Archive for August, 2011
Hired! Next: Plan a Wedding, Get a Dog
August 26th, 2011
It’s official. It’s real life. It’s what I’ve been writing about for the past year and the reason I went to college: I am a registered nurse and even better, I am employed!
In the past two weeks, my life has changed dramatically and I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to say my last farewells to Hire Education. While I was studying for the NCLEX two weeks ago I received a call from a nurse manager at Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, N.C. She received my application for a position in the Labor and Delivery Unit and was hoping to set up an interview with me, also telling me that another position was open in the newborn nursery that she thought I might be interested in as well. Needless to say, I scheduled an interview as soon as possible.
In the moments leading up to the interview, I was a combination of excited, scared, nervous and hopeful. I was ecstatic that my relentless quest in finding a job finally paid off in an interview, yet I was scared because it was so far my only shot at employment. I practiced answers to common interview questions and I also read some posts about interviews on Hire Education written by my peers. I even stumbled upon my article that I wrote about the first time I toured the hospital, amid the chaos of wind and rain.
Both my fiancé and best friend perhaps gave me the best piece of advice, and that was to be myself. No matter how well rehearsed my answers were, if I didn’t show my personality in the interview, then I wasn’t giving it my best effort. It can be all too easy to lose yourself in the intricacies, but you can’t forget to bring your personality to the interview right alongside your professional portfolio. I walked out of the interview feeling proud that I did my best, and a week later I accepted a job in the newborn nursery. I will also have the opportunity in the future to expand my skills and train as a labor-and-delivery nurse as well.
Now with a job under my belt, all I had to do was focus on passing the NCLEX-RN exam. After all, what good is a job if I don’t pass the NCLEX? I prepared as best as I could in the weeks before, studying content and taking practices quizzes. I walked into the testing center bleary eyed and nervous and an hour and a half later I emerged. I learned a couple days later that I had passed the exam and was an official Registered Nurse in the state of North Carolina. As you can see, many things have changed since my last post. I am employed, I passed my boards, and I am well on my way to starting my life as a real person in the real world, albeit without a dog.
If you have been following my posts for a while now, you probably recall that I typically drop remarks about owning a dog one day soon. After thinking back on how much my life has changed since my very first post, I think it is quite fitting to see that my endeavors to own a dog remain steadfast. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of a sickeningly cute fur-ball dog prancing on the beach that I can share with you (oh, but I wish), but rest assured, once I have this job figured out I will do my best to rescue the best dog from the local animal shelter—when both my fiancé and I are ready for that responsibility. In the meantime, I now have a wedding to plan.
A few last words of encouragement for those still searching for employment. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on Earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
—Thomas Jefferson
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Anna Wintour Named No. 69 on Forbes List of Most Powerful Women
August 26th, 2011
(Photo Credit: FuschiaWoman)
Famed Vogue editor Anna Wintour recently landed at No. 69 on the Forbes list of the worlds 100 Most Powerful Women. People may have their various opinions about this editrix, but there is no denying her intelligence and influence. In an interview with Forbes, she talks about being a powerful woman, what theyre looking for at Vogue, and offers some advice for the next generation of women of influence.
Watch the interview after the jump!
(Via The Cut and Forbes)
Tags: Forbes List, Powerful Women, Women
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Most area 10th graders are passing high school exit exam
August 25th, 2011
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An increasing percentage of 10th-graders at most South Bay schools are passing the state-required high school exit exam, according to data released Wednesday.
Most of the roughly 30 high schools in the region exceed state averages and posted steady, incremental gains in their 2010-11 passage rates over the previous year’s results for the California High School Exit Examination, or CAHSEE.
Several schools – including beleaguered Gardena High, San Pedro High and two campuses in the Centinela Valley high school district – saw remarkable gains. Minor declines were recorded at a handful of schools, including Torrance High.
The report from the California Department of Education – for data from tests given during the past school year – shows continued improvement for results on an exam that was first instituted in 2006 to much hand-wringing.
State law requires the two-part test, with English and math portions, to be given for the first time in 10th grade. If students fail, they have five to seven opportunities to retake the exam before graduation.
Statewide, 94.6 percent of students in the class of 2011 had passed the CAHSEE by the end of their senior year.
For the 10th-graders, 82.4 percent passed the English portion of the exam on their first try last year; for the math portion, 82.7 percent passed. Both were upticks of about 2 points from the previous year.
In a news release, the state Department of Education emphasized rising pass rates for black and Latino students, and a narrowing of the gap in results between those subgroups and white students.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson noted the gains come despite budget cuts that have affected campuses across California.
“The results of this year’s exit examination – and the progress schools are making to close the achievement gap – are yet another sign of the remarkable commitment that teachers, school employees and administrators have to the students of California,” Torlakson said in a statement.
The test consists of state-standard English skills through 10th grade, and sixth and seventh-grade math, plus Algebra I. Students with disabilities are not required to take the exam to graduate from high school, and data for test results does not include them.
South Bay schools generally exceeded state averages, but results ranged widely – with more affluent school districts posting passage percentage rates in the high 90s and low-income schools often below the statewide result.
Among traditional comprehensive high schools, Palos Verdes High in Palos Verdes Estates posted top scores, with 98 percent of 10th-graders passing the English portion of the exam, and 99 percent passing math.
Gardena High, which has historically lagged behind the statewide and districtwide average for Los Angeles Unified, saw massive gains. Its 10th-grade English passage rate rocketed 15 points to 82 percent, and its math score jumped 13 points to 80 percent.
The campus was the target of a controversial reform effort in 2010-11 and was under the second year reign of new Principal Rudy Mendoza, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
All other South Bay and Harbor Area comprehensive campuses in LAUSD experienced gains as well, as did the district overall. San Pedro High, also subjected to a new reform effort last year, saw its 10th-grade math passage rate jump seven points to 80 percent.
Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy, who gave a traditional back-to-school address to administrators Wednesday, trumpeted districtwide gains on his Twitter account.
He tweeted that the district’s improvement over the last seven years on CAHSEE results were the second highest among all urban districts statewide.
Deasy noted an “all-time high” of 75 percent passage rates for LAUSD 10th-graders in both English and math.
In the Centinela Valley Union High School District, Leuzinger High School in Lawndale posted an impressive 10-point jump in the sophomore pass rate in English, climbing from 58 percent last year – then the lowest of the South Bay high schools – to 68 percent.
Leuzinger Principal Ryan Smith credited several reforms at the school that focus specifically on boosting the passage rate, such as a “CAHSEE boot camp” and a support class for the English portion of the test.
“I’m proud of our students and our teachers,” said Smith, who took the reins at the school 18 months ago. “For me this is just one more sign of the great things that are happening here at the high school.”
Another bright spot for Centinela Valley was an 8-point gain in both English and math 10th-grade pass rates for Lawndale High.
Two nontraditional campuses that draw a diverse student body – California Academy of Math and Science in Carson and LAUSD’s Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in Wilmington – posted repeat perfect performances, with all their sophomores passing the CAHSEE last year. City Honors High in Inglewood and Hawthorne Math & Science Academy, a charter school, were not far behind.
New Millennium Secondary School, a four-year-old charter in Carson, saw a 6-point drop in its English passage rate and a 5-point decline in its math rate, for 10th-graders. Those results place the campus below some of the traditional LAUSD campuses that New Millennium draws from. It was just the second year of CAHSEE results for the school.
In Torrance, all four high schools posted passage rates of 90 percent or higher. But Torrance High saw a 5-point drop in its 10th-grade English passage rate, now at 90 percent.
Tags: Exam, Exit Exam, School Exit, School Exit Exam
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A-levels fail brightest pupils warns top headmaster
August 25th, 2011
The exam – seen as the gold standard in British schools for more than 50 years – leaves teenagers feeling “frustrated” because of the lack of demands placed on them in a number of academic disciplines, it was claimed.
Stephen Spurr, the head of Westminster School, said it had been forced to switch pupils to alternative qualifications to “stimulate” teenagers in eight subjects including French, German, English and art history.
He said the Pre-U – new-style qualifications run by Cambridge University’s exam board – had “taken the lid off what we can achieve”.
It is seen as a return to traditional A-level study before the course was divided into a series of modules that students can re-sit multiple times to inflate their marks. Pupils take Pre-U exams at the end of the two-year course and answer mainly essay-based questions.
His comments came as Westminster topped a Daily Telegraph league table of almost 400 leading independent schools. It ranks schools on performance in sixth-form exams – the A-level, Pre-U and the International Baccalaureate (IB) – taken this summer.
According to figures, some 91.64 per cent of tests taken at Westminster were awarded top grades.
It emerged that five schools ranked among the top 20 offered the Pre-U or IB alongside – or instead of – A-levels: North London Collegiate School, King’s College School in Wimbledon, St Swithun’s in Winchester and Cambridge’s Perse School.
Dr Spurr said: “Although we retain A-levels in maths and science, we have found the Pre-U is much more interesting, particularly in the humanities subjects.
“In English, it has given pupils the opportunity to read many, many more novels, plays and poems than the A-level syllabus and complete an extended piece of writing of up to 3,000 words.
“Part of what this is all about is preparing pupils to be good students at university and getting them to read and write as much as they can.
“In modern languages, you can currently do an A-level without doing any literature at all and that is anathema to the way we teach. The Pre-U allows much more concentration on literature as well as high-level language work.
“It has just been so much more stimulating to teach and to learn.”
Westminster launched the Pre-U three years ago and now offers it in six foreign languages, alongside English and art history. From next year, it will offer it in art and is considering making the switch in religious studies and philosophy.
Data from the Independent Schools Council – which is used to create today’s rankings – show that 36 schools in total offered the Pre-U this year, while 54 staged the IB.
In A-level exams alone, the top secondary was Magdalen College School, Oxford, where 91.27 per cent of entries were either A* or A.
The figures also underline the extent to which top independent schools pulled ahead of those in the state sector.
Some 19 per cent of exams were awarded an elite A* grade – more than double the national average. A further 53 per cent gained at least an A, compared with 27 per nationally.
It will inevitably lead to a rise in the number of private school pupils winning places at the most selective universities this year. At Westminster alone, half of pupils won places at Oxbridge this summer.
Matthew Burgess, deputy chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said: “In a year of increased competition for higher education places, independent school pupils have delivered year-on-year improvements, with more than half of all entries achieving an A* or A grade.”
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Groundbreaking for CCSU academic site
August 25th, 2011
A ceremonial groundbreaking event is being held to kick off construction of a new $38 million building for Central Connecticut State University’s social sciences programs.
Gov. Dannel Malloy, CCSU President Jack Miller and others are expected to speak at Wednesday morning’s ceremony on the CCSU campus in New Britain. It will be followed by a ribbon-cutting event at the nearby Elihu Burritt Library, celebrating that building’s recent first-floor renovation.
Central’s new 62,600-square foot academic building will be four stories tall and is expected to open in summer 2013. It is adjacent to Maria Sanford Hall, near Welte Parking Garage.
The construction project is part of CSUS 2020 , the Connecticut State University System’s long-range improvements project for the campuses of Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Connecticut State universities.
Tags: Ccsu, Groundbreaking Ccsu
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