Thrilled that we are hosting our third TEDx event at DNA’s Comedy Lab in Santa Cruz! Join us on September 15, 2019 at 1 pm!  Get your tickets for TEDxMeritAcademy at tedxmeritacademy.com/tickets.  Meet Nicole D’Arcy and Anna Krawisc!

“Ode to Advance Directives” by Nicole D’Arcy: This music video about advance directives was a Stanford Medical School project. By using a bit of humor and music, Nicole D’Arcy and Anna Krawisz encourages everyone to write their advance directives to make it easier for loved ones when health and life decisions need to be made in the future. Audio produced at the Stanford Videography Department.

About Nicole D’Arcy: Nicole is a doctor of emergency medicine who is currently doing an EMS/Disaster Fellowship at UCSF. She completed her Emergency Medicine residency at Harbor UCLA and medical school at Stanford School of Medicine. She enjoys singing, dancing, and playing guitar, and she enjoys making music videos as a creative method for reaching her audiences. A native Santa Cruzan, Nicole loves to kayak and paddleboard. During the winter, she enjoys downhill skiing.

Thrilled that we are hosting our third TEDx event at DNA’s Comedy Lab in Santa Cruz! Join us on September 15, 2019 at 1 pm!  Get your tickets for TEDxMeritAcademy at tedxmeritacademy.com/tickets.  Meet Spencer Balliet!

“Why Plastic Belongs in the Trash” by Spencer Balliet: Plastic is piling up all over the country, and we only have ourselves to blame! Spencer Balliet will talk about the problems facing the recycling industry and what can be done to fix it. This includes information about the misconceptions of plastic, what has happened to the recycling industry over the past two years, what you can do right now, and his project H.E.A.R.T. Plastics that intends to save millions of pounds of plastic from landfills all over the country.

About Spencer Balliet: Spencer Balliet has a passion for computer science and technology. He runs his own virtual reality company to help introduce world to the amazing new technology being developed.

In this short podcast, I explain what a micro community is and what you need to do to set one up.  I’ve included a micro community checklist in the Emergency Planning Checklist located on the AmericanMothersCalifornia.com website here, and you can also listen to my previous podcast on Preparing for Emergencies here.

Listen to today’s podcast here, find GakkoMom on iTunes and subscribe to my podcast, or listen to it below:

TAG applications Sept 1-30 for Fall Transfers; May 1-31 for Spring Transfers

Students interested in applying to a UC as a junior transfer must complete their Transfer Admissions Guarantee application by September 30^th.  Six UC campuses offer guaranteed admission to students from all California Community Colleges.

Here are the basic requirements and information:

1. Must be transferring directly from a California community college.
2. Must have 30 semester (45 quarter) UC-transferable units
3. Must not have a bachelor’s or graduate degree
4. Must not have attended a UC
5. Must fulfill all remaining coursework and GPA requirements designated on the TAG
6. Must also apply for admission between November 1-30 (in addition to the TAG application)
7. Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz offer TAGs

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If you think child care is expensive, brace yourself for elder care. Nursing homes charge upwards of $100,000 per year, which is about EIGHT TIMES more expensive than child care. Taking care of ones parents used to be shared by many children, but today, the family size has shrunk to just 2 kids per couple. Soon, seniors will outnumber children.    There are 34 million family members who provide unpaid care to an older parent here in the US. Most of these caregivers are women. With the high cost of elder care, home-health aids, and nursing homes, many families opt to move in with the senior or have the senior move in with them.  This drastically changes the dynamics of the home and strips the family members of free time because they are juggling their jobs and their fulltime elder care responsibilities.    Neither Medicare nor standard private health insurance cover long-term personal care.  Social security usually only covers a small percentage of nursing home costs. Although Medicaid does cover long-term care, it’ll only kick in after the patient has spent all of their savings and this varies from state to state. And private long-term care insurance is usually too expensive or not available for the patient.    As our aging population grows, unpaid caregivers for seniors will become crippled with stress, loss of wages, and ruined family relations. Taking care of elders has long been considered a family responsibility with pressure on the children to handle everything from feeding, bathing, and entertaining to doctors’ appointments, financial planning, and long-term care. Many caregivers feel isolated and can’t afford to hire in-home caregivers or pay for nursing homes.    I believe that elder care and how we as a society will finance it should be a topic for debates and campaign speeches for the 2020 elections. It’s just as important as child care, climate change, prescription drugs, and gun violence.  We all need to start having these conversations with our loved ones to pool resources and finances.   [Source 1] [Source 2]

After 31 months of Trump in the highest American office, political fatigue has set in with the sensory overload. So here’s some good news in the political world: California Governor Gavin Newsom fired Ken Harris, the head of California’s oil and gas regulatory agency, after activists complained about a sharp rise in oil drilling permits and conflicts of interest.

It’s refreshing to see a politician oppose fracking (hydraulic fracturing) because of potential health and environmental risks. Fracking injects high-pressured water into wells to release methane (aka natural gas). Each fracked well uses 1 million gallons of water and chemicals containing known carcinogens, which contaminates the ground water. Residents across the US complain that their water from their tap ignites but the EPA claims that their water is safe to drink. The level of corruption is obscene.

Watch “Gasland 2” to learn how our EPA and government officials have been denying problems with ground water contamination. My students loved how Josh Fox interviewed victims as well as oil companies and the EPA in “Gasland 2.” I believe that every high school student should watch “Gasland 2” in their environmental science and chemistry classes.

My hat’s off to Governor Newsom for taking a strong stand against fracking in California. Wish other governors and elected officials would protect their constituents instead of looking the other way.

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College admission officers read thousands – literally – of applications each year so they have seen all kinds of interesting scenarios. They carefully review applications looking for students who will add something unique to their incoming freshman class. However, there are 4 red flags that raise eyebrows in the admissions office, and if your application falls into these piles, make sure you explain the situation in your essays, on the application form, or in an interview.

#1: GPA and SAT/ACT scores don’t match.
Colleges expect students with high GPAs to do well on their SAT/ACT, and likewise, those with low GPAs to have low SAT/ACT scores. But when a student has a high GPA with really low SAT/ACT scores, they’ll wonder why.

#2: Attended more than 2 high schools
Colleges wonder if a student who bounces from school to school will continue that pattern once they’re admitted to college. When students transfer to new schools mid semester, admissions officers may be concerned about student behavior and stability.

#3: Minimal or too many extracurricular activities.
College is a social institution and students are encouraged to join clubs, athletic teams, and/or the arts. When student resumes are thin, admissions officers may wonder why. On the other hand, students who claim to be president of 4 clubs, MVP of 3 sports, and work 20 hours per week, raise red flags because it’s impossible to dedicate quality time to that many activities.

#4: Essays sound too good to be true.
College application essays are expected to be written by teenagers, not 50-something adults. When essays are written with a sophisticated philosophy (one developed over decades), admissions officers know that parents or tutors have heavily edited or even written them. Sometimes jargon, descriptions, and even dated metaphors are dead giveaways that the essays were not written by the students themselves.

If your application raises red flags, you won’t be admitted. So, explain any ambiguous situations to avoid the reject pile. Just read your application with fresh eyes before you submit it, and if you find areas where your response did not satisfy the question, call the admissions office to inquire about how to present your circumstances.  They’ll appreciate your honesty and sincere interest in getting in.

Good luck! If you need help with your college applications, we’re here to help. 

In July, 2 boxers died from injuries sustained after their fights in different venues.  Hmm. I consider boxing a form of human cockfighting. I’m disgusted by the concept of jabbing fists into an opponent’s head and body for entertainment. Not sure which bothers me more: the boxer who enters the small ring to be physically abused or the audience who gets pleasure out of watching 2 men fight in a small boxing ring.

Like boxing, cockfighting consists of 2 living things (roosters) that are put in a small ring with the solitary purpose of fighting to win (or until death). Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states…I wonder why boxing is legal in all 50 states.  I don’t find anything entertaining about watching anybody or any animal hurting one another.

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Susan is spreading the news about ProjectMerit and the book Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit!  Her latest interview is with Jim Beach of School for Startups Radio.  The interview is an excellent way to spend a few minutes and is available here:

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