teens act online can negatively affect them and other users of social media. His advice can help teens avoid becoming stupid clowns.

About Sethumadhav Perumalla: Sethumadhav Perumalla is a senior and interested in business and finance. He enjoys playing video games, spending time with friends, and reading. He wants to help other teens learn about online and social media dangers which pose significant threats to themselves and others.

With fires and power outages affecting large swathes of California, it’s more important than ever to have a Go-Bag (or two!) on hand in case of emergency.  YourTeen Magazine recently published my article on how to put together a Go-Bag – you should check it out!

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With all of the shocking news and chatter around the college admissions scandal, I wish the news would stop focusing on how the rich and famous buy their way into colleges, and instead, focus on what everyone can do to stand out in the college admissions process. Because GPAs vary between schools – some schools give A’s when students participate in class and turn in homework, while others only give A’s to a few well-deserving students, colleges know that grades mean different things at different schools. Many colleges have dropped the SAT or ACT requirements and only the Ivies and Stanford are requiring the SAT II exams.

So what makes college admissions officers notice an applicant?

A PROJECT. When a student starts a business, writes a book, creates an app, engineers a device, or organizes a non-profit, they stand out. It’s not rocket science, but it does take some thought and perseverance. These projects aren’t part of a school assignment or a club responsibility.  They’re something that fascinates the student and something they can do on their own.

Projects can be started in 9^th grade or any time while they’re in high school.  They can work with mentors to help them develop their projects and advisors to guide them through the process.  While doing their projects, they’ll learn how to set up a budget, lay out a timeline, promote their ideas, send press releases, and recruit volunteers.  Check out these projects!  These valuable skills can help them in high school, college, and career. I find that students who do projects become self-confident, innovative, and proactive.

While some parents are willing to pay millions of dollars to get their kids into top colleges, smart parents give their children opportunities to develop professional skills that get into college on their own merits!

We all know that Amazon and Google track our internet activities – we see ads targeted at us based on our searches. It’s a brilliant marketing strategy but kind of creepy that there’s a cyberworld out there that knows more about us than our families and friends. Well, college admissions officers just entered the secret tracking world, and we’re starting to learn what they’re looking for and what they’re doing with the data.

The top colleges and universities in the world compete to enroll the brightest students with the most potential for success. They accept more students than they could actually enroll just to ensure that they have a full freshman class every fall. Having only a finite amount of scholarships and grants to offer students, colleges want to know if they are your safety schools. In other words, why bother making enticing offers to students who will never enroll because you have your heart set on your reach colleges.

Colleges are now checking your web-browsing habits to see how many times you’ve visited their website and how many pages you checked out. With tracking software on their college website, they can see all the pages you visit and how long you spend on each page. They also map your geographical location, among other things. By analyzing all of the data collected by your browsing behavior, colleges create an “Affinity Index” to estimate your level of interest in attending their college.

Not surprising, colleges are also getting access to your family’s financial history to see if you have the funds to help them reach their revenue goals – in other words, will you be able to pay tuition without their aid? They have been doing this for decades when choosing which high schools to send their recruiting teams to.  You’ll rarely see any of the top 200 colleges at college fairs in low-income schools.

Whatever happened to colleges admitting students who are the smartest and most talented? With an undergraduate degree costing almost $300,000 at private universities, looks like the colleges are squeezing middle and lower class students from obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Tracking students’ web browsing and financial histories should be illegal.  I can only imagine how they’ll be watching students’ online relationships, social media, and other private spaces if we don’t stop them now.

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