Every evening, 15-year-old Rashida returns home from school,changes out of her uniform, and rushes to a neighboring farm to help her motherharvest vegetables. Her father is disabled, so the modest profit the two ofthem earn must cover food, clothing and other necessities for all sevenchildren and their parents. Despite having precious little time to study,Rashida is one of the top students at her junior secondary school. But with somuch responsibility on her small shoulders, she admits that it is sometimeshard for her to imagine a more promising future.

Last year, Rashida was invited to join 155 other girls at CamfedGhana's first Girls' Career Camp, a program designed to inspire girls growingup in the country's Northern Region to dream big, and to support them to pursuethose dreams. “We organized this camp because we wanted to let girls know thateven if they are struggling with poverty, their lives will not be defined bylimitations,” says Dolores Dickson, Camfed Ghana's Executive Director.

    Over the course of five days, the camp led the junior andsecondary school students through a range of experiences and career opportunities that were entirely new to them. Dr. Agnes Apusiga, a lecturer from the University of DevelopmentStudies, ran the workshop on goal-setting and career choices, describing theuniversities and training colleges in Ghana that could help them achieve theirdreams. Participants then visited the University for Development Studies, wherethey toured the medical school and science labs. Another highlight was aworkshop at the computer lab at Tamale Secondary School. Many of the girls hadstudied information technology from a book but had never before seen acomputer.

   “When the girls arrived at camp, they were not ambitious,because they didn't have any idea what the world held for them,” says EugeniaAyagiba, Project Officer with Camfed Ghana. “Many had scarcely traveled beyondtheir own villages.”

“I think the most important thing that happened at the camp isthat we opened a window of hope for a group of girls coming from backgrounds ofpoverty,” says Eugenia. For Rashida, who has been laughed at in the past by herschoolmates because of her father's disability, the experience was important.“She told one of the camp mentors(辅导员) that whenshe is at school, she often feels like a misfit, and she prefers to keep toherself,” says Eugenia. “But at the camp, it was different. She made friendswith girls who have similar struggles. She took part in every single activity,every single game. On the last day, she said to her mentor, ‘The camp haschallenged me to study hard. Now I see that there is light at the end of thetunnel.'

    Mass media are tools of communication.Mass media allow us to record and pass information rapidly to a large，scattered(分散的)audience.They extend our ability to talk to each other by helping us overcome barriers caused by time and space.

    There are various ways in which mass media make daily life easier for us.

    First,they inform and help us keep a watch on our world. They gather and pass on information we would be unlikely or unable to get on our own.

    Second，mass media help us to arrange our time and life.  What we talk about and what we think about are greatly influenced by the media.When people get together，they tend to talk about certain happenings in the newspapers or on TV.Because we are exposed(暴露)to different points of view through different kinds of media every day，we are able to evaluate(评价)all sides of a certain issue.

    Third,the media are used to persuade people. A good example is advertising through the media.Newspapers，magazines and TV are filled with all kinds of colorful，persuasive advertisements.Though many advertising may not say openly that they want you to buy a certain product，they describe their products in such a way that you may want to buy them.

    Fourth,the media also entertain.  All of the media make some efforts to entertain their audience.For instance，even though the newspaper is primarily a medium of information，it also contains entertainment features(特征)．Television，motion pictures，fiction books and some radio stations and magazines are devoted mainly to entertainment.It is estimated that in the future，the entertainment function of mass media will become even more important than it is now.

    People are seeking for opportunities that will assist them in reaching their goals. Marketing yourself can be a good choice, which can help you achieve your goals. Though when people talk about marketing, they usually think that this is about producing a sale, it does not necessarily have to be.

    If you are an employee then you want your boss to take your ideas, and if you are on a job hunting then you want to find a good position. So in reality, marketing really leads to sale. So marketing yourself means you are simply “selling” yourself!

    The common problem in marketing yourself is that most people think that it is unpleasant to market themselves. They think that marketing concerns only to a business. Of course, this is absolutely not true. People who want to attain the success they desire must promote themselves.

    Marketing yourself is a useful tool. The better you market yourself, the more opportunities you will have. Marketing yourself does not really mean telling every person how beautiful and wonderful you are. It means letting your prospective employer know that you exist or you can do something better.

    There are actually several different ways of marketing yourself. But there are only two primary ways that you carry out. The first is to find ways to reach out to others and the second is to construct ways in order for the people to find you and make connection with you.

    To reach out and touch the lives of others, you have to be a good person and a good employee. In that way your good reputation will follow naturally. Have a brief and concise message that you can share with others. When you market yourself, you tell people who you are and what you can do for others. Plan well and practice your message.

    In constructing ways for the people to notice and make connection with you, you must be open to them. Communication is a great opportunity to make an impact especially when you market yourself. You also communicate by what you are wearing. Know the appropriate dress code and have plenty of time to decide what you will wear. Just remember to make a great first impression!

Should You Become a Full Stack Web Developer?

    Should you become a full stack web developer? What courses should you take to prepare you for the job? Our courses bring you a step-by-step path that will help you become a qualified candidate and teach you everything you need to know to succeed. Read on to discover if it's the right path for you:

    What is a Full Stack Web Developer?

    A full stack web developer is well skilled in both front and back-end web developing. With knowledge of what it means to build applications from start to finish, a full stack developer can plan, manage, and build software with general know-how. A core difference between front and back-end developers is that front-end developers handle building the user interface aspect of a website, while back-end developers deal with internal tasks such as web servers, applications, and databases.

    Combined, they are responsible for building the technology and coding that makes a website function properly. Both skillsets are crucial for being a well-rounded web developer and will give you a leg up when applying for jobs. If you like to learn new concepts and technologies frequently this is an excellent career path for you.

    Demand for Full Stack Web Developers is Growing

    Because of the broad range of skills required to be a full stack web developer, there are fewer candidates applying for positions, leaving more opportunity for qualified candidates. The job outlook for web developers is estimated to grow 13% by 2026, which is faster than the average rate for all occupations. With an impressive resume, full stack web developers can make $87,661 on average.

    Get Started Today

    With the help of the course, you will learn everything you need to know to succeed as a full stack web developer. You can start from any level with little to no previous experience required and track your progress as you go.

    Here's What You'll Learn in the Courses

    Build web applications and develop on both the front-end and back-end stacks

Learn Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

    Develop web applications in Javascript using front-end framework, Angular, and hybrid mobile applications with Apache Cordova

    Design RESTful Ruby on Rails web applications with MongoDB database integration.

    Have you ever noticed how Americans fill up their entire glass with ice and then pour their beverage (饮品) in, but Europeans take their drinks at room temperature? In the U. S. , we've created fridges that give you cold ice at the press of a button, but in Britain they typically serve their tap water warm.

    This tradition—if that's what you want to call it—dates back to the 19th century. During that time, it was already commonplace for most American homes to have an ice box. Ice would be harvested in northern America or Canada and shipped across the Atlantic and sold at a high price in British department stores. Can you imagine heading to Macy's to treat yourself to a block of ice?

    Putting ice in your drink started to become somewhat of a fashion(时尚)trend for the wealthy in Britain. Some would put a few cubes in their champagne and sip on their chilled drinks at high-class parties. But, like with any fashion trend, it eventually faded, mainly because the ice was just too expensive. And even once ice boxes began appearing in homes in Britain as well, Brits never took a liking to ice in their drinks.

    So, next time you travel overseas, don't feel offended (被冒犯) when your server gives you an eye roll when you ask for ice water.

    When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn't very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn't catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, "Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish." I remember being even more upset then because, "I'm not a fish!" I didn't know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?

    As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water because the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don't have any eyelids (眼皮) and the sun hurts their eyes. The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.

    When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, "We all need to think like sales people." But it didn't completely make sense. My dad never once said, "If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman." What he said was, "You need to think like a fish." Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.