Claim to be a Climate-Change Believer? Prove it!  Don’t drive your car on Saturday, April 23^rd!

Back in October 2015 when Logan Conover (my 17-years-old client) learned that there was 398 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, he was shocked.  Then, when we checked CO2 levels last week and found that we reached 404 ppm in just 4 months, when we thought it would be at least 4 years, he was speechless. After all, we all know that the earth can’t handle more than 350ppm without causing havoc and heading us all into a downward spiral.  But Logan actually did something about it.  He started an organization called WHEN, NOT IF… to give everyone a relatively simple way to reduce their contribution to the 7.5 billion lbs. of CO2 that we spew into the atmosphere every day. Logan is advocating to get everyone to NOT DRIVE THEIR GAS-GUZZLING CARS on Saturday, April 23^rd.

You can do this!  Do your shopping and errands on Friday or Sunday.  If you need to go somewhere, ride your bike, take a bus or train, or walk! You can even carpool with someone else! Sure, this may be a little inconvenient, but in the long term, it certainly is more convenient than, say, not having shelter because of a natural disaster that was caused by Climate Change (tidal waves, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, and more). So be proactive and make your plans to not drive on Saturday. 

The next most important thing for you to do is to LOG IN THE MILES YOU DIDN’T DRIVE ON SATURDAY! Yup!  Clever Logan created his own website for WHEN, NOT IF… and he even did the math calculations to determine how much CO2 we won’t be spewing into the atmosphere on Saturday. It’s easy to do.  Just go to his website at www.WhenNotIf.org and click on the “Enter Your Data” page.  Just enter how many miles you normally drive per day (approximate is fine) and how many miles per gallon your car gets. That’s it!  He’s created the formula to add up your total and add it to his running tally.  Can you believe that one gallon of gasoline equals 20 lbs. of CO2? Yikes!

So put this on your calendar!  And please share this blog with your friends, family and co-workers! Get everyone to not drive on Saturday, April 23^rd, and remind them to report their participation on Logan’s website: www.WhenNotIf.org! Logan will tally up the April 23^rd numbers to determine how much CO2 we prevented from contributing to further damaging climate change!

Logan plans to expand this drive every month!  With one billion cars on the road today (worldwide), the impact will be significant and it will hurt the oil industry using the only language they understand: MONEY!

So the box says it takes only 4 hours to build – but we all know you can’t believe everything you read, right? I went back and forth about whether to buy a prebuilt shed, search for a used shed on Craigslist, or build a shed using a kit. 

After doing considerable research, I decided to build it myself so I could get exactly what I wanted and do it that very same day (emphasis on that same day!).  With my friend Mario, we finished it in 8 hours – that’s 16 man hours! Even after I read the instructions twice, I couldn’t even find the first piece. It seemed like I was reading a foreign language. Who writes instructions for kits? Then, Mario comes along and says we don’t need to read the instructions… I knew that was not a good thing, but he’s the builder and I was just glad to have the help! 

I thought that by building it ourselves, it would be solid and watertight. But when I saw daylight between the seams, I knew I’d need to use a tarp to keep things dry.  I guess the first mistake was not building a level slab foundation.  I cracked the floor as I walked across it because it had huge gaps beneath it.  Did I mention that we didn’t follow the instructions for the roof? Bad idea: the installation was a nightmare and it took twice as long.  We both cracked up when I went to hold up the metal beams, but couldn’t reach them because I am vertically challenged! 

Next time, spend 3 times more money and get a shed that will last!

I love to see my students from years past; that’s one of the best parts about being a college advisor. 

Gabe just graduated from Chapman University and he’s exploring solar panel systems sales while he considers going for his MBA in business. 

With his engaging personality and incredible wit, he’ll be a success in whatever he path he takes.  

Go Gabe!

There have been a flurry of articles about a) Tiger Moms putting unnecessary stress on their high school children and b) the recent teen suicides in the Bay Area. 

While I completely agree that nobody should ever have to face so much pressure that the only plausible solution is suicide – my heart goes out to those teens and their families – I do believe that the real problem is not the “pressure” but the type of work the students are doing and why they are doing it.  I’ll explain why below – stay with me.

Somewhere along the line a long time ago, parents “heard” that a student was admitted to Harvard because he was the MVP for a sport – so then all of the parents rushed to put their kids in a sport, or two, or three!  After school, kids’ schedules were mired in practices and private lessons for several sports: basketball, tae kwon do, dance, competitive basket weaving, etc.  The kids were neither improving their skills nor really enjoying the activities because they were so overscheduled.

Then, parents “heard” that a student got into Stanford because she took 10 AP classes – and you got it, all of the parents pushed their kids to take more and more AP classes to improve their kids’ chances of getting into Stanford.

But the problem we’re facing today is that nobody’s asking if the kids are learning or engaged in their studies.  Have you ever looked at the curriculum for AP classes?  I have, and it’s pretty dismal.  The students spend the entire school year preparing for the AP test in May.  Teachers can’t indulge students with fascinating tangents or interesting related topics because they can’t “waste time covering material that will not be on the exam.” Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the AP classes are all about memorizing facts, practicing writing essays using the style and format required for the course, and spending 8 months drilling for that test.

Forget about exploring the subject or writing comprehensive research papers to give the students the intellectual freedom to engage in the material.  Nobody cares about whether or not the student finds the subject stimulating; all the parents and teachers care about is the score at the end of the year. Hmm.

Let me give another example. When parents “heard” that a student got into Yale because she started a club and participated in a few others at school, parents started pushing their kids to join clubs just for the sake of joining them.  The students often didn’t even go to the meetings and nobody kept track of attendance because it was all for show. Most kids that I work with tell me that they don’t really know what’s going on in the clubs and that they might show up for 30 minutes during lunch once a week.  Jack of all trades, master of none!

And finally, everyone knows that grades and SAT/ACT scores are the main criteria by which colleges determine who gets in and who doesn’t. So, parents pay oodles of money for their children to spend countless hours for tutoring in classes and SAT/ACT prep.  I remember a student who was in tears because she got a 2370 on her SAT I.  Hellooooo – a 2400 is a perfect score.  When she told me she was upset because 6 other kids at her school got a 2400, I was flabbergasted. Imagine not being happy with a 2370?

When our children are pressured into doing all of the above, it’s no surprise that they are depressed and stressed out. They are worried that they won’t get into their dream college if they don’t excel in sports, AP classes, SATs/ACTs, and get the perfect GPA. But they’re also stressed out because they’re spending their precious time doing things they aren’t engaged in.  If the students get to choose what classes are interesting to them and spend time exploring various fields and concepts, they wouldn’t be as stressed out. We’d have to pull them away from it!  Chasing impossible scores or grades is stressful because most students don’t succeed at that.  But reading books that they love or tinkering on projects that fascinate them is a healthy and innovative way to spend their time.

The good news is that the top colleges in the United States also recognize this. After all, colleges don’t want entering freshmen to be burnt out from 4 years of AP classes and overloaded extracurriculars.  These types of students only fizzle out when they arrive on college campuses.  Instead, these excellent universities want students who are engaged and as a result, are interesting young adults. Many colleges no longer give more weight to students who have more than a couple AP classes or after-school activities.  They know students can’t really be focused on 15 AP classes, 10 school clubs, and 12 volunteer gigs; it’s impossible. 

I recommend that college-bound students take interesting classes that give them a taste for potential careers, while also taking foundation classes so they enter college with a strong academic background. For extracurriculars, I help the students do one project that absolutely fascinates them (not their parents or what they think the colleges would like to see).  That way, they’ll have time to enjoy doing research and developing their projects. This makes for happier students who can learn more and do it with considerably less stress! read more

Every day I hear more evidence about our planet warming up and that it is caused by us – humans.  NASA scientists are concerned about a growing crack in the Nansen Ice Shelf that may break off and create a massive iceberg the size of Manhattan. Over the past 2 years, this small crack has spread across the entire width of the shelf, which is about 20 miles wide and 30 miles long.  The rate of ice shelf loss has been speeding up according to ScienceAlert.  Over the past 20 years, Antarctica’s Larsen ice shelves have lost about 75 percent of its land mass.

Others may argue that the Nansen Ice Shelf is just 0.1% of Antarctica’s ice shelf coverage, NASA researchers want to continue studying why ice shelves collapse and how to prevent it. I’m worried that massive ice shelves are breaking away in Antarctica and Greenland/Arctic regions. We need to drastically – and quickly – reduce our CO2 levels in order to stop inevitable catastrophic disasters in the near future.

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For students who have good study skills and can maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher in high school, taking a college class during the summer can give them a taste for what college might be like.  I find that it gives teens a sense of independence and usually motivates them to strive to improve themselves.

The good news: teens can register for classes without going through the intense application process to enter as a freshman full-time student.  All you need is your high school counselor’s signature on a Verification Form and the course information on the summer class you’d like to take.  Easy Peasy.

Most community colleges and 4-year universities will be posting their summer courses and schedules of classes in the next few weeks.  Choose classes with the following 3 things to keep in mind:

1. Does the class time (including transportation and parking) conflict with my job or other responsibilities during the summer?
2. Are there prerequisites (classes that you need to take before you can take the summer class)?
3. Can I be successful in this class? Read the course description and syllabus (if you can find it online) to make sure you can handle the midterms, finals, essays, and/or projects required for the course.
4. Will this class satisfy a GE (general education requirement for my future college)? It’s best to take classes that satisfy most college GE requirements like English 1A, US History, World History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Math, Statistics, Art, etc.
5. If you know your major, take one of the lower division prerequisites.  Go to your favorite college website to get a list of the lower division courses required for the major.  Getting these courses completed while in high school can save you big bucks and get you to your graduation sooner – also saving more money!

Classes fill up quickly, and most full-time students have seniority over high school students, so start looking at course offerings now.  You can even stay on campus if you’d like the full college experience or stay at home and just take the class on campus. I wouldn’t take more than one college class per term; take it slowly and enjoy your experience!

Everyone (who is paying attention) knows that Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Antarctica are losing a lot of ice.     According to NASA and Princeton University’s Harig and Simons, they are losing 387 billion tons of ice/glaciers per year.     I need to say this again: 387 billion tons of ice per year!  And that’s not the worst part.  Antarctic glaciers are destabilizing from below via warm water channels. The warm water erodes the ice shelf base which in turn accelerates the rise of the sea level.    This scares me more than just about anything.  Why aren’t we discussing solutions?  Instead we are mired in a ridiculous political circus that focuses on abortion, immigration, gay rights, and other less important issues.    [Read more]

Now that Radar is 15 years old – yikes! – I thought I’d get Jaclyn a stuffed animal that looks just like him. 

Kind of like the My Twinn or American Girl Truly-Me dolls, we got to select his pose and took photos from different angles. 

After one color correction, Cuddle Clones got it right!  So right, that Radar freaked out when he saw it!  Poor Radar.   

He was shaking and didn’t want to be near his Cuddle Clone!

Sniffing the first attempt at our Cuddle Clone – too light so they fixed it! 

Radar glared at his Cuddle Clone and then ran away!

Radar running past his Cuddle Clone to get away!

Looks just like Radar!

American teens fare consistently worse on most sexual health measures than teens in other industrialized nations. Our teens also have higher pregnancy and abortion rates that any other European nation. Ugh… And, young American women have intercourse at a younger age, use less effective contraception, and report higher rates of using no contraception at all than young women in every industrialized country. Nearly 60% of US pregnancies are unplanned or unwanted and rates of curable STDs are higher than any industrialized nation.  And we’re the Super Power?

So what’s wrong with our sex-ed programs in the US?  The government provides $300 million a year for ABSTINENCE-ONLY programs in schools, not the comprehensive sex-education that most parents want.  So why would there just be an abstinence approach when there isn’t even a law requiring sex ed in schools AT ALL? You guessed it – pressure from religious groups and social taboos against adolescent sexuality.

So why aren’t abstinence-only programs working for US teens? It’s not practical to expect a child at puberty to not have sex until they marry.  Children are going through puberty at a much younger age (possibly due to the hormones they eat in processed food) and adults are getting married much later (many wait until they graduate from college and establish themselves in careers). Besides, abstinence-only programs do not prevent teens from having sex but they do prevent them from having the necessary information to make smart choices and to protect themselves.

The Netherlands have the lowest rate of unplanned pregnancy, abortion, and teen pregnancy in the western world. Here are some of the themes that the Dutch use in their sex ed:

1. Physical and emotional sexual development: This topic includes information about puberty of each sex for both sexes and covers physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty. Students are reassured that while they may have worries or concerns about their bodies, these concerns are a natural part of growing up and everything will be ok.
2. Reproduction: This topic includes simple, accurate language and illustrations explaining sexual intercourse and reproduction.
3. Weerbarheid: Translated as ‘interactional competence’, this topic addresses assertiveness, communication techniques, personal values, asking for help, and decision making. Weerbarheid encourages students to think about what they are comfortable with sexually and develop skills to maintain boundaries.
4. Relationships: This topic covers heterosexual and homosexual relationships and is often used to transition from discussions of puberty to discussions of sexuality.
5. Sexuality: Dutch sex education presents sexuality in a positive light, including information on the positive and pleasurable aspects of sex and relationships. Masturbation is encouraged as a safe, enjoyable way for students to discover their sexual preferences.
6. Safe sex: Safe sex is a very important topic in Dutch sex education. The “Double Dutch” method is encouraged- using oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and a condom to prevent STDs. The safe sex topic includes information on where to get contraception, how to use it, and what to do if you are nervous about asking for it.

American schools can choose to offer sex ed according to their families’ needs. As parents, it’s really up to us to make sure that our children are prepared for sexuality by providing support, guidance, and most importantly, education.

[Source]

So you want to go to college, or your child wants to go to college, and you don’t know where to start.

You’re not alone.  Most people choose to visit name-brand colleges and go about this college exploration process all wrong!  This such a big topic that I’ve divided it into 2 separate blogs:

(1) How to choose your college list and

(2) How to organize your college visits (this blog!)

Once you know where you plan to apply to college, it’s time to lay out your map. Print out regional maps so you can organize your college visits.  It’s best to visit colleges while they’re in session so summers are generally the worst time to go because the college kids are back home and the college campuses are either deserted or filled with summer camps for high school students. Remember, you want to get a taste for campus life and classes.

On your map, highlight each college so you can see all of them in one place. Then go online to determine the days and times that the college offers walking tours and information sessions. Most colleges offer both morning and afternoon tours so you can possibly visit 2 colleges per day.  That’s why you want to see where the colleges are in relation to one another.  Using Google Maps, determine the distance between campuses and the driving times (consider traffic).  When you have a rough idea of when you would ideally like to see each campus, then go online or call the admissions office to set up your tours.

After all of your tours are reserved and confirmed, make your travel arrangements.  Book your flights so you have ample time to get to your tours and explore the neighborhoods.  Make hotel reservations near the campus so you don’t have to deal with traffic in the morning.  It’s best to book a different hotel near each college tour that you have scheduled for the following morning, that way, you can travel to the hotel the night before and avoid heavy commuter traffic and be in close proximity to the tour the next morning.

Use your tablet or phone to keep track of each tour.  Believe it or not, all of the campuses will blend together and you won’t remember the details for each of them.  Did UCSC have the Baskin Engineering Dept or was that UCSB? Hmm. To keep your college tours organized, start each tour by taking a photo of the college name (sign or brochure).  Then try to get photos of the same types of things on each campus: (1) classrooms; (2) dorms; (3) dining halls, (4) sports facilities; (5) libraries; and miscellaneous attractions. When you get home, create folders for each college and place the photos and other documents you receive in them. That way, when you get down to making your final decision on which colleges to apply to, you’ll have all of your photos and info in one place. 

While walking on the campus tour, try to stay up in front and walk next to the tour guide.  Yup, kinda like the teacher’s pet… Here’s why. While you’re walking from site to site – and when your guide isn’t tripping over curbs as he’s walking backwards – you can ask all kinds of questions about campus life and popular majors.  Just know that your tour guide is paid to tell, or rather sell you, on the college.  So they’ll tell you all kinds of wonderful things about the college.  By walking along side the guide, you can ask more detailed questions that he/she might not tell the whole group.  Here are a list of questions:

1. Ask about your major (reputation of the program, best professors, claim to fame)
2. How difficult is it to get classes every term?
3. What percentage of students graduate within 4 years?
4. Do students live on campus for all 4 years?  If not, when do they generally move off campus?
5. What is the Greek life like on campus? What percentage of the students are involved ?
6. Describe the meal plans.  Where is the best place to get pizza, burgers, sushi, ice cream on campus or near by?
7. Do you need a car to get around campus and in town?  If not, what’s the best way to get around?
8. Have there been any date rape or sex crimes on campus over the past 5 years? What were the outcomes?

If you don’t get the answers you’re looking for from the tour guide, ask the questions during the information sessions. These sessions are usually hosted by the actual college admissions officers so you’ll get a better idea about the application process and have the opportunity to ask questions specific to you.

While you’re on campus, eat a meal or two.  Check out the various options to get a taste for what they serve.  Some campuses have awful meals that all look and taste the same, while others have taco bars, ethnic entrees, and even steak and lobster (It’s true! Washington University in St. Louis)!

Most campus tours do not include visiting dorms so just stand outside the dorms and ask a student to show you their room.  Check out the bathrooms, showers, and other dorm rooms.  Not all college dorms are equal!  You’ll be surprised to find that some have quads where a couple dorms share a bathroom and others even have kitchens and living rooms! If you want to prepare some of your favorite family meals, then compare various living options at each campus.

And don’t forget the whole reason you’re going to college – to learn!  Oh yeah, the classes. Try to visit campuses on school days so you can actually sit in on classes. Pick the intro class for your possible major and sit in on one of them.  By comparing apples to apples, you’ll get a better sense for how classes are taught.  For instance, classes at one school might have 16 students taught by professors while another might have a class of 400 taught be TAs (teaching assistants). These are important details that could have a very big impact on the quality of your education! read more