WHAT'S NEW

Below are some topics that we think you might find interesting, with the most recent news listed at the top.

• First Jobs Kindle Careers: The Transferable Nature of Skills Developed From First Jobs
  By Craig Harrison. Do you remember your first job? Babysitting? Working in a restaurant? Helping out with a family business? Even if the memory is vague or one you'd prefer not to relive, do not look disdainfully upon that early experience. Despite a potentially menial nature and likely low pay, there is great value to be derived from this formative experience. More...
  
  
• Facing the Future
  With all these important decisions to make about college, I’m not sure I’m ready. By Alana Folsom. Reprinted with permission from L.A. Youth, The Newspaper By and About Teens. More...
  
  
• The Worst Way to Shake Hands
  Have you ever shaken someone's hand and in the same instant, felt every bone in your fingers and palm shatter? Or, even worse, felt like you were shaking the fin on a dead fish? More...
  
  
• Update of UC Prompts for Essays
  Directions: "Respond to both prompts, using a maximum of 1,000 words total is for both prompts, with a suggested minimum of no less than 250 for the shorter answer. More...
  
  
• Video Clips: Women in Traditionally Male Jobs
  Inspiring career videos featuring women in male-dominated jobs. Each video explains what the job is like and what it requires, especially if you are female.
  
  
• Parent Involvement in Student Career Planning
  Many parents are "clueless" about how to help their students explore and evaluate the hundreds of career possibilities available. This article is designed to help school counselors motivate parent involvement by highlighting changes in the global workplace that have significantly raised the stakes for our youth and to provide some of the tools to empower parents to motivate and support their children in the career exploration/planning process. More...
  
  
• Getting Ready to Use
  Getting Ready for High School
  on Brainshark.com
  Online presentation by Bob Tyra, Michele Scribner and Lois Moffitt.
  www.brainshark.com/brainshark/
  vu/view.asp?pi=720067352
  
  
• Getting Ready for High School
  User Survey
  We are getting ready for the 07-08 edition of Getting Ready for High School
  and we want to know what you think what we can do to make it better. Our
  survey should take less than 3 minutes.
  www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226DE6EU39L
  
  
• Ten Most Dangerous Occupations
  (thanks to CareerPro News for this item)
  Safety regulations can help ensure workers stay safe when they are at work, but some occupations put workers at a greater risk of injury. Learn more about the 10 most dangerous jobs and their safety records.
  Read the article from MSN.CareerBuilder.com
  
  
• Hands On Math
  The Futures Channel tackles hands-on math with movie short on landscaping Landscape architects design the parks, plazas and gardens that adorn our cities. More...
  
  
• Secretary Spellings Announces New Tool to Help Families Plan for College
  U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today unveiled a new online tool to help students and families financially prepare and plan for college before a students senior year of high school. Called the FAFSA4caster, it provides students with an early estimate of their eligibility for federal financial aid, which could include a Pell grant of up to $4,310. More...
  
  
• Fast Fact - Adults Numbers Growing on Campus
  http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/ resources/research/ op_collegetransitions.pdf
  Adult students are growing in number and becoming the new majority on many U.S. campuses. Many of these students bring academic preparation deficiencies, language barriers and other life and life challenges to college with them. Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models, a paper from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, reviews adult basic education-to-college transition programs and aims to develop a typology of these programs that includes five models.
  
  
• "Helicopter Parents" Short Quiz
  http://www.collegeboard.com/ parent_quiz/155044.html
  Often parents can become too engaged in "guiding" their children through the college and career selection process. Many feel that active engagement in this process is essential and that "steering" will have positive results. How much guiding and steering is too much? At what point does the parent become a "helicopter" parent, ever-hovering and going beyond the bounds of healthy helping? Do you know families where the hovering is too intense? Are you a helicopter parent? A twelve-question quiz on the College Board web site will tell you more.
  
  
• Scholarships for California's Latino Students, 2006-2007 Directory
  In 2005 the TRPI undertook a study to identify all the organizations in Southern California where Southern California Latino students and parents could receive information about, or apply for, college scholarships and grants. More...
  
  
• USC Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis
  View/download (PDF file, 622KB)
  The College & Financial Aid Guide for AB540 Undocumented Immigrant Students
  
  
• TRPI Announces Release of California Latino Scholarship Study and Directory
  The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) announces the release of a new study titled College Scholarships for Latino Students: Are Opportunities Being Missed? More...
  
  
• Fairtest List of Admission Test Optional Institutions
  http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm
  List of more than 700 institutions compiled by the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (aka Fairtest) that do not require ACT or SAT scores.
  
  
• University of California Releases its Eligibility Index for Fall 2007 Freshman Applicants
  The University of California has just released its Eligibility Index for fall 2007 freshman applicants, which contains two important changes. More...
  
  
• Online Profiles Can Hinder Job Hunt
  Job applicants who discuss their drug and alcohol use in online profiles -- as well as other questionable behavior -- may be hurting their chances of getting a job, the New York Times reported June 11. Many companies already Google job applicants to gather background information; now, some are taking the extra step of checking for personal profiles on social-networking sites like Myspace, Facebook Xanga, and Friendster. More...
  
  
• The 10 Best-Paying Jobs for Associate Degrees
  From ACTE News
  A recent article on CareerBuilder.com lists the 10 best-paying jobs for
  associate degrees. Data from the College Board find that about 44 percent of
  all postsecondary students are enrolled in two-year community and technical
  colleges, the articles notes. More...
  
  
• Fall 2006 University of California Freshman Admission Statistics Charts
  You can view several PDF charts with valuable data on UC admissions at
  http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2006adm.html