10 great places to volunteer at!!

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Have you ever just wanted to volunteer?
want to have fun? Want to help? Want some skills for your resume?
Well, why not volunteer? You get all that in one.

–Local animal shelters
always need volunteers.
You can brush up your office skills by
answering emails, fielding phone calls,
and giving general administrative assistance.
You can even offer to walk dogs. This would
be a great chance for a good part time job.
This can even turn into a full time venture.
Professional dog walkers can make up to
$50,000 a year in NYC.

–National Parks
You can pick up litter. But you can also
explore opportunities to work at wonderful
historical sites maintained by the National Park Service.
If you’re in New York, look into the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt
National Historical Site, or even Alcatraz Island, which
is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in
California.

–Food pantries

Food pantries and soup kitchens need help often. So go there,
and you can organize a local food drive, raise money or
hand out hot meals to those who need them. Offer any skills
you may have like copyediting,data entry, or cooking and you
can truly help these organizations. Check out Foodpantries.org to
look for one near you and go get that experience!

– Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity offers a gang of volunteer opportunities.
There you can develop experience in home repair and building
maintenance. Check out Its a Brush with Kindness campaign or
the WOmen Build program. They are programs designed specifically
to help women learn construction skills. Your experience can
help directly with team building and leadership ability.
You can even have a chance to remodel your home.

– Local Libraries
Libraries typically need help organizing shelves and assisting
patrons. You may also get the chance to help set up and run
public events such as author signings and book fairs. Also,
ask your local library if you can help design flyers or copyedit
ads and add that experience to your resume

– Art museums
You will be surrounded by art and gain knowledge while
volunteering at an art museum. In addition to that, you
can gain administrative skills at the same time. Volunteer
for family programs and children’s activities at your local
museum, and once you build up your knowledge base, it may
lead you to qualify to be a tour guide or event planner.

–Political campaigns
If you know you love politics, go ahead and give support
to candidates you feel good about. The politicians
get elected with the process of volunteers manning the
phones,giving out fliers, raising money, and answering emails.
This particular kind of work can give you valuable
experience on many levels and can be applied to a
web of different industries. Also, it can help you
establish a network of contacts you can draw on if you have
or would be interested in a political career.

–YMCA
At the YMCA, you can volunteer to help both children
and adults, strengthen your leadership skills by coaching
a sports team. You can pick up some great teaching experience
by tutoring literacy courses. Do it. Check out your local
YMCA’s website, or walk in and introduce yourself to see
the positions that may or may not need filling. Even with
one time activities, they can help get your foot in the door.

–Retirement homes

Retirees get geeked up about a new lecture to attend or
having a class to teach them something fun. SO therefore,
be creative and develop a program that shows off your skills.
Could you be good at public speaking? Would you want to improve?
Ask to recite some famous historical speeches or even a
poetry reading. If you’re good with computers, lend your
services and teach senior citizens how to perform basic or
intermediate computer tasks.

–The American Red Cross

The American Red Cross offers a vast amount of positions that
can help those who need it and boost the quality of your resume
in one sitting. And even if you don’t feel like giving blood,
go ahead and great and assist customers who will. Your skillls may
make you great for grant writing, performing clerical tasks, or
managing other volunteers. Think about it. You can draw on a
multiple number of talents to help the Red Cross out.

In closing, i just want to say that I volunteer at Focus Hope.
I put the food in the basket for the customers. I do it
with speed and accuracy. It makes me feel good to know that
I can speed up the process until they check out. I
even clean up the place. I might one
day even volunteer at another building at Focus Hope. I have my
business suit all nice and ready.But yeah, aren’t you ready
and excited to volunteer?

13 Good Places to Volunteer – Opportunities & Organizations

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Well, everything has a purpose-people, animals, insects, plants.
I’ve always thought about how the enviornment helps the animals.
Now I’m flipping that around to see how animals help the earth.
How,do you say? Any guesses? Read along……..

Narwhals help scientists track global warming in the
Arctic. These unicorns of the sea are measuring changing
temperatures in Greenland’s artic waters to keep up
with global warming. Climate scientists at the
University of Washington attached thermometers and
small satellite transmitters to the narwhals, who
have the ability to dive far deeper than humans. Because
of this, they found that waters in Greenland’s Baffin
Bay are 0.9 degrees C warmer than before.

Dogs

Dogs spot prey and even drugs. Groups like Working Dogs for
Conversation and UK Based Conservation Dogs use dogs to
find endangered animals and plants such as jaguars in the
Amazon or black bears in China, so researchers can also
track and save them.

Birds

Birds just recycle and recycle. Male bowerbirds
in Australia and New Guinea repurpose bright plastic containers
and bottle caps to construct their elaborate boweres, or
arched walkways carefully decorated and designed to attract
female partners.

OCtopi

Like the bird, the octopus is a recycler. They are
famous for its intelligence and use of tools. Specific
types of species like the veined octopus builds
shelters from sea shells, coconut shells, or more
human debris. OCtopi, enjoy hiding inside of glass jars they
find on the ocean’s floor, not letting trash go to waste.

rats

An African giant pouched rat finds a landmine through
its sense of smell. Like dogs, rats have the best
sense of smell. Though the rat sniffs out the landmines
they are too light to set them off. The rats are known
as heroes or herorats because they help the ground find
these enviornmentally hazardous, not to mention dangerous
weapons.

bees

Bees easily find enviornmental contaminants. bees are known
for having a sensitivity to smells, tastes, and colors. They
talk among themselves using sounds and dance. These brillian
bees notice specific types of chemicals and send off a
certain type of buzzing sound based on the chemical released
in the air. This helps humans detect toxic waste chemicals
in the enviornment and could be used in detecing chemical
warfare attacks.

seal lions and seals
Seal lion and seals dive below the water to track climate change
like narwhals. Researchers at the University of California Santa
Cruz rely on them to measure salinity, temperature, and other conditions.
This is so we can develop better models of ocean water circulation.
Elephant seals in the Arctic measure temperature and have also been
used to monitor the health of the US salmon populations.

Mules
Mules measure radiation levels.

In conclusion, some of the animals did the same jobs as others.
Animals help humans. Humans help animals. We work together in
one accord. Thus it brings me to give you this quote “You give some,
you get some.” (By charismaallover)

https://www.pachamama.org/blog/animals-that-help-save-the-planet

From Challenging Semesters to My College Graduation, the big day!

         College is not simple. There are some hard classes. Then, there are some easy

classes. Math didn’t come easy for me. Music Theory didn’t come easy for me. Yet, Spanish and French

came easy for me. Some teachers are difficult and some professors are easy to deal with. Semester

after semester was a challenge. I have this  Copyediting and Layout class that gives me

the biggest challenge ever, yet by midterm I saw an A” in that class. I had to do up to 13

chapters of work and some of the chapters were long. Other chapters were short. That

made it a good balance. It made time go by fast spending up to 2 hours doing the chapters.

It was fun to make progress, so I would not have to stress. I did not procrastinate

on the chapters. I just did it. Procrastination would have had me in a deep hole. Usually

each semester too, at the end of semester is usually the hardest. There were times where

I had to do a weather project that I fell asleep on. It was hard and long but it was recording

the clouds and temperatures based on what was recorded in the newspaper.

Yes, it was a long journey. I been at my current college since August 2009.

All my credits didn’t transfer. My problem was that I took too many electives. I should

have took more required classes. Yet this year, I graduate. I graduate December 14,2013

at 9am in the HRC (Gymnasium). My significant other and some family members and

some friends are coming. I have to be there at graduation at 7:30 am in the morning. This is

the big day!I never have to be in undergraduate school again.  I have to pay off the school to

get my degree, but at least I will graduate. I’m tired of college.I can get a sigh of relief to be

done with this portion of my life. College is finally over. I didn’t give up. Now I can sing

songs of great joy! Now I can jump for joy! This is the end. Farewell to the nice people

I met on this journey.

The 4 Consequences of Procrastination in college!

Graduation Caps Thrown Amidst the Air

College is crowded! Full of tasks and full of challenges ready to unwrap as if it

was gift wrapped. Do you ever think about the problems that come from

procrastination? Were you used to this in high school? Did you get away

with it in high school ? Were you the one who could meet the deadline at

the last minute? If you managed to get through high school procrastinating

great! I still discourage it, because it’s a bad practice! I encourage time management,

especially for college.

           Now, take a look at the consequences of procrastination:

• Conflicting Assignments!- Why? Suppose you have a 10 page paper due

from one professor. Then another professor assigns you to do a 5 page paper the same week.

If you don’t understand one assignment or can’t find the information,

procrastination can make you come up short.

• You might have less time to do your assignment-

If you have a struggle finding information, use the online databases of your

school’s website.  I,myself, had an assignment of World Literature class that

involved comparing and contrasting Noah and Gilgamesh’s flood. I was

unable to find enough informationon their online databases, so this is a

time for exception.I found that the regular internet had more information

on this particular topic.

•  You’ll most likely become lazier. If I put off excercising in the evening,

I end up wishing I did it earlier. The later it gets, the more I want to

rest. If you think of it like this, you might avoid procrastination.

Apply this to your studies. Even having an early morning class, like

an 8 am class, can make you procrastinate on your morning excercise.

• You’ll become sleepy -Why? If you wait too late to do your assignment,

you might become sleepy. When you become too sleepy, your body will sign

off! That’s not doing yourselves any favors.

 

So if we are talking about balance, resting is a benefit. Yet procrastination tips

over the scale in disadvantages! The decision is obvious. Questions? Comments?

You know what to do!

8 Ways to Ace That Test in College or High School

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/doug88888/5743420668/&#8221; title=”Rainbow pencil by @Doug88888, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2508/5743420668_548116fdf8.jpg&#8221; width=”500″ height=”500″ alt=”Rainbow pencil”></a>

What could you do that could benefit yourself in a special way?

Learn how to study. The college student is sometimes on the go!

I know I have to be on the go because I have a sardine tight schedule.

I have classes, then work study,then other stuff I’d like to be apart of.

But first priority is my studies. I have to cater to myself by tending to my books.

This week of December 2012, I have final exams. I figure since I’m a college

student I should teach others how to study for a test. Here are some ways to

study for a test:

1. Make the information singable.
2. Make one thing equal the next thing. For example, If I wanted to remember who is the current president of the United States, I’d say President = Obama.
3. Make sure you study old and new tests. Sometimes professors use information from the same test. This what my professors do-use information from tests.
4. Make sure you use highlighters, a tip from Mr. Funderburk here at the college.
5. Use pictures to represent what you want to remember.
6. Write it down.
7. Talk to someone about what you studied.
8. Look at your notes too along with the textbook and study them both.
9. Don’t throw away any handouts, notes,etc. You might need them for number 3.
10. Be organized. If not, you’ll need to pray just to find your notes.

This is my advice for the person is school. Now, go ace those tests!

The 3 pros and 3 cons of Consolidation!

You know that college can rack up some debt for you. It’s
as if they are offering tokens of debt. You go to college
and have to pay for food, shelter, and education as well
as everything else that comes with it. Consolidation is
there if you have to take out loans. It is so fortunate
to those who have full ride scholarships. Were these the
sport players or someone else? What did they do? I’d love
to score high on the ACT test, master that thing, and
get a full ride scholarship if that’s what it takes.

For you people who know you have multiple loans,
consolidation is an option. You know you might
be going in for a quick solution, but consolidation
is in no way quick.

Consolidation helps though, if you have a large balance spread
across multiple lenders. It’s best not to jump right
into it though. Know the pros and cons of consolidation:

Pros:

1. Consolidating helps you secure a low interest rate.
For those who consolidate, your new interest rate will be
calculate by averaging the rate on your current loans.
Yet, if you don’t consolidate your loans, your
rates could increase.

2. Consolidation makes it much more simple to manage your
debt. Borrowers with more than one student loan can have
a hard time keeping focused on when to pay and how much
to pay each month. You’ll only have one lender to do
business with and one payment to make each month if you
choose consolidation.

3. Consolidation has it’s other benefits. It can boost
your credit score by lessening the number of open
accounts on your credit report. If you graduate within
6 months of the consolidation period and/ or you
pay your loans off constantly, you can get a better
deal on a consolidation loan. Also if you meet the
specified requirements you can get a better deal
on consolidation.

Cons:

Consolidation can boost the overall cost of your loan.
When you consolidate, the debts are a new loan with
a longer time that you have to pay. The new 10-30 year
term increases the long term interest of your costs.
If you can pay off your current student loans quickly,
it’s best not to consolidate.

The requirements of consolidation can be a burden.
Your current loans have to be from select lenders.
Your total loan amount has to exceed $10,000. Also,
you must have graduated or left school already and
can’t default on your student loans if you want to
consolidate.

Consolidation may not always be the greatest option.
Other programs help to repay loans or forgive them.
Government programs exist that help borrowers repay
their student loans by doing community service or
becoming a teacher in certain communities. If you have
a Perkins loan, there are opportunities that allow
the debt to be forgiven.

There must be a balance of thinking. You must seriously
contemplate your situation if you want to make the
best decision on whether or not to consolidate.
Just like life, consolidation has it’s good and
it’s bad. Why did they make those risks for consolidation?
Is consolidation really worth the risk for you? It
all depends on you. What do you think?

http://www.credit.com.products/laons/student-loan-consolidation

The 8 Consequences of Defaulting on Student loans, loan cancellation, and loan forgiveness!

Are you a college student or simply on your way to college?
The last year of high school is a big moment before you go off to
doing it bigger and better. College students be warned about defaulting
on your loans. You don’t want to deal with the consequences. High
school seniors, college freshman, you got a head start on this since
you are just starting off.

Here are some consequences of defaulting on your student loans:

– You’ll get higher interest or denial of credit
– You are responsible for collection fees and costs
– Your wages may be garnished
– Irs funds are withheld
– Lottery winnings withheld
– Legal action
– Professional license withheld
– No more federal financial aid
– Government takes 15% of tax refunds and
15% of Social Security benefits

Credit is reported to Equifax, TransUnion, Experian, and Innovis Data Solutions

Yet if you don’t want the worry of a loan.
There are many cases that your loan can be cancelled:

-death
-total and permanent disability
-false certification
-Closed school
-Full time teaching

Now that you know the consequences of defaulting on student loans, don’t
you want to avoid it? Now that you know how to cancel loans, you
will be ahead of the game. If you want your loans forgiven, you can
have them forgiven. In order to qualify for loan forgiveness, you should
:perform volunteer work, perform military service, teach or practice medicine
in certain types of communities or take on other tasks.

There are some loan agencies that will help you get your loan forgiven:

-AMeriCorps ask that you serve up to 12 month and get $7400 in stipends
plus $4725 to be used on your loan. Call 1-800-942-2677

-Peace Corps: Volunteers can defer the Stafford, Perkins and Consolidation
loans and partial cancellation of Perkins Loans.. Volunteers Make a big
difference in the lives of real people with 2 years of service in over
70 developing countries. Contact the Peace Corps at 1 800 424 8580 or
1-202-692-1845.

-Volunteers in Service to America is Vista- Help the private, non profit
groups that rid the world of hunger, homelessness, poverty, and illiteracy.
Do 1700 hours of service and receive $4725. Call 1 8000-942-2677 or
1-202-606-5000

Are you willing to put in the extra credit for loan forgiveness? Are you on the
right path? Do you need to get on the right path or have you even started the path?
Well, my hope is that the information here helps someone, anyone, somebody.
I’ve even done a presentation in college on loan default. I taught my professor
something he didn’t even know. Imagine how superb that was! I’m warning more and more
people about this topic. If you check the search engines, it says student loan
default is on the rise. Do more research if needed. Learn here and learn some
more. Goodday!

My three sources:

http://www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml
http://www2.ed.gov/offices
http://www.aie.org

The Top 4 Problems with College !

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

The problems with college are? Well, literature classes seem to
take longer than my other classes. From African American Literature,
to World Literature, sometimes the readings take over many days.
I learn better in small chapters like some people learn better
see visuals over audio. A picture can inspire you, damage the
mind, or even create learning stability.

I would love to work in the evenings, but what do I have to
think about first? My African American Literature class. It takes
up too much time. I”m the first one to say I love black history,
but the way it’s set up is too time consuming. Again, I love
black history. That is my subject, but it’s a hard class. I got
a “B” for mid term folks. I want an “A”. Do I have to scream
to get my “A”? No people! I’m just kidding!

Another problem with some schools is
size. I wish more cafeterias were bigger. I hate
crowds. I need lots of space. That’s just my forte. Don’t
make me get out the piano and start playing you a song
about how much I need my space.

Living off campus is a problem sometimes. I stay off
campus so I miss the shuttle busat times. It usually gets to
my apartment complex by 20 after or sometimes really late.
It’s annoying and irritating but it happens. I take late
classes so if something happens to delay the shuttle,
I will still be on time because I get up in the morning.
I’m not a morning person, but I’d rather have a steady
day. Taking care of things early in the morning makes
a better day because you get more accomplished.

When the cafeteria lines are long, that’s another
problem. I’m constantly trying to make sure I have
time to print off papers before class. The computer
lab is sometimes crowded. So therefore, I just
print in MIS or the computer-fix-it-station. I also,
sometimes, print in the career center. I hate long
lines though because they slow me down. SOmetimes I
have to get my food on the ago. I’m like New York,
I’m very fast pace and on the move. That’s how it
is when you have a lot of work and little time.
I honestly get to blog more because the semester
almost over. We will see how it goes for
exam week.

Can we stop the madness? Life is already
hard. Let’s do something to make life easier
for us college students. Collaborate. Think in a
group. Lead. Or think independenlty, but just get
it done.

source: Just My Opinion. http://charismaallover.wordpress.com

The few steps to download music on your laptop!

Music is like the theme of the world.
We indulge in it like a group of people indulge in a large size pizza. I love music because it’s the best way to create a mood.I often times think about the music videos I create in my mind through listening to the song. Anyways, I currently don’t have internet in my apartment.

Though, through college I found a gentleman who taught me how to download songs off youtube to my computer. Well isn’t that amazing like a pot of gold? Cha-ching I feel like I hit the jackpot.

Here is the answer: To download youtube
videos on your laptop:

-Go to youtube

-Highlight and copy the url of the video

-Go to google

-Type in youtube to mp3

-Paste the video url in the box

-Click convert video

-Click download.

-Look at the bottom of the screen and click
on the button “all downloads”.

-Then go to the windows icon.

-Click music with the box comes up

-Drag the song from the window
that came up in the “all downloads”
section to the music window
that came up from the Windows button

Now you can go to the Windows 7 icon.
Click music button and listen to your
music as much as you’d like! Enjoy
people!

Try Audacity free and experience the multi-features that take care of many of your Recording Needs!

Are you the singer? Are you the dj? Are you the
poet with the open mic? None of the above? Do you just
like to hear yourself recorded? Audacity is ready and
available.

Audacity lets you do many things:

1. It records live audio
2. It converts tapes and records into digital recordings
or CDs.
3. With Audacity, you can edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or
Aiff sound files.
4. You can cut, copy, splice or mix sounds up.
5. Do you want to change the speed or pitch of a
recording? Lay your work out and Audacity will do it.

Interested in more features?

6. As versatile as ever, Audacity lets you record
from a mike, line input, or other sources.

7.You can record 16 channels simultaneously (at the same time).

8. What do the level meters do? They monitor volume
levels before, during, and after recording.

9. Import and export Wav, aiff, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files if
you like.

10. Export MPEG audio with libmad, even MP2 and MP3 files
if you want.

11. Go ahead and create WAV or AIFF files to burn those
cds.

12. Import and export all file formats that are known
to be supported by libsndfile.

13.Open raw audio files using the Import Raw feature.

Did you really think that was all the features? No sweetie,
there’s more. Turn your projects into the
spectacle of your life. My guess is you’ll never
go back. Audacity will become addictive. It might
be a hobby or a career. Which one you want?

I know I’m just starting off with audacity. So
I’m just learning. For my audio recording class,
I have to tell a story with just music and sound
effects and I haveto do it creatively. I wouldn’t
have it any other way. I love being creative. I am
one that believes in working my talent.

I can present my talents on Audacity.
I sing. I’m alto. I write poetry but I have
to admit I have to memorize my own work
and one day I will do open mic. One day.
DJ? I’ve always wanted to learn how.
I’m sure I wouldn’t be the first lady
dj but most of the time I hear about
male djs.

I’m learning the buttons and so far I’ve
been quizzed on Audacity. Questions about
what the features and buttons do? Check out
the manual when you click on the help section.
Be sure to download it. Go check out
Audacity and be adroit (clever).

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features