Make Summers Count! Volunteering in SW Florida

Video Games are fun, but do not build a college resume!

Summer is right around the corner, and a a lot of students and parents are wondering what to do to make it count! While sleeping in and playing video games sounds like an ideal summer vacation (I have even heard parents say "They've worked hard during the school year, they should relax!"), there are other ways to build up your college resume to gain admissions and scholarships!

Summer is an excellent opportunity for students to use their time wisely to become a “T” student (see what a "T" student is here), whether that is volunteering, utilizing summer university program, or taking online courses. Often times, I find parents don't know where to start with the process so I have searched for some opportunities I know of throughout the state of Florida and in our own backyard of SW Florida. This by no means is an exhaustive list, but will definitely get parents thinking about areas a student can utilize during the summer. There are many more out there, and I highly suggest you do some Google searches to find them! Sometimes all it takes is a good search and a few phone calls to find an amazing experience. I am continually impressed with what our students find in the local community, and I strongly encourage these opportunities for personal and academic growth.

You do not have to pay high prices for these summer programs- as stated in the previous article, volunteering locally and taking free online courses definitely helps boost their admission and scholarship potential. Many universities within Florida and out-of-state offer great on-campus opportunities for students as well with unique major and career specific programs.

Online Programs (called Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs)

MOOCs allows students to take courses from all over the world. Most are free, but some are for a small fee. They range from coursework from experts from universities like MIT, Berkeley, and Harvard from a range of topics like coding, medical neuroscience, business, and psychology.

Coursera

Carnegie Mellon

Curriki

EdX

Lynda

Alison

Udemy

Udacity

SyMynd

Open Yale Courses

Volunteer Opportunities

Lee Health

http://www.leememorial.org/volunteer/vol-application_student.asp (Links to an external site.)

Lee County Parks & Recreation

http://www.leegov.com/parks/volunteers

United Way of Lee County-

https://www.unitedwaylee.org/volunteer/current-needs/

Naples Volunteering (Zoo, Botanical Gardens, etc).

http://www.thenewnaples.com/guide/volunteer/

Lee County Visitor Board- Tourism Ambassador

https://www.leevcb.com/the-vcb/visitor-services/tourism-ambassador-program

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conversation Commission

http://myfwc.com/get-involved/volunteer/

Shy Wolf Sanctuary-

http://shywolfsanctuary.com/

If your organization would like to be on this list, please email me asterk@unmaze.me! I would love to compile a first list of volunteer/ internship opportunities!

Florida Universities and Programs

Florida provides a wealth of opportunities for our high school students, whether it be at Disney World, Sea World, or one of our great universities!

Disney Educational Programs (physics, technology, photo storytelling, personal branding, and more).

http://www.disneyyouth.com/our-programs/education/

Eckerd College (Marine science, leadership, sustainability, writers workshop)

https://www.eckerd.edu/precollege/

Embry-Riddle (aviation, mechanical engineering, NASA)

http://summercamps.erau.edu/index.html

Florida Atlantic University (architecture)

http://www.idac.fau.edu/design/HSSI.html

Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University- CEO Academy

http://jaswfl.org/ceo-academy/

Florida Institute of Technology (flight, engineering, advanced aviation, marine science & engineering, Girls in STEM)

http://camps.fit.edu/academic-camps.php#.WOUXX4jys2y

Florida State University (FSU College of Medicine- closed for this summer)

http://med.fsu.edu/index.cfm?page=advisingOutreach.si

NASA Internships (closed for this summer)

https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/public/main/index.cfm?solarAction=view&subAction=content&contentCode=HOME_PAGE_INTERNSH

Ringling Art & Design (animation, sculpting, cartoons, graphic novels, etc)

http://www.ringling.edu/ContinuingStudies

University of Central Florida (programming, biology, engineering)

http://siucf.cs.ucf.edu/

University of Miami- Summer Scholars Program- multiple tracks

http://www.miami.edu/dcie/index.php/ssp/

University of South Florida (STEM, writers workshop, biomedical engineering, advertising)

http://www.usf.edu/innovative-education/programs/pre-college/programs/2015.aspx

Stetson University (variety of classes, designed for gifted students of all ages)

http://www.stetson.edu/other/hats/

University of Florida (multiple programs)

http://www.mysummeradvisor.com/MSA/app/school/summer-programs-and-camps/university-of-florida/573

Out-of-State Universities (there are so many! More than I can put on here- often these are a bit pricey, but give you some great time on unique campuses through the US and world!)

Actuarial Science Camp-

http://www.lvc.edu/academics/summer-community-programming/actuarial-science-camp/

Cornell University Summer College (veterinary science, Shakespeare, art, biological research)

https://www.sce.cornell.edu/sc/

Duke Summer Academy: Global Leader, Global Entrepreneur, Global Incubator, Global Giver, Global Researcher

http://summersession.duke.edu/high-school-students/duke-summer-academy/daytime-courses

Stanford Summer Session (artificial intelligence, humanities, sports business, and more)

https://summercollege.stanford.edu/

Stevens Pre-College Program (cybersecurity, Engineering, Pre-med, game design, entrepreneurship, STEM Law & Policy, and more)

https://www.stevens.edu/admissions/pre-college-programs

University of North Georgia- National Cyber Warrior Academy (computer science & Operating in cyberspace- scholarships available!)

https://ung.edu/cyber-operations-education/national-cyber-warrior-academy.php

Yes! You can be more Organized!

YES, YOU CAN BE MORE ORGANIZED WITH YOUR HOMEWORK

HERE’S HOW…

1.       Have a planner to write down your assignments, projects, tests, quizzes.

2.       Consider color coding each so it helps you to prioritize each

OR

Use your cell phone/iphone  apps

1.       Use your CALENDAR to keep track of important dates,

2.       Use your NOTES or MESSAGEs to remind yourself of next steps for each subject

If your teacher says ok

3.       USE VOICE RECORDER FOR CLASS TO REMEMBER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

4.       TAKE PICS WITH YOUR CELL CAMERA OF IMPORTANT THINGS ON YOUR PHONE

5.       USE YOUR PHONE CALCULATOR

6.       USE YOUR ALARM TO HELP YOU REMEMBER TO BE ON TIME FOR CLASS, TO STUDY, OR TO TIME YOURSELF IN GIVING A PRESENTATION.

Other apps to consider:

 Evernote.com

Dictation for iOS

Got an iPhone 4S or 5 or an iPad 3 in your backpack? Dictation, a feature that allows you to speak instead of typing, is built right in. Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls*, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back.

Dragon Dictation                                                                                                                                                             Easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.

Firefox with add-ons                                                                                
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/ira-socol/mits2009/

If you use the web browser Firefox (a free download) you’ll want to check out this set of add-ons that offer features like text-to-speech, dictionaries and more to make your internet browsing easier.

GMAIL & Google Calendar

A free email account that comes with a text-to-speech reader, spell check, built-in organization systems  including Google Calendar, which allows you to keep track of multiple responsibilities and plan a schedule. Google Desktop makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web with Google. It's a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, web pages that you've viewed, and more. By making your computer searchable, Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails and bookmarks.

 https://mail.google.com/intl/en/mail/help/about.html

HelpRead

http://www.helpread.net

HelpRead automatically reads aloud text from the computer’s clipboard.

BrowseAloud

http://www.browsealoud.com

This application highlights and reads text aloud on the web. Created by textHELP.

 iPing

http://www.iping.com/ipingv2

This is a free service that allows you to have 30 reminder calls each month. You can set the service up to call to remind you about medication, appointments, and other important activities of daily living.

 Sunbird

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird

This program is an easy to use calendar to keep track of your schedule, by the creators of Firefox.

Microsoft Built-In Accessibility

Ease of Access Center

Windows 7, Vista, and XP include built-in accessibility settings and programs that make it easier to see, hear, and use the computer. Accessibility features in Windows include: speech recognition and text-to-speech; magnifier; on-screen keyboard; keyboard shortcuts; sticky and filter keys; and visual notifications.

Nancy Frede is an ESE Educational professional who works with students from Prek - Grade 12 to learn how to succeed in the classroom making better choices for their future college and careers. Nancy is active in local libraries, youth programs and schools in southwest Florida and CT working with both teachers and students to be more successful in their daily life. Her fees are geared to those who are financially challenged. Please email Nancy at nfrede@aol.com or call 508/380-3737.