All Entries Tagged With: "educational NoCo"
Renowned journalist Lisa Ling speaking @ UMSL
As far as journalism careers go, it’s hard to top Lisa Ling’s. Nabbing her first reporting job while still in high school, Ling was just 21 when she became a war correspondent for Channel One News, working in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Back in the states, she was selected by Barbara Walters as a co-host on The View, but left after three years to become the first female host of National Geographic Explorer, where she was able to cover a wide range of hot-button topics around the world, including Colombian drug wars and the repressive culture of North Korea. Not long after, she landed a prime gig with Oprah Winfrey.
As a special investigative reporter for the Oprah Show, Ling often tackled difficult subjects that received little attention in the mainstream press, from Pennsylvania puppy mills and AIDS orphans in Uganda to bride burning in India and even gang rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She parlayed this experience into a similar job for CNN, where she covered elephant poaching in Chad and illegal shark fishing in Costa Rica for the award-winning documentary Planet in Peril.
The author of two books, including one with her journalist sister, Laura, who was briefly imprisoned in North Korea until Bill Clinton intervened, Ling currently produces her own show, Our America, on Oprah’s OWN Network and frequently lectures at colleges across the country.
She will be speaking at UMSL on March 13, in a one-night event at the Touhill. During her presentation, “Open Heart, Open Mind,” Ling will share some of her most compelling stories and dramatic video clips, discussing how she uses her role as a journalist to foster positive social change. She will also talk about the importance of having an open heart and mind, encouraging audience members to cultivate a global perspective and become more engaged in the world around them.
Tickets to this intriguing lecture are $15, or $5 for UMSL students. Lisa Ling: Open Heart, Open Mind is scheduled for Tuesday, March 13, 7pm at the Touhill, 1 University Blvd, 63121. For more info, call (314) 516-4949.
UMSL students help make tax season less taxing
FROM THE NEWS WIRE:
Tax season is in full swing, and for some people the cost of preparing the annual returns can be taxing. Students from the College of Business Administration at the University of Missouri–St. Louis want to ease the burden by offering free tax preparation services to low-income taxpayers and senior citizens Feb. 10 through April 14.
The service is part of the award-winning Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. VITA has been offered by UMSL for 40 years. Business students and faculty prepare tax returns at four locations throughout the St. Louis area.
Combined household incomes that did not exceed $50,000 in 2011 can qualify for the free service. In North County, help is available Fridays 1-6pm and Saturdays 9am-3pm at the Ferguson Municipal Public Library, 35 N. Florissant Road in Ferguson, 314-521-4820.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at UMSL has received four Internal Revenue Service VITA awards over the last three years for number of returns prepared, outstanding community service and sustained superior performance.
Each year, students undergo several weeks of tax preparation training, testing and certification. They are informed of new and updated tax laws, as well as advancements to the software, Tax Wise, which is used for the VITA program.
More than 1,700 business students, alumni and faculty have offered free tax preparation services to low-income taxpayers and senior citizens at several locations throughout the St. Louis area since 1973. VITA is the largest university-based personal income tax service in the region.
VITA is sponsored by the Gamma Psi Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, UMSL’s Department of Accounting, GECC Tax Coalition and the IRS. For more information on the program, call 314-516-7188 or visit umsl.edu/~vita.
Natural healing expert to speak in Ferguson
A few years ago, when an old back injury started causing me serious pain, the only person who could help was a chiropractor. I was reluctant to see him at first, knowing that many folks consider chiropractic care to be a scam, but boy, am I glad I went. Not only did my pain disappear, but my posture improved and I even grew a bit taller!
Since then, I’ve been fascinated by the full spectrum of natural medicine techniques, which rely on the body’s own ability to heal. I know there are still many naysayers, and that’s fine, but for me, natural is the way to go.
That’s why I was excited to learn that a world-renowned master healer is making a rare appearance in St. Louis, and he’ll be hosting a free lecture right here in Ferguson. Chiropractic physician Dick Versendaal, whose revolutionary Contact Reflex Analysis method can determine imbalances in the body’s subtle energies, will lead a dinner talk to discuss how the body works, what leads to illness and how you can find healing.
Rather than focusing on how to treat disease, as traditional Western medicine does, Dr. Versendaal, who originally hails from the Netherlands, has made it his life’s work to teach about prevention and wellness. So if that approach resonates with you, I hope you’ll come to St. Stephen’s Church on February 16 to hear him speak.
Admission is free, but donations of non-perishable goods to the St. Stephen’s food pantry will be greatly appreciated. To RSVP (by 2/12) or schedule a private appointment with Dr. V before the lecture, contact Ferguson Wellness and Chiropractic at (314) 524-2580 or jessica@getwellferguson.com.
Dr. Versendaal’s dinner talk will take place Thursday, February 16, 7-10pm, at St. Stephen’s Church, 33 N. Clay, 63135.
Hazelwood Central senior earns acceptance to MIT
Luther Banner, a senior at Hazelwood Central High School, will fulfill his dream of attending prestigious MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For all the grief that North County schools receive, you might be surprised to know that the Hazelwood School District has been quietly building an award-winning robotics program. It is so successful, in fact, that one of the students on the Hazelwood Central team recently received a rare invitation to study mechanical engineering at MIT, the #1 ranked university in the world for engineering and technology! HSD’s Diana Gulotta shares his inspiring story…
Every college-bound high school senior has aspirations of getting accepted to the college of his dreams, and when the dream becomes a reality, it takes a little getting used to. Luther Banner, a senior at Hazelwood Central High School, is on the verge of experiencing his dream of attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In mid-December, the school released its early action decision list online. A few days after seeing his name on the list, he got a shiny, silver cylindrical package from MIT containing a formal acceptance letter, confetti, balloons, stickers and information about the school. The package arrived just before Christmas.
“It’s pretty surreal for me. It hasn’t settled in that I’ve been accepted to MIT,” said Banner, noting that only 11 percent of students are accepted for early action. “It’s still shocking. It’s my dream school.”
Banner plans to accept the offer from MIT to study mechanical engineering. He said MIT will offer him a scholarship, but he is researching other scholarship opportunities too. He was also accepted to Georgia Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
“My grandmother and mom are really excited. They pretty much told me that they knew I was going to get in, but I was worried about it,” he said. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure I’d get accepted. It’s a highly competitive school to get into. I was thinking about the other kids that I’d be up against for admission.”
Banner is a notable student, taking five advanced placement (AP) classes this year – calculus, senior English, government, Spanish IV and physics. He is a co-captain of the RoboHawks robotics team, and last spring, he was nominated and received the FIRST Dean’s List Award at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional.
Banner and his teammates on the Hazelwood Central RoboHawks demonstrated their robotics skills at a St. Louis Cardinals game last year.
FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – is a “thrilling and unique spectator sport experience in which teams of high school students solve an engineering design challenge through imagination, dedication, teamwork and the help of their robotic friends.” The RoboHawks won the event and qualified to participate in the FIRST National Championship, which took place in St. Louis. (in NoCo actually, at St. Louis Community College – Flo Valley)
During the championship competition, Banner was named to the FIRST Dean’s List, an honor recognizing 10 students from the United States and abroad for their leadership and dedication to FIRST. Of the 10 selected, only two were juniors – Banner and a student from Rhode Island. Winners received a long list of prizes, including a BlackBerry Playbook tablet, a BlackBerry Torch mobile phone, a Nike book bag with a shirt and hat, gift cards to JC Penney and Starbucks, a Kindle e-reader, a flip camera, software and a trip to New Hampshire to the FIRST headquarters.
Being named as a Top 10 student involved in robotics certainly didn’t hurt his chances of realizing his dream. “It helped,” he said. “MIT was always the school in the back of my head. I knew it was tough to get in. I didn’t view it as a reality at first, but I decided to apply at the end of my junior year.”
Banner went to New Hampshire in August, during the first week of school in HSD. While there, the students toured MIT, but at this point, he had no idea what his future would hold.
Fast forward to the present and Banner seems quietly humbled, yet excited, about what’s to come. The robotics team is preparing for the competition season and plans to participate in events in Kansas City and St. Louis. The team is working toward earning the prestigious Chairman’s Award, presented to the team that best represents a model for other teams to follow and embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST.
Banner said the team is trying to enhance the awareness of FIRST and be an “inspiration to the community and the District.” When he goes to college, he said he will “miss everything” about robotics.
“I plan to find a team to help mentor. It’s an environment and an atmosphere that you can’t get away from,” he said. “I’ll miss being on a team. To see that you built something that great with your own hands is exhilarating.”
Banner gives credit to “every teacher I’ve had who pushed me to work as hard as I can” in getting him to where he is today. He especially gives thanks to Catherine Sylve, a former teacher at HCHS and RoboHawks sponsor, for “making” him get involved in robotics. Sylve continues to be actively involved with the team. He also gives thanks to retired Spanish teacher Carol Villalobos for encouraging him to apply to MIT.
As for his family, Banner is grateful to them for “believing in me and for all that they give up to support me.”
“My family has always said ‘Strive to be the best. If not, why do it?’ I try to live by that in everything I do.”
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K