Indoor Play Board - Part Four - Buildings
When choosing between a degree and going to work, paying rent, buying groceries or supporting family members, many students are forced to drop out, said Jean Johnson of Public Agenda, a nonpartisan public policy research firm that conducted a telephone survey of more than 600 people ages 22 to 30 for the report.
The research reflects a "very, very different reality" than the common image most people have of college as "a place where a young person goes and they become an adult," Johnson said. "So many of them are already assuming adult responsibilities."
Although strides have been made in increasing access to higher education for low-income and minority students, many of them are leaving school without a degree or certificate, Johnson said. Each fall, 2.8 million students enroll in some form of higher education, but fewer than half of students who start school graduate within six years, according to the U.S. Education Department. At public community colleges, only 20 percent of students graduate within three years.
The report is the first of three funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to examine access to college and college success.
Researchers found that students who drop out do not usually fit the stereotype of "Joe College": a student who debated which school to attend, lives on campus, attends class full time and has help paying bills. For students who leave school, "the balancing act is not between going to class and attending football games and frat parties; it's more likely between going to class and punching a clock in order to pay rent," they wrote.
For these students, picking a school to attend is often a haphazard and uninformed process, the researchers wrote, and the top reasons the former students cited in choosing a college were location, class times and tuition rates. Fewer than a third based their decision on the academic reputation of the school.
Of students surveyed, 58 percent said they did not receive any financial help from their parents or relatives to pay tuition or fees, and 69 percent had no scholarships or financial aid.
When these students decided to drop out, 70 percent said they did so because they needed to work to support themselves; other reasons included not being able to afford tuition and fees, needing a break, classes that were not useful and needing more time to spend with family.
Many of these young adults told researchers they would consider going back to school, but full-time work and family responsibilities again keep many of them away. A third of students surveyed said even if their tuition and books were fully covered, they could not go back to school because they could not afford to support themselves.
The report suggests ways to make it easier for working students to complete school, including allowing part-time students to receive financial aid, scheduling more classes at night and on weekends, reducing tuition and providing child care.
Lakeville police said Monday they're trying to figure out why a teenage driver's pickup truck crossed a center line and smashed head-on into a sedan, killing members of three generations of a Lakeville-area family.
Police said they are checking into several factors that may have caused the accident, including whether the teen could have been texting or talking on a cell phone.
"We're still digging into that," Detective Sgt. Andy Bohlen said. "Anything's possible. We certainly don't know at this point what caused it, but we want to find out for all those involved. We want to try to see if we can narrow down what caused this tragedy."
Police said they could not release the teen's name because of the potential for charges against the juvenile.
There's nothing to indicate that alcohol and drugs were a factor, but nothing has been ruled out, Bohlen said.
"We just really want to find out why this happened," he said.
The 17-year-old youth is from tiny Dundas in rural Rice County.
The teen was driving after dark without headlights when he caused the accident that killed a Lakeville woman, her daughter and also a granddaughter, police said.
Police said the teen's truck crossed the center line on County Road 50, just west of Ipava Avenue, and struck the sedan driven by Debra Ann Buhmann, 34, just before 7 p.m. Saturday.
She died at the scene, along with her mother, Shirley Ann Iverson, 71, and Buhmann's niece, Alexis Rose Iverson, 8.
The victims were returning home from Christmas shopping. A fund was set up at all Anchor Bank Monday for their survivors.
The teen driving the truck attends Christian Life School in Farmington, where associate pastor the Rev. Darin Kindle said there was much grief Monday.
"This is a tragic moment for this young man," Kindle said, "and his life will never be the same."
Now it is time to add the buildings to your play board. You may decide to add buildings you already have from other play sets, which is a great option and gives you much more detail, or you can make your own buildings.
My grandson wanted a castle, and after looking all over town for a week and not finding one, we decided to build our own. To quote my grandson, this is the “best part of the play board”!
Castle
4 - 12″x12″x1″ pieces of Styrofoam
Unlimited supply of Elmer's glue
1 can spray adhesive
4 bags of small gravel - aquarium
Exacto Knife
Using one piece of the Styrofoam, draw the front of your castle. Using an Exacto knife cut out the castle. For this I would work in a different area, placing a large plastic bag over the work area. This is so that you can collect any gravel that falls off. Using a very liberal amount of Elmer's glue, cover the entire piece of Styrofoam. After all of the Styrofoam is covered, cover the entire thing with the gravel. Press very firmly so that all of the gravel is pressed into the glue. You will need to leave this for a day or two, lying flat, so that the glue will dry and the grave will not fall off. Once it is dry, stand it up, gently running your hands across the gravel, brush off any loose pieces. Once this is done, in a very well ventilated area, spray the surface with the spray adhesive, and lay flat again for another 24 hours. Do the same thing for the two sides. The castle needs to be placed on the edge of the board, with the outside wall open so that they can play inside the building. I purchased two pieces of floor tile that look like rough stone and glued them in the center of the castle courtyard. I covered the board that was showing around the edges with moss and “planted” a tree in the center of the courtyard. I cheated here, because it was a castle courtyard, I left the tree in the little granite looking pot and just set it in the middle. It looks perfect.
I attached the three pieces of Styrofoam in the corners using, believe it or not, tooth picks and more Elmer's glue. It has held together very well, and has survived many Star Wars attacks! Occasionally, a piece of stone will fall off onto the board, but that's okay…it is supposed to be realistic!
If you would like more photos, leave a comment below and I will be happy to email photos to you.
To continue click here: Indoor Play Board - Part Five