With summer vacations around the corner, AAA is proud to host a travel trends and packing workshop to help travelers learn how to pack like a professional and save time in order to meet airport compliance requirements before they leave home.

Kathleen Collum, AAA Travel Store buyer and manager, will share packing tips and tricks to make the most of your packing space, showcase the latest travel accessories, and demonstrate the latest gear to help travelers comply with flying regulations.

There is no cost to attend and parking is available on site. RSVP’s are appreciated as space is limited.

May 8, 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

AAA Bellevue

14404 NE 20^th St. – Suite 201

Bellevue, WA 98007

RSVP: (425) 637-9209

AAA Washington has been serving members and the traveling public since 1904.  The organization provides a variety of exclusive benefits, including roadside assistance, discounts, maps and personalized trip planning, to its 1,048,000 members. In addition, its full-service travel and insurance agencies provide products and services for members and the public. Additional information is available through the company’s offices in Washington and northern Idaho, at AAA.com, or by calling 1-800-562-2582.

Eileen Cho, president of the chapter and a student at Bellevue College, said: “It’s a huge honor. This award really capped a hugely successful year, where we helped a lot of people.” Rotaract, part of Rotary International, is a leadership and community service organization for students and young professionals.

The 40 active members of BC’s chapter organized several projects to benefit communities in foreign countries. Most recently, they collected 300 pounds of donations, including school and art supplies, clothes, soccer balls and other items, which were handed out to needy Peruvian children by six members who traveled to the country. They also spent time on the trip painting buildings at schools and orphanages.

Earlier this year, club members staged a bake sale that raised money for “End Polio Now,” Rotary’s polio eradication program. The money, which was matched by the Bellevue Rotary Club, went to vaccinate children. Also this past year, members collected food for local food banks and volunteered to help athletes train for the Special Olympics.

On May 8 and 10, the club will hold another bake sale to raise money for mosquito nets for several villages in Papua New Guinea, helping to prevent malaria. Another upcoming fundraiser hopes to raise $750 to purchase backpacks, walking sticks, school supplies, vitamin supplements and textbooks for blind children in Nepal. And the club organized an event called “The Ability Experience,” to be held May 17-18 on campus, that seeks to educate students and the public about global health and disability issues.

For more information, check out the club’s latest video at http://vimeo.com/39957928, or visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rotaractatbc.

“On behalf of everyone at the college and the Foundation, we sincerely thank all those who gave so generously, making this year’s luncheon a huge success. The support we received will have a tangible and beneficial impact by helping many deserving students complete their education, giving them a shot at better-paying jobs and a better quality of life for themselves and their families,” said Bill Kent, an executive with Mortenson Construction and president of the Foundation’s board.

A roster of 30 businesses, led by primary corporate sponsor Columbia Athletic Clubs, underwrote the luncheon’s entire cost, allowing every dollar given by guests to support Bellevue College students.

Ronan Farrow, special advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues and director of the State Department’s Global Youth Issues office, and son of director Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow, gave the keynote address. Additionally, several Bellevue College students in difficult financial circumstances spoke about how scholarships, made possible by generous donors, enabled them to stay in school and flourish in their classes.

Directed by a board of 30 community volunteers, the Bellevue College Foundation is a non-profit organization that receives and manages individual and corporate support on behalf of Bellevue College. It awards more than $100,000 annually in merit- and need-based scholarships and, since its inception in 1978, has raised more than $20 million to support scholarships and program enhancements at the college.

About Bellevue College: Chosen by 38,000 students last year, Bellevue College (BC) is one of the largest educational institutions in Washington State. BC offers associate degree programs covering the first two years of a college education as well as four-year bachelor’s degrees, certificates and continuing education programs in more than 90 professional and technical fields, such as information technology, telecommunications, business, education, health and public safety.

Umpqua Bank will also host a “Needs vs. Wants” contest to help children learn how to distinguish between needs and wants and how to save accordingly. The 30 winners of the contest will each receive a $250 child savings account and savings kit. To enter, families can visit their neighborhood Umpqua store.

“Research shows that the benefits of learning basic financial management at an early age can last a lifetime, and are particularly powerful when the experience involves the whole family,” said Nicole Stein, vice president of community responsibility for Umpqua Bank. “As a community bank, Umpqua Bank believes that healthy economies depend on healthy families, and we’re excited to make the experience of learning good financial habits fun for parents and children.”

Developed to help children learn strong savings practices from the start, Teach Families to Save Week initiatives are based on Umpqua Bank’s Learn to Earn program, which provides on-campus banking and financial literacy education at 165 schools. Using interactive activities, rewards-based learning and the convenience of banking at school, Learn to Earn teaches children in kindergarten through eighth grade to value saving and motivates them to develop lifelong money management skills while having fun.

About Umpqua Bank’s Teach Families to Save Week

Teach Families to Save Week will take place April 23-27, with events from 3 to 4:30 p.m. daily, and a “Needs vs. Wants” contest ending April 27 that will help kids learn this key financial management skill.

Umpqua will randomly select 15 needs and 15 wants and, during the week of May 7, award $250 youth savings accounts to those children. The winners will be encouraged to use the award funds toward their need or want, or save the money for the future.

In addition, families, schools and other groups are invited to visit their neighborhood Umpqua Bank store throughout the week to participate in a variety of interactive events.  Activities will encourage smart savings and include:

• Bank tours
• In-school savings presentations
• Savings trivia with prizes
• Scavenger hunts
• Piggy bank decorating

Umpqua associates have planned more than 200 events reaching more than 4,000 children. The week-long series is an extension of the April 24 Teach Children to Save Day, an annual project of the American Bankers Association. To learn more or locate an Umpqua Bank store, visit http://umpquabank.com.

About Learn to Earn

Learn to Earn (LTE) teaches children in kindergarten through eighth grade the value of saving money to encourage lifelong money management skills. The program offers a child savings account designed for students that can be opened for as little as $1.00 and earns interest immediately. LTE uses immediate rewards, games, ongoing events and in-class curriculum to make financial literacy fun and easy to understand. The growing program provides children with the convenience of on-campus banking in more than 165 schools and serves nearly 14,000 student accounts.  For additional information about LTE, please visit www.umpquabank.com or e-mail learntoearn@umpquabank.com.

About Umpqua Bank

Umpqua Bank, headquartered in Roseburg, Ore., is a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: UMPQ) with locations between San Francisco and Seattle, along the Oregon and Northern California Coast, and in Central Oregon and Northern Nevada. Umpqua Bank has been recognized for its innovative customer experience and banking strategy by national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fast Company and CNBC. The company has been recognized for the past six years in a row on FORTUNE magazine’s list of the country’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Umpqua Holdings also owns a retail brokerage subsidiary, Umpqua Investments, Inc., which offers services through Umpqua Bank stores and in dedicated offices throughout Oregon. Umpqua’s Wealth Management Division serves high net worth individuals and nonprofits by providing customized financial solutions and offerings. Umpqua Holdings Corporation is headquartered in Portland, Ore. For more information, visit http://www.umpquabank.com.

The pressure on information professionals to keep pace with the surge of digital data is greater than ever. Rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets in the workplace as well as the use of cloud technology are changing the way companies do business and requiring workers to address knowledge gaps. AIIM’s one-day boot camp will provide busy information professionals an easy way to get current on the latest trends and developments of the business process revolution including mobile, social and cloud technologies.

Boot camp participants will learn how to:

• Cut costs and reduce bottlenecks by moving business processes to the cloud
• Get content and information ready for mobile access and engagement
• Collaborate across geography and time zones with social technologies
• Make better decisions by exploring the analytics and new opportunities in big data

“Mobile, social and cloud technologies are combining to revolutionize business processes,” said AIIM President John Mancini. “The Bellevue seminar will equip local business and technology practitioners with the knowledge, tool kits and peer connections they need to navigate digital business content in today’s ever-changing technology landscape.”

The AIIM Content Management Boot Camp will be held at the Westin Bellevue from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first 100 registrants to arrive at the event on May 15 will receive a free Certified Information Professional (CIP) exam voucher, a $265 value. The Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) has pre-approved four hours of ICRM Certification Maintenance Program (CMP) credit for attending the AIIM Content Management Boot Camp, and the seminar is also approved for four credits towards the Certified Information Professional (CIP) credential maintenance.

To register for the free, one-day AIIM Content Management Boot Camp in Bellevue visit: http://www.aiim.org/events/seminars/schedule/Bellevue-WA-2012.

Sponsors of the AIIM Content Management Boot Camp Seminar in Bellevue are Adlib, Canon, CMMC, EMC, Fujitsu, IBM, KnowledgeLake, Kodak, Kofax, Opex, and Oracle.

About AIIM

AIIM has been an advocate and supporter of information professionals for nearly 70 years. The association’s mission is to ensure that information professionals understand the current and future challenges of managing information assets in an era of social, mobile, cloud and big data. Founded in 1943, AIIM builds on a strong heritage of research and member service. Today, AIIM is a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs to information professionals. AIIM represents the entire information management community, with programs and content for practitioners, technology suppliers, integrators and consultants.

Online education, a realm historically reserved for higher education, is becoming a widespread tool for high school students. No longer just a pipedream, the Insight School of Washington and the Washington Virtual Academy are providing students with exactly that opportunity, from kindergarten through high school.

When the two schools online were erected in 2006, conservative estimates projected that they would have about 250 students. When enrollment opened, they found themselves with over 1200 students enrolled, and 1500 waiting for their shot at a computerized education. Currently,

Online high school offers huge benefits to some students. Luke Schneider, a student at the Insight School of Minnesota, another school in the Insight program, elected to go the online high school route to take someoftheburdenoffhisparents. With two autistic siblings and working parents, Schneider decided it was most important that he could provide some balance with his family by staying at home with his sister. Previous generations of students in the same situation didn’t have the option of continuing education and taking care of a sibling at home. With Insight, they do.

Washington’s online schooling system is not for everyone. Though the Insight network holds parties and proms for their students, at the end of the day, you don’t have the full social experience of high school, which can be a deterrent for many potential applicants. However, for students who are already outside of a conventional school setting, like those in very rural areas, or those who have been homeschooled, online schooling can be a great framework and support system for the continuation of nontraditional education.

The cost of online school is the same for students that it would be at any public school – free. Sweetening an already sweet deal is thecomputertheInsightprogramprovidesforitsstudents, who might not have access to a computer otherwise. And as a benefit to the public school system, the price is almost exactly the same to support students. Maybe even slightly less, since education systems save on the cost of a brick-and-mortar edifice.

Curriculum is equally matched between online high schools and their traditional counterparts in most cases. While, of course, the classes at a conventional high school particularly in the sciences will have more of the necessary course materials – lab materials, and the like. However, Insight schools in Washington have a wide variety of classes to offer their students: from vocational classes to AP and honors classes.

The Insightnetwork in particular has special opportunities for their students outside the classroom. The Experience Series brings together students from around the nation together to hear from leaders in their fields, from artists to athletes to archaeologists. There are also opportunities extended to students to work at online internships that can earn students elective credits while working in their community.

At the moment, though there are a number of online schools, the Insight network is currently only in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. However, as online schooling continues to gain credibility in educational circles, online schooling at the pre-college level is indisputably on the rise.

Following the lecture, Swedish Medical Center will host a reception featuring “Ask a Doc,” where doctors will be available to answer health-related questions.

DeGaetano, founder and CEO of the Parent Coaching Institute, has appeared on “The Today Show” and NPR’s “Fresh Air,” and has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She is a best-selling author of several books, including the acclaimed “Parenting Well in a Media Age” and regularly conducts trainings for school districts, social service agencies and parent/community organizations throughout the world.

The event will take place Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Carlson Theater on the college’s campus, located at 3000 Landerholm Circle SE in Bellevue. Tickets can be purchased before the event for $12 by emailing bcspringlecture@gmail.com or $15 at the door. For more information, visit http://bcparents.org/Fundraisers.html.

The scholarships will help parents in financial need attend classes in the college’s Parent Education Program, as well as enroll their children in its cooperative preschool. The program’s offerings teach parenting skills and provide active learning experiences for parents and children that support the development of creativity, literacy and other essential skills.

About Bellevue College: Chosen by 38,000 students last year, Bellevue College (BC) is one of the largest educational institutions in Washington State. BC offers associate degree programs covering the first two years of a college education as well as four-year bachelor’s degrees, certificates and continuing education programs in more than 90 professional and technical fields, such as information technology, telecommunications, business, education, health and public safety.

Visit Bellevue College on the web at www.bellevuecollege.edu

My name is Conor Gormally and I’m an 8th grade at Washington Middle School in Seattle.  I have been reading your publication (editor’s note: we have not published a paper in almost 3 years) and I would like to hare my opinion on why our revised state and federal budgets both now and in the future should not include cuts in education.

Washington state’s recent budget deficit was over $4.8 billion dollars and the state legislature was considering making some major cuts to education.  I was appalled to hear this.  As we are slowly recovering from this recession, the education of the next generation of thinkers, innovators, teachers and leaders should be the highest priority.  If our generation is not readily equipped to tackle the issues of the future, what can we say for the generation after ours?

This also applies to advance learning programs.  The APP (Advanced Placement Program) at my school was barely able to escape budget cuts this time around.  Youths, when allowed to learn at an accelerated and challenging pace, can become smarter students, people and problem solvers.

With all of the budget cuts, schools are becoming unable to give teachers that account for yearly inflation and even have to ask them to do more with no pay.  While much of learning is student initiated, it takes a good teacher to bring out the best is their students.  If we can’t pay them well, then how can we assume their full and active participation and commitment to bettering education.?

The quality of education also applies to the economy.  Even now, the lack of educated workers to fill important technical and administrative jobs is forcing companies to postpone new growth, pay higher wages, or settle for training someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.  Our economy relies on the jobs that people with higher education hold.

We cannot afford to make major cuts to education in our budgets.  The next generation will have even tougher problems to solve and we need to be prepared for the major problems that might and will occur in the future.  Our economy, our country and our planet are depending on us.

Sincerely, Conor Gormally

6:00 – 6:30 am might not sound too early to some.  In fact, my dad wakes up at 5:00 in the morning to get to his job.  However, when he comes home some time between 6:30 and 9:00 pm, he doesn’t usually have additional work for his job, meaning that his work day is shorter than that of a student.  This is because of the one to seven hours of homework a kid in my classes has a night!  When one takes into account the time-consuming extracurriculars (soccer, dance, flute, crew, etc, etc) that my fellow peers and I partake in – in addition to a lot of homework – middle and high school students get to be very late.  Most kids end up coming to school very sleep-deprived, in fact.

Now consider that the amount of hours of sleep a fourteen-year-old is supposed to get is around ten hours a night.  Middle and high schools start at 7:50 am in the Seattle Public School District!  If one woke up at 7:20, which is when my yellow bus comes in the morning, then they would have to go to bed at 9:20pm to get ten hours of sleep!  The fact that a student would either “go to bed at 9:20 or wake up at 7:20″, however is quite “unrealistic” according to Conor Gormally of Washington Middle School.

This is why I propose that school starts at least an hour later than it currently does.  An hour of sleep would make a work of difference in a student’s attitude toward school and grades would definitely rise.  Most importantly, however, kids would be more well-rested and therefore healthier.

Hannah Farrell
8th Grader at Washington Middle School
Seattle, WA