Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels, for helping to write Lila’s profile.
If you’re into IT (information technology) or gaming, look out for Lila Gonzales. Lila is a rising senior at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia majoring in IT, with ambitions to enter the gaming industry. In the meantime this summer, she is helping to improve Learning Life’s website and conducting online research for us.
Born and raised in Bowie, Maryland, Lila is forging her path in the IT world, starting at Marymount, where she has taken courses in web development, networking, databases, graphic design, and other areas. Most recently, through a software engineering course, Lila and two other Marymount students were charged with creating a software engineering plan for an airline company’s website. Lila was able to lead her group to success as they not only met the project’s objectives but also created case scenarios mapping the course of different user actions. Lila went on to write an 11-page paper explaining the tools found within the Apple IOS Software Development Kit that are used to create IOS applications, earning an “A” for her work. (IOS is an operating system for Apple mobile devices, like Apple cell phones and tablets.)
Keeping up with her intensive IT coursework is not easy, but Lila still finds time to pursue her passion for Manga, a Japanese cartoon style the most popular forms of which are turned into animations, movies and video games. Lila’s IT work was born in her passion for Manga starting in 4th grade. “I have always had a curiosity for the coding behind the gaming software” she says. “In fact, one of my biggest goals in life is to work for a large gaming company like Nintendo or Sony.” Manga has also inspired Lila to produce her own Manga artwork. Lila posts some of her artwork on Facebook and on her page at deviantart.com, and has sold some of it at Otakon, an annual anime convention.
Lila also finds time to volunteer. Through Marymount, she has helped with community gardening, and organizing an annual Halloween party for underprivileged children in Arlington, Virginia. She has also served as a visitor guide at the Newseum, a museum about the news in Washington, D.C.
At Learning Life this summer, Lila has employed her IT experience to better integrate our website and social media. Lila installed the Facebook and Twitter feeds in the right sidebar of each of Learning Life’s website pages (the homepage excepted) as well as floating social media sharing buttons. She has also helped grow our Facebook audience, created a list of places online where we can get answers to website-related questions, gathered amusing and clever uses of surfaces like napkins (some of these images are forthcoming on our social media pages!), researched the use of sales receipts to inform and advertise, and more.
When asked why she chose to intern with Learning Life, Lila responded, “I decided to volunteer at Learning Life as a way to help improve my experience in the IT field. As an IT major, I was given the task to help improve Learning Life’s website through editing and installations. Though I am very new to this, I feel that I am broadening my knowledge in computers through Learning Life.” Lila’s broadening knowledge is happily benefiting Learning Life, and we hope will help her on her path in the world of IT and gaming.
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Five Facts on U.S. Immigration
In light of ongoing U.S. debate about immigration policy, Learning Life offers the following five facts to better understand immigration in the United States. Thanks to Learning Life volunteer, Craig Gusmann, for helping to research and write these facts. Click here for more brief facts on other current topics.
1) 81 million immigrants
Immigrants in the United States and their U.S.-born children now number approximately 81 million people, or 26 percent of the overall U.S. population.
2) 30% managers and professionals
Thirty percent of legal immigrants work in management, professional, and related positions. Twenty-five percent work in service occupations. In 2014, 25 million immigrants were in the workforce.
3) Mexico, China and India
In 2014, 1,016,518 immigrants became lawful permanent residents (“Green Card” holders). The largest numbers came from Mexico (13 percent), China (8 percent), and India (8 percent). Citizenship is different from lawful permanent residency (LPR). LPR essentially grants the right to live and work in the United States. Citizenship grants the right to vote, a U.S. passport (allowing easier exit and entry in the U.S.), and easier access to all kinds of government benefits.
4) 6 million children
From 2009-2013, approximately 5.1 million children in the United States had at least one parent who is an unauthorized immigrant. Four million of these children are U.S. citizens by birth.
5) Family, work and diversity
The United States allows new immigrants based on these three criteria. The majority (66% in 2013) become residents based on a family relationship with a U.S. citizen, or a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
I am pleased to announce that Learning Life has just published its 50th quiz. The quiz on slavery in history follows on a quiz we published in May on slavery today in light of the troubling persistence of slavery in the world, despite its widespread illegality. This milestone prompts me to write to you about where we’ve been and what we’re up to in terms of the educational content we provide as we approach our second year in existence.
As you may know, Learning Life’s mission is to nurture a wider culture of learning by spreading knowledge on everyday surfaces, like napkins, cup sleeves, coasters, placemats and posters. As I have noted in a previous post, cognitive research shows that the more one knows about a given topic, the better one remembers, comprehends and problem solves on that topic. Thus, information matters, and it matters all the more in our era marked by deepening social and educational inequalities (more on this here). Learning Life focuses on spreading knowledge that matters to people’s lives, whether that be vital information about safety and health, about history and politics, or else.
Since our founding in August 2012, I have worked with talented advisors, volunteers, and student interns to:
Partner with Washington D.C.’s Newseum to help inform area residents about President John F. Kennedy’s legacy using 10,000 napkins, street theater, and an online quiz (see our shortvideo on this project)
Partner with the City of Alexandria, Virginia to help engage area residents with the City’s rich history using thousands of wallet cards, tote bags, fortune cookies as well as two online quizzes (more about this project here and here)
Since December 2012, when Learning Life’s website went live, we have also been publishing two new quizzes per month. With this 50th quiz milestone, we will be shifting to one new quiz per month in order to develop other learning initiatives, like our Big Questions Series. The Series presents experts’ 1-2 paragraph answers to important questions of wide public interest. Last year, we launched our first three Big Questions on terrorism on the anniversary of 9/11. Three terrorism experts answered the following questions: How big a threat is terrorism? What are the underlying causes of terrorism? How does news media reporting shape terrorism and public perception of terrorism? You can read their provocative answers here. This year, Learning Life interns and volunteers are busy working on several new Big Questions, from the practical to the celestial, including:
What makes for success?
What makes for long, happy marriages?
What should students do to get the most out of their education?
How and why is economic inequality increasing?
Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?
Stay tuned as we begin posting answers to these Big Questions in the coming months, and if you have ideas for Big Questions, please feel free to contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Learning Life is also expanding the array of information we spread via our social media pages as we grow our audience online, with a special focus on Facebook, the world’s largest social network with 1.3 billion users as of this writing. Thanks to the work of our interns and volunteers, we will be sharing more helpful facts on health and safety, more excellent information sources on the internet, profiles of famous political leaders, inventors, writers and others past and present in the USA and worldwide, and much more.
There’s more to tell, but I don’t want to reveal it all in this blog post, so stay tuned!
Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels, for helping to write this profile.
Hailing from Elmira Heights, NY, Dimitra Rallis is currently a rising senior at Georgetown University, double majoring in English and government, and very active in extracurricular activities. And somehow, she manages a 3.8 GPA!
In her three years thus far at Georgetown, Dimitra has worked as a residence hall office assistant, a student-alumni liaison to engage alumni in their alma mater, a board member of the Georgetown chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and a mentor to first-year students. She also participates in formal debates on social, political and literacy topics as part of Georgetown’s Philodemic Society, and has become a “swing dancing enthusiast.”
Dimitra recently returned from a semester abroad, studying at Georgetown’s Villa le Balze, located in Fiesole, Italy, a village just outside of Florence. Reflecting on her time abroad, Dimitra describes her experience as “not what I expected, but everything I could have wanted.” By the end of the semester, she felt she had truly experienced life as an Italian resident rather than a tourist, having shared meals and quality time out of class with Italian professors and students.
Last summer, Dimitra interned for U.S. Representative Tom Reed (R-NY). As an intern, she communicated with constituents, conducted research on legislative matters, and composed statements for the Congressional Record. This summer, Dimitra started interning with Learning Life soon after finishing her junior year.
Struck by her intelligence and ability to communicate, Learning Life founder, Paul Lachelier, assigned Dimitra from the start to a challenging project: developing research and expert-based answers to two “Big Questions.” Learning Life’s Big Questions Series gathers research and brief answers from experts to important questions of wide public interest. Launched in 2013 with three questions on terrorism (How big a threat is terrorism? What are the underlying causes of terrorism? How does news media reporting shape terrorism and public perception of terrorism?), Dimitra is now pursuing two other questions on the minds of many people: what makes for success, and what makes for long, happy marriages? To develop answers to these Big Questions, Dimitra has been gathering interesting research findings and resources, and interviewing experts on those questions, which is no small challenge given the breadth and density of the scientific research on these questions, and the difficulty in gathering responses from busy experts. Stay tuned for Dimitra’s finalized Big Questions coming soon!
Dimitra has also helped grow our number of “likes” (supporters) on Learning Life’s Facebook page. Currently, she is developing a series of template placemats that will feature answers to the Big Questions she is pursuing and future questions too. Most recently, she and another Georgetown student and Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels (who, coincidentally, helped draft this profile), are developing a new batch of Learning Life infographics, embedding arresting facts in original photos they take. Attached to this profile is their very first infographic. Stay tuned for more of their infographics on Learning Life’s Pinterest page, and our other social media pages!
When asked why she decided to volunteer with Learning Life, Dimitra Rallis simply said, “I want to put good things into the world. I believe that volunteering with Learning Life is a great way for me to live up to that goal.” Dimitra has gone above and beyond to achieve this goal with Learning Life, and we are grateful for her smart and creative contributions. We are confident she will continue to put good things into the world.
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life and other ways you can help, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Born and raised in Bowie, Maryland, Lila is forging her path in the IT world, starting at Marymount, where she has taken courses in web development, networking, databases, graphic design, and other areas. Most recently, through a software engineering course, Lila and two other Marymount students were charged with creating a software engineering plan for an airline company’s website. Lila was able to lead her group to success as they not only met the project’s objectives but also created case scenarios mapping the course of different user actions. Lila went on to write an 11-page paper explaining the tools found within the Apple IOS Software Development Kit that are used to create IOS applications, earning an “A” for her work. (IOS is an operating system for Apple mobile devices, like Apple cell phones and tablets.)
