History tells us that there are different groups of people who wanted to dominate the world. Despite knowing that different civilizations have already flourished in different lands, they engage in battles and wars to gain control of the territory. Different empires and dynasties ruled over the world in the conquest to expand territories and to proclaim their kings the mightiest of all.

It was not a friendly war or even a war with good cause. These wars lead to the different rise and falls of each group. Yet, even though they have their own vicissitudes, the accomplishments and failures are still part of our history books.

In the field of sports, domination is part of the game. Every team would want to be hailed as the best among the best. For years, different games are held to see who will arise as champions. Players prepare for months prior to the real game to make sure that they have the endurance and the skills whomever they have to face. In NCAA, one team of the best teams in their history is the Southern California Trojans.

Their name is not one of the empires or the dynasties, known to be the fiercest conquerors in the world. But definitely, their name is just as great as it was established in the Greek Mythology. There is no Helen for their cause of battle, but they have happened to be excelling for years with many unprecedented win. They have won over 88 NCAA championship titles, of which 76 titles belong to their mens team. This is such a remarkable record because they have by far more wins than any other university could attain.

They have gain domination in different sports. One of their best teams is their football team. They have managed to outnumber their greatest rivals in terms of titles for the National Championships. Their baseball team has garnered 12 titles, bagging their latest win in 1998 under the supervision of Mike Gillespie.

Another field of sports wherein they got the most wins is in the track and field. This is just one of the best records in the history of NCAA as they won 26 titles. There were four coaches noted for their win, and Dean Cromwell was one of them. Their volleyball team is also one of the best.

Of course, their team for women made a sound in NCAA but they never got as much wins as their mens team are. It just proves that Southern California Trojans are great protectors of their name in the field of sports. They are one of the best teams in NCAA and over America. Not only they have conquered America but they also made it to the Olympics. They are one of the top schools in the field of sports and academics. Not many teams can level with their number of wins in NCAA and their curriculum.

They are just like the people of Troy, who were known for their riches and massive defensive walls. No wonder, they are able to get successive wins for years because of their amazing talents to defend their title.

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True story. When I was second in command at a non-profit the executive director decided to make all the professionals in the company take speech classes. Our speech teacher was a well-spoken, lovely woman with a long history of acting in the proper sense. She did Shakespeare. In fact, she apparently did a legendary performance as Cordelia in King Lear in some New York repertory theater. This brilliant woman of the spoken word was now my speech instructor.

The first assignment for the group was to compose quick notes in five minutes that we would then transform into a three minute speech wherein we were to describe ourselves, our goals, our aspirations – in short our life. It seemed like a painful exercise. In fact, I think I outwardly groaned. And then, in the midst of misery, I realized that speech writing was an exercise in creative writing. It was a chance to put a creative twist on my life.

This was my speech (word for word as it was recorded):

My funeral will be a blast. I insist on being buried in roller skates since my fondest memories of childhood took place in a roller rink. The priest will say these words and only these words: “May her soul reach the hot beaches of the universe”. After these words are spoken, Dancing Queen by Abba will be played and the bar will open. I will be dead. But that doesn’t mean my friends can’t have fun, remember me fondly and get hammered. I want to leave in the same unique way I was brought into the world.

I was born in the middle of a freak thunderstorm one week before Christmas in Southern California. My mother was in distress while in labor and by mere proximity, so was I. I was not expected to live but my mother was nevertheless helicoptered into Loma Linda University hospital where a team of obstetricians’ went to work to save mother and child. In the end, I turned out fine. My mother a little less so but I was just dandy. I weight 11.5 lbs and was 24 inches with a full head of hair. I looked at least three months older than all the other babies in the ward and when I was hungry I screamed louder than all the other babies. Clearly, I was going to survive.

Birth and death mark the beginning and end of our lives. The beginning and the end make bold statements about the middle of our lives. I don’t consider myself a survivor but a thriver. I have been as passionate about the course of my life as I was as a newborn first grasping at the world. I consider life to be as fun as I hope my funeral to be. I don’t give up easily and everyday seems like a day for creative enlightenment. My life is my art.

Thank you.

So the speech instructor gave me a ten for creativity and uniqueness but a five for presentation. Over the course of a few days I would learn the craft of public speaking. I would not master it but I was made to understand that the words you speak are as important as how you say them.

I was recently watching Steve Jobs give an inauguration speech to Stanford University. His delivery, if you were being critical, could have been more polished. But it was the content of his speech that had the audience riveted. He talked about his birth, his life, dropping out of college, taking a graphics art course, starting Apple and everything that came after. Steve Jobs was reassuring to the thousand or so graduates. He said, “You will connect the dots.” I also re-watched David Foster Wallace give his inaugural address at Kenyon College. His speaking skills were not perfect but the content of his speech was subversively brilliant and what I remember most was that, “You can choose how you think about things.”

Writing Insomniac will help you achieve speech success. Our writers will create a unique speech for your moment to reach out to people and affect their lives.

For more information or to order products go to www.writinginsomniac.com.

Or email support@writinginsomniac.com.

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The Kaiser Insurance company has always strived to bolster the communities they serve. This is why Kaiser Permanente Southern California is encouraging mothers and daughters to join up and pursue their higher education and career goals, which will benefit individuals, families and the community as a whole. The idea of helping the community is an important motive in the Kaiser Georgia, Ohio, Mid-Atlantic States, California, Colorado, Northwest and Hawaii networks, but it is especially significant in the Southern California communities where the organization got its start back in the 1940s. These efforts are part of a Kaiser Permanente Southern California educational outreach program, which recently hosted its 16th annual Mother and Daughter Learning Conference in Baldwin Park. The program was established in 1993 to encourage Latinas to focus on college and has had many success stories, such as Araceli Mata who joined with her mother with aspirations of pursuing a higher education and a career in law enforcement. They enrolled in the program the first year that Kaiser Insurance sponsored it and Ms. Mata has since gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree from California State Polytechnical University and establish a career as a police officer with the San Bernardino Police Department. Her efforts with the program have even gone full circle, as she has been volunteering with the Mother and Daughter Program for six years and plans to continue. There have been many success stories similar to this one as a result of the program. Those who have worked in the program believe it is the result of focusing on the rewards of attending college rather than focusing on the dangers and consequences of dropping out of high school, and the fact that mothers are actively involved in their daughter’s academic and career goals. Community programs like this can be found all across the nation, from Kaiser Georgia to Kaiser Northwest. The idea is that helping the communities Kaiser Insurance serves helps everyone live healthier and more productive lives, whether they are members of the health plan or not.

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Southern California is a large, exciting area with hundreds of attractions. Here are our top ten suggestions of attractions in Southern California to visit.

Hollywood Boulevard: You will see the Walk of the Stars where the famous stars have their own stars in the pavement. You can visit Whiskey A Go Go, where Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin performed. This is also where you can find the Viper Room and many fascinating shops.

Pacific Coast Highway: This is a long, scenic stretch of highway that runs the entire length of the state. Find a place to pull off and relax on the beach while watch the tide rolls into shore.

Universal Studios: This is an amusement park next to the studio by the same name, which has produced many of the best Hollywood films.

Disneyland: This is the most famous amusement/theme park in the world. Be sure to get a Fast Pass to bypass long lines for rides. Check out the package deals for lodging and a lot of extras.

San Diego Zoo: This is one of the pre-eminent world zoos, with more animals and exhibits than almost any other zoo. Be sure to get a map, sunscreen and some bottled water to prepare for the 1-2 days needed to experience this park.

Santa Monica Pier: This famous pier is one of the best places to watch people strolling and skating. It is very picturesque at night when the Ferris wheel and the shops are all brightly lit.

Newport Landing Whale Watching: The whales swim by and wave their tails in the air for the tourists. You can also take a guided boat tour for a closer look at the giant sea mammals.

Knotts’ Berry Farm: This is a jam and jelly factory combined with an amusement park. You can also tour the farms.

Movieland Wax Museum: This wax museum features true-to-life statues of famous Hollywood stars.

Sea World: This water park provides terrific shows, aquatic wildlife and even dolphins you can pet.

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Introduction:

              Due to the decline in the quality of public education in Texas, state lawmakers passed legislation in 1995. The new law permitted the opening and implementation of charter schools. These new charters schools encourage and support innovative teaching for a variety of learning styles, improve the achievement of students, and provide options within the public school system (Terry and Alexander 2008, 4). Prior to the new legislation, there was no opportunity for choice within the public school system with regard to a child’s education, and children attended school according to their zip code. That deficiency began to change when the first charter school in Texas opened in the fall of 1996.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reports that the “first generation” of charters consisted of 17 schools and had a collective population of 2,412 students. Legislation initially limited open-enrollment charters to 20 schools; however, lawmakers increased the cap to 100 schools in 1997 and to 215 schools in 2001 (Story 2007, 1). As of 2007, Texas had one of the largest and most flexible charter school programs in the United States (Story 2007, 1). Currently, Texas charter schools serve over 113,000 students, an estimated two percent of all public school students.  Moreover, of those 113,000 students in charter schools, 80 percent are minority and 60 percent are economically disadvantaged students (Terry and Alexander 2008, 7).

Research Analysis-Lifting the Cap:

 The State of Texas currently has 210 active open-enrollment charter schools.  In addition, Texas will likely reach the cap of 215 open-enrollment charter schools by 2009. If the cap remains in place, many parents and children will be at a disadvantage, unable to choose the best quality education for their families. Many charter education supporters have and will continue to push for greater parental control and increased accountability with an emphasis on improved public relations. However, these supporters encounter a lot of resistance, because opponents see charter schools as competition to the public schools.  Consequently, increased restrictions and mandates stifle charter school growth.

 If the Texas government and the education policy stakeholders review the statistical findings and evaluate the impact of open-enrollment charter schools in Texas, they will find a clear picture of the positive outcomes charter schools provide. It becomes apparent through the examination of the economic and social factors of open-enrollment charter schools that lifting the cap on the number of open-enrollment charter schools in Texas would be beneficial to the current public school system. 

            Contrary to common public perception, charter schools are public schools.  Similar to public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition according to state law. However, “charter schools have a significant amount of autonomy and are free to be innovative in educational and administrative practices,” as stated on the Resource Center for Charter Schools (Technology Help for Administrators 2008).  Before a charter school in Texas breaks ground, the entity must submit a proposal, similar to a business proposal, for approval, which typically includes a mission statement, a philosophy and a vision. Furthermore, the proposal provides information regarding basic logistics, including class size, number of school days and hours, the programs that will service students and a projected budget. On many occasions, charter schools seek the help of outside agencies to provide guidance, classroom modeling, in-house training, and resources in order to assist in achieving the mission. For example, an open-enrollment charter school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used a research based program / agency from San Francisco, California called the “Developmental Studies Center” (DSC). The DSC trained the faculty, provided resources and provided ongoing support in order to achieve the school’s mission and goal. In fact, the school bases its philosophy on a democratic model that gives students a voice, which promotes and fosters the students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. Significantly, this school recognizes the existence of multiple intelligences and diverse learning styles. One program that addresses the choice of students and multiple intelligences is the choice of electives for all of the student population once a week. They also incorporate a “service learning program” to assist in molding stewards of the community (Service Learning Programs, 2008).

Similarly, in Houston, Texas, “KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Academy Houston,” whose mission is to “help…students develop academic skills, intellectual habits, and qualities of character necessary to succeed in high school, college, and the competitive world beyond” is a very successful charter school that services grades 5-8 (U.S. Department of Education 2008).  Texas recognized it as an “exemplary school” every year since 1996, and the U.S. Department of Education recognized it as a “Blue Ribbon” school. The dedication of its teachers and administrators, including being on call by way of cell phone 24/7 to address the academic needs of students led to this success of the charter school (U.S. Department of Education 2008).  This innovative dedication would not be something conducive to the public school sector.  In view of the fact that employees of mainstream public schools, are subject to collective bargaining and union contracts, have set hours and specific responsibilities in their contracts and do not deviate from them.

By employing the flexibility of the charter program and by working outside the traditional eight hours of instructional time for students, the American Youth Works in Austin, Texas is a charter school that is able to better focus on the unique needs of its students. The school allows students half a day to pursue employment opportunities, to participate in work study programs or to take care of family members, including the students’ own children. The school requires the students to fulfill only four hours of traditional instructional time in order to accommodate the individual’s life experience (Terry and Alexander 2008, 4).

Other charter schools may extend the school day in order to improve academic achievement or may extend the school year to expose the students to supplemental material and expanded learning. Equally important, a mission aimed at addressing the varied learning styles through the theory of multiple intelligences may be the goal of another charter school. There are even charter schools that focus on the arts, architecture and design, leadership, and literacy. Charter schools generally do not fit the traditional model of the mainstream public school; instead, they find ways to educate children and stimulate learning based on innovative ideas and strategies.

When a charter is operating, the entity will receive direct funding from the state and the federal government. However, charters do not receive funding for their facilities, so it is up to the charter school to raise money, solicit donations, apply for startup grants from the federal government or choose to borrow from private lenders (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5).

Terry states, in a “GO San Angelo” article, that charter schools may not charge tuition, teach religion, discriminate, or cherry-pick students (Terry 2008, 1). To elaborate, if a charter school encourages families to volunteer 20 hours of their time to help with various needs of the school such as painting, helping in the classroom, making packets, cleaning, etc., the school cannot in any way enforce this as a “requirement.” If a family is penalized in any way, such as a student being removed from school for incompletion of hours, it would be considered payment for education. Moreover, charter schools may not discriminate in the enrollment of students or cherry-pick, select a student based on academic performance, behavior, or other preferential selection, its admissions..

Charter schools require different regulations compared to traditional public schools (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5). An example is that charter schools, as opposed to mainstream public schools, require teachers to provide parents and guardians of students in their school with a written notice of their qualifications. Another example of the differences in regulation is under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Federal Regulation Part 300, which reauthorizes the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). Originally, law required charter schools to provide and complete academic testing for a child within 60 school days from the date of a request from a parent or guardian, while it required traditional public schools to provide and complete the same within 60 calendar days.  Under the reauthorization, the requirement changed to 60 school days for both public and charter schools. Before this became universal for both mainstream public and charter schools, it was a disadvantage for the charter schools to adhere to the time restraint because it was more difficult in terms of the high cost of academic testing and limited funding.

To be sure, accountability is universal for district public schools and charter schools, as the pressure of No Child Left Behind impacts both sectors of education. Both are required to administer standardized tests, and all students must test at their current grade level rather than their level of ability. For instance, an eighth grader who is reading at a third grade level must take the eighth grade reading standardized test.

According to the article “Texas Charter Schools: An Assessment in 2005″, produced by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, “when student performance is evaluated on the basis of test scores, students in Texas charter schools perform on the average lower than do students in traditional public schools. However, when changes in test scores are used to judge performance, academic gains by charter school students can be demonstrated” (Patterson 2005, 5). This means that even though some charter school students’ performance does not exceed the performance of traditional public schools according to standardized test results, the students are individually making better academic progress in the charter schools. In addition, because most charter schools typically specialize in helping disadvantaged youth, many students in charter schools identify as an at-risk population for dropping out of school and come from low income homes which could hinder their test performance (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5). Accordingly, basing decisions of success on standardized test scores is an unfair assessment of charter school performance.

Currently, the government enforces some regulation on charter schools that forces them to shut down if they have two consecutive years of undesirable performance, which typically measures by standardized test scores. This is harsher and inequitable compared to the five years allowed for the mainstream public school districts (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5). For example, a charter school may be able to improve a fifth grade student whose reading level is equivalent to third grade but still fail with unacceptable performance because the student failed the fifth grade Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test reading section (Terry and Alexander 2008, 1).

During the 2007-2008 school years, 113,760 students enrolled in charter schools in Texas, and an estimated 16,810 students were on a waiting list (Terry and Alexander 2008, 4). Houston’s regional charter school’s waiting list was the largest at 7,415 students; coming in second was the Dallas / Fort Worth region at 5,896 students, and Rio Grand Valley had 2,110 students.  Furthermore, the Austin region had a waiting list of 623; the Corpus Christi region had a waiting list of 159; and the San Antonio region had a waiting list of 488 students (Terry and Alexander 2008, 4). According to Robelen, since these numbers stem from a survey in which only half of the schools participated, the actual number of students on a waiting list for charter schools in Texas is likely higher (Robelen 2008, 1).

The large number of students on the waiting lists for charter school enrollment demonstrates the significant demand for educational options, which is the fundamental purpose of the legislation for charter schools. The rapidly growing number of students on waiting lists demonstrates the need for lawmakers to lift the cap limiting the number of charter schools in Texas.  When a charter school has more applicants than they can allow, an enrollment lottery determines which students will be attending the upcoming school year.  Terry asks readers to “imagine parents, whose child is trapped in a low-performing public school, crying for joy that their child is randomly selected to attend a school with a track record of serving at-risk students with innovative strategies” (Terry 2008, 1). On the other hand, one can imagine the cries of a parent whose child is a student in a low-performing public school when their child looses the enrollment lottery. 

There are four different types of charter schools: open-enrollment charters, district charters, university charters, and home-rule district charters. Open-enrollment charter schools service the largest population, 89,156 students as of the 2007-2008 school year. Open-enrollment charters are by definition independent school units and can have multiple campuses. The school district operates the district charter schools that consisted of 23,275 students in the 2007-2008 school years. University charters are generally in operation at public senior university or college and consisted of 1,329 students attending 19 different university charter schools in 2007-2008. Furthermore, a home-rule charter means districts have the ability to convert into charter school status which includes an extensive voting process. There is no cap on the number of district charters; however, there are no home-rule charter schools operating in Texas (Terry and Alexander 2008, 3).

Open enrollment charter schools do not drain financial resources from mainstream public schools because they do not receive state funding. In fact, the excess money in the state education budget applies to the student’s home district and the neighboring school where the child resides. For example, in the 2005-2006 school year, the cost per student in Texas was ,629; charter schools were given approximately ,500 less per student (Terry and Alexander, 2008a, 1). Thus, operating a charter school saves the district money in educating a child because charter schools expend less money per child.

Because charter schools receive less money per student compared to mainstream school districts in Texas, it is necessary for charter schools to incorporate fund raising into their fiscal plans. Moreover, charter school fundraising brings more dollars into the public sector.  According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, in Illinois the total of public and private funding for charter schools brought in a total of million dollars to help educate the youth. In addition, charter schools introduce new resources into public education. Grants provide funds designed for charter schools phases such as, planning, development, and initial implementation which are not available to the public school system if charter schools were not in existence (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008).

It is incorrect for the districts in Texas to believe that charter schools negatively impact their bottom line or hinder their budgetary plan. In the event of the opening of a new charter school, the state provides the district with short term financial aids in order to prevent an impact on the school district revenue (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008). Because charter schools typically enroll a diverse student body with a variety of characteristics, the fiscal impact is a factor of enrollment only (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008). In addition, public and charter schools receive a percentage of money for students with disabilities; therefore, the public district receives an even higher amount than the ,500 per special education student.  Finally, socioeconomic factors dictate funding for individual students and services offered (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008).

Districts can easily reduce expenses to adapt to charter schools. The National Alliance for Charter Schools, reports that school districts can often adjust to student enrollment fluctuations-where there may be some key adjustments the first year, the following years have little to no impact on the school district (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008).   The National Alliance for Charter Schools also believes that if a charter school is thriving, and the district cannot adjust to the fluctuation in enrollment, it is likely due to the district’s own failed policies and rules (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008).

Charter schools in Texas increase the employment of teachers in the district as well. Many teachers struggle to obtain a teaching position once they graduate and charter schools open the doors for many of these qualified teachers to find a job in education. The state law only requires teachers to be state certified to work in a charter school if they specialize in special education or bilingual education (Terry and Alexander 2008a, 6). The state government in Texas does not require charter schools to employ certified teachers, but many choose to do so, especially with the shortage of teaching opportunities. Story supports this by stating statistics that show charter schools employ 26 percent of new teachers in the field compared to traditional public schools, which employ a mere 7 percent respectively (Story 2007, 3). In addition, charter schools can impact the traditional school district in a positive way by reducing the need for districts to hire new teachers by eliminating overcrowding, which reduces the average cost of hiring and training a new teacher, estimated to be about ,000 per teacher (The National Alliance for Charter Schools 2008). 

The impact of charter schools in the community’s economic and social growth is rapidly increasing. As stated earlier, charter schools do not receive funding for facilities from the state, however the districts that have charters schools receive and excess of approximately ,500 per student that attends a charter school.  Therefore, without the funding for a facility, charter schools renovate, remodel and/or rehabilitate existing property within a community in order to accommodate students. Having a charter school residing in a neighborhood has the potential to generate tax revenue and increase the value of real estate (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2008).

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools also suggests that if charter schools are successful in educating students, it can reduce the dropout rate in high schools and increase college admissions and graduates. Texas seems to have a high dropout rate, and those students who graduate do not have the communication and math skills necessary for college and require remedial math and reading programs to qualify for admission to college (Terry and Alexander 2008, 4). One of the most successful schools in Texas is a charter school that reduced their dropout rates dramatically under the direction of the mission of their charter.

 These charter schools often provide a safe haven for youth by providing aftercare and tutoring. Importantly, charter schools often give communities a sense of pride. Many charter schools offer Boy Scouts of America, sports, and other programs in order to facilitate teambuilding, self esteem, and help foster a sense of community, and growth in a child. Some charter schools open their doors for tutoring and mentoring on Saturdays to offer extra assistance as well as a safe setting for young learners. However, these programs are uncommon in the traditional public school district setting mostly because of the contract and collective bargaining processes of the districts. Charter schools have the ability to add the extra touches that impact students without the political constraints that traditional district schools face.

            While charter schools do not seem like they would pose a significant threat to the financial operations of the public school system in Texas, there are some risks associated with the existence of charter schools. Because most charter schools operate like a business, there is a risk of misappropriation and improper allocation of funds. In addition, misconduct of administrators, teachers, and entities involved with a particular charter school could lead to a negative reputation of charter schools as a whole. However, limiting the number of charter schools based on isolated incidents of illegal activity, inappropriate behavior or misuse of power could prove to be harmful to the education system. Misconduct can develop in any entity, including public school districts.

            Research shows that students from a traditional public school who attend charter schools for a period of two or three years improve more rapidly than students in the traditional public school district (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5). Not using a growth based system to measure the amount of growth, a student is able to obtain in the course of a year in the state accountability system is causing charter school to seem deficient (Terry and Alexander 2008, 5). Research from the “Texas Charter Schools: An Assessment in 2005″ produced by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, shows that students who left traditional public schools to attend charter schools performed better on average than they would have if they were still attending the traditional public school (Patterson 2004, 32). Thus, the correlation of charter schools and student achievement is significant, and students will benefit from the removal of the charter school cap in Texas.

            Charter schools provide competition with the mainstream district schools which provides an unwanted positive impact on the district schools. It forces district schools to exhibit more accountability of staff and teachers and puts pressure on them to increase student performance. If the schools are functioning at low levels, parents or guardians will feel the need to remove their child from the district school by applying to a charter school. If lawmakers remove the cap and more options are available to parents and guardians, more choices for education will be accessible to students and parents. In addition, the competition between charter schools and public schools will cause school districts to increase their overall academic performance.

            Patterson asserts the bottom line for charter schools in Texas as follows:

Charter schools are a valuable alternative to traditional public schools (Patterson 2005, 1).

Charters are especially effective with disadvantaged students (Patterson 2005, 1).

Charters challenge traditional public schools to improve student performance (Patterson 2005, 1).

 Charters do a better job with high school students and alternative education programs (Patterson 2005, 1).

 

Conclusion:

The benefits a charter school can provide to the district public schools, parents, students, and the community significantly outweighs any negative impact charters may cause. The Texas legislature should eliminate the cap of 215 charter schools which prevents charter schools to operate in a free market (Terry and Alexander, 2008, 1). The 16,810 or more students on the waiting lists for charter schools prove the demand for charter schools. This demand, viewed in light of the current issues facing traditional public schools, proves that charter schools are working well in improving the quality of education. Many education analysts believe that the quality of a charter school education will increase overtime. Unless this demand meets the supply, tens of thousands of students will remain in an environment that may not promote academic, emotional or social growth. Equally important, these students will not thrive in their current placement and could regress to the extent of becoming an at-risk youth who could potentially drop out of high school, leading to a grim future. This proposed reform of lifting the cap could be an immense opportunity for Texas to become a leader in the charter school movement. The Texas public school system could stop the increase of real estate taxes to invest money in failing districts and make the choice to provide additional educational resources for the children of the state.

            The bureaucracy that places a barrier to student learning and student performance is unconscionable. A simple solution to the education crisis Texas is facing would be to lift the cap while continuing to monitor all educational institutions. It is in the best interests of the child to allow parents and guardians to make the choice of where their child should attend school to get the best free, appropriate public education possible. The main purpose of the charter school legislation in 1995 was to give that choice to Texas citizens. That freedom no longer exists for thousands of citizens in Texas because of the cap on charter schools. Given the overwhelming evidence that charter schools are socioeconomically beneficial, lawmakers in Texas should increase or remove the cap altogether and make charter schools available to all of its citizens in 2009.

 

 

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To be competitive today, trade show exhibitors not only need to grab attention to their trade show displays inside the exhibit hall but also beyond the exhibit floor.

More and more, creative trade show exhibitors attract crowds to their trade show booth by using nearby venues as a springboard.  Attracting attention at neighboring hotels where the trade show visitors are staying or public places where attendees frequent, is a good start. This goes for neighboring restaurants, bus routes, cabs and local night clubs as well.

Increasingly, instead of letting a custom or trade show diplay rental at the expo stand on its own, savvy marketers are adding value by identifying key places outside the trade show to tee up traffic to the trade show display arena.

Event Marketer Magazine spotted three brands that successfully made the tie-in connection to their trade show booth from sites outside the exposition hall.

The first was in Chicago.  GE Healthcare launched their campaign, Healthcare Reimagined at the Radiological Society of North America trade show in Chicago in 2005.  They were on the lookout for popular locations outside the trade show hall to enhance awareness of their trade show display presence.  According to Sean Burke of GE Healthcare’s Diagnostic Imaging and Services,   “We were looking for something different that would create word of mouth and buzz.”  

The trade show had over 60,000 attendees staying in Chicago.  GE came up with the concept of all-white-clad “molecule people” that roamed Chicago sites before and after show hours, in nearby hotels and on the RSNA bus routes, as well as at neighboring restaurants and night clubs.

Wearing branding for GE Healthcare, the all white molecule actors batted around giant inflatable molecule structures and used bubble machines to complete the look and feel of what they wanted to portray.   They were able to visually and kinetically capture the health care aspect of GE Diagnostic Imaging.  This played directly to the imagery created at their trade show exhibit.

The second was at a consumer oriented show in Washington DC.  A month before the Auto Show, Chevrolet started its awareness campaign at sites around the capital city. They set up mini tailgating parties out of the backs of Chevy Silverado Hybrids at construction sites, George Washington University, Home Depot stores and commuter rail stations. Consumers got to drink coffee and play Xbox 360 games. Chevy representatives gave out cards to visitors they could redeem at the trade show for a chance to win a Silverado Hybrid.

Chevy wanted to drive traffic to the trade show display.  It worked.  The results were measurable and dramatic.  Because the scan cards were handed out at dealers and at the tailgate parties, over 20,000 consumers visited the trade show booth or were able to scan their cards with Chevy reps in the convention main lobby. The scan cards brought in 1,900 dealer leads.

The third one was in Las Vegas.  That city is a natural for all types of trade show display marketers every hour of the day.  At the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas in 2005, Yahoo! wanted to draw attention to a custom auto web site among car enthusiasts. So they decided to customize two Mitsubishis inside their trade show display booth.

To complete their exposure they went outside to showcase their cars on the Las Vegas Strip. Yahoo! hit it big.  Knowing that Las Vegas is always wide awake 24/7, they were able to shut down traffic on the Las Vegas Strip at 3 a.m.  Even at that time, throngs of people watched their two custom Mitsubishis race down the strip. “We didn’t want to just do a booth and pass things out,” says Bennett Porter Yahoo!’s senior director-buzz marketing. Emulating Frank Sinatra, he continues, “We wanted to do it our way.”

The above are just a few of the examples of how you can use outlying venues to tie into your trade show display.

So let’s say your firm is in the electronics field and you want exposure for your upcoming trade show appearance in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the high tech industry so heavily concentrated in Silicon Valley, California, many of the high tech leaders live there.

There’s Yahoo’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Apple Computer Inc. based in Cupertino, eBay based in San Jose,  and Google headquartered in Mountain View, to name a few.  You can focus on Silicon Valley executives and market to them within close access to Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, and the Santa Clara and San Jose Conference Centers.  

The hotels, restaurants, athletic clubs and other popular sites make them targets for high tech trade show tie in messages once the high tech trade show comes to town.

It’s smart to think outside the trade show exhibit hall box to compound your trade show exhibit  investment.

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Finding a job is hard. It takes persistence, confidence and preparation. That being said, there are things one can do to make the transition from unemployed to office superstar faster and less frustrating. The number one thing that alleviates job-finding anxiety is preparation. It cannot be stressed enough. Proper preparation includes researching the best job sites for one’s industry, having an updated resume always available, and even knowing what to wear.

JOB SITES

Whether we like it or not, job search sites are a major part of finding a job. Find the best job site for your industry. Below are some of the best job sites around, but there are a ton of job sites out there. Find one you like and visit it often. However, be sure not to limit yourself. It is a good idea to sign up for email alerts from multiple sites, that way you can be first to respond to jobs that are right for you.

MULTIPLE INDUSTRY JOB SITES

Free Agents Jobs
http://www.theFreeJobs.com

A great new site. It’s like a ‘visual’ craigslist—a simple, intuitive search solution. Free Agents Jobs offers free email job alerts to keep you in the loop if your perfect job pops up.

Indeed.com
http://www.indeed.com

Indeed is a very powerful job search engine. It’s like Google, for jobs. When you click on a job at Indeed.com you will be taken directly to the site where the job is posted.

Craigslist
http://www.craigslist.org

Find your city and start lookin’! Craigslist has tons of jobs in every industry and provides a nice local touch. However, conversion rates are pretty low, so don’t count on an interview.

SPECIALTY JOB SITES

Krop

http://www.krop.com

For creative and tech professionals. Krop is a fast growing site with great design and interface.

Joel on Software

http://jobs.joelonsoftware.com

Jobs from a specialty software and programming blog. If you’re on top of your game, this is the place to look!

37 Signals

http://jobs.37signals.com

Job board from 37 Signals, internet web application programmers. These guys produce great web apps! Another great job resource If you’re on top of your game!

Creative Hotlist

http://creativehotlist.com

Great resource for creative positions (designers and such)!

RESUME FORMAT: Don’t Get Cute!

Use a style similar to business letter formatting. Avoid using elaborate headers or multi-column layouts. These kinds of flare DO NOT make you look unique, they make you look unprofessional. If you want to show a bit of your personality, let it peek through in your cover letter. Your resume should serve to provide a structured outline of your qualifications, nothing more. Remember that consistency and simplicity are priorities with your resume. Treat each section the same. Make sure that you use reverse chronological order for all entries. DO NOT prioritize your employment history. Just because something was important to you, does not mean your potential employer will think so. Let them make the decision when reading with no surprises. For instance, you don’t want to go from 1997 to 2006, back to 2000. You want to go from 2007 to 2006 to 2005, and so on. No surprises, nothing to hide.

Font: Times, Times New Roman or Georgia

Font Size: 10pt

Margins: 1″ on all sides

Tabs: 0.5″

SAMPLE FORMAT

————————————

Jane Boogie

555 Some Street

Great City, US 20817

(212) 555-1212

jboogie@gmail.co

SUMMARY

Six years professional design studio experience. Four years freelance design experience. BA, Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design. Cum laude.

EDUCATION

2007 University of Southern California

BFA, Sculpture, Cum Laude

EXPERIENCE

2006 BCBG

Graphic Designer | May 2005 – Aug 2006

Responsible for xyz. Managed four employees.

AWARDS

2007 ABC Design Award

2006 XYZ Sweetness Award

————————————

HOW TO DRESS FOR A JOB INTERVIEW: ALWAYS OVER DRESS! (Just a little bit)

Rule #1: Dress Nicely!

Set aside an outfit that you know you’re comfortable in and makes you feel confident. If the employer does not specify what the dress code is, assume it’s BUSINESS CASUAL and plan to dress a little nicer than that!

Women: Wear dark dress pants and either a sweater, blouse or button down dress shirt. NO JEANS! NOTHING REVEALING! Don’t even risk it for a first impression. For shoes, knock yourself out. If you like heels, wear heels. If you like flats, wear flats. NO SNEAKERS, no matter how cool they are! Keep the makeup to a minimum, don’t overdo it lady!

Men: Wear dark dress pants and a button down dress shirt or stylish, lightweight sweater. NO JEANS! NO POLO SHIRTS! For shoes, wear dress shoes, NOT sneakers OR sandals. Remember, if you wear dark grey or black pants, wear a black belt and black shoes. If you wear dark brown or dark green pants wear a brown belt and brown shoes. Chances are you could care less about this sort of thing, but it DOES MATTER (at least for a first impression)! Please remember to shave at least 3 HOURS BEFORE your interview, just in case you knick yourself or you have sensitive skin and are prone to ‘raspberries.’

NOTE: If an employer specifies a very casual dress code, then certainly go with that. Remember to still dress a little bit nicer than you think you should. It always pays off!

Rule #2: Smell Nice!

Wear some deodorant for once! If you have a light cologne or perfume you like to wear, put on a little bit, but not too much. Having a nice smell is very underrated in social situations. Furthermore, if an employer turns up the heat, you don’t have to worry about getting all hot and bothered. You will, naturally, smell like roses

CONCLUSION

These tips will help you get started in the right direction. Now go put yourself out there! Set up some interviews and even accept a few interviews you know you don’t want. Practice makes perfect and the only way to practice is to be under the microscope in a small office with a peculiar HR person asking you questions and telling you the way it is. But, these situations will prepare you for the interview that goes perfectly, where you can’t say the wrong thing and feel respected and wanted. In order for that to happen, you have to be prepared and stay persistent.

Ansel Adams was a California native and resident who was born in San Francisco. He was a photographer and concert pianist although he was more renowned for his photography. His photography was used as inspirations for saving wilderness by turning it into national parks and also has recorded America’s past.
Ansel was born in San Francisco on February 20, 1902, he was born into an upper class family. He was injured at four years old from an aftershock of the 1906 earthquake, during the aftershock he was thrown into a garden wall and broke his nose. His nose never corrected and he would go on to live his whole life with a crooked nose. At the age of 12 Ansel was pulled out of school by his father to be taught by private tutors, to take piano lessons and to learn Greek. Ansel first visited Yosemite in 1916 where he had frequent contact with the Best family who owned the Best studio. He would also join the Sierra club at the age of 17 and would later become a director. Later in 1928 he would marry Virginia Best who after her father’s death inherited the studio.

Ansel was originally interested in become a concert pianist but he became interested in photography after seeing some of Paul Strand’s negatives. Ansel was very interested in nature and took many photographs in many areas before they were trafficked by large groups of visitors. He was also an avid mountain climber in his youth and but it was during a climb of Half Dome in 1927 that he first realized he could make photographs that were in his own words, “… an austere and blazing poetry of the real”. He became very interested in saving the wilderness and used some of his photography books and testimony to congress to help secure Sequoia and KingsCanyon as National Parks.

Ansel Adams was very knowledgeable about photography and co-created with , Fred Archer, the zone system. This is a system for photographers to translate the light they see into specific densities on negatives and paper, which gives more control over the finished photograph. He also pioneered the idea of visualization which is trying to determine how the finished photograph will look before it is exposed. Ansel’s received many awards for his work including three Guggenheim fellowships, election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by Jimmy Carter in 1980, and 2007 he was posthumously inducted to the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ansel died on April 22, 1984, but his photography lives on and still inspires people today. A full archive of his work resides at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. His work was so respected for capturing nature that one of his photographs was included in the 116 images recorded on the Voyager Golden Record which resides aboard the Voyager Space Craft.

Los Angeles, California. Maybe New York City has a slightly better claim to it, but a lot of people think L.A. really is the Center of the Universe.

In the case of Los Angeles, it is the center of the entertainment universe and has more legitimate movie stars per square inch than just about any other place on earth.

And so visitors come for the glamor and the glitz, for a chance to catch sight of a star maybe just going to the supermarket or walking in quasi-designer cut-offs and tee-shirts down Melrose Avenue. They come to see how movies are made, how television shows are produced, to be thrilled by the area’s amusement parks and to soak up the endless sunshine on beaches populated by the most beautiful people in the world. Downtown L.A.

On our most recent visit, we tried something different: setting up base camp right in downtown Los Angeles, which of course is the hub of the Los Angeles Basin with spokes heading in every direction for every kind of adventure you can imagine. Checking in at the Omni Los Angeles, our “camp” was actually the lap of luxury. This hotel is a modest size for downtown L.A. ‘ just 17 stories,’ but located right in the heart of downtown next to California Plaza’s shops and restaurants and just a short walk from many interesting sites. The rooms at the Omni are tastefully modern, decorated in the tan, beige and subtle green combination that you see in so many new houses these days. Rich mahogany furniture, elegant lighting fixtures and chocolate velour couches contrast nicely with the overall color scheme. In short, it’s just what you might expect in L.A. , luxurious and very up to date.

Similar to the “giants” of the Redwood forest, downtown L.A. has its own “Valley of the Giants” giant, mostly modern, gleaming buildings that will keep you straining your neck as you constantly feel compelled to look skyward at these products of man’s ingenuity. With L.A.’s sunshine, the buildings reflect each other, each one offering a different, fascinating visual pattern. And almost none of these skyscrapers are elongated boxes, all the newer ones have angles of some sort, all snugly placed alongside each other like some humongous three-dimensional puzzle.

If you appreciate art and design, it’s a two-minute walk to the Museum of Contemporary Art with its imposing “tree” of airplane and transportation parts greeting museum-goers at the door. Or, it’s another two minutes down the street to the Walt Disney Theater, home of L.A.’s classical music and maybe the most unusual looking structure in all of downtown with its billowy, non-linear angles. Sculptures and other forms of artwork are sprinkled throughout the downtown area, leading one to believe this is one very art-conscious city.

Of course no visit to L.A. would be complete without encountering some movie-making. There always seems to be an L.A. movie shoot on weekends — and this trip was no exception. A crew on a truck rigged with a camera platform that lowered to almost road level was filming a vehicle “chase scene” as it passed by our hotel.

Those who love movies and the Oscars will recall that, for years, the Academy Awards were given out at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, another two-minute walk from our hotel. In fact, the entire downtown civic center is nearby and this part of Los Angeles would be an especially convenient place to stay if you wanted to include a play or concert, or perhaps a game at Staples Center.

Back at our hotel, we discovered that a large section of the fourth floor has been converted to a spa and state-of-the-art gym. The latter is probably a necessity if you endulge in dinner at the Omni’s fine dining restaurant, Noe, where you’ll find award-winning “progressive American cuisine.”

While there is much in downtown Los Angeles to visit and enjoy, there are also short excursions to such nearby places as Hollywood, Santa Monica, the Getty Museum and so much more. Here are a few of our favorites:

Getty Museum

When the Getty Museum first opened in 1997, the museum’s parking and transportation system were quickly overwhelmed to the point that anyone thinking about visiting the museum had to make parking reservations months in advance. Those unwilling to wait hoofed it for miles and then waited up to four hours just to take a tram ride to the museum’s spectacular hillside setting west of downtown Los Angeles.

What a difference 10 years makes. Today no reservations are required and it’s possible to drive right to your parking spot, grab a tram and be on top of the mountain just a few minutes after your arrival.

A trip to the Getty is like a quickie art seminar that will teach you just enough names and buzzwords to make your friends believe you really are educated. It’s a great addition to any Southern California vacation.

Santa Monica

If you’re looking for the cool factor, it would be hard to beat Santa Monica, a playground for L.A. TV and movie people that is all neatly compressed into 8.3 miles strategically bordered by the Santa Monica Mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

The words “trendy” and “hip” seem to pop up a lot in the descriptions of the some 400 restaurants packed into this little piece of real estate. Throw in a few art galleries, some luxury hotels and ‘ oh yes ‘ celebrities and you have the makings of an eye-popping diversion from your everyday hometown. Of course Santa Monica has an unbelievably beautiful location. Palisades Park has incredible views that include the expansive beach areas as well as places as distant (and famous) as Malibu and Catalina. The Santa Monica Pier is the dominant feature on the water’s edge ‘ and also over the water — and is a favorite for families.

La Brea Tar Pits

Close to downtown is the La Brea Tar Pits, one of the world’s most famous fossil localities. More extinct Ice Age plants and animals have been recovered here than anywhere else on earth.

It’s hard to imagine but here, just a few blocks south from glitzy Beverly Hills, there were once such animals as saber-toothed cats and mammoths roaming the area. The museum offers skeletal reconstructions of some of these beasts while the surrounding area, Hancock Park, offers pathways around some of the archeological dig sites as well as the tar pits.

The fossils collected at La Brea date back to between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago. Nearly all of the skeletons on display in the museum are real fossil bones found at the tar pits. Since 1906, more than one million bones have been recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits representing 231 species of vertebrates. Another 159 kinds of plants and 234 kinds of invertebrates have been identified.

Hollywood

Hollywood’s definitely worth the short trip from downtown L.A. The famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine really isn’t all that appealing, although there has been some major renovation in the area just in the past few years. Hollywood at Highland ‘ a great place to park, by the way — is an impressive new upscale shopping complex adjacent to Grumman’s Chinese Theater (with its foot and hand prints), and the Walk of Fame stretches from the complex on down Hollywood Boulevard for several blocks.

It is interesting to watch the people who, in other cities, might be called street performers. In Hollywood, they’re movie characters with elaborate costumes that lure unsuspecting tourists into taking pictures of them with their arms, tentacles, paws or whatever wrapped around other tourists.

Close by is the home of the Academy Awards, the famous Kodak Theater. For only a person, one can take a half hour tour of the theater.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: Los Angeles is at the center of the entertainment universe, 400 miles south of San Francisco, 125 miles north of San Diego.

WHAT: A large, sprawling metropolitan city with enough interesting attractions to keep you occupied for weeks.

WHEN: Anytime. Great year-round L.A. weather is legend.

WHY: There is something for everyone: culture, beaches, amusement parks, fine dining, you name it.

HOW: For more information on Los Angeles, contact Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau at 213-689-8822 or visit www.seemyla.com. For more information on the Omni Los Angeles at California Plaza, please phone 1-888-444-OMNI or visit www.omnihotels.com.

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