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  • Six Tips For Getting A Scholarship

    Six Tips For Getting A Scholarship

    A lot of college students end up with nothing but debt even before they graduate. The option of a scholarship has always been a number two priority when it comes to college students. Most think that they can just pay off their student loans after they graduate and get a job, but many find it too overwhelming. With a scholarship, not only will you study for free but some scholarship plans will even give you money just to stay in school or even provide you with an “allowance”.

    Here are a few tips to help you get a scholarship and avoid debt in college.

    Look for one as soon as possible
    Start looking for a scholarship even if you haven’t graduated yet. Start during your junior year of high school and take advantage of having less competition. This way, you can still renew your efforts and take additional opportunities.

    Look for scholarships elsewhere
    Don’t just limit yourself to online sources. Check with religious organizations, local clubs, your school guidance counselor and employers. Local scholarships are less competitive compared to the national ones and you can find corporations and businesses that award free education to their loyal customers.

    Don’t become intimidated just because you’re not on the top
    So your grades aren’t really made for the honour roll, but many scholarships don’t measure or base their decisions on your grades. Many scholarships would prefer someone who shows volunteerism and leadership.

    Search all year round
    You can find scholarships that are only available for a limited season. For example, some major department stores actually give out scholarships during the holidays as a prize. Treat it like getting a part-time job. You can get different opportunities throughout the whole year.

    Be honest
    Never exaggerate your memberships, skills, qualifications or grades. Better focus on a scholarship that you know you’re eligible for.

    Avoid scams
    There are scholarship scams out there that promise you a full scholarship if you give them a certain amount of money. If someone emails you and asks you if you’re interested in a “discounted” tuition fee, it’s best to avoid these emails so you don’t get into a debt collection lawsuit. These scammers are only after your money and they’ll make a run for it after you give your credit card number to them.

  • Why Not Volunteer this Summer?

    Why Not Volunteer this Summer?

    Summer is here. School is almost done. The question on everyone’s mind: How will you spend your summer? If you are looking to get more out of your summer vacation, consider volunteering! You will learn new skills, gain great experience for work or school, and meet tons of new people. Volunteering is also a great way to learn something new that you’re curious about, but may not be familiar with. You might discover a new passion, or a future career. Deciding where to volunteer is tough. Most towns and cities have many volunteer options, and figuring out the best fit can be the hardest part. A good first step is to think about talents you have, activities you enjoy, or activities you are curious about but have never experienced. Then you can look for related volunteer opportunities. Ask yourself, “Am I interested in…”

    • Plants, Nature, or Gardening? Your local Horticultural Society may run projects such as community flower and vegetable gardens, or planting projects in public spaces.
    • Kids and Sports? Facilities such as the YMCA or Boys & Girls Club, and community youth sport leagues, often need helpers to assist with their programs and activities.
    • Kids and Books? Public libraries offer literacy and activity oriented summer programs for kids and youths, such as games, group story time, or buddy reading.
    • Working with Animals? Local animal shelters often need volunteers to assist with cleaning cages and socializing the animals.
    • Medicine or Working with the Elderly? Many hospitals and nursing homes operate programs for volunteers to visit with patients and residents, and engage them in activities like games, crafts, and exercises.
    • Arts and Culture? Summer is ripe with events and festivals that rely on volunteers, such as outdoor music festivals, artisan and craft fairs, or performance theatre events such as those run by the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals. Summer is also fan convention season, and many cons, such as FanExpo Canada, have volunteer opportunities for a few hours, all day, or all weekend.
    • Working with your hands? Habitat for Humanity and similar programs in your area are often most active in the summer months, and usually need extra hands when there are projects in progress.
    • Social Services and Non-Profit? Most Canadian cities have food banks, Goodwill and Salvation Army facilities, and a host of other community non-profit companies and programs, all of which rely on volunteers to support their efforts in your community.

    Of course, these are only a few of the options available. Regardless of what type of volunteering you find yourself interested in, the second step is always… Do Your Research! If the event or organization has a website, check to see if their volunteering needs are posted; if not, use the contact information to inquire. Make sure you learn what tasks will be required or assigned to you, if there are any age requirements or restrictions, and how much of a time commitment they will expect from you. Once you decide on your volunteer opportunity, step three is… HAVE FUN!

  • How Babies Learn Languages

    How Babies Learn Languages

    When you were just a tiny baby, you probably cried a lot – just like every other baby. A few months later, you started to make sounds called babbling. By the time you were six or eight months old, your babbling might have started to sound a bit like words in the language you heard most often at home. At the age of one or two, you could probably use a few words. By about age five, you could speak well and understand what people said to you.

    Your language learning is still continuing now and will likely go on for many more years. How did this lifelong process of language learning start? Until recently, researchers believed that children began learning to speak and understand a few months after birth. Now, however, some researchers believe that children might begin to learn even earlier, maybe even before they are born.

    How do researchers know how much babies understand when they are still unable to speak? One way is to watch how they react when they hear the sounds of the language their parents use. An experiment with babies who were only a few hours old showed that the babies reacted differently to sounds from their parents’ language than to sounds from a foreign language. Languages all over the world have many similar sounds, but often they are pronounced slightly differently. That is especially true with vowels like a and e. When English speakers use these sounds, they normally add a y sound at the end and thus actually use two vowels instead of one. Other languages, however, are different. Making the vowel sounds from different languages allowed researchers to see that babies seemed to react to the sounds of their own languages.

    Another way that researchers could tell how much language babies had learned before birth was to listen to them crying. To most people except the parents, one baby’s crying can sound very much like another’s. However, researchers have noticed that babies seem to cry differently depending on the tones and melodies of the language they hear. If people tend to raise their voices at the ends of sentences or talk in a musical way, babies will also use that sound pattern when they cry. French babies, for example, tend to cry with a rising sound at the end like the language they hear around them. German babies use a falling tone at the end like their parents do when they speak. Although some researchers think the babies might just be imitating their mothers, others think that children might already be learning their language.

    As they grow up, children slowly learn to speak and later to read and write. Researchers know a lot about the different stages of learning, such as when children usually begin to use single words and when they start to use sentences. This new research, however, could change the way people think about babies and language learning. Who knows how that knowledge will help children and parents in the future?

  • The Human Cognition Project

    The Human Cognition Project

    Every day, you use your brain in many different ways. You use it to learn new material at school, to talk with your friends, and even to blink your eyes. Right now you’re using it to read and understand the words of this article. Scientists know that the brain controls the rest of the body, but there are still many mysteries about exactly how it works. How do people really think? Why do their brain functions change as they get older? Researchers working with the Human Cognition Project hope to find answers to questions of human thought.

    The word “cognition” usually refers to the process of thought, including how people get information and what they do with it. Cognition can be conscious, like when you talk with your friends and think about the words everyone is saying. It can also be unconscious, like when you quickly pull your hand away from a hot stove.

    People’s ability to think and process information changes throughout their lives. Young children have to learn the connection between touching hot stoves and burning their fingers, but most people can make connections like these without consciously thinking about them. They learn how to behave in different social situations and begin to develop their own ideas about the world and how it works.

    Cognition changes throughout people’s lives. Accidents, illnesses, stress, or getting older can often affect the brain. Everyone has occasional memory lapses and problems with understanding difficult ideas, but some people have more troubles than others. Some cognition problems are minor and cause few lasting troubles, such as when you forget to do your homework and have to hand it in late. Other problems can be much more serious, such as when people forget their own names and addresses. They could become lost or get into all kinds of other trouble.

    The purpose of the Human Cognition Project is to find out more about what happens when the brain is not working as well as it could. Seven projects are part of the research, covering topics like the connection between what people see and what they remember. Another topic is how this connection relates to witnesses of crimes. Helping people to remember events more accurately could be an important result of the work in this area.

    How people’s brains change as they age is another important part of the Human Cognition Project. When people get older, they often lose their memories or develop other problems with thinking clearly. These problems are often called dementia, and they are an important part of the Human Cognition Project. If scientists could understand exactly why the brain loses so many of its abilities as it ages, they might be able to find a cure for the mental troubles of old age.

    Will all of this study of cognition help people with problems like memory loss or other loss of brain function? It might not provide a cure, but it can at least provide a basis for future research into the human brain.