It may come as a surprise, but Learning Life’s most faithful and generous donor is a 23-year old recent college graduate. Her name is Arielle Mohammed.
Arielle graduated in May 2012 from Stetson University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. It is in Stetson’s Department of Sociology & Anthropology that Arielle met Learning Life’s founder, Paul Lachelier. Arielle took two courses with Paul – Sociological Theories, and Power & Evil – and through these courses and thereafter, they developed a friendship that endures to this day. (Per his request though, she now calls him Paul, rather than Dr. Lachelier.)
Despite her solid performance as a student, like many recent college graduates in our down economy, Arielle has struggled to find work she can love. Upon graduation, she initially worked full-time as a 7-11 sales associate. Her productivity, dependability and kindness at 7-11 recently earned her a better position as a receptionist at a dental office, where she is excited to work with a supportive administrative team.
At Stetson, Arielle worked for the university’s recycling program throughout her college years, becoming a team leader in her junior and senior year. As team leader, she helped Stetson achieve third place in Spring 2011 in the RecycleMania competition involving 600 schools nationwide.
As a devout yet tolerant Catholic, Arielle volunteered with the Jewish Student Organization as she helped lead Stetson’s Catholic Campus Ministry, becoming Vice-President in her junior year, and President in her senior year. In her work as a young Catholic leader, Arielle wrote letters to the imprisoned, helped fundraise for food pantries, served in soup kitchens, and traveled to Honduras to help rebuild and renovate buildings at a parochial school.
Asked why she donates monthly and generously to Learning Life, Arielle responds:
“Besides knowing Paul Lachelier for quite some time, Learning Life greatly appeals to me. I have always been drawn to learning and knowledge. Learning should not be constrained behind classroom doors. It should be free and open to all. Learning Life is bringing innovative ways of spreading knowledge, and reminding us of the importance of learning.”
For all these reasons, we at Learning Life admire Arielle, are very grateful for her support, and wish her the very best in her young career.
Want to learn how you can help Learning Life? Contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Asking Bigger, Deeper Questions
Are people inherently good, bad or blank slates? Why are some people so poor, and others so rich? What causes people to commit crimes? What makes for long, happy marriages?
Many of us have opinions on important and interesting questions about a host of topics, from human and animal behavior, to the environment, economy, politics and history.
But what do researchers who patiently pursue these questions think and find in answer to these questions? It’s easy to spout opinions; it’s much harder and more valuable for informed decision-making to carefully, systematically pursue answers.
Fortunately, there are plenty of well-trained researchers pursuing answers to many important and interesting questions, whether these be university scholars, think tank experts, museum or government specialists, or else.
Unfortunately, researchers’ answers are routinely published in ever growing numbers of books, academic journals and reports few people read, and they’re often written in dull, jargon-filled prose. Occasionally, the researchers’ answers are publicized in newspapers, magazines, on radio, TV, or online, but still the audience for these are often limited to those interested enough to seek them out.
That’s the status quo we take for granted, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Learning Life’s mission is to inform and empower more people by printing knowledge on the sufaces of everyday life, like placemats, posters, napkins and cup sleeves, then linking these surfaces to an ever growing world of learning at our website.
As our readers may already know, one way we pursue this mission is to pose questions online and off, linked to a growing array of five-question quizzes at Learning Life’s website which offer brief facts on everything from food psychology to the U.S. Constitution.
In September 2013, we inaugurated our Big Questions series offering clear, 1-2 paragraph answers each from two or more experts on questions of wide public importance, like those posed at the start of this post. You can read the questions to which we’ve gathered expert answers so far, and those upcoming on our Facts & Views page.
In so doing, we aim not only to advance our mission to inform wider publics, but to publicize the considered opinions and research of experts and scholars.
We invite our readers to contact us at email@learninglife.info to propose questions, and experts on those questions with whom Learning Life might work.
As always, if you like what Learning Life is doing, we encourage you to support our work, like us on Facebook, and/or follow us on Twitter. Thank you for your interest and support!
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare,” has and will affect millions of Americans. The ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010, and is being implemented gradually over four years. The ACA is big and does many things, but there are resources online to help Americans understand the law and how it affects individuals, families and businesses. This quiz introduces you to some of the ACA’s key provisions, with links to more information online.
Note: Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Kane Boynton, for conducting the research for this quiz, and drafting the questions and answers.
Despite her solid performance as a student, like many recent college graduates in our down economy, Arielle has struggled to find work she can love. Upon graduation, she initially worked full-time as a 7-11 sales associate. Her productivity, dependability and kindness at 7-11 recently earned her a better position as a receptionist at a dental office, where she is excited to work with a supportive administrative team.
