No matter who you ask, everyone has a memory from their school years that stems from learning outside the classroom. Fieldwork and adventurous activity all impact on how we develop and enhance our wider view of the world.

At Epic Outdoors, we deliver beyond the classroom experiences designed to prepare your students for the challenges of a lifetime.

Educating the leaders of tomorrow is a dynamic process, especially as the future workplace is evolving at an exponential rate. By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennial. The favoured type of working life will revolve around the gig economy, meaning over the course of a working lifetime an individual can expect to have four to five different careers.

In many respects the current generation of young people are faced with the tougher challenges than any preceding it. The age of information means total exposure to peers, world events and social pressures. A recent survey conducted by the Central YMCA in the UK revealed the top two concerns of young people were a lack of employment opportunities and a failure to succeed in education. Whilst some of these concerns may have been present in their 1970s equivalents, many are new and made more acute by the instant feedback loops of smartphones and a plethora of multimedia.

We are in the position of asking more of our young people than ever before testing and academic standards, social awareness and pressure, increased competition for jobs and knowledge of longer-term financial pressure. We are juxtaposing that with fewer support networks and removal of core skills and life experiences from the school programme.

This combination seems to be building a perfect storm and it poses several key questions. What skills will millennials need to engage in the gig economy? Is the current education system preparing them for the future? How can education evolve to become more sustainable? How can we develop personal resilience in young people? We now as a nation have to factor in the great unknown the post Brexit landscape. How do we prepare for the unknown? We believe four key characteristics are key adaptability, resilience, creativity and diversity, or ARCD for short.

We believe that people are best outside, and that personal challenge is the foundation of confident people

At Epic Outdoors, we firmly believe that adventure education is key to developing the leaders of tomorrow. Connecting with our areas of natural beauty is also key for a generation that will need to place the environment at the core of all it does. We provide bespoke adventure programmes and Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme delivery to schools and colleges throughout the UK.

Real adventure, in beautiful places such as the Lake District, Snowdonia or the Highlands of Scotland, delivered by skilled instructor teams. We use adventurous activity to deliver your pastoral aims.

We work with you to develop a truly bespoke experience, ensuring each individuals personal development takes centre stage. We are licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing service, an approved provider for the Duke of Edinburghs Award Scheme and an organisational member of the Institute for Outdoor Learning. We are passionate about what we do. We believe that people are best outside, and that personal challenge is the foundation of confident people. Adventure has never had a more important role to play in education, contact us today to make sure your young peoples experiences are epic.

E: info@epicoutdoors.co.ukW: http://www.epicoutdoors.co.uk

Read the original here:
Success through adventure - Independent Education Today

Devin Townsend was the guest on Full Metal Jackie's weekend show. The talented artist made the bold move of stepping away from his band after their last album, choosing to stretch himself artistically with the new Empath album.

During the chat, Devin speaks about not boxing himself in as an artist, how working acoustically has provided its own challenges and his desire to field different lineups of musicians to play his Empath music live. Check out the discussion below.

We're here to talk about the new album, Empath, which shows various elements showcased throughout your career. What's the prominent revelation about your musical development through the single context of this album?

I think the overarching theme of this is one that is of middle age, and what tends to happen as you careen towards 50 is unawareness of time and mortality and things such as this. It's a pretty typical story, but how that affected the creative part of this album is that it put me in the position to where I wanted to almost make a best-of album of everything that I've done in the past, but with new material. [I wanted to]analyze my relationship with each one of those sorts of musical aesthetics.

So the heavy stuff, or the orchestral stuff, or the top stuff, I put it all in one place. And I also think that the sort of awareness of time allowed me to take some risks with this record that, up to this pointI've just not taken; financially or thematically, or whatever. It's resulted in something that I'm really proud of.

In terms of composition and production, your music has often been elaborate. How will simplifying it on tour with an acoustic set redefine the perception of your songs?

I think that's a good question. I think the reason why I'm doing the acoustic is two-fold. One, it gives me time to think. The process of making Empath is just really, really arduous, and although I recognized the need to promote it immediately and tour it immediately, I wanted to cut myself a break, and not just do a nose dive into a brand new band immediately. So the acoustics show is giving me an opportunity to be present for an audience, promote it and spend some time thinking about my next step. So when I do get back there with this next group of people, it's not haphazard.

Then second of all, what the acoustics show has really underlined to me is the fact that all of this music that I've written, no matter the complexity of it, generally starts with me and a guitar in my room, or on tour, or what have you. And to be able to play these acoustic shows and include Strapping [Young Lad] songs or Empath songs, or orchestral songs, and still have it come across the way they do on the record emotionally, I think really demonstrates to the audience that this stuff is not entirely based on complexity of the production, but it really is rooted in the emotional content.

Devin, musicians can find their creativity inadvertently, bound by the music that made them popular. What made you consciously determined to never be defined by any specific style?

I think that fame is something that I actively try to avoid. And the older I get, the more conscious I get of how easily you can be defined by your work in the longterm, if you've had significant success at any one aspect of it. Some people would argue that you should seek that type of success. For example, making that one really commercial song, or the one really commercial album, as a means to fund your creative endeavors past that point.

However, it's a two-sided sword, because as soon as you start generating income that other people become dependent on, whether it's the label or management or the band or a crew on tour, the amount of pressure that gets compounded on your creativity to uphold that level of financial success, I think can really tempt artists to make decisions creatively that are in opposition to where as a person they need to go.

So I, in a sense with Empath, made a conscious decision to pull back from the success that was starting to happen with DTP because as much as I enjoyed those people and that band, it wasn't right yet. My pursuit of getting my vision right is such that I'm willing to sacrifice anything that is not in line with the truth.

Steve Vai and Chad Kroeger from Nickelback are two of numerous people playing and singing on Empath. Do you write with specific people in mind or is it a case of who can best convey something once it's written?

I think it's a combination of the two because all the creativity that I have engaged in with all these records are it's all hand in hand with the personal development. I think that ultimately if I was to define what it is what I'm trying to do, as a person let alone music, is I'm trying to become actualized as who I am but without any compromise, without any delusions of who I am within myself. That's a lofty goal. Will I get there? That's debatable, but that's the goal nonetheless.

So, within that process, you encounter scenarios that influence your writing and because of the success that I've to have up until this point and the number of people that I know within the scene and what have you, I know a ton of people. From time to time, those circumstances and those people that you know become important shifts in your creative consciousness. And when that does happen the music will typically be hand in hand with that. So I ask people to be involved with the songs specifically if they have been involved with aspects of that personal growth.

Chad or Steve or [Mike] Keneally or the orchestras, or whatever, are examples of people that I've just found in my life by circumstance. The circumstance clearly being involved with the music industry and what have you, but certain bands nonetheless. So as I'm listening through, I often think to myself I need another voice here. This song goes hand in hand with this situation that this person was involved with, therefore I will ask them.

You've been auditioning people for multiple touring bands, each meant for specific tours over the next few years. What exhilarates you about the nuances different players will give your music?

I think I have not had the opportunity to really stretch my wings, if you want to look at it that way, as a creative entity. I think up until this point I have peered stretching for whatever reason. Maybe I was financially dependent on a certain level of success, but over the past few years I've made shifts to my personal life that have accommodated a lot more experimentation and each time I've done that, and it hasn't fallen on its face, it makes me realize how many more things I want to experience as an artist.

So, when it came time to decide on what I was going to do with a live band, to play Empath in its entirety in 2021, it started with, 'OK well you need to put together a band to do that.' But that was something that imposed a parameter on me that I'm not yet ready for. As soon as you do this, well there's your album. That's what your doing, Bob's your uncle.

But what I decided to do instead was, 'Well hang on, I want to do three or four different bands that do very different things.' Maybe one of them can be really improvisational and really avant-garde. Maybe one can be really brutal. Maybe one can be really orchestral and choral. Maybe one can be really simplistic and minimal. Then by doing that, this acoustic tour being one example of that trajectory, by the time I get to Empath in 2021 I will have played the material in one form or another and I will have gone through enough musicians that I will know who the right people to be doing what it is what I want to do.

So it's a way of not only providing an audience something really interesting and really uncompromised and really in ways I've never been able to explore which brings excitement to it that I haven't felt in years. I have a final goal in mind, once I get to it, it will be unequivocal as a result of this.

Thanks to Devin Townsend for the interview. The 'Empath' album is currently available in the format of your choosing here. Townsend is currently on tour in support of the album. See all dates and get ticketing info here. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackies radio showhere.

2019's Best Metal Albums... So Far

Read more:
Devin Townsend Will Sacrifice Anything 'Not in Line With Truth' - Loudwire

The outline of Davionne Goodens new computer game may feel familiar: The main character must defeat villains to reach an ultimate goal.

But woven in are elements that set the game apart. The main character is stuck in a coma, and the villains are nightmares. Players confront issues of anxiety and depression. And, through an all-black cast, Mr. Gooden deliberately features the experiences of people typically absent from mainstream games.

If youre a white creator, you rarely think about that, he said.

Gaming is a multibillion-dollar business, and one that has remained largely white and largely male.

Five years after Gamergate exposed the kind of toxicity that can lurk in a community where diverse perspectives are underrepresented, little seems to have changed for minorities and women in the industry. Today, people like Mr. Gooden still confront an industry that infrequently reflects who they are.

Youve got to take it one day, one year, one game at a time. Davionne GoodenCreator of She Dreams Elsewhere

Three out of four people working in the gaming industry are men. Almost the same proportion identifies as white. And those numbers have hardly budged since 2015, according to surveys conducted by the nonprofit International Game Developers Association.

If youre a young person of color playing games, you dont really see yourself represented, said Mitu Khandaker, a professor at New York Universitys game center. That kind of instills in you this sense that maybe I dont really belong.

That lack of diversity in mainstream gaming games made by the handful of large development companies can be cyclical, turning people away from the industry, said Dr. Khandaker, who is also the chief executive of Glow Up Games, a research and development studio focused on diversity.

Women, for example, are rarely promoted to senior positions or made the heads of studios. Many gamers say toxic harassment online is still an everyday fear.

Some like Mr. Gooden, 21, see signs of hope. He started making games shortly after he got his first laptop in the fifth grade and discovered a game-developing program online. He never stopped. In Mr. Goodens role-playing game, She Dreams Elsewhere, the main character, Thalia Sullivan, navigates her own mind, battling nightmares as she tries to eventually figure how she fell into a coma.

The most recent I.G.D.A. survey found that 81 percent of those in the industry feel that diversity in the workplace is either very important or somewhat important, up from 63 percent in 2015.

And developers have more outlets to get their games in the hands of players, including online platforms like Steam and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, as well as gaming conferences and festivals.

Im an optimist, Mr. Gooden said. I hope that things will eventually be better as a whole.

I am just one or two steps removed from people who are like exploding in popularity in this very scary way. Squinky Creator of Robot Slow Dance

When Gamergate unfolded in 2014, the world was exposed to the toxic side of gaming. Spurred by a misogynistic post online from a game developers ex-boyfriend, mobs online publicly attacked female creators and players in a targeted harassment campaign. Women routinely received rape and death threats.

Dietrich Squinkifer, better known as Squinky, knew many of the victims.

Watching friends being targeted was scary, but not surprising for Squinky, who uses they and them pronouns. Squinky had tangled with the same culture before.

They began making games in the early 2000s. Squinkys first job in the industry was with Telltale Games, a company based in San Rafael, Calif., known for The Walking Dead, a zombie apocalypse adventure game.

Squinky, 33, said that as their career progressed, they increasingly tried to advocate a better understanding of race, gender and sexuality in the industry. Colleagues saw Squinky as a troublemaker, and bosses were quick to reprimand.

They burned out of mainstream gaming.

Now, Squinky pursues independent, artistic projects, like Robot Slow Dance. Its a game in which people use controllers to make two miniature foam and metal robots dance with each other.

I think thats part of the reason a lot of my focus in my work has gone more toward more experimentality, installation and performance art, following more of an art world tradition, Squinky said. I am to some degree scared of creating something that will get popular enough within the video game world community that it does receive that kind of backlash.

The game itself is a commentary on social gender norms, which are nonexistent for robots. They wont make the same assumptions as humans, Squinky said.

I like that its a way for me to express myself, and kind of take control of any situation that Ive had in my life.Emma KidwellCreator of Half

Emma Kidwells father is white. Her mother is Japanese. But growing up in the overwhelmingly white, rural suburb of Walkersville, Md., she felt detached from her Japanese identity.

Making games would help her reconnect.

She became interested in gaming as a child, watching her brothers play Xbox and PlayStation. About three years ago in college, Ms. Kidwell tried building games for a narrative design class.

Through games, Ms. Kidwell, 25, found she could tell stories about her personal life. She made one about the awkwardness of buying condoms at a store; she made another about watching her grandmother grapple with dementia.

In January, her grandfather in Japan died, rekindling Ms. Kidwells childhood uneasiness about her biracial identity. So she made the interactive, web-based game Half.

The narrative game takes the player through a series of Ms. Kidwells memories. She wrote about feelings of wanting to look more Japanese, about how her mother stopped talking to her in Japanese and about how she was mistaken for being Chinese.

Since then, I havent felt the same really weird self-consciousness, she said.

I want to show other people, similar to me, that they can create stuff like that that theres a space for it. Joyce LinCreator of Queering Spacetime

In Joyce Lins new tabletop card game, players role-play as girls with crushes on each other. One might become Avery, who is Japanese and Scottish and pansexual, or Ioh, a Korean tomboy.

Draw another card, and Avery and Ioh might meet at a gas station at 1 a.m., with one needing a ride.

Together, players craft a date: Will Ioh give Avery a ride? What is the best way the early morning can unfold, based on each characters personality traits?

Ms. Lin, 21, said the game, Queering Spacetime, is an attempt to put forth a positive representation of queer relationships, often overlooked in games and media.

Usually, in dating sims, you have to impress a character, she said, referring to simulation games. Its sort of one-sided.

Ms. Lin, who recently came out, said her game exemplified the queer form of resistance building safe spaces together as a shield against all that is harmful in the world.

Theres this culture that youre supposed to be good at gaming. For me, games are not about that. Julian CorderoCo-creator of Despelote

Julian Cordero, 22, loves soccer but hates its competitive culture. So, when he made a game about the sport, it wasnt about playing a match.

The game, which he made with his development partner, Sebastin Valbuena, 28, is called Despelote and is set in their hometown, Quito, Ecuador.

In first person, the player kicks a soccer ball around city parks, meeting people along the way.

Ultimately, the game for us is a game about soccer, but its not about the competitive aspect, Mr. Cordero said. Its quite the opposite. Its about the human aspect, and the relationships that sort of develop through kicking a ball around.

With Despelote, Mr. Cordero is trying to use soccer to reject the competitiveness of gaming, which he believes engenders the misogyny and consumerism that have been endemic to the culture.

Mr. Cordero wants people to know that he likes making and playing games, but hes not a gamer.

I wouldnt really call myself that, he said.

I saw there was a whole thing, a whole scene I never seen before. Aziza BrownOwner of Dynamik Focus

Aziza Brown is proud to call herself a gamer.

Ms. Brown, the founder and chief executive of Dynamik Focus, an e-sports and content creation team, said coverage of the industry erroneously dwelled on toxicity and Gamergate when discussing the lack of diversity.

Other, less sinister reasons lurk behind the demographics, she said, and they can be fixed.

Some people of color may be less likely to have access to the expensive, high-speed internet connections necessary to play at a competitive level, she said. Theres also what Ms. Brown called an information deficit not knowing which tournaments or clubs to go to or whom to meet in the community.

Ms. Brown, 39, points to her own experience as representative of how things can change.

Growing up in New York, she played many video games, particularly fighting games like Street Fighter. She played in some tournaments but then went to college at Stony Brook University and studied engineering.

When she returned, she set out to find a robust gaming community: tournaments, clubs, friends.

Through Dynamik Focus, she now tries to help others find their support groups. Ms. Brown was, for example, one of hundreds who attended an annual conference for developers of color in Harlem over the summer.

I had a talk with a woman in gaming, where I was like, please come to the offline communities, come to other places, because once the anonymous barrier is gone, you can see the person to their face, you can confront them, that behavior stops, she said.

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Fear, Anxiety and Hope: What It Means to Be a Minority in Gaming - The New York Times

Our favorite action movies often feature fast cars speeding through traffic, jumping off bridges, and often crashing into things. Behind the wheel of these daring stunts are highly trained professionals in stunt driving. Without them and their courage to pull these stunts off, our movies may be a lot less exciting. You may have never thought about what these drivers do for a living but each day involves taking some kind of risk.

It definitely takes a special kind of person to drive these cars through fire, explosions, and other daredevil situations. These stunt drivers are drawn to risk and often times seek the adrenaline from conquering a new skill on the set. However, this doesnt always come at no cost. Sadly, there have been many injuries and even fatalities during filming. Safely executing a stunt requires a team of trained personnel, designers, producers, and safety measures. Stunt careers arent for everyone, but we can all take away some advice on how risk-taking can benefit us.

Most of us avoid risks when it comes to our personal and professional life. Most of the time because the fear of failure holds us back from making any moves. Learning how to properly assess risk in any situation can help you take more chances and grow in ways you never thought possible.

This fun spin on risk-taking lessons shows us how stunt drivers step out of their comfort zone so that we can apply the same tips to our life, career, and finances.

Here are some ways you can take more risks in your personal life:

Make a move to a new city: Lived in the same town your whole life? Consider packing up your things and starting off fresh in a new city. This will challenge you to make new friends and explore your new surroundings.

Conquer your fears: Afraid of heights or have terrible flight anxiety? Try investing time into revealing the underlying reasons behind your fears and either seek help to conquer them or take small steps to facing them.

Invest in personal development: Try a new hobby that youve never tried before or take art lessons to develop new skills. You may surprise yourself with hidden talents yet to be discovered.

Here are some examples of how you can take risks in your career:

Pursue your passions: If you feel stuck in your current job, maybe its time to venture into a side hustle or look into other career paths. Youll find much more success in doing something you love.

Find your specialty: Once youve nailed down what you like to do, try to pinpoint what you excel at and how that sets you apart from others. This may take a lot of trial and error but its the best way to build confidence and value.

Accel at your own pace: We have to remind ourselves that not everyone follows the same path. Dont feel rushed to make a move. Instead, take time to perfect your skills so that youre fully prepared.

Otherwise, here are some of the takeaways you can learn about risk-taking in finances from stunt drivers:

Know your limits: Even professional stunt drivers have limits when it comes to stunts. In your finances, set hard cut off lines for what you feel comfortable losing so that if the time comes you can make decisions clearly.

Anticipate failure: Before taking risks, know that you have enough padding in your finances that you can stand to take some losses here and there. Having a solid backup plan is the best way to prepare.

Read next: The daily routines of 36 inspiring women

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How to Take Risks Like a Stunt Driver (infographic) - Digital Information World

The concept of identity

Careers Adviser. Writer. Volunteer. Runner. Reader. Listener. Partner. Brother. Son. Friend.

In an era where we are often defined by tags and labels that help us fit into the online world that we occupy both professionally and personally, the concept of identity can be a potentially thorny subject, particularly for young people growing up at a time where how we are perceived is not always completely within our control, as Kate Eichhorn noted in a recent article for the New Yorker.

With so many of our professional and personal interactions now taking place via social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, are we all making the most of leveraging our identities to support with our career planning and development?

As a starting point, it is worth noting that many careers teams, support services, charitable organisations and employers around the country are already using the concept of identity to help young people with their career development or attract individuals to employment opportunities for employers, this may be an increased focus on diversity within their recruitment strategies or the use of strengths, motivations or values-based interviewing practices, whereas for careers teams and support services, this often involves helping students to understand their identity in relation to their cultural wealth, protected characteristics or position within an underrepresented group, as seen in initiatives like the WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) People Like Me/My Skills My Life campaign, or the recent project from the University of Nottingham that focused on increasing aspiration for female engineering students.

However, as Dr. Iwi Ugiagbe-Green noted in her recent keynote presentation at the AGCAS Annual Conference 2019, identity in a professional context is far from a linear concept and is something that requires the individual to take into account myriad variables that change over time, including personal motivations, cultural, economic and social capital, as well as what the labour market desires from its participants.

In universities, with students often informed of the significant presence of employers and recruiters on social media, there can be understandable anxieties about how to represent yourself online, particularly for individuals who are not regular users of any social media platform.

The prevalence of Googling as a first port of call for careers information can also lead web users to potentially suspect advice on the subject of professional identity, whether in the form of cookie-cutter CV templates or must-read articles on setting up a LinkedIn profile, all of which can lead individuals to play it safe in relation to the way they present themselves to employers.

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While employers and research organisations continuously tell us of the high industry demand for skills like Communication, Creativity and Confidence, this message does not necessarily filter down to young people, who in my experience often neglect to emphasise their involvement in opportunities like volunteering, charity work and the organisation of extra-curricular clubs and societies, despite this being something employers report that they are keen to hear about from applicants.

Whether this is due to the significant focus on academic accomplishments present within the secondary education system or a lack of understanding about how others can perceive you on social media from a professional rather than personal standpoint, many individuals (young and old) undersell themselves in relation to their involvement in extra-curricular pursuits, when often these experiences could be the very things that help them stand out in the eyes of employers.

So, how can we increase confidence for ourselves and others when approaching conversations about identity? One approach that many careers practitioners take is to encourage individuals to see themselves as the product of all of their experiences and not simply their education or work history.

Whether it is waxing lyrical about the discipline and leadership skills that have been instilled through working as a karate instructor or the effective communication, patience and empathy needed to work as a volunteer with the Samaritans, the causes and values that make up someones identity can provide a strong foundation for helping individuals to define themselves to employers in an authentic and engaging way.

For individuals who feel that they do not have a lot going on in their personal lives, conversations about identity can also lead to discussions on career ambitions and potential short-term goals to address this situation, for example taking small steps to enhance personal satisfaction and future employability, such as learning a new skill or taking up an activity or hobby they have always been interested in trying.

Identity is clearly not a concept that can ever be approached as a one-size-fits-all ideology many individuals feel the need to keep their professional and personal lives entirely separate in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance, whereas others yearn to develop a career where they can truly be themselves in the work they undertake, something a friend recently informed me that she had discovered through self-employment after a decade of career exploration.

By encouraging ourselves and the individuals we work with to reflect carefully on the concept of identity, both in relation to ourselves and the employers and organisations we interact with, we can begin to assess career opportunities on a more holistic level and appreciate not only our own agency in this process but also enhance our ability to articulate the things that make us unique as individuals, a skill that has clear benefits for everything from job interviews to online dating!

Although social media may have partially limited the control that we have over how others perceive us, starting a conversation about the importance of identity can open up valuable discussions about how we see ourselves and what steps we might take to ensure that others see us the way we wish to be seen, both professionally and personally.

Chris Webb , HE Careers Professional, currently working for Sheffield Hallam University but writing in a personal capacity.

A registered career development professional and member of the Career Development Institute (CDI) and Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), Chris has previously worked for education institutions in secondary education, FE and HE as a Careers Leader, Careers Adviser, Functional Skills Tutor and Study Programme Coordinator.

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The Torn Identity How can we utilise the professional and the personal in our career development? - FE News

Not long ago, Friscos booming growth earned it the title of Fastest Growing City in the U.S.

The suburb has been surpassed by others in recent years and is now among the top five fastest growing cities in 2019, according to an analysis by personal finance website WalletHub. Frisco, however, is still outshining other cities in one key metric job growth.

Frisco ranked No. 1 in job growth among cities with 100,000 to 300,000 residents. It was followed by Meridian, Idaho; McKinney; and Bend, Ore.

Frisco is home to the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and an expanding landscape of office campuses and will soon be the Silicon Valley of golf when PGA of America finishes moving its headquarters from Florida.

A recent study also named Frisco the most surprising city to live in if you want to make a lot of money.

WalletHub examined 515 cities and ranked them based on 17 different metrics, including job growth, unemployment, poverty rate decrease and median household income growth. It used data that spanned 2010 to 2018 from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In 2016, Frisco was the fastest growing city in America, according to WalletHubs annual analysis of government data. The city, a magnet for high-paying jobs and lucrative development in recent history, has since fallen from that nationwide pedestal.

This year, Frisco landed the No. 5 spot overall on WalletHubs list behind Lehigh Acres, Fla.; Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Bend, Ore.; and Enterprise, Nev. When broken down by size, Frisco looks even stronger, jumping to third among mid-size cities. Austin took the top spot for fastest growth among large U.S. cities (Dallas ranked 20th).

Unsurprisingly, Texas placed eight cities among WalletHubs top 30 the most of any state.

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Frisco may no longer be the fastest growing city in the US, but it ranked first in this key metric in 2019 - The Dallas Morning News

More than 77,000 students from 890 schools in New South Wales are participating in this years Higher School Certificate.

Overseen by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), the HSC is the highest level of attainment you can reach at school in NSW. Participating students with plans to attend university will also receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), a number used by universities to help them select students for their courses.

With major projects and oral and performance exams already completed, 123 written exams will be sat over the next five weeks, starting this Thursday, October 17.

Personal exam timetables, with a list of written exams and where students will sit for them (usually at their school), as well as any oral or performance exams and submitted works, are available from Students Online.

Here are the key exam times students need to know for each subject.

RELATED: HSC dates, tips and tricks

WEEK 1

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

English Studies: 9:50am 12:30pm

English Standard: 9:50am 11:30am

English Advanced: 9:50am 11:30am

English as an Additional Language or Dialect: 9:50am 11:30am

Primary Industries: 1:55pm 4pm

German Extension: 2pm 4pm

Japanese Beginners: 2pm 4:40pm

Japanese Extension: 2pm 4pm

Ja panese in Context: 2pm 4:40pm

Japanese and Literature: 2pm 5pm

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18

English Standard: 9:25am 11:30am

English Advanced: 9:25am 11:30am

English as an Additional Language or Dialect: 9:25am 11:10am

Music 1: 1:55pm 3pm

Music 2: 3:25pm 5pm

WEEK 2

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21

Automotive: 9:25am 11:30am

German Continuers: 9:30am 12:30pm

Investigating Science: 9:25am 12:30pm

Italian Beginners: 9:30am 12:10pm

Food Technology: 1:55pm 5pm

Chinese Beginners: 2pm 4:40pm

German Beginners: 2pm 4:40pm

Indonesian Extension: 2pm 4pm

Indonesian in Context: 2pm 4:40pm

Indonesian and Literature: 2pm 5pm

Italian Extension: 2pm 4pm

Korean Continuers: 2pm 5pm

Latin Continuers: 1:55pm 5pm

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22

Arabic Beginners: 9:30am 12:10pm

Dance Section 1: 9:25am 10:30am

Dance Section 2: 10:40am 12pm

Engineering Studies: 9:25am 12:30pm

Japanese Continuers: 9:30am 12:30pm

Business Services: 1:55pm 4pm

Earth and Environmental Science: 1:55pm 5pm

Tourism, Travel and Events: 1:55pm 4pm

Chinese in Context: 2pm 4:40pm

Indonesian Beginners: 2pm 4:40pm

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23

Modern History: 9:25am 12:30pm

Information and Digital Technology: 9:25am 11:30am

Aboriginal Studies: 1:55pm 5pm

Agriculture: 1:55pm 5pm

Financial Services: 1:55pm 4pm

Armenian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Chinese Continuers: 2pm 5pm

Croatian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Dutch Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Filipino Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Hindi Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Hungarian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

I ndonesian Continuers: 2pm 5pm

Khmer Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Korean Beginners: 2pm 4:40pm

Macedonian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Malay Background Speakers: 2pm 5pm

Maltese Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

P ersian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Polish Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Portugese Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Punjabi Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Russian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Serbian Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Swedish Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Tamil Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Turkish Continuers: 2pm 4:40pm

Vietnamese Continuers: 2pm 5pm

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education: 9:25am 12:30pm

Latin Extension: 9:30am 11:40am

Entertainment Industry: 1:55pm 4pm

Software Design and Development: 1:55pm 5pm

Arabic Continuers: 2pm 5pm

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25

Mathematics Standard 2: 9:20am 12pm

Mathematics Standard 1: 9:20am 11:30am

Mathematics: 1:55pm 5pm

Mathematics Extension 2: 1:55pm 5pm

RELATED: Bid to ditch dreaded HSC number

WEEK 3

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28

Biology: 9:25am 12:30pm

Classical Hebrew Continuers: 9:25am 12:30pm

History Extension: 1:50pm 4pm

Arabic Extension: 2pm 4pm

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29

Business Studies: 9:25am 12:30pm

Drama: 1:55pm 3:30pm

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HSC exam timetable: What time and date is your written test? - NEWS.com.au

Every human has the power of intuition. Many of us have tuned this ability out over the years, but by simply realigning with our gut feeling, we can live a harmonious life with the body and the mind. Aligning mentally and emotionally with intuition gives humans the ability to be powerful creators.

Conscious Transformation is hosting free one-hour trainings to provide a firsthand experience of the power we wield through intentional creation. The sessions introduce an inspiring 12-week series called The Power of Intuition, which provides step-by-step instructions that help you tap into and develop your intuition, distinguish emotional patterns from intuition and connect to and trust yourself. The free session will provide an experience of how this occurs.

There are five session times between Vail and Edwards. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend one of these free introductory sessions.

About the instructors

Mandy Benedict: After years of personal development, focused meditation and a formal, extensive training program, Benedict is a certified Conscious Transformation trainer and energy practitioner. She leads transformative personal development classes regularly throughout the Vail Valley. Having grown up here, Benedict has a deep passion for supporting people in the community with the tools this work provides. She is also the owner of Ruggs Benedict in Edwards, which she helps thrive by creating a strong network of relationships.

Laina Eskin: She began her journey with Conscious Transformation in 2012 and the practices she has learned have taught her how to live with a sense of joy, peace, purpose and fulfillment beyond what she ever would have believed possible. Eskin brings the work of Conscious Transformation to the world of health through her physical therapy work, where she specializes in corrective movement therapy. She shares her passion through supporting others to create vitality, freedom and love in their mind, emotions, physical body and connection to their spiritual selves.

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Power of Intuition free workshops return to Edwards and Vail - Vail Daily News

Teaching is one of the most important jobs in the world, but often teachers working where they are most needed have little help, training or support. In many low and middle income countries, like Uganda, teachers are left isolated and unsupported in remote communities where they are responsible for overcrowded classrooms.

Often they have few teaching resources and may struggle to understand the content they teach. Despite this they are expected to improve learning outcomes and lay the foundation for the prosperity of both their communities and countries.

It doesnt have to be like this, with the right training, materials and support all teachers - like Ibrahim - can be empowered to succeed, no matter where they live.

Ibrahims story

Teacher Ibrahim explains how he learned to teach with anAcademy Manager, developing his confidence and ability.

"Over the last few years working as a teacher I have undergone an amazing transformation in the way I teach. The changes have been in the things I do when I am in the classroom, the ways that I motivate the children and instruct them.

"Before, I spent a lot of time expecting the children to just work from their textbook, reading and answering questions. I stood at the front of the class or sometimes just did marking in the corner. But now, after more training, I have a lot of interaction in the classroom, more discussion, more questions from them and from me as we go along.. I believe you must be ready to try new things as a teacher, in what you do and how you do it.

"When I joined this school, the first thing I did was go on a residential training course, to spend time thinking and learning about the best ways to teach. Not what to teach but how to teach.

"We were looking at the different ways children learn and how a good teacher can make a classroom a more powerful place to learn. It was all so new and interesting to me.

"I see the change in my pupils and know for sure I am a better teacher now because of the new approaches and techniques I have learnt. I can see it in the way the children respond to me.

"One of the most effective teaching techniques I have learnt through the training sessions provided is known as STRIVE.

"S requires pupils to sit down and be attentive, so they can absorb all of the information in the lesson. T requires pupils to track teachers with their eyes, preventing them from losing concentration and vital information. R requires pupils to respond whenever they are asked a question, so that the teacher can acknowledge whether the pupil has understood what is being taught. I requires pupils to inquire whenever they have any queries or may have a question about the content. V requires pupils to visualise success so that they can visibly see the improvements in their work. Finally, E requires pupils ears to be listening at all times, as this is the pathway to the brain.

"I believe that all of my pupils are better able to learn their lessons due to the teaching philosophy I was taught in my training. It sounds so simple: narrating the positive, giving children time to think before choosing someone to answer, watching the whole room. But before I didnt know all this and now I do. Through the training, I felt as though I was a student all over again.

"Every couple of weeks the Academy Manager will come and watch me teach. She has much more teaching experience than me. She watches how I do the lesson, and then after that she talks to me about how I could do better.

"I also have a leadership and development coach who comes to the school and do the same thing. It gives me fresh perspective. This simple thing - ongoing feedback - has made me grow, over the years, to be the best I have ever been.

"Teaching is a precious skill, that needs focus - I feel that more and more now.

"Some children here have parents who cannot read and write, so it is up to me to teach everything. I can do it, and it is wonderful to see. Many children can now help their parents on their stalls or to read some little information. We can all see that the children are learning new things and that they are excited for school to start and for my lessons.

"How you work in the classroom is not just how you teach the lessons but also how you manage the classroom to get the best out of the children.

"The training has boosted my confidence and ability. I feel stronger; that people are appreciating my work and that it is making a difference.

"I wish all teachers could have my experience so they know how to succeed.

"Teaching is a skill and we have a lot of responsibility. We need to be able to teach the best way possible and we need to be supported and to be helped to do that."

To learn more about the #TeachersTransformLives campaign to mark UN World Teachers Day please visit ourwebsite HERE.

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How to remove the padlock on children's minds - Bridge International Academies - PoliticsHome.com

Sport would be nothing without its participants. But are the rights of athletes still taking a back seat to commercial and political interests?

The iconic image of African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their black-gloved fists during the 1968 Olympics medal ceremony is perhaps the strongest image of athlete power. But in reality, Play the Game 2019 heard, many of todays competitors are afraid to express their opinions. The structures generated by sports organisations often create a power imbalance that allows the interests of sponsors and administrators to take precedence.

Rob Koehler, Director General of the athlete-led movement Global Athlete, said that many athletes are unable to speak openly due to the structure of global bodies like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and toothless athletes commissions.

Retribution happens []Our structures are forcing athletes to do things they dont want to do, Koehler said. Attempts to prevent athletes from criticising Nikes Oregon project or the decision to reinstate Russia's anti-doping agency to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), he said, were two recent examples: If we want to empower the athletes, let us not silence them.

Kohler gave his backing to Brendan Schwab, Executive Director of the World Players Association, who said that progress will be best-achieved through independent player unions. To achieve real change, he said, athletes unions must be fully independent, including financially independent, have the right to enter into collective bargaining and be able to appoint representatives without interference.

The U.S. Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), Schwab pointed out, was transformed into one of the nations strongest unions under the stewardship of Marvin Miller. Under his leadership, the union oversaw a huge investment in player health and safety, the abolition of the maximum wage, the introduction of collective bargaining, and allowed players a cut of TV rights money.

Play the Game 2019 also heard the views of athletes representatives, all of whom claimed that athletes power is increasing. Moritz Geisreiter, board member of the independent German athletes body Athleten Deutschland, pointed out that his organisation has now become the primary voice of German athletes in politics and the media.Personal development should be seen as just as important as athletic progress he said.

Han Xiao, Chair of the United States Olympic Committees Athletes' Advisory Council , said that an increasing number of athletes want to participate in sports governance, but those making lower and mid-level decisions need to learn to better engage with those on the field.Emma Terho, member of the IOC Athletes Commission, stressed that sport has great power to bring people together, and when athletes are given positions of power, they have a strong responsibility to use that power positively. Fellow Athletes Commission member James Tomkins said that athletes now enjoy good representation within the upper echelons of the IOC. Were trying to infiltrate those middle layers, he said.

In more than 40 sessions, over 170 speakers will present their thoughts and oponions on a wide range of the most topical questions in world sport during the 11th Play the Game conference, taking place in Colorado Springs, USA, 13-16 October 2019.

Read more about Play the Game 2019

Read more:
Athletes' voices: breakthrough or breakdown? - Play the Game