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8 Unique Silicon Valley Teen Volunteering Opportunities

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You’ve no doubt heard about the importance of volunteering, and how much colleges truly value service and community engagement. But what are good local South Bay Area volunteering opportunities?

 

The best kind of community service activities for college are those that actively engage or challenge you. So while sitting behind a help desk or handing out water bottles is a good place to start, this activity is not nearly as challenging or meaningful as something like designing a workshop for elementary school students, restoring natural habitat, or doing service activities with people from a totally different background than your own.

 

Here are some interesting Silicon Valley teen volunteering opportunities that are all very interesting!

 

Calling All Student-Athletes! [Los Gatos]

With Girls On The Run Silicon Valley, you act as a coach and inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident while learning and running! This is a great way to enjoy being outdoors while helping others at the same time! 

 

For Engineers and Drone Lovers [San Carlos]

If you love engineering and aviation, the Hiller Aviation Museum teen program is the ideal opportunity for you to work as a museum guide and share your passion with museum guests. Opportunities are available during the week and on the weekend, and teen volunteers can also getting programming experience too in the new invention lab!

 

For Future Lawyers (Or Businesspeople) With A Connection To Asia [San Jose]

If you’re interested in human rights, passionate about business and marketing or fluent in an Asian language here’s the chance to use your organizational skills for a good cause.

The Asian Law Alliance looks for volunteers, not just as interpreters, but also in marketing, media and more. The center is open from 9 to 5 PM, so this can be a perfect opportunity to take out some interesting community experience over the summer.

 

Do You Love To Code and Teach?  [San Jose]

If you dream in Java or Python and enjoy sharing this passion with others, then this is the program for you! With the Coding5K Challenge, you have the chance to teach children and lead a series of coding workshops using the provided curriculum.

 

Calling all Fashionistas! [San Jose]

Dress for Success empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Volunteers assist with personal shopping, clothes sorting, and handling inventory.

 

Promote Mental Wellness and Physical Health! [Los Gatos]

The Eating Disorder Research Center (EDRC) wants you to help with job duties ranging from administrative work to writing press releases to helping out at health events.

 

Get Outside While Working with Friends [Santa Clara]

The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority has a great opportunity to have fun outdoors while giving back and make a difference for the planet. The OSHA has a number of different programs, from internships to special projects. Ages 14 and up are welcome.

 

Curious about Crime and Justice? [San Jose]

Join the San Jose Police Department Cadet Program. You’ll get to learn all about government, law enforcement, and justice. Volunteer meetings happen once a week and teens can gain 15 volunteering hours every single month! Open to students ages 16 and up.

 

Get out there! 

All the best,

Team Insight

Balancing Your High School Course Load

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As we get deeper into February, many students are thinking about their class selections for next year. These are important decisions that deserve careful consideration as you look ahead, and plan for success.

 

Some students feel that the best approach is to accumulate as many AP courses at one time as possible. After all, colleges want to see the most rigorous courseload imaginable on your transcript, right? Other students take the alternate route and aim for a much lighter schedule to maximize the number of As they might earn, even if that means ignoring opportunities to take honors courses altogether. The reality for most students is that the “right” approach lands somewhere in the middle.

 

It’s important to seek challenges, but also to understand your limitations. For example, If you are barely earning a B in Pre-Calculus Honors, then it may not make sense to jump right into AP Calculus BC, which covers more material and moves at a faster clip than AP Calculus AB. Earning a higher grade and actually retaining the material taught in one class is more valuable in the long run than struggling for nine months in a class you aren’t fully prepared for. 

 

Your school grade will also impact which classes make the most sense to take, and when. This leads to more questions: Should I satisfy my Arts requirement now, or focus on core academic classes and try 3D Design or Photography later? Do I need to take four years of Spanish even if I don’t want to continue my studies in college? Should I take APUSH if I’m not much of a reader? How do I show colleges I’m serious about pursuing business if I haven’t taken economics yet? And what do you mean the UCs want me to take geometry? I’m already in AP Stats!

 

If you’ve asked yourself any of the above questions (and even if you are just thinking about them now for the first time), a good next step is to discuss this process with your Insight or school counselor. 

 

Think about how much time you have now, and how much time you “want” to have. Are you someone who thrives staying up until 1:00am doing your homework and studying for exams, or do you need to turn your brain off at 9:30pm to be fresh the next morning? Are you leaving yourself time to engage in your favorite extracurricular activities? What value do you place on spending time with your peers after school and on weekends? If you take only AP and honors classes, when will you have time to volunteer? What about preparing for standardized tests? 

 

Collegeboard does NOT have a track record of telling juniors, “Sure, I understand that you had three exams on Friday, and thus overslept for your SAT on Saturday morning. We’ll open up for you on Sunday, just this time.”

 

In the end, the key is balance. Parents can make a HUGE difference here. Even if the long term goal is to select a particular major, or to gain entry to a particular college, or to one day become the world’s most accomplished engineer, kids need time to breathe, and time to think. They need the freedom to study at the pace that works for them and not the pace that works for their friends. They need the time to seek their teacher’s help, the time to interview for a job, the time for tennis practice, the time for band, and yes, the time to eat dinner. 

 

 

When your children move away from home and get settled in college, you’ll want them to have the confidence to be ambitious, while understanding how much they can actually handle. They will have tremendous freedom to make choices, and your hope at that point will be that they are capable of being responsible, accomplishing their goals, and becoming independent.  You want them to be healthy, and you want them to happy.  A picture of your child smiling on a college campus with three friends will make you proud. That picture will reassure you not only that they selected the right school, but that you helped them to make the choices in high school to make that possible.

 

All the best,

Team Insight 

 

The Gift of Service: Why and How Students Should Volunteer

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“Trust in your desire to give, remember how good it feels, and be open to opportunities to do so, especially when they are just at the edge of your courage.” – Charles Eisenstein

 

I’ve been conducting an experiment in my own life lately. It goes like this: a thought comes up, “I’d like to donate to the Compassion Collective,” or “I’d like to give a random gift to a friend,” or “I’d like to send a nice email to my son’s teacher.” Any number of thoughts immediately intervene to rationalize not taking these actions. The experiment is to ignore those thoughts and do it anyways—to trust in my desire to give.

 

Often, one of the compelling arguments against any small and random act of kindness is that I already give enough or I will do something bigger and better at some other time when I have more resources, more time, more energy, more more more. And what difference will this tiny act in the world make anyways? It’s always just a drop in the bucket.

 

This argument is particularly compelling to young minds, who also wonder what it is that they can do to make an impact with such limited resources, time and life experience. 

 

Mother Theresa’s answer to this argument is simple: “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”

 

A student of mine recently proposed an idea for a service project he’d been thinking of that involved hosting a fundraiser for a charity abroad with which his family had a connection. As I listened to his ideas and his pitch for this charity’s work, I felt torn between encouraging his desire to give and pointing out that such an undertaking is so common that it’s become a cliché in the world of college admissions.

 

Harvard has released an important report called Turning the Tide, which seeks to both encourage and define “meaningful service” while discouraging “high-profile or exotic forms of community service, sometimes in faraway places, that have little meaning to them but appear to demonstrate [the student’s] entrepreneurial spirit and leadership.” The report goes on to say that “the admissions process should clearly convey that what counts is not whether service occurred locally or in some distant place or whether students were leaders, but whether students immersed themselves in an experience and the emotional and ethical awareness and skills generated by that experience.”

 

I had to find a way to help my student see the difference, and this is what I said:

“When you look at this idea of collecting money to donate it to an organization abroad, who is the giver and who is the receiver in this case?”

 

As we unpacked this admittedly esoteric question together, the following observations emerged:

 

It was hard to see how my student himself would learn from this experience or be challenged by it in a meaningful way. As Turning the Tide points out, so many “service” projects are designed to showcase leadership and entrepreneurial skills but miss the point that service is fundamentally about transforming our relationship to what is difficult in ourselves and in the world, not building a resume.

 

Many of my students already engage in activities that offer leadership experience and that teach them project management, team building, and other important organizational skills. Organizing a successful fundraiser is no small task, but is it at the edge of one’s courage? In this case, the answer was no. And in answer to that esoteric question above, the giver was really people who have amassed enough wealth to give some of it away and the receiver was an organization who could then determine how to funnel that wealth to other people in need, but my student himself wasn’t essential to that equation because he did not have any wealth of his own to give.

 

 “At 16 years old,” I asked, “is philanthropy what you really feel you have to give the world?” And after a pause, my student said that he had been mulling over the idea of starting an informal “club” or group for adolescents like himself who had lost someone close to suicide. The idea wasn’t fully formed and he felt he didn’t know where to begin or how to tackle something so complex.

 

“You have to follow that instinct,” I said, “and to do something like that, you are allowed to start small and in whatever way makes sense to you. Maybe you just meet a couple friends for coffee once a month and check in with each other.”

 

I should note that there was more to this conversation than can be covered in a single article—it is a topic unto itself. But what was meaningful and precious in this student’s instinct was the call to connect with others around a shared experience, to build a community, however small, in which the truth of their shared experience could be honored.  

 

“But why would colleges care about something that small?” he asked. “How would they even know?”

 

“Forget colleges for a second,” I said. “Ask yourself again, if you do this, who is the giver and who is the receiver?”

 

He admitted that he had as much to gain from this act of service as he had to give and that what was holding him back wasn’t what colleges would think, but the terrifying vulnerability of putting his own story out into the world, sharing his grief with others. And that is why it is so important for him to find the courage to do it. If he is scared, if he feels vulnerable, isn’t it likely there are other young people who share that experience and who could benefit from a community of voices echoing their common story?

 

To me, this is the seed of meaningful service: finding the courage to tap into our own suffering, which opens our hearts to the suffering of others—in doing so, this suffering becomes a gift to the world.

 

When the seeds we sow issue from this place of inner knowing and are nurtured with patience, kindness, and authentic concern for others, they grow. The club becomes a blog, becomes a podcast, a network of clubs, a research inquiry—it is sustainable and enduring because the cycle of giving and receiving continues.

 

In the words of Rabindranath Tagore:

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.

I awoke and saw that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy.

 

Waiting For Acceptance Letters Can Be An Emotional Roller Coaster

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Parents, this one is for you.

 

Right now, your high school senior is on pins and needles waiting to hear back from colleges. They may have heard back from some already or are yet to receive a single decision. They may not express this to you, but their self-confidence is shaky. Emotionally, they are wrapping up their self-worth in these decisions that are trickling out. Their past 3½ half years, no, their whole life (in their opinion), is up for critical review and judgment by a set of strangers who will decide if they are good enough.

 

While rational adults know that college decisions are not at all indicative of worth, we have to recognize what your teen specifically might be feeling. So with that being said:

It is vital that you celebrate every, and I mean every single, acceptance that they receive. You might have a list of what you consider to be “suitable” colleges. They may early on get into what is considered their ‘safety schools’, the ones you let them apply to because the college counselors recommended it.

 

Even if you do not think you would ever send them to a given school, do not deride it in front of your teen. Every acceptance is a win. It is an indication that their hard work and effort are paying off. So bite your tongue if you must. Look for the good in the school. At the very least, congratulate your teen, give them a big hug, and tell them how proud you are of them. Anything short of that is a failure in their eyes. They are looking to you for support and acceptance as well. They want to know that their achievements are worthy.

 

By saying nothing or by minimizing any acceptance, your child’s anxiety will continue. More than just supporting them emotionally, the future is still a blank page. You don’t know where else they will get accepted. If it turns out that their options are limited to a few of their safety schools, you want them to still be excited about college. By degrading those choices now, choosing a college over the next few months is going to be exceptionally difficult — for everyone involved.

 

And if denials happen, you have to be equally, if not more, supportive. Explain to them that this denial is not a reflection of their hard work, but rather a reflection of the competitive admissions process. Talk to them about denials that you might have faced in your life and how you dealt with them. Explain that where they choose to go to college will not determine their life’s outcome.

 

Rationally, your teen will hear you and understand. Emotionally, they will still be hard on themselves. They will be sad, disappointed, angry, or withdrawn — perhaps some combination of these. They will think the world, at the very least colleges, are unfair. They will undoubtedly know someone that got into a particular school with a “lesser” application.

 

This is a huge parent opportunity for you. This is a time for you teach them to rise above the fray, to be happy for their friends, to be accepting of the decisions they have received. Never ever disparage a school or another student. Doing so does not actually make anything better. Rather it teaches your teen to be resentful. Let them know that it is OK to be upset. Let them know that you are there to support them no matter what. Let them know that in just a few short weeks, this decision will be a thing of the distant past. Focus on the positive — the acceptances they have received.

 

Undoubtedly this is a difficult time for you as well. You are preparing to send your baby off into the world. But you have been thinking about this moment, probably, for your child’s whole life. This, for them, is a new world that they have to learn to navigate and they need your love, support, and guidance along the way.

 

We wish you all the very best,

Team Insight 

Consider Alternatives To The Traditional High School Experience

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For many students, the traditional high school experience is not well suited for them.

 

Unfortunately, these students often trudge through the years getting more and more frustrated and less and less interested in education. The reality is there are alternative options that might work better with their personalities, lifestyles and learning styles.

 

But before we discuss some alternatives, let’s discuss what types of students might want to make a switch.

 

Like every student, every high school has a different personality. And as personalities often do, they can clash. Some high schools are incredibly one-sided in their academic approach — whether with a strong focus on particular fields or one-dimensional. With math and science courses taking the spotlight these days at many schools, those students who want to pursue the social sciences, humanities or even the arts are often left to fend for themselves when it comes to broad academic opportunities.

 

Sadly, I have had incredibly gifted artists get disillusioned because they are often told that “art is a waste of time.” More importantly, others diminish their interests.

 

The reality is that the arts play a huge role in society, and even in technology. Graphic designers and user interface experts often have artistic backgrounds. Additionally, too many schools these days focus on multiple-choice exams, where the gray area between answers does not exist.

 

It is in this gray area where discussion and creativity can make the difference for some students. They thrive in environments where they can talk, challenge perspectives and find compromises. But if the school does not reward this type of thinking, they will be stifled.

 

And some students simply do not connect with the school community. Perhaps a bad experience left them jaded. Perhaps an extended absence due to a variety of reasons kept them from forming strong relationships early on. In many of these cases, looking at alternative programs might be a good way to reboot the high school experience.

 

Many community colleges offer concurrent enrollment programs for high school students. In these programs, students take all of their courses at the community college, making sure to also meet their high school graduation requirements. These programs offer the flexibility of community college. Homework and attendance, while mandatory, tend not to impact grades as much as tests, essays, and projects.

 

Students at community colleges will also come from a wide array of backgrounds and life experiences. The downside is that many of these college students do not really hang around campus before and after classes. Many will shuffle off to work or other obligations. So high school students should not opt for a program like this if they seek a strongly connected community.

 

There are even online high schools that offer a diversity of courses. Through these programs, students will conduct most of their work independently, watch lectures on video or log into live sessions, and then take tests online. The structures can vary. These are incredibly good options for students who have a strong level of self-discipline. It is easy to shrug off work no one is demanding. The benefit is also the flexibility. In many cases, students can do the work during the times they are most productive.

 

One other option would be to look at private or charter schools with curriculums best suited for the student. There is an increasing number of these popping up. While they still require that you complete state graduation requirements, the different structures and other opportunities might make them attractive options. It is worth visiting these schools and sitting in on classes to see if this new environment will make a difference.

 

The key to remember is that you don’t always have to settle for the situation you are in. High school is a time of exploration and transitioning into adulthood. Being a high school student is hard enough; you don’t have to feel trapped in an environment that does not work for you. So if you need a change, seek out your options.

 

Read more about finding your passion and the Archeology of Success in our Insight blogs. 

All the best, 

Team Insight 

Stuck for Summer Plans? Here Are Some Great Bay Area Options!

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There are so many great, competitive programs and options available to students who are planning how to spend their summers. The tough part – how to decide!

 

You can spend your summer doing a variety of things, maybe it’s working part-time while taking an SAT course, perhaps you want to do an internship and then volunteer. Whatever you decide, it can be helpful to begin your planning by checking out some of the local options.

 

We’ve rounded up a few great programs below to help you make an informed decision. ***PLEASE NOTE: the dates provided below are for the year 2018. Please make sure to ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK for 2019 and beyond dates for camps and application deadlines. 

 

Disclaimer: Insight Education is not affiliated with any of the below programs. All information has been taken from the programs websites, which are linked in the descriptions so you can do further research. We strictly recommend contacting any program that you are interested in directly to confirm details, especially deadline dates and costs for the program.  

 

GeneCamp at Stanford is an incredible camp for local high school students that incorporates seminars with renowned scientists in the field to learn more about the science of genomics. If selected, the camp is free to participate in. The application opens on Feb 3 and is due by March 5. Check out their website for more information: http://med.stanford.edu/genecamp.html

 

Girls Who Code is another option that runs for 7 weeks over the summer, with locations in the Bay Area. The camps are free and focused for girls in 10th and 11th grade. You’ll learn computer science through real-world projects in art, storytelling, robotics, video games and more! Visit their website via this link. https://girlswhocode.com/summer-immersion-programs/

 

Hands On Bay Area have a great program called Bay Area Tomorrow which is a local volunteering program that connects you with local non-profit leaders. Plus, you’ll get 55 hours of community service in 2 weeks! See more here https://www.handsonbayarea.org/tomorrow

 

BlueStamp Engineering has programs in Palo Alto and San Francisco, ranging from 2 to 6-week options. The program is for high school students to build engineering projects they are passionate about. Applications are open now! Click here to find out more: http://bluestampengineering.com/

 

The Rosetta Institute has 2-week camps at UCB for students that are interested in Health and Biology. Students live on campus for the duration of the course, and fees range from $1980 upward. Check out their website for more detailed information:  https://www.rosettainstitute.org/

 

The Youth Service Corps – a great one for our Fremont Families! Students can work with the city, engage in their community and earn dozens of volunteering hours with the Youth Service Corps or Counselors In Training (CIT). More information here https://fremont.gov/346/Youth-Service-Corps

 

The Berkeley Business Academy for Youth. This program introduces youth from around the world to the disciplines and skills that make a business work. B-BAY students learn from professors who are at the top of their field and from youth mentors. More info here: http://haas.berkeley.edu/businessacademy/

 

SIP is a summer-long (10-week) research internship program for high-school students in STEM fields. UCSC faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers provide one-on-one mentoring of these high-school interns. The research projects are real in that they are not made up just for the high-school students; instead students are inserted into existing research projects here at UCSC. This is a highly competitive program. See more here: http://ucsc-sip.org/

 

There are also some interesting summer programs hosted at colleges around California!

UCSD hosts Academic Connections, an opportunity for high school students with a 3.3 or above weighted cumulative GPA to get a jump start on college experiences. Applications are open now and close on June 15th, and have a $100 application fee. This program does require a financial investment, which includes tuition, course materials, housing and all meals, activities and SAT prep. See more about the program and costs here: http://academicconnections.ucsd.edu/

 

Santa Clara University has a young scholars program that allows students to explore the world of higher education in a 5-week intensive program that includes university courses, advising, and meetings with key people on campus. See more about the deadlines and fees here https://www.scu.edu/ysp/

 

Take some time to research what is a good fit for you, and talk to your family and trusted advisors. Your Insight counselor can help you decide which programs are a good fit, and share further programs from our vast database to suit your academic and career interests. Most importantly, we want you to have a fun and productive summer!

 

All the best,

Team Insight  

Make Sure “Senioritis” Doesn’t Spoil Your College Dreams

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After submitting their college applications, I’ll bet what high school seniors want most to do is just relax — something they have not gotten to do in a long while! And while I do believe they deserve to savor these unscheduled and unhurried moments, I would caution them that the effort they just put in can unravel if they let “senioritis” seep in.

 

Their friends may tell them second semester grades do not matter. If that was the case, do you think second semester would exist at all? Of course they still matter. Colleges reserve the right to rescind any offers of admission if academic standards drop. Simply getting one more B than normal is not going to throw an admissions officer into a tizzy, but a startling number of lower grades or a failing grade (and a D counts as a failing grade) can mean lax seniors will have nowhere to attend in the fall.

 

And grades are not the only things that still matter. Admissions officers want to know whether these seniors have kept up with extracurricular activities and other commitments. And, admissions offices regularly check up on those commitments listed on applications.

 

So seniors certainly should not want to quit that club they claimed was their passion as soon as their applications are in. If they plan to exchange some activities for new ones just to explore their interests, that is of course OK, but it should be in line with what was written on the applications. If they know there are going to be major changes in how time is allotted, it would be good to draft up a quick update and send it to the colleges. But before doing that they should think about the impact.

 

And I cannot stress this enough because I have seen it happen to the best of kids — do not get into trouble at school or with the law. Do not cheat on the chemistry test because you were too tired to study. Do not drive with others in your car if your license prohibits it. Yes, these pieces of advice seem almost silly to write, but bad behavior in these last few months can outweigh 17 years of perfection.

 

The lesson is just not to get reckless and believe that you are invincible.

 

But seniors should have fun this semester. The next several weeks are going to be filled with senior activities. This will be their last time with this group of people. Upon graduation, people go their own ways. Seniors should get to know their teachers, and maybe even find out they are really interesting people!

 

“Senioritis” is commonly believed to be a lack of interest in school. But rather, “senioritis” should mean fully immersing yourself in your senior year and all that is has to offer.

 

Class of 2018, we wish you a fun and fruitful rest of your senior year! 

Don’t Seek Summer Internships Just To Impress Admissions Officers

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The rush to get summer internships can feel as intense as the pressure to get into college. There is a misconception that specific internships will get kids into their dream colleges or that certain “unique” experiences will help to set students apart in the admissions process. So students trudge through applications. Teachers are forced to write more letters of recommendation. And school registrars barely take a breather before sending out another set of transcripts. And as with college applications, students tend to apply to too many programs just in the hopes of getting in. In the meantime, parents ready their pocketbooks for another expensive educational investment.

 

But the question has to be asked: are these expensive programs really worth it in the long term?

 

Unfortunately, like with most questions that relate to college admissions, the answer is “it depends.” I always tell my students that the program means nothing if they get nothing from it. In the same vein, students can capture meaning and learning from a variety of summer experiences. I often steer students away from the really pricey and easy-to-get-into programs. Simply doing a program for the sake of doing a program is a waste of time and money. The student could rather have used that time to really pursue his own interests, perhaps found in the smaller or less expensive internship and work opportunities. 

 

Sure, it is cool to say that you worked at this up-and-coming tech company, but if all you did was run errands and answer the phone, the experience is actually not that interesting. Perhaps working a lab will give you a taste of medicine, but don’t expect that you will be discovering a cure for diabetes in just six weeks — science does not work like that. Perhaps you want to be a future CEO, so something business-related appeals to you, but really everything is a business, even the local ice cream shop!

 

Summer used to be a time when kids got to actually relax a bit, ride around on their bikes and explore their surroundings. Students got jobs not because it would look “good” on their college applications, but because they wanted or needed to earn money. Kids would help out their parents with chores around the house or even at their offices. Teens would spend time playing instruments they loved, swim because the weather allowed it, and actually gain a sense of independence — the best preparation for life.

 

While I don’t expect that summers will swing back to those more relaxed times, I do believe there is value in exploring one’s personal and professional interests during those 10 weeks of sunshine. You can combo having some time to participate in your hobbies alongside your summer job or internship. 

 

If you are a teen, think about what would make you the happiest this summer. This does not mean you should while away the summer at the mall or playing video games. But what are the things you simply do not have time to explore during the school year? What experiences have you been craving?

 

Perhaps you are excited about practicing your Spanish and learning about medicine. Maybe you can find an opportunity to volunteer alongside a medical translator. Maybe you want to earn some money and explore business. That local ice cream shop I mentioned is a great way to get experience learning about customer behaviors and how real businesses make money. Maybe surfing has been on your bucket list for a few years now. Wake up early to catch the waves, assuming you live close enough, and then spend your day doing something else.

 

The craze around summer programs directly relates to college experiences. The reality is that admissions officers appreciate these real-life, everyday experiences as much as they do the more structured programs. And the truth is that the real experiences tend to actually be the unique ones because each experience is new rather than scheduled and planned.

 

So while I have no issue with students applying to and going to programs, I do have concerns when that is for the sole purpose of college admissions. Rather, summer is an opportunity for students to demonstrate to colleges their unique interests, experiences, and perceptions. Ultimately, the more meaningful and fulfilling summers tend to be the most interesting to one’s life and, and in turn, on a college application.

 

Students + Sleep = Success

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It is no secret that teens are not getting enough sleep these days. With endless screen time, mounds of homework and crammed schedules, teens are sacrificing sleep just to keep up. And it is not that they are simply losing a few minutes of necessary winks. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens should average 9.25 hours of sleep each night, or a minimum of 8.5 hours. But the reality is that more than 85 percent do not get the minimum hours. 

 

Sleep is not just something our bodies like to get; it is one of the most basic needs. A lack of sleep can lead to several short and long-term negative consequences. Students who are sleep-deprived often lack focus, are more apt to have aggressive behavior or just be generally cranky, are more likely to get sick, are more prone to skin problems and are more susceptible to extreme weight loss or gain.

So while most people are aware there are negative consequences to sleep deprivation, we still ignore our bodies’ calls for rest. But here are some steps that teens can take to get more rest each night:

• Create and stick to a regular sleep schedule. While getting the required 9.25 hours might seem unfeasible, it is not unreasonable to aim to jump into bed at 10:30. The key is not letting sleep be last on your priority list. If it is important to you to be asleep at a certain time, make that your priority. You do not need to be up until 2 a.m. each night to get your work done. In fact, I have seen incredibly successful students go to bed at a decent hour.

• Avoid technology late at night. There has been much chatter about the effects of blue light on brain activity and that it stimulates our senses. More importantly, teens are lying in bed texting, Facebooking, chatting or just browsing before going to sleep. The minutes often roll into hours. That combined with the cognitive impact of blue light means less sleep. That late-night browsing is usually unproductive and unnecessary, so cross it off the bedtime routine.

• Study at your desk and not in bed. Your bed should be your haven. Don’t let it be the place where you also study. You should study at your desk. Ideally, your desk is in another room so you can really focus.

• Create a study schedule that works for you to ward off procrastination. All-nighters and late night study sessions are not completely avoidable, but they should not be the norm. Plan to get work done ahead of time so you can limit last-minute study sessions. Create strict goals, such as planning to get essays done three days in advance. The more structured you are with your study habits, the more sleep you will get.

• Sleep at night is better, but naps are a close second. Often, I hear about students who are so exhausted after school that they come home and nap for an hour or two. While they feel refreshed after this nap, they also experience a burst of energy late at night. And hence the cycle continues. If you must nap, aim for a 20-minute power nap and make it a goal to go to bed on time that night.

• Don’t let the weekends throw you off. It can be tempting to stay up late Friday and Saturday and sleep until noon on the weekends. But this simply means that Monday morning is going to be all the more painful. While you don’t need to get up as early on weekends as you do during the week, try not to let your sleep schedule waver by more than 30 to 60 minutes. Your body needs regularity. It does not differentiate between Tuesday and Saturday.

Sleep will always be a necessity. Technology and crazy schedules have now become part of our lives. Rather than pitting our health against these new forces, we have to learn to cope and be disciplined. Teens especially need the extra hours as their brains and bodies are still developing.

 

Creating an Admissions Appropriate Online Persona

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The advent of technology certainly has made the college admissions process easier and more accessible to the nearly 2 million high school seniors who apply each year. But it has also made our lives so much more transparent and visible than ever before. And college admissions officers, trying to glean as much as they can about their candidates, have begun turning to the Internet to do so.

While many kids choose to turn off their social media accounts during the important admissions season, I would recommend letting admissions officers into your online lives a little bit more — but do so very carefully.

Most teenagers these days have Facebook accounts, Instagram accounts, and more and more are tweeting regularly. Some are even on LinkedIn hoping to get a jump start on their networking. And while teens typically look to social media for staying connected and keeping up, it can also be a huge opportunity to show admissions officers what you do in your free time.

So follow these steps for creating an admissions appropriate online persona:

• Privatize whatever you don’t want admissions officers to see, whether pictures or posts. While you cannot control what others post, you can control what others see. You should become familiar with the different privacy settings and test them out as soon as possible. If there are pictures up that you definitely don’t want viewed by admissions officers, or anyone, kindly ask the people who posted them to remove them. If your online self simply does not show you in a positive light and no amount of fidgeting with settings will change that, then block anyone you don’t know from seeing your information. But you should also then think about what you post going forward. These sites are not going anywhere and admissions officers and even employers will be checking them out in their decision making process.

• Watch the language. Whether you are tweeting, writing wall posts or making comments, be aware of your language. Definitely no cursing allowed. Write intelligently and thoughtfully. Don’t write anything you would not want your mother to see. Don’t write something that you wouldn’t say in person – just because you have the mask of your social profile, make sure whatever you are saying is something you would be comfortable saying in-person. 

• Do damage control. Go through your online profiles for the last two years. If you are unsure about something that is posted, delete it. Err on the side of being too cautious. While admissions officers will not spend hours digging through your profiles, you only have one opportunity to make a first impression, so make sure that any click one would make on your profiles would lead to something interesting and positive.

• Post about the positive things in your life! If you had an amazing debate round, or really connected with someone you volunteered with, or had a really amazing volleyball match, feel free to post. If you philosophically disagree with a theory you are learning in economics, are excited about spending the holidays with your favorite cousins, or are counting down the days until the next school dance, feel free to post.

• Be yourself and post about things that are important to you. Doing so will let admissions officers learn more about what you think about in your spare time and how you interact with others. If you love to blog about current events, make those blogs public. If you watch all the new movies and immediately write reviews, make those reviews available. You can still be a teenager. You certainly should not try to be someone you are not. Rather, this is an opportunity to highlight what you want others to see — exactly what you are trying to do in your college applications.

Social media makes it easier for people to see what you don’t want them to see, but it can also be a great opportunity to give others a glimpse into who you are. Rather than wasting that chance, make the most of it by making the most of all that technology has to offer.

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