Time to follow a Dream

If you know anything about me, you know that I want to spend a portion of my life in Africa.  People always ask me 'Why Africa?' and really, I don't know so that is something I am going to spend some time figuring out- then maybe both myself and others will take me more seriously when I talk about it.

After a pretty rough week this week (only to get rougher in the next two) I decided that it is finally time that I quit with the talk and form a plan--maybe not to go to Africa right now but somewhere abroad.  I have spent the last few days researching organizations that could help me go where I want to go but I haven't really found one yet that hooks me.  One possibility is an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions and they describe it as a 'mini peace corps.'  If any one has had any travel experience through an organization, I would love to chat with you.  I am nervous to take this leap because no one I know has the urge to travel like I do but I am also so very excited to start making it happen.

Annnd this just makes me laugh--this kid has it figured out

  ☮♡Nicole 

     Louise☮♡

Major Addition!

As you know (if you read my blog), I am an elementary and special education dual major.  You may also know that I plan on returning to school to get a physical anthropology degree that will allow, and encourage me, to travel.  But I decided that's too long to wait to travel so I went to my advisor today and added English as a second language to my degree plan.  So now I am a triple major with a full time job---luckily I came from a family of work-a-holics so I know I have it in me (unfortunately this also means no sympathy from the fam).  Anyway, I am really excited for the ESL portion of my major because it will allow me to be even more versatile in the US and, with my spanish knowledge, hopefully allow me to travel and teach english in other countries.  And that's my life update for the evening.  Back to studying I shall go!

☮♡Nicole

Save Nevada's Education

Are you a well educated person who lives a successful life?  Do you value that education that has gotten you where you are today?  I am willing to bet that you do.  Unfortunately, our state is putting our youth in danger by not allowing them the same opportunities that you had.  Somehow, an education has been something that we can compromise and I am not okay with it.  I believe that an education is the most important thing a person can have and it is one of the few things that can never be taken away from you.  If you agree, please, read on.  


Governor Sandoval, along with the rest of the Nevada Legislature, is proposing extremely dangerous cuts in all public education.  This mean kindergarten through college.  Before I get into what those cuts may look like, there are a few side notes that I feel would be important for you to know.
~ Nevada has the highest school dropout rates of any U.S. state
~Nevada has one of the lowest teacher pays (already) in the U.S.
~Nevada is in the top 10 for the worst educated states of America.
~Nevada has the most amount of people without college degrees.
~Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. and that is not predicted to change for another 5 or 6 years.
That said, here are some of the budget cuts that are currently being proposed in our already suffering state. 


UNR Budget Cuts:
~ all specialty programs in education, including early childhood development, speech/language therapy, administrative/counseling programs, and special education, will be eliminated. This will leave us with only two possible education degrees- general elementary ed and general secondary ed.
~the College of Education itself will disappear and will merely become a school under the College of Liberal Arts.  This means that teachers who graduate from UNR will graduate with the most mundane teaching degree  possible.  That sure isn't going to be a benefit for our future children.


Now before I continue on to discuss the proposed cuts for public education K-12 I feel that I should point out that Nevada 's legislature says that they believe that all NV citizens should be 'career and college ready.'  So, while reading over this information, I want you to think about how much that statement contradicts the changes that our governor wants to implement.  Also, I want you to keep in mind that Gov. Sandovals children all attend private school, which obviously, would not be affected by these changes.  Lastly, I want you to keep in mind that if these changes do take place, our education system will be at a lower standard than those is Puerto Rico and Guam.


Public School Proposed Cuts:
~Public schools will go from a 5 day school weeks to a 4 day school week with longer school days..  Good luck finding Friday daycare and forcing your children to focus for an extra 2 hours/ day.
~There will be massive school closures which will result in eliminating jobs and making class sizes even larger at the schools that remain open.
~Teachers will be facing another 5% pay cut.
~Teachers who have earned themselves a degree that is higher than a bachelors will no longer get paid more for their degree.  This applies to future and present teachers.  Therefore, any teacher with a masters or doctorates degree will be facing a 10-15% pay cut.  


These are real issues that will have an enormous impact on all of our futures and it is not something to be taken lightly.  Please don't allow yourself to sit back and watch.  The government of Nevada only consists of a handful of people and we have them outnumbered by hundreds of thousands, but we all have to participate in saving our education system.  Governor Sandoval ran on a campaign that said he would make these cuts, and somehow, we let him into office and we now need to correct our mistakes and save education.  To participate, send a letter, or a few, to your representative, to Gov. Sandoval, even to our President. You can do this from  this website and  you can add your name the the Save the COE list server to receive more information of how you can make an impact.  Lastly, PASS THIS ON to everyone you know, to everyone with a student...if everyone participates, these cuts don't stand a chance.  Please, take a stand and save Education.
☮♡Nicole