I set out to change the lives of those who need help by joining my school's newly formed Free The Children Club. Through the determination of friends, the group has grown bigger and stronger each year. Over the past two years my friend, Alex Auclair, and I have become the leaders of the club.

    Already, after only two years of fundraising, we have accumulated over three thousand dollars and almost two thousand food items through various fundraising efforts. For example, each year a 24-hour famine (饥饿) is planned resulting in absolutely no consumption (消耗) of food. By taking part in these activities, we put ourselves in the shoes of someone living in poverty.

      No money raised goes to waste. At the end of each school year, the group takes a vote to determine where our funds will be spent and donated. Last year, we bought enough desks, chairs, supplies and textbooks for every student in a Kenyan school. This year, we plan to spend our earning helping out families in Sierra Leone.

    Poverty is a worldwide issue affecting the lives of people in not only developing countries, but also first-world countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. Living in poverty can result in hunger, many forms of disease, lack of education, and for millions, death. It does not have to be this way. You too can form a club like the Free The Children Club or you can participate in events outside of school. Get your friends, family, even your community involved in fundraising. Do what you can to change the world.

    With online courses, anyone can gain knowledge in any field of interest for free. You can educate yourself and get a certificate after finishing the course.

Coursera

    It offers high-quality courses from top universities for free to everyone to improve your resume, advance your career, expand your knowledge, and gain your confidence. This online learning website provides courses from Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California, and University of Pennsylvania. Learn more at https://coursera.com

Udemy

    Its goal is to promote education by enabling anyone to learn online. It seeks to hugely change education by inviting millions of experts worldwide to teach and share what they know. Whether you want to learn business, arts, health, music or technology, there is a course for you. Learn more at https://udemy.com

iTunes U

    If you are a student who uses Apple devices, you will be happy to know that you have access to iTunes U, which gives you access to different educational courses from all leading universities for free! Learn more at https://iTunesU.com

Skillfeed

    If you hope to learn a new skill, or improve your Photoshop skills, it offers unlimited access to high-quality video courses from a worldwide community of instructors. You have a month's free trial, after which you will pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to all courses. Learn more at https://skillfeed.com

UC Berkeley

    It offers courses in Japanese, legal studies and public health. Since they are recordings of actual lectures, they are short of lecture notes and extra materials. However, each course has audio recordings of lectures through iTunes U or video recordings of lectures through YouTube. Learn more at https://ucberkeley.com

    School uniforms are becoming more and more popular across the USA. That's no surprise, because they offer many benefits. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the "wrong" clothes.

Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule —- wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers(阻碍）; school uniforms tear those barriers down.

    Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their children's "creativity". First, as noted above , the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality(个性). They just copy their classmates. Second, students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they're in school, their job is to master reading, writing, and math; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.

    As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purpose and duties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes, for a time, the symbol(象征) of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearers meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.

    “Did you hear what happened to Adam Last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.

    With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did. Sean told me two days ago.”

    Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happened to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren't very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip(闲话). I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.

    An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic–breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out-that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

    If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don't. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.” In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of  belonging or even superiority(优越感).

    Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do's and don'ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

    The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.

    For many of us, our workplace can be dark, depressing and dull. Windowless rooms and airless open-plan floors can kill motivation and cause a loss to worker performance, possibly even their health.

    But a refreshing trend is taking root in workplace design: nature. There's a growing evidence showing that workplaces which include natural elements, such as plants, light, colors and shapes, have noticeable and measurable benefits for both companies and their employees.

    The positive effects touch on everything from worker happiness and creativity to increased productivity, improved profits, and the improved ability to attract the best workers. It's all based on the principle of biophilia(亲生命性) — the born relationship between humans and the natural world and other living systems. And it's easier to achieve at the office than you think.

    “People just don't like using lights in a building with no plants, no views, no natural light,” says Sir Cary Cooper CBE, professor at Lancaster University in the UK. He led a 2015 study on the impact of biophilia in the workplace that surveyed 7,600 workers in 16 countries and found that even small nature-inspired changes can have a great effect.

    Responding to the Human Spaces Global Report, those who worked in environments with natural elements reported a 15% higher level of well-being, a 6% higher level of productivity and a 15% higher level of creativity. One third of them said the design of an office would affect their decisions to work for a company. Even so, 58% said there were no live plants at their workplaces and 47% reported having no natural light.

    An earlier, 2014 study by Cardiff University in Wales also showed that plants in the office make people happier and more productive. But more research is needed into biophilia, experts say.

    John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

    His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.

    During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like.

    When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting -- 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen.

    I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, attractive smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured.

    Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.

    And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

    This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant(中尉)John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"

    The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

    It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are."