She earned her undergraduate degree in Business Marketing from Christian Brothers University and a Masters of Arts in Teaching from the University of Memphis. “I would probably be using my marketing degree working for a local or out-of-state business if I wasn’t teaching,” Hester said. And she also went to the NCAA National Soccer Championship with her team at CBU and won the national title.

Although a new teacher to Bartlett High School in the special education department, the Houston High School graduate previously taught four years at Southwind High School. “The people here are amazing. Bartlett High School has a feel of family. Most everyone here has been extremely helpful, friendly, and cares about the best interest of the students,” Hester said.

Her favorite sport to watch is basketball, preferably the Grizzlies. Soccer has and always will be her passion though. When she has down time, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, working out, socializing, watching movies and eating Mexican food.

In Hester’s SKILL’s class, it helps to keep a similar routine everyday so the students are not overwhelmed. A normal day for her and the students consists of breakfast, vocational activity, PAES lab, academics, lunch, gym and more academics. “When students try hard, behave, and follow directions, it makes for a smooth day!”

“My favorite thing about teaching is the students and being able to bond with them,” said Myers. “The thing about teaching that I dislike all the paperwork and the misconception that being a teacher is easy and that they only work Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 2:00.”

Those hours would rarely apply to Myers, it seems, as she has already started a club called ROSES that has close to 30 students and plans to do numerous service and fund-raising projects for the school and community. ROSES stands for Responsible and Respectful, Organized and Optimistic, Scholarship and Service-oriented, Energized and Educated Students.

Myers loves reading and writing poetry, collecting earrings, and spending time with her kids. Her favorite book is The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. Mariah Carey is her favorite artist. “Everything I am today would not have happened without my past experiences. It wasn’t easy but I was able to achieve goals and overcome obstacles. These achievements have made me into the woman I am today.” Myers wants to become a college professor within the next 10 years, so Bartlett High School will have the benefit of Myer’s expertise and personality until then.

Renado began her teaching career in Virginia, but after one year, she honed her craft in New York for four years. Growing up in upstate New York, she was raised by a single parent, her dad, and she credits the single-parent household as providing her with some opportunities. “I became a stronger person and matured faster than most people my age,” said Ranado.

A member of the English Honors Society at State University of New York, Ranado majored in English and minored in psychology. Listening to music, running, and reading (To Kill a Mockingbird  is her favorite book.) keep this well-traveled teacher busy. Being “the mother of two children”  is her “second job.” Add in Mexican food and documentaries to her list of favorites, and you have a glimpse of one of the new Panther teachers.

Interacting with students differently everyday requires using an “interactive and involved approach to teaching,” Ranado said. With six classes of freshmen, she seems well-prepared to help students travel through their studies.

Heath hopes that the actors will try out for the suspenseful drama “Sorry Wrong Number,” the story of a woman who overhears a murder plot when two telephone lines get crossed. The police ignore her, and to make matters worse, her husband is missing!

Also missing are enough people to help out with hair, make up, sets, and costumes. Lacey Denton, senior and president of the Drama Club, said that you don’t have to be an actor to be in the Drama Club. “There is a spot for everyone,” she added during the first Drama Club meeting. Rodgers told club members that he wants mainly student-led productions and that this year will be quality over quantity because he would “rather have two great plays than have three or four that are just okay.”

“Even with a little bit of a summer break, by taking time off you forget how to study and the work it takes to be a student,” college and career counselor Jana Radford said.

Last year, only about 7.6% of graduates in America delayed their entrance to school by one year, and only 29% of those took that year to travel (instead of working at home) according to theexpeditioner.com. American students took what is called a “gap year.”

What exactly is a “gap year”? According to gapyear.com, it is a constructive time out – a person can go anywhere and do anything they want. A student could be learning a new language for a year or studying abroad in China.

While some students know exactly what they are going to be doing for the rest of their lives, others feel that they need to explore their interests because there are too many things they want to do.

“I really think that it depends on the person, but I do think it would be beneficial to most students, although it could result in a lack of motivation and they might not want to go,” senior Jessica Quinn said.

According to today.msnbc.msn.com, some of the most prestigious universities in the nation are urging their students to consider something that would make most parents cringe– the idea of putting off college, for a year, in favor of some much-needed downtime.

Harvard College encourages admitted students to defer enrollment for one year to travel, pursue a special project or activity, work, or spend time in another meaningful way – provided they do not enroll in a degree-granting program at another college according to admissions.college.harvard.edu.

Princeton University has a program called a bridge year. Students who want to take some time off before college can use it. By spending a year before matriculation living in a different culture and working on bridge year, participants will develop an international perspective commitment to public service that will inform their four years at Princeton, according to the author Shirley M. Tilghman.

Of course, seniors get buckled down with choices of where to go after high school. Students are asked what subject they will major in, and the answer seems to change everyday. It is not that the students do not know what they want to do; it is the mere reason that interests in certain majors seem to fade.

The summer break gives all students time to think and relax. For some students this feeling of relaxation is extended for a period of time.

“They’ll either forget what they need to know or keep putting it off, and eventually they will just end up not going all together,” senior Briana Ogle said.

No matter what the situation is, it is not an easy choice. A break is much needed, yes, but for how long? That answer is up to the individual parents and their senior, and the collective decision between them is the route traveled by the student. Choosing wisely is key.

“It’s weird how much can change in only one school year,” said freshman Brianna Jackson.

The first day of school was Aug. 9th, as new freshmen bustled in, the new seniors took their place. Schedules were handed out and throughout the day friendships were forged between people who had only just met each other.

Students came back into school, sporting the newest fashion trends such as off-the-shoulder shirts for girls and the v-necks for guys.

But while school was coming back into focus, Operation Iraqi Freedom was reaching it’s end. President Obama declared it over on Aug. 19. Soldiers would finally be coming home after seven years of war.

Picture day fast approached students and teachers; the picture taken on that day would live on for generations in a yearbook. While the girls primped and prepped, the boys smoothed and tucked for just one good picture to be taken on Aug. 26.

More important than a school picture; sports such as football, golf, and volleyball roared to life in the first month of school. The first pep rally was held on Aug. 27, where the seniors beat everyone out with their “battle cry” and the freshmen got their first taunting.

Girls broke out their pea coats and UGG boots, which were plentiful around campus, and the guys brought out their leather jackets and tennis shoes as the cooler weather settled over the city.

The first week-long break emerged on the scene with much anticipation on the week of Oct. 18-22. Students took the time to relax their brains from the new knowledge being poured into it and teachers got to relax their nerves with no students to watch over.

On Oct. 29, the school participated in the blood drive, hoping to beat out Bolton for more blood giving. That day was full of fainting, mass blood loss, and sleepy students from the pints of blood given from those who participated.

The day that many avid baseball fans wait all year for finally came. On Nov. 1 the World Series game was played and the New York Giants took the title for the first time since 1954.

“I was so nervous for that PLAN test when I heard it was like the ACT,” said sophomore Cassidy Cook.

The PLAN Test may have freaked the sophomores out but on Nov. 2 they overcame the test. Though it was not nearly as hard or long as the ACT, it helped sophomores know what they needed to work on to be prepared for the next year.

On Nov. 13 the annual dance Snowflake commenced, and while relationships began there, friends were also found. This was the last all-school dance for seniors and it hit a melancholy key.

Nov. 22 the annual Miss BHS pageant came into play, where Grace Burgess passed on her crown that she had won only as a sophomore to senior Reykisha Stewart. The night was full of girls decked out in their best dresses and the baseball team dressed as sharp as a tack.

The three days of Nov. 24-26 came as a welcome of family and bonding when Thanksgiving Break set in.

After gaining 10 lbs., students and teachers returned to tackle mid-year exams. While the freshmen got their first taste of high school exams, most seniors hoped it would be their last. The exams were held on the 16 and 17 of Dec., in which the 17 was shortened after completing all the exams.

Then came Winter Break. The temperature was colder, the days seemed to fly by, and sleeping in became a constant. As the passing of a New Year came and went, school reared its ugly head. Only this time it didn’t anticipate the weather would rear its head too.

Another fashion trend popped up after the holidays, a trend that helped more than the buyer. TOMS spiked in popularity as a shoe that not only helped those less fortunate get shoes, but also held comfort and thick, warm material for the cold months. They popped up over campus in every color from bright blue to sparkly black.

School resumed Tuesday Jan. 4 with no delay, but that very next Monday snow hit the world and left Shelby County all out of school. While many were thankful, some were trying to re-plan lessons. It really didn’t help when school was canceled the next day either, a rare treat in the Memphis-area.

The day of return, on Jan. 12, report cards were sent out for parents to see how their kids first semester went. While some kids had to be pulled from classes, others jumped with glee at making it by.

Students and teachers got another day off that next Monday on Martin Luther  King Jr. Day. To make this week shorter the weather had a trick up its sleeve, on Friday Jan. 21 another blanket of white covered our town bringing shouts of joy from small children and worry for school administrators in Shelby County. All hope was not lost because they announced a few months later that the snow days did not have to be made up.

On the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, Winterfest commanded the school. Nerd day was a popular hit, as well as red-and-blue day. People’s school spirit began to shine through and as the pep rally came it was a sad one. The seniors realized this would be their last one, and their time at high school was closing off.

February was a quiet month compared to the months ahead for school, even though basketball was riled up and taking the court.

A day a football fan lived and breathed for came about on the calendar. Football fans gathered from all around on Feb. 7 to see the New Orleans Saints take the Super Bowl XLIV championship.

Then a crash back to reality sent many reeling in disbelief. On March 10, Japan was struck with an 9.0 magnitude earthquake which caused a tsunami to hit the island country. The tsunami at it’s highest point was 124 ft tall and traveled nearly 6 miles into the country. The National Police confirmed 14,238 deaths, 5,314 injured, and 12,228 people missing as well as 125,000 destroyed or damaged buildings.

Spring Break lifted everyone’s spirits in the month of March. Students took on the break with excitement, taking family trips, visiting colleges, and sleeping the day away. Teachers took their time and relaxed, as they had finished their grades the week before.

The blood drive came back to Bartlett on March 30 and more fainting, blood loss, and sleepy students ensued. Those that did not get the chance to be involved last time took glee in finally being 16 and able.

The dance everyone had anticipated came to school at last, Prom. Where the seniors felt the anxiety of their final farewell and the two people were selected for the coveted title of Prom King and Queen. Domenic Martini and Janyl Iganda were selected to have these honored titles.

“It just went by too fast!” said senior Xavier Lawrence.

Even with a year of ups and downs, it is easy to look back and see the unshakable memories and the new friendships forged.

CHICAGO — Miriam Kotacka doesn’t want to wait for her future. She’s only 16, yet she’s due to graduate from Aurora’s Metea Valley High School in a few weeks so she can begin training full time as a ballet dancer.

She has been able to speed her education by taking a semester’s worth of classes on her Mac laptop. She has studied the stars, the human body and other subjects in virtual classrooms where teachers were present only through instant messaging, email or occasional video links.

“I really liked the experience,” she said after wrapping up a semester of world literature two weeks ahead of schedule. “It helps to teach you those deadlines. If you’re going to take an online class, you need to pretty much pay attention. You can’t relax. It’s not a blowoff class.”

Kotacka is in the vanguard of a movement that some believe will transform K-12 learning. Online classes, already a staple at the college level, are popping up with increasing frequency in Chicago-area high schools — and even middle schools — promising to help high-fliers and stragglers alike get the most from their education.

“You can personalize for each student and have incredible rigor,” said Michael Horn of the Innosight Institute, a California-based think tank. “It’s a data-rich environment. You can constantly see what does and doesn’t work.”

But not everyone has joined the bandwagon. Critics say the trend is more about saving money than improving education, and that the effectiveness of online courses remains unproven.

“We have yet to see a vendor who has made the case that students who lack the motivation to do homework, to engage in class, to manage their time efficiently … will be more successful in online learning,” said Samantha Dolen of Palatine, Ill.-based District 211, where only two of 13,000 students take Internet classes.

Still, some observers believe the trend is likely to accelerate. They say revenue-starved schools will find the economics irresistible and will be intrigued by the potential for better results.

“There is no real, robust, state-led effort in online learning yet in Illinois … (but) I can say with confidence that at this time next year, legislators in Springfield will be talking about online learning as a policy priority,” said Collin Hitt of the Illinois Policy Institute.

Internet-based education has grown slowly in Illinois. The state introduced a virtual high school in 2001, intended mainly for students who wanted to take advanced classes their own schools didn’t offer.

Today, its online program offers 120 courses to grades 5 through 12, but only about 1,000 of the state’s 1.2 million public school students in that age range sign up each semester. Cindy Hamblin, director of the Illinois Virtual School, said its enrollments could be relatively small because some districts contract with private companies to provide online courses.

That’s what happened in District U-46, which this year bought “credit recovery” classes from Apex, a Seattle-based company. The courses are meant for those who have failed in a regular classroom, and Assistant Superintendent Greg Walker said the students often find the computer to be liberating.

“They’re moving at their own pace,” he said. “They’re able to go back and look at things, where in a traditional classroom it might be moving too fast for them.”

Few school systems, though, have done as much as Indian Prairie District 204, which started an in-house program nine years ago.

Howard Crouse, an associate superintendent at the time, said the first online class was consumer economics, a course required by the state. By taking it on their own time, he said, high-achieving seniors could fill their schedules with tougher classes.

Indian Prairie has since added five classes — astronomy, 20th century literature, Advanced Placement English, health and U.S. history — along with a summer math program for middle school students. About 400 students a year enroll in one of the high school courses, and up to 100 take online courses from other providers.

“It allows me to get out of school earlier,” said Neuqua Valley senior Brandon Liebmann, 18, who is taking consumer economics. “I have a part-time job, and this gives me more flexibility to do homework before getting to work.”

Laura Kurtyak has taught an online health class for four years and said the distance ironically creates a stronger bond between student and teacher.

“Students who maybe would sit back in class and not discuss and not share are all of a sudden more apt to do it,” she said. “Maybe they can put a little more thought into what they want to share.”

The lack of face-to-face contact, though, also makes it a challenge to police cheating. The Indian Prairie, Ill., district generally requires online students to take their final exams in classrooms, where they are monitored by teachers, but other assignments are harder to supervise.

“We have caught some students who basically plagiarized each other,” said Joe Moreau, who teaches consumer economics. “I have to say, though, sometimes you don’t know who’s doing the work. Is it Mom or Dad, or the student?”

The district tracks the achievement of its online students, and some of its findings might be surprising. For example, the 50 middle school students who took the summer math class last year — cramming a year’s worth of learning into six weeks — did about as well in their subsequent math course as those who had taken two semesters to cover the material.

Horn, of the Innosight Institute, predicted that half of all high school classes will be delivered online within eight years, driven by shrinking school budgets and a thirst for innovation. Text-based courses — “worksheets on a computer,” as some deride them — could give way to more exotic hybrids, such as an American history video game developed by Florida educators.

But as the classes become more commonplace, scrutiny likely will increase too. Gene Glass, senior researcher at the National Education Policy Center, said research has so far failed to prove that online instruction is superior to face-to-face education.

Jeff Hunt, who runs Indian Prairie’s online program, said such critiques are a caution to those who want to expand Internet-based learning.

“We have to do this well because we can’t do it over,” he said. “(Poor results) will verify to critics that there’s no quality there.”

———

(Tribune reporter Lawerence Synett contributed to this story.)

———

(c) 2011, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

—————

LOS ANGELES — Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie is one of my favorite Angelenos, if you can call him one, as he spends so much of his time traveling on shoe drops in South America and Africa and giving speeches about his One for One business model (for every pair of shoes sold, a pair is donated to someone in need).

I caught up with him over tea at his Santa Monica, Calif., office recently, and even though I had to use my BlackBerry, I wanted to take a picture of his wonderfully wacky outfit. He was wearing a nubby Edun cardigan with pants he picked up at a market in Nepaland carrying his journal, purchased at the San Telmo market in Buenos Aires. He was also wearing Toms, of course, from the latest collection, inspired by the journals and images left by activist Dan Eldon, the young photographer who was killed in 1993 covering the war in Somalia. (The shoes have a fingerprint-print, which Mycoskie took from Eldon’s passport.)

It’s appropriate that Mycoskie looks a little like a guru, because thousands of people from Seattle to Tampa and points between followed him Tuesday in spending a day without shoes to raise awareness for those who do not have a choice. AOL employees, including Arianna Huffington, went barefoot, and so did the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, Charlize Theron and Russian model Anna Vyalitsyna. It was quite a turnout, especially considering the brand isn’t yet 5 years old.

Mycoskie recently commissioned studies to measure the effect of the million-plus pairs of shoes that Toms has donated worldwide. Not that he’s anywhere close to completing his goal of stamping out foot diseases that can spread from the ground to bare feet. To that end, on June 7, he’s announcing a new product that will guide the next phase of growth for his business.

But he’s keeping that product shrouded in mystery — literally hidden in a box, which he presented to an audience for the first time last month while giving the keynote speech at a South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.

I tried to play 20 questions with him. Is it bigger than a breadbox? Will it sell at the same stores as Toms shoes? Is it a product in the fashion space? But he wouldn’t budge. He says his staff doesn’t even know what it is. He asked retailers to purchase the product sight unseen. “If they open the box and don’t think (the product) is a fit for them, they can send it back to us,” he said. “And I do believe it can be sold in 50 percent of our stores, and that it will open up new doors, and new places. Our first big retail account was actually a furniture store,” he pointed out.

The plan for June 7 is to distribute 200 of the mystery boxes to influential people around the world, and to have them open the boxes simultaneously. (Which could be exciting, considering the folks with whom Mycoskie keeps company — such as Bill Clintonand Morgan Spurlock.) Until then, we’ll just have to keep guessing.

From a fashion perspective, it’s incredible how many people are wearing Toms, which seem to be almost as popular as flip-flops. In June, the summer collection will land in stores, with a very cool-looking crochet style. And for fall, Toms has collaborated with the Row on a collection of shoes designed by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

“The great thing about their line is that they make unbelievable basics, which sell incredibly well at some of the same stores we sell,” Mycoskie said. “So to take their amazing cashmeres and Italian wools and put them on a classic Toms style, it seemed like it made sense. And they feel like butter on your feet.”

The core fall Toms collection, however, has a more lofty inspiration: great mentors and teachers. “I saw ‘Waiting for “Superman,”‘ and I started thinking with that film and some of the things the Gates Foundation is doing, that education could be the next climate change,” Mycoskie said. “Not that we don’t have a long way to go on climate change still, but I believe education will be the next chatter of pop culture.”

So he asked Toms employees to team with their favorite teachers and model fall shoes for a photo shoot. Mycoskie’s favorite teacher is pictured in the look book: Jim Woodruff, his theology teacher from senior year of high school. The shoe designs play off the education theme, with an academic-looking herringbone, and a print that reads “dare to teach.”

Mycoskie is also putting the finishing touches on his first book, titled “Start Something That Matters,” out Sept. 6. “It’s the No. 1 question I get asked: ‘I have an idea, how do I get it started?’ And I think I have some ideas to help people with that,” he said.

Part of the book is about challenging people — to volunteer at a homeless shelter, start a nonprofit or start a giving program at their for-profit business, he explained. “It’s not only an entrepreneurial book, it’s personal.”

The book also makes a case for simplicity — simplicity in design, message and in how you live. “People are addicted to stuff,” said Mycoskie, who lives on a houseboat to keep his stuff in check. “They think they can’t live without it. But intellectually, they also understand how not having a lot of stuff to keep, and take care of, lets you lead a more free life.”

Except that Mycoskie sells shoes, and he doesn’t want you to buy just one pair. “That is a dilemma,” he acknowledged. “But everything has its flaws.”

At least Toms don’t take up a lot of room.

———

(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.

Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

—————

The move marks the latest effort by Amazon to strengthen its growing digital media business, in which the company competes primarily against Apple Inc. Apple is reportedly working on a similar type of cloud service, though no announcement’s been made.

Other similar cloud music offerings are also reportedly in the works at companies like Google and Facebook. Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets said there is now a “land grab” playing out among these companies to secure market share in the digital media space.

“Critically, the common denominator for all these services is the requirement for a large-scale Web-based infrastructure, which all of these companies possess,” he wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. “We believe that Amazon is particularly well situated here, able to leverage its AWS (Amazon Web Services) infrastructure for these services.”

The new service, called Amazon Cloud Drive, acts as a sort of “digital locker” for music files on the Web. Users can upload their music to Amazon’s servers and use the company’s Cloud Player to access that music from any computer.

The Seattle-based company also established a service allowing users to access their content from smartphones and tablets running on the Android mobile operating system from Google Inc.

In a statement late Monday, Amazon said users can get the first 5GB of storage for free, with additional storage available through plans that start at $20 a year for 20GB. The company also said users can get a free year of the 20GB plan with the purchase of an MP3 album.

The company already competes with Apple’s popular iTunes store in selling downloads of music, TV shows, movies and most recently, books. But while its digital book business has been strong thanks to Amazon’s Kindle e-reader device, the company has lagged far behind Apple in selling other forms of digital media.

“Amazon, of course, lacks the device play in music that they have in books,” Forrester Research analyst Mark Mulligan wrote in a blog post on Tuesday, a reference to Apple’s popular iPod family. “This lack of a broader music ecosystem has weakened their ability to drive success of their MP3 store. A locker service is effectively an alternative way to build an ecosystem that ties customers in.”

Mulligan called the cloud offering “the next logical step” in Amazon’s digital music service, noting that surveys indicate that consumers already expect such abilities. Music downloads are not expected to generate lots of revenue by themselves, he said, but they may act as a gateway to other purchases.

“Amazon need to establish a strong post-CD role for their music customers (music is of course the entry point for higher-consideration, higher-margin purchases),” he wrote. “This smartly positioned locker service is an important first step in building that future role.”

———

(c) 2011, MarketWatch.com Inc.

Visit MarketWatch on the Web at http://www.marketwatch.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Of course there is the competition such as the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Sliding PC 7. They both offer an experience like the iPad 2, but how do each of these products stack up compared to one another?

According to bitrebels.com, to decide which tablet is the right choice for a person, they must first know what and how they are going to use it.

The iPad 2 is aimed at those who enjoy reading but does not limit itself to just that group. A game lover can watch as games literally “come alive” while they are playing. The effortless speed and thinness of the iPad 2 are drawing people in large numbers to places like the Apple store and Best Buy.

The price of the iPad 2 influences the sales. Marketing techniques of up to $100 off this starting price of $499 are causing sell outs in different stores all around the world.

The Motorola Xoom is priced at $799 and came out Feb. 24, a whole week before the iPad was released. What exactly comes with such a hefty price tag? A bigger touchscreen and a wee bit of a heavier device. It is not as lightweight as the iPad 2 but promises an experience like no other tablet on the market. What might attract tablet users to this product is the battery life.  According to slashgear.com, with very heavy use, the Xoom lasted over 14hrs –over 8hrs of which the screen was on– before shutting down.  With more casual use, especially if predominantly browsing, we’d expect to see 9hrs or more.

The Samsung Sliding PC 7 slides and can be used as a great conversation starter for the avid computer user. The starting price is around $599 and is hailed as a tablet/netbook combination. It looks like a laptop  and makes surfing the Internet look cool. Although it is not as thin as the iPad 2 or the Motorola Xoom, it has a “futuristic” look that draws people in.

No matter which one a user decides to choose, all of these products are great buys.