As the old saying goes, March Madness brings April Sadness. The tournament field is down to four teams, and if the first two weeks of the tournament served as any indication, the last three games have all the makings of a classic finish in Atlanta. In fact, only nine people out of 3 million participants in the Yahoo bracket challenge picked the Final Four teams correctly.

Florida Gulf Coast’s Cinderella run ended with a whimper against big brother Florida, Michigan staged an unbelievable comeback against Kansas in the only overtime game thus far, and nine seed Wichita State is in their first Final Four since 1964. Jim Boeheim and Syracuse’s oft-shaky squad have used a seamless 2-3 zone defense to get to Atlanta, while Louisville hasn’t let off the gas since their opening round throttling of North Carolina A&T.

The two games on Sunday afternoon weren’t even close, and the most shocking aspect of the day was Louisville’s Kevin Ware breaking his leg after contesting a shot from Duke’s Tyler Thornton. When Ware landed, his right shin snapped in half, exposing a considerable among of bone and leaving the entire arena shuddering. ABC News’ Liz Neporent explained the injury. Louisville players fell to their knees and wept on the court, and gathered around Ware as he was wheeled off on a stretcher. He told them to go win the game, and they abided. With the score knotted at 42, Louisville used a stellar 17-2 run to ice the game. Louisville’s stellar guard play, size and athleticism in the paint, and emotional crusade to win for their fallen teammate, the Cardinals are the favorite to win it all. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2013 NCAA Tournament field is down to 16 teams, your bracket is destroyed, and apparently Florida Gulf Coast University has a basketball team. Upsets abounded, the madness was unparalleled, and the first three rounds of the Big Dance reminded us that the title “Expert Analyst” is flimsy at best.

Of the remaining 16 teams, 30% are between seeds six through 15. For the first time in history, a number 15 seed team (Florida Gulf Coast) is in the Sweet 16. Ninth seeded Wichita State upset number one Gonzaga in a stunning third round match in which the Shockers shot an incredible 54% from three. La Salle, a 13th seed, shocked Kansas State and Mississippi to advance. The games have been unprecedented from a competitive standpoint, as Kansas and Gonzaga nearly became the first one seeds in tourney history to lose to a 16 seed.

Though predicting how the rest of the mayhem will play out makes me as mad as a March hare, I’ll play Cinderella and give it the old college try.

Midwest Region

Shocking Upset: No. 12 Oregon 74, No. 4. St. Louis 57

Sweet 16 Match Ups:

No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 12 Oregon

Two teams that are playing devastatingly efficient, I think Louisville’s size advantage and inspired guard play will topple the under-seeded Ducks.

No. 2 Duke vs No. 3 Michigan St.

Michigan State will finally meet some complimentary size in the paint, but with Mason Plumlee dominating down low and Seth Curry lighting up all over the court, the Blue Devils will roll over the outmatched Spartans. Read the rest of this entry »

Students, are you a fan of Chipotle? If so, there is an opportunity for you to become a student brand manager for the fast-casual restaurant. In order to bring Chipotle to your high school or university you must be 16 or older and be actively involved on your campus.

What exactly will your duties be as a Chipotle Student Brand Manager? You will have to promote the yummy burritos and tacos to fellow students on campus. You’ll be representing the brand, looking for opportunities that will let other students know that Chipotle is on campus, and using social media to promote the brand. Don’t worry – you won’t be doing this all on your own. Chipotle will offer guidance from their marketing representatives.

The company is offering a real-world experience for students who are looking for a career in the marketing industry. In other words, it is similar to an internship for college students because they have to attend two full academic semesters at their university and must work on Chipotle projects for five to ten hours per week. Read the rest of this entry »

After last month’s tragic event at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, students have yet to return to a classroom. As reported by CBSNews, the students at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown will be attending a new school redesigned specially for them.

The new school is in the town of Monroe. Signs saying “Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary School” and “Welcome. You are in our prayers” hung along the road greeting students, parents, and teachers as they made their way back to class today. Security will be enforced at the new school to ensure students, parents, and teachers feel safe.

A few weeks of renovating from volunteers and the former middle school known as Chalk Hill School in Monroe, Conn. is ready for these young students to step foot inside. Volunteers even made the school size friendly by raising bathroom floors for smaller children to reach the toilets. Students’ supplies from Sandy Hook Elementary and photos will be placed in the new school to make students feel comfortable. Experts and counselors say it is vital that students feel comfortable and back to a regular schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

The countdown has more than begun. The next college football season in 2013 will be the last year for the BCS.

In 2014 the new 12-year contract with ESPN for the 10 FBS-level conferences will go in to effect. According to USA Today Sports, an anonymous source (due to subject sensitivity) gave them the information that about $400-600 million will go to these 10 conferences annually…and that’s not including the sales coming from tickets and merchandising from the championship game.

Since this revenue is going to be drawn out over the 12-year contract, numbers on how much goes to whom are yet to be decided. It’s being estimated that the revenue total will actually be less than $400 million during the first year but will progressively grow throughout the life of the contract to up to $600 million for the last year of the contract in 2025.

After expenses, here’s an estimated list of how the annual revenue is planning to be split:

• “Power” Conferences – 71.5%
• “Group of 5″ Conferences - 27%
• Notre Dame – slightly less than 1%
• Remaining FBS Independents - .5%

To give a brief idea on about how much revenue that could end up being, we’ll use $500 million as an example figure. After all expenses taken into consideration, about $350-375 million would be left to spread across the 10 FBS conferences (not including revenue from the contracts with the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls). Read the rest of this entry »

During his speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama accepted his party’s nomination to run for president and hopefully take on another four years. Among the topics he covered were weighty issues like the economy, the national debt, battling environmental pollution, medicare, and taxes. He also gave his views and ideas on education and how it should be strengthened.

Obama was optimistic about the state of education in America, saying that some of the country’s worst schools have improved their math and reading scores, and that nearly every state has committed to raising their teaching and learning standards. He spoke to concerns about college tuition, bringing up more than once his commitment to keeping rates low.

“Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life,” Obama said in his speech.

The president gave several specific goals for raising the bar with education. For college students, he asked his fellow Democrats’ help in putting two million students into community colleges that will guarantee them a job once they leave. He also wants to cut the growth of the cost of tuition at colleges and universities in half over the next decade. Read the rest of this entry »

An August Gallup poll reveals that more than half of Americans are dissatisfied with the public education system, with only 7 percent of parents of school-aged children believing that public schools provide an excellent education. Home schooling rated higher by the general public than public schools for quality, but private schools received the overall best ratings.

The poll reported that 78 percent of Americans said children in private schools received an excellent or good education. Parochial schools came next with a 69 percent rating, then came charter schools (60 percent), home schooling (46 percent) and public schools (37 percent).

Although 83 percent of parents polled said their oldest child attends public school, only 47 percent thought their child was receiving an excellent or good education. Among parents of K-12 students, the results were similar to the public at large, but they gave public schools a slightly higher rating than home schooling. Read the rest of this entry »

College life may be a fun and exciting adventure to look forward to, but it’s far from the easiest stage in life. The average college student must learn strong multitasking and time management skills in order to keep up with tests, assigned readings, papers and projects all while working a part-time job in order to pay for bills, gas and groceries.

There are many techniques a college student can employ in order to handle today’s fast-past lifestyle; for example, study groups can be extremely beneficial for cutting down on work load. But there’s another aid students are getting their hands on, and it’s called the “The College Study Drug,” also known as Adderall.  The following is an infographic from LearnStuff.com with statistics concerning the drug.

Adderall is a prescription drug used to treat those who have been diagnosed with ADHD. It helps those who have issues with concentrating to tune into the task at hand.

So what’s the problem? The prescription drug is being abused by millions of college students across campuses all over the country. It’s been found that Adderall can be as addictive as cocaine and meth, and not all of those taking the drug actually have a prescription for it.

Another major issue is the drinking problem for those taking the drug. Nine out of 10 students who are illegally consuming Adderall are also binge drinking. In addition, it’s been found that abusive Adderall takers are more likely to to abuse other drugs as well.

Below is a list of statistics regarding the abuse of “The College Study Drug.”

• Since 2007, prescriptions for ADHD have risen 26%
• 8% of American children have ADHD
• 7 million students are abusing their ADHD treatments
• Emergency calls about students misusing ADHD drugs are up 76% since 2011
• 12% of high school seniors, 40% of college students, and 50% juniors and seniors have used a prescription stimulant

By sharing alarming findings such as these, we can inform college students about the dangers of Adderall and other addictive drugs. In doing so, hopefully they will stray far from their path and toward healthy habits instead.

Also Read:

More Than 100 College Professors Sign Letter to Legalize Marijuana

How to Stay Healthy in College

How to Manage You Time in College

*Photo from learnstuff

More than 100 college professors signed their names on a letter advocating the legalization of marijuana. The letter was released yesterday by the campaign Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

The letter was signed by professors from all over the nation, including several from the state of Colorado, as reported by Matt Ferner of The Huffington Post.

The release of the letter coincided with President Obama’s campaign stop at Colorado State University yesterday, during which he aimed to discuss issues that affect college-age voters, such as college tuition.

However, the supporters present were hoping to rally some discussion about Amendment 64 instead – the amendment that’s seeking to legalize and regulate marijuana for adults, jut like alcohol.

Colorado isn’t alone in its push for legalization. Washington and Oregon have marijuana legalization initiatives on their November ballots as well.

So, why are so many college educators from across the nation in support of these initiatives and nationwide legalization? The professors range from law, health, economics, and criminal justice fields, and all seem to have strong feelings on the subject. Read the rest of this entry »

Karen Klein is a 69-year-old former bus monitor who struck mini-fame after a video of a pack of middle school boys lobbing insults at her on a bus went viral last June.

Like many who viewed the video and felt anger toward the bullies and extreme sympathy for Karen, Reddit user Max Sidorov couldn’t watch the horrific event and stand idly by. So, out of the goodness of his heart he started a campaign on the website indiegogo to raise money so Karen could take a vacation.

The initial goal was to raise $5,000, but within days of the campaign’s commencement the effort had brought in nearly $400,000. Needless to say, the goal quickly went from “send Karen on vacation” to “help Karen retire.”

To date, the campaign has raised $703,873, which Karen says has changed her life forever and not only enabled her to go on vacation, but also retire and take care of her family.

Despite the public attention and large sums of money shuffled in Karen’s direction, she hasn’t let the newfound fame go to her head, nor has she felt compelled to “sit” on the money and coast the rest of her life. Instead, she’s using her new “status” as a platform for good. Read the rest of this entry »