STUDENTS KICK-START YOUR START-UP. CSULB: Win up to $50,000 in value.

This is a great opportunity for students wanting to kick start their own business. 

I have never been one to enjoy working for others. I have always wanted to start a business and work for myself. Even though it has been incredibly hard, I would never change it.

There really is something to be said for being self-employed. For being an entrepreneur and building something from the ground up. With your bare hands it does get rather scary, thats why funding like this can loosen the ropes and give you some breathing space whilst setting up your business, allowing you to focus with a clearer mind. 

I think it is a good idea to invest the funding in areas of the business which you are not so competent at yourself (sometimes hard to admit, but once admitted-can save you weeks!). If you have the funding, fire in your belly and a great team you can rocket your business ahead!

Win up to $50,000 in value, including $10,000 in seed funding, to make your idea happen.

The CSULB Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students from across the university to make a difference in our local and global communities through innovation. 

In addition to the seed funding, you can win office space, marketing services, and more. Awards and recognition.

THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY...and what do we do when we see an opportunity? We grab hold of it with both hands and hold onto it tight until we are catapulted to our dreams! (hopefully, there were many times in the past where I should have acted faster). 

Follow this link for guidelines, dates and deadlines: http://www.csulb.edu/innovationchallenge/

Good Luck with your applications!

Amber Williams-Director
www.bearlainternationalstudies.com

All Systems Go‏: New “ecosystem” to be used for new student applications.

New “ecosystem” to be used for new student applications,  developed by a British former independent college owner who believes his idea will improve quality standards and compliance and safeguard the UK’s reputation as an education destination.

This new system will assist agents and institutions with an escrow account system with an insurance mechanism built in which he believes will also appeal to legitimate international students, education agencies, education institutions and earn the approval of the Home Office.

Asset Management Legal And Protective Services (AMLAPS) launched this month in the education sector, however this has been used on eight industries thus far with success.  The article suggested that because of the tighter laws on immigration this would help assist students by their funds being verified, held safely and the school you are applying to is an ethical institution.  For the institution it would insure that the schools would be protected, the funds would be verified, held and distributed to the school.  For the agent it would assure a qualified student and a legitimate school for the school to attend.  This new system would make the immigration difficulties almost worry free for the student, school, agent and the government WOW, one could hope.

So here’s how it works AMLAPS role is based in maintaining an escrow fund of tuition fees, international students pay directly into its system and when they offered a place at a UK institution.  It guarantees the money is safeguarded the company is bonded thus insuring your money is guaranteed!!!  Even as an agent that makes me breath a sigh of relief, although we only deal with ethical schools it’s exciting to think that Bearla International Studies will be able to add more schools with like-minded focus on students support.

The only negative I see from this incentive is a fee will be required in order to join the system a protection fee.  The students pay any where between 50-190 pounds per year.  Participating agents pay upfront inspection fee of 1200.00 pounds in order to begin the vetting process this leads to the system endorsing them to its university partners.  I like the concept and support it wholly if it will protect our students, institutions and agents.  The international education market is exploding and eventually this would have to be address no time like the present.  

Bearla International Studies

Elizabeth Koukladas Director

How to Avoid a Dissertation Train Wreck: A Few Helpful Tips

Prepare

Make sure you know your deadlines.

Create a work schedule (6:00 – 18:00); evenings and weekends off, how best do you work shorter days less hours more days.  It all depends on how you work best.

Outline of analyses (minimize data exploration).

Working

Ask other students in the same field their opinion. Edit your dissertation in progress along with your dissertation chair.  Feedback is very important.

One chapter at a time and start with the chapter most completed.

Isolate yourself but take walks get out of the house and breathe.

A Note On a Done Dissertation

If changes are required by the committee do not fight them on it just make the changes, you can always remove them before it’s published.

A finished dissertation is a done dissertation.

You can use parts of your finished dissertation for employment.

Finishing

Plan for a month from final submission and defending your dissertation.

Make sure you are not waiting until the last minute to print, bind and submit for the final review before defending your dissertation. Be prepared and...

Good luck!

Bearla International Studies

Elizabeth Koukladas Director

Digital Upgrade for Transcripts.

The much-maligned college transcript is finally going digital.

Roughly 24% of college transcripts in 2009 were processed digitally, now demand has gone through the roof. 

The non-profit clearinghouse is one of the biggest players in the expanding field as they already run electronic transcript exchange, clearinghouse are proposed to be collaborating with two education technology companies on transcript processing and delivery.

The shift to digital will help improve the college transcript, allowing the admissions to get a much better picture of the student applying to the institution.

“So many things are possible once you get away from paper transcripts,” said Michael Reilly, executive director of the registrars association.

Electronic transcripts do include more information, often including links to descriptions and examples of students’ work, knowledge, skills and hobbies. Reilly points to Stanford University’s electronic transcripts, many feature “hot links” to a wealth of information that a paper version could never convey. 

At Bearla International Studies we are excited (Elizabeth a lot more than me) about the electronic upgrade. There are so many more possibilities. My advice would be to start building your own websites now as billboards for your work and your personality to shine through upon. Make sure they are well designed and presented, easy on the eye! Speaking of which, we will be launching Bearla International Studies’ brand new website in March…I am so excited, I cannot stop talking about it…on the other hand, Elizabeth has had quite enough!

Amber Williams.

www.bearlainternationalstudies.com

Help!!! I Want to Go to University‏!

Several studies show that academically talented low-income students, are not applying to university or college.   The studies show that students are benefitting from intensive college counseling.  A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a nonprofit group that focuses on college counseling in Minneapolis - St. Paul had a significant impact on the rate at which low-income students enrolled in four-year colleges, including competitive institutions. 

There is a clear correlation to talented low-income students not applying to a competitive university or college, or applying and not being accepted.  The study was based on two groups that more than 45 percent of the students in the College Possible program enrolled at a four-year college, while the figure in the control group was 34 percent.  

The article has implied that students from a low-income families with the potential to go to a highly recognized university or colleges, need more guidance to the admissions application process.  In high school I wasn’t much a student in fact I was a below average students (so they thought).  I didn't receive help with applying to university and was discouraged by my high school counselor.  

The frustration I feel for students has made me put my life in perspective to help bridge the gap for students who feel they have no hope or support.  Bearla International Studies was born from the passion I feel about helping to educate all people that desire to change their lives.  

Come on Counselors get on it and step up, help guide these young people to achieve their goals in life, there is nothing like the feeling you get from a student that has achieved their first step in following their dreams….I know I'm cheesy but I really mean it!

By Amber Williams

www.bearlainternationalstudies.com

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014 is today, January 20. Today, the United States nation are celebrating the birthday of the historical civil rights leader. 

MLK Jr.'s birthday is on January 15, but in the US a federal holiday is observed near that date.

King was assassinated in 1968, and in 1983 President Ronald Reagan announced the federal holiday to be observed in 1986 nationwide for the first time...happens to be the year I was born. 

Last year, the nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his infamous "I have a dream" speech.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal'."

For the most part, MLH day is a day spent with the family. There is a very relaxed vibe in Long Beach today, many people were out soaking up the sunshine, playing volley ball or are out on bike rides. 

Just incase you are in need of a refresher, you can read Martin Luther King's speech right here...be prepared to be inspired.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. 

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends -- so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

A Masterful List Of Books To Inspire And Motivate A Bright And Successful Future.

For preparation for the serious graduate students or anyone that is serious about success. I have

concocted a masterful list of books to inspire and motivate a bright and successful future.

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam. 

How to makeover your mornings so that you can take advantage of this time to incorporate things into your day that you love to do outside of school and work.

Little Bets:  How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries by Peter Sims.

Spins your view on failure

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

Her advice on writing, and the often-quoted concept of a “shitty first draft”, is helpful to any graduate student struggling to write.

Writing Science:  How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded by Joshua Schimel.

This book provides some of the best advice on how to structure the story of your experiment, how to write effectively for different audiences/purposes (grants), all the way down to how to write paragraphs and choose words.

Mindset:  The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

The concept of a fixed versus Growth mindset, no matter how positive you may be, there will be a few times during your degree when you have no idea how you are going to fix a major problem with your research.  Basically how you deal with the challenges you will face and your mindset on how to deal with your setbacks.

Enjoy your weekend my friends. 

Bearla International Studies

Elizabeth Koukladas Director