More Than a Test Score

Here at Zinch we love to share excellent opportunities that we come across including scholarship opportunities. Right now A-List is running a scholarship contest in which you could win $20,000 in monthly and grand prizes! They’re calling it the Vocab Film Festival.  Read on to find out a little more about the festival, the contest and how you could win!

Reason for the Scholarship

Inspiration for the Vocab Film Festival was conceived with A-List’s passion to make learning an enjoyable, interactive experience and the national success students have had using A-List’s web-based vocabulary learning platform Vocab Videos.

Vocab Videos is an entertaining and effective learning system that brings vocabulary to life. Leveraging humor, pop culture and engaging characters, Vocab Videos helps increase student understanding and retention of vocabulary words through verbal, auditory and visual cues. This unique teaching system employs proven educational methodologies and helps connect high school students with the content and expand their vocabulary, while entertaining them along the way.

Students develop a more sophisticated understanding of vocabulary words and usage through Vocab Videos as compared to traditional methods, such as flashcards, that only promote short-term memorization. And who better to create these unique Vocab Videos than the population who will be using them; pair that with an opportunity to support various educational nonprofit organizations and win thousands of prizes and there’s never been a better reason expand your vocabulary and participate in the Vocab Film Festival.

Scholarship Details

The Vocab Film Festival will challenge students and filmmakers across the country to create and share their own vocabulary video and photo projects—their very own Vocab Videos! Participants will compete for monthly and grand prizes and scholarships with winners determined by a panel of judges and popular vote. The Festival has partnered with four nationally recognized nonprofit organizations: Harlem Children’s Zone, Boys & Girls Clubs, Urban Word and Year Up. As individuals vote for their favorite Festival submissions, participants and fans have the opportunity to vote for the nonprofit organization they would like to see receive donations.

Register today submit your video or still photo vocab masterpiece for a chance to win!

Parents:

Are you computer shopping for your college-bound kid?  If so, read this article to avert disaster.  Here are four precautionary measures to consider:

Backup Services & Devices – Viruses can damage or destroy crucial files like term papers and other important documents.  Online backup sites like Carbonite and Norton Online Backup automatically back up files and protect them online for about $5 a month.  A flash drive or pocket media drive can also be used to back up files and start at under $20.

System Recovery DVD – Windows encourages you to create a “recovery” disc that will allow you to reboot from that DVD in the event your operating system has a problem. Unfortunately, many people don’t take that extra step. When you order your new PC, you can often order the recovery DVD included with your purchase for under $20. It’s a one-time, inexpensive add-on that will more than pay for itself when you have a problem.

Extended Warranty – No matter how careful you are — accidents happen.  You can fully protect your HP PC from damage and drops with an extended warranty.  HP can arrange shipping for home or campus for necessary repairs.

CompuTrace LoJack for Laptops – Crime is an issue on every campus, and CompuTrace is the Lo-Jack for your computer.  Once a student reports their computer stolen, CompuTrace will track that computer once it connects to the internet and contact local police to alert them to the stolen device.

HP Academy has a ‘peace of mind’ bundle on sale now through September 28, just in time for back-to-school.  It includes a  2yr HP Care Pack Accidental Damage Protection Services with LoJack for Laptops (product code on website HC688B).  You can save up to 54% when purchasing an HP Compaq, G-series, Pavilion, TouchSmart, or Envy laptop.

HP Academy provides exclusive education discounts on PC’s, printers, and a wide variety of supplies and accessories including many of the products mentioned here.  HP Academy also has experts standing by to help you choose your PC.   Call 800-632-8251 today for a great deal on a computer, and the peace of mind that your investment is protected.

With majors in graphic design, animation, game art, interior design, and art education — you’d expect Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design to be gushing with talented young artists.   That is exactly what you’ll find at RMCAD, located in Denver, CO.

Curious to see some of their work? Visit their website for sample portfolios of recent graduates, including class of 2010′s Ryan Secora, who plans on illustrating literature.  Wonder what you’ll do when you’re not in class?  Nicole Arocha, a senior studying 3D animation and graphic design, describes her favorite hangouts and off-campus activities.

How about advice for prospective students?  Corey Pile, graphic design and interactive media major, says “there are several ways to go about any challenge in your life.  Every possibility has the potential for greatness or failure.  It’s up to you to decide what you’re going to get out of your classes.  It’s up to you to take control of your life and learn what you want to learn.   There are more than enough great opportunities on this campus, but you have to take it upon yourself to make it happen.  And everyone on campus is willing to help you to get there, so why not be a part of greatness?”

We encourage you to visit RMCAD’s profile page to get a better feel for the college.

Do you love music? Do you love FREE music? Then you are going to really enjoy the following five social networking music sites. Not only can you listen to music for free on your computer, but there are some great features on these websites allowing you to share your music with others and be exposed to some singers & bands you may not be familiar with. Check out each of these sites below.

1. Pandora: Discover new music, listen to some old favorites, and connect your account to your Facebook profile. Pandora is easy to use and one of the most used music sites out there. Enter an artist or song title and Pandora will choose music similar to what you like, then it’ll save your music taste as “stations” so you can come back and listen again later.
2. Last.fm: With a large collection of music, videos and images, Last.fm will feed you information on just about any band–well-known or unsigned. You can connect with other users with similar interests and it even has a feature where you can track the most listened to artists and songs from your iPod or computer.
3. MeeMix: Similar to Pandora and Last.fm, MeeMix is an internet radio station that enables you to share your music taste with others through their site and other sites like Twitter, Facebook, and email.
4. Maestro.fm: Not only can you do nearly everything the other sites can on Maestro.fm, but you can also store your own digital music library and share playlists. Have a friend across the country who you think would like this new band you found? Maestro.fm makes it really easy to share your new favorite music.
5. Worldsings: More of a focus on music videos, Worldsings still enables you to create your own profile page and connect to other users all while streaming free music videos. An extra perk is that you can vote for your favorite artists and have the chance to win cash prizes.

If you are a huge music fan then maybe you might be interested in studying recording arts. If you want to study recording arts then you definitely need to check out LA Recording School.

Enjoy these great sites where the music is always humming and at no extra cost! Find out more about each one of these great sites by going to the original article here.

Recently a New York based counseling company released a list highlighting five institutions as the best landing spots for students attached to their gadgets. These schools leverage the power of mobile devices to store and deliver recorded lectures, syllabi, homework, tests, and a host of other information that can be accessed anytime, anywhere on campus.

The five institutions consisted of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., Stanford University, the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, Ohio State University, and the University of Missouri.

Some of the technology being used by these universities are a variety of Apple products (iPhone, iTouch, iPad) other smart phones and even apps specific to the individual university.

For example all journalism students entering University of Missouri’s School of Journalism require incoming freshman to have an iPod Touch or an iPhone. Students are encouraged to utilize the devices to re-watch lectures after they attend class.

Seton Hill recently initiated a new program called the Griffin Technology Advantage, which aims to expose students to the technology they will need to use in the workplace upon graduation. Starting this fall, all freshmen entering this private university will receive a MacBook laptop and an iPad.

Technology is advancing at warp-speed, so odds are good that many other universities will begin offering similar programs based on mobile computing. By the time you head off to college, you might have the ability to receive course assignments, upload a presentation, plan a group study session and check your grades, all while walking across the quad.

Read the entire list by IvyWise here.