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!

[Source]

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.

[Source]

As you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of recycling, and I feel the same way about water!  I’ve set up an extensive water capture system at my home to catch and store rainwater so it can be used later.  

This video walks through the details of my system and includes tips on how YOU can set up your own bathroom and rooftop water systems!

As California’s Mother of the Year, I’d like to make sure that we’re prepared to protect our homes, families, and pets as we continue through FIRE SEASON. Everyone knows that it’s a matter of “WHEN” not “IF” there will be another catastrophic wildfire like had last year when both northern (Paradise Camp Fire) and southern (Woolsey Fire) destroyed almost 20,000 structures, burned almost 250,000 acres, and killed 88 people. So let’s work together to prevent a fire from taking out your homes and neighborhoods.

#1: PUT TOGETHER GO-BAGS
Fill an old backpack or suitcase with things you’ll need to survive in the case of an evacuation. I created 2 Go-Bags.
Go-Bag #1: In my car trunk
This bag has things that I need to survive for 3-5 days:
__ First aid kit
__ Food (high protein, energy boosting, non-perishable, plates/utensils)
__ Personal hygiene (toothbrush/paste, shampoo/conditioner, tampons/pads, contact lens cases/solution, medications, etc.)
__ Water (3 gal/person; water purification tablets)
__ Tools (wrench, screwdriver, saw, hammer, can opener, phone chargers)
__ Battery-powered radio and flashlight
__ Clothes (long pants, sweatshirts/jackets, sturdy shoes, hats, etc)
__ Sleeping bags/pillows
__ Paperwork (copies of IDs, insurance policies, prescriptions, important phone numbers, back-up drives, and Cash (small bills))
__ Pet plans (dog bowls, vaccination records, leash)

Go-Bag #2: In my house
This bag contains a list of things for me to grab before I evacuate my house. This prevents you from forgetting precious items during the chaos.
__ Precious jewelry
__ Cash
__ Medications/Medical equipment
__ Important documents (mortgage, insurance, investments, etc)
__ Computer drives/laptops/back-up drives
__ Photo albums
__ Videotapes/drives
__ Framed photos
__ Artwork

#2: SIGN UP FOR CodeRED
By signing up for CodeRED, this reverse 9-1-1 system will alert you of important messages in your county. All you need to do is sign up with your cell or VOIP phone number as well as GPS service,and you’ll automatically receive emergency messages (evacuation and disaster updates).

#3: UPDATE YOUR STATUS WITH LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT
During an emergency, your local fire department will have limited time to reach out to affected residents. If you inform them of who lives in your home (including how many disabled or elderly people), how many indoor and outdoor pets/livestock, gas tanks, electricity meters, water storage tanks, etc, they can more efficiently rescue victims.
__ Full names of each resident
__ Street address (including specific directions if the house is not on the main road)
__ Contact info (landline, cell phone, email)
__ Ages of residents who are disabled, elderly, or children
__ Pet names, breeds, ages, and location (indoor/outdoor)
__ Number and location of propane/gas tanks
__ Number and location of PG&E meters/shut-off valves
__ Number, location, and size of water tanks (specify valve type, pump, and hose) (current level of water)
__ Medical/Paramedic/EMT/CPR training
__ Access roads for evacuation (describe and indicate if a fire truck and/or vehicle can use in case of an emergency)
__ Ham radio (licensed)

#4: ORGANIZE EVACUATION PLAN AND MEETING LOCATION
Every household should set up an evacuation plan that consists of collecting go-bags, pets, and family members/neighbors. Know your evacuation routes, and if you have only exit route by car, know other routes that you can take on foot. Practice this with your family.

Plan to meet at one central location after a disaster. Assume that cell phone service will be down and that everyone will be hoofing it to this location.  Choose a place that will be safe in the case of a fire or earthquake. My family meets in the Safeway parking lot where there is plenty of asphalt and few structures.  We’ve agreed that if we should move from the lot, that we would post a note with the new destination on a light pole.

Sometimes you can reach people out of state, even when local calls won’t go through.  Choose a family member or friend who lives out of state to be the contact person. Tell all family and friends to give updates on location and physical condition to that emergency contact person and make sure that their name and contact info is in each of the go-bags. 

#5: BUDDY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 
Now that we’ve discussed your plans with your immediate family and household members, let’s consider your neighborhoods. First create a neighborhood group that consists of no more than a dozen households. Get #3 information from each household. Select the group leader who will be responsible for making sure that all 12 households are informed, prepared, and evacuated should there be an emergency. The group leader can set up a phone tree by selecting 3 reliable volunteers to reach the households quickly. These 3 volunteers then contact 4 of the other families in the neighborhood and report back to the volunteers, who in turn report back to the group leader.  If there any dead ends (no contact or responses), then volunteers will go to the house to assess the situation and leave notification of the emergency. read more

20% of millionaires with college-bound kids spend more than $50,000 to get them into college. That isn’t to say that they are part of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, but these wealthy parents spend money on elite private school tuition, SAT/ACT tutoring, private tutors, and skill training for sports and music. What parents don’t get is that college admissions officers know that these students have many advantages that other less wealthy students don’t have, and that high GPAs and SAT/ACT scores have now become the norm.

So what does it take to stand out and get into selective colleges?

A PROJECT.

Projects highlight student interests, tenacity, and success. Because these projects aren’t required by teachers, club leaders (Eagle Scout), and church groups (Habitat for Humanity), and are therefore not managed and organized by others, the student demonstrates how they’ve learned and utilized these vital life skills. Colleges love these projects because they recognize this passion as a key to success for students in their 4-year institutions.

One of my students is designing a device that will stop wildfires from spreading. He lives in Northern California and has a constant fear that his neighborhood might go up in flames like those in Paradise, CA, did last year. He is working with our chemical engineer to create a prototype that will instantly put out fires caused by PG&E power lines. Meeting with fire chiefs all over the state and researching fire retardants gives this student plenty to write about on his college application essays. He is likely the only student in the country engineering such a device – which will make him stand out.  He isn’t an athlete competing among the 80,000 high school athletes or a drummer among the 100,000 band members.

Another student is writing a fictional novel that focuses on teenage angst. She’s developed excellent storytelling skills as well as improving her grammar and mechanics. By researching problems with interpersonal communication, this student has learned how mean words can also be a reflection of the perpetrator’s personal insecurities. The student’s mother told me that her daughter has handled typical teen conflicts with maturity as a direct result of her work on this project.

College admissions officers appreciate reading about students who have the initiative to do something because it is important to themselves. They learn more about how the student has gone above the norm to do a project that has personal meaning.

Besides, imagine if the 4 million students who entered 9^th grade each year did a project? They could solve many of the issues we face as a community, state, nation, and civilization. All students can do projects and they can find mentors in the retirement communities to support them. Wealthy parents, instead of cheating and stacking the decks for your child, support your child as they do a project – even finance their endeavors – but let them do the projects on their own.  They’ll become empowered with confidence and they’ll become interesting young adults – just the kind that selective colleges are admitting.

Monitor your child’s screen time — even if you feel like you’re invading their privacy.  In your family, you are the parent and you are entitled to check their phones, laptops, and computers.  You have every right to know everything that they are seeing and doing.  

It constantly shocks me that parents feel insecure about looking at their children’s devices.  We need to parent our children’s online activities.  Even if you install screen addiction apps, you still need to monitor their activities.  

Set up a digital screen agreement between you and your children.  Include rewards and consequences for breaking the rules.  Remind your children that you bought their devices and that they are simply allowed to use them.  Just knowing that you have screen addiction or monitoring apps installed on their phones and that you have access to everything they’re doing will inevitably lead to your children staying away from unsavory sites and limiting their social and gaming usage.

Remember, you are the parent and they need you to do your job. 

Susan is spreading the news about ProjectMerit and the book Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit!  Her latest interview is with Laurie Kirby of WBZ CBS Boston News Radio!  The interview is an excellent way to spend a few minutes and is available here:

First of all, who really wraps up leftovers from restaurants to take home to their dogs?  We should call them Leftover Bags or Snack Containers! I replaced of all of my plastic containers with glass containers at home and love how nice it is to clearly see the contents in them.

Glass containers can be sterilized in the dishwasher and the glass doesn’t retain any bacteria from moldy or rotten foods the way plastics do. [photo of my pantry with glass containers]  I keep 3-4 glass containers in the trunk of my car so I have them when I eat out at restaurants.  Instead of having to wrap my leftovers in Styrofoam, plastic containers, or wax-lined boxes, I put the leftovers in my handy glass container. I love having my food in a sturdy glass containers that don’t leak and don’t fall apart in my car!