When I was 10 years old, I tried out for the cheerleading squad. I had taken gymnastics classes for two years to prepare for these tryouts. However, I didn't make the team. It was a heavy blow to me. I cried all night.

    Kids today won't experience that kind of rejection. They're growing up in “everybody gets a turn” world where every child gets a chance to kick the ball, sing the song, and win the award. But that's not always such a good thing.

    Parents have become fearful of letting kids fail, thinking that our children are easily hurt and will never recover from anything—that's a serious problem. Last week, my 7-year-old daughter didn't get into the school play. At first, I was upset by it. How would she react? When I gave her the news, I was ready to hug her and cry with her. She looked at me, made a slight face and said, “That's too bad. What's for dinner?”

    It clearly wasn't the end of her world. Maybe if we let our kids experience rejection once in a while, we'd realize they are much stronger than we think. Kids need to be able to handle disappointments; doing so helps them to prepare for real life. Most importantly, rejection carries the possibility not only for growth and can also motivate kids to try harder the next time.

    Rejection is pain. There is no way around that. How will our kids ever discover their true talents if we don't let them? Instead of complaining, maybe we should consider rejection an opportunity.

    There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

    He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him, “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”

    He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, “Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered.”

    Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

    It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

    The letter said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from room to room until they fall to pieces!”

    No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.

    Because of the financial crisis in the US and UK, college students are beginning to struggle to find ways to pay their tuition fees and accommodations.

    Recently, two major US student loan (贷款) lenders, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase, announced they were leaving the student loan industry altogether. Because banks currently have a lack of credit, they are reluctant to offer students low-interest loans that need a several-year wait for any return of interest.

    In the US, many undergraduates fill up their financial needs with a private loan, although the majority can get government-funded loans. In the 2015-2016 academic year, $ 17 billion in private student loans was used to finance higher education. The lack of private funding has yet to be covered and will hit many US students hard.

    Across the Atlantic, UK students have been less troubled by the crisis. Most undergraduates in the UK cover their university expenses with government-funded loans and grants. Their biggest concern is a sudden increase in student rent.

    Most young professionals now rent houses, since 80 percent of UK mortgage schemes (按揭计划) have disappeared—a direct result of the credit crisis. This has boosted the house rent market.

    In large cities, UK students are paying almost 6.5 percent more in rent than the previous year. Figures from the UK organization Accommodation for Student show students in big cities such as London paying an average weekly rent of $ 203.

    Yet, despite students' suffering, the number of this year's university applications is expected to grow. During economic slumps, people regard further education as a way to survive tough job market.

    Choosing where to live may be one of the biggest decisions you'll make when you move to Sydney, but you'll have plenty of help.

    Temporary arrival accommodation

    Before you move to Sydney, we recommend that you book a temporary place to stay. Once you get here, you can look for longer-term accommodation.

    --sydney.edu.au/accommodation/short-term

    On-campus-residential colleges (fully catered饮食全包的)

    The University has eight residential colleges on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus, including International House, a residential community of global scholars. Colleges provide comfortable, fully furnished single rooms and daily meals, along with sporting, cultural, leadership and social programs. They also include on-site tutorials(辅导课) in addition to campus-based classes.

    --sydney.edu.au/colleges

    On-campus residences (self-catered饮食自理的)

    The University has two self-run residences—Queen Mary Building (QMB) and Abercrombie Student Accommodation—on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus. Both just under a year old, they house up to 1000 students. These residences provide modern single-study rooms with large common living, learning and study spaces, shared kitchens, a theatre, gyms, soundproofed music rooms, art studios, sky lounges and rooftop gardens.

    --sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-on-campus.html

    Off-campus living

    More than 90 percent of our students live off campus. The University is close to many dynamic and multicultural suburbs such as Annandale, Newtown, Chippendale and Glebe. A great place to search is our large online database of properties.

    --sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-off-campus.html

    A Canadian woman who lost her diamond ring 13 years ago while cleaning her garden on the family farm is wearing it proudly again after her daughter-in-law pulled it from the ground or a carrot.

    Mary Grams, 84, said she can't believe the lucky carrot actually grew through and around the diamond ring she had long given up hope of finding. She said she never told her husband, Norman, that she lost the ring, but only told her son. Her husband died five years ago.

    "I feel glad and happy," Grams said this week. "I grew into the carrot. I feel it amazing."

    Her daughter-in-law, Calleen Daley, found the ring while getting carrots in for supper with her dog Billy at the farm near Armena, Alberta, where Grams used to live. The farm has been in the family for 105 years. Daley said while she was pulling the carrots and noticed one of them looked strange. She almost fed it to her dog bu decided to keep it when she was washing; the carrots she noticed the ring and spoke to her husband, Grams'son, about what she had found.

    They quickly called Grams. "I told her we found her ring in the garden. She couldn't believe it, "Daley said." It was so strange that the carrot grew perfectly through that ring."

    Grams said she wanted to try the ring on again after so many years. With her family looking on, she washed the ring with a little soap to get the dirt off. It moved on her finger as easily as I did when her husband gave it to her.

    "We were laughing," she said. "It fits. After so many years it still fits perfectly."

Bullying on campus is increasingly becoming a problem, but the move by the Sherrard School in California, to set equipment inside toilets to catch bullying incidents is getting a lot of attention.

The school has put up a campus alarm system in sensitive places such as toilets that employs voice recognition and sensitive word activation, so that if someone is being bullied, the system can alert members of staff by sending specific signals. The system uses artificial intelligence for voice recognition, but its effectiveness doesn't depend only on these technologies. More important than the technology are the members of the school staff that are arranged to respond quickly and effectively to the warning calls.

Basically, technology serves as a way of reporting instances of bullying to the school authorities. What is truly noteworthy is the authorities' realization that timely intervention is required to stop bullying. In most cases of bullying in schools, educators and the administrators have overlooked early warning signs. And this can, at times, prove fatal. For instance, in a recent tragic case in Indiana, three junior school students plotted and took the life of their 10-year-old classmate. If the school had paid closer attention to the bullying, the tragedy could perhaps have been prevented. 

Returning to the system in California, should it prove effective, relevant government bodies can consider applying similar mechanisms in other schools to hold back bullying on campus. However, it is significant for them to bear in mind that it is human action, not just technology, that can help address this universal issue. Technology can definitely serve as a vital tool, but it is the human element — attentiveness, care, and timely intervention — that ultimately holds the key to creating a safer environment for all students.