Thank You! We Raised the First $4K! Help Us Reach $12K by Dec. 31!
Dear friends,
Thank you for your support! We reached our goal of raising the first $4,000 of our $12,000 goal by October 15. We are now working to raise the remaining $8,000 by December 31.
Last year, I founded Learning Life to help nurture a wider culture of learning by spreading knowledge on the surfaces of everyday life.
Since then, with the help of donors, advisors, volunteers and interns, we have:
1) Launched Learning Life’s interactive website
2) Purchased our first educational products, including smart coasters, napkins and cookies
3) Developed 30+ quizzes on varied topics, with two new quizzes added each month
4) Initiated succinct Q&As with experts on important issues, starting with terrorism
5) Established social media pages through which we disseminate educational content daily
6) Issued a monthly e-newsletter keeping our supporters informed
7) Secured our first partnership with DC’s Newseum to promote learning about JFK’s presidency
8) Won a grant from the city of Alexandria, VA to promote its rich local history and businesses
There’s much more and plenty planned through December, including educational street theater and our launch party on November 7, 5:30-8pm at The Lyceum at 201 S. Washington Street in Alexandria, VA (stay tuned for more details!).
I need your help to keep Learning Life moving forward.
Nearly 3 of every 4 dollars of private funds given to U.S. non-profits every year come from individuals, not foundations or corporations.
Learning Life relies in no small part on individual donations. Your donation will help pay for the launch of our website’s shop page, our trademark application to protect Learning Life’s name, our non-profit incorporation, our November 7 launch party, and planned holiday educational initiatives. Some of these investments will generate revenue, so your donation will go farther.
So, I’ve got an important question for you:
Would you donate $50, $100, $200, or whatever you can afford to help us reach our $12,000 goal by December 31? As of October 15, we are now a third of the way there! With your help, we’ll make it to $12,000 by December 31, and we’ll recognize each of you who donate on our website’s “Our Supporters” page.
You can donate online now here. Or, you can write a check to Learning Life and mail it to Learning Life, P.O. Box 26264, Alexandria VA 22313.
One of Learning Life’s interns this summer, Kane Boynton, worked mostly from Michigan, and is still working with us this fall from the Great Lakes State generating some of our most recent quizzes.
Born and raised in Vermont, Kane Boynton’s passions are business and skiing. Kane has been skiing since the age of 4, and has competed in ski racing internationally, most notably in Chile, France, Germany, and Austria. He is a Vermont Alpine Racing Association U21 State Slalom Champion, and was a member of the Association’s competitive team in 2011-12. Currently, Kane is a member of the University of Michigan Alpine Ski Team, and competes nationally as part of U.S. Collegiate Ski Association All-American teams.
Kane’s passion for skiing has involved him in charitable work. In 2011, he launched an annual ski race involving 250 competitors to raise money for various charities, a fundraising event he still leads every year. Also in 2011, Kane helped Vermont residents clean up their homes and yards after the devastation of Hurricane Irene in the state of Vermont.
Kane pursues his passion for business not only as a major in the subject at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but as an independent investor, actively and successfully investing in the stock market for the last eight years (which means he started investing at age 11!). Kane’s keen interest in business has also led him to pursue diverse internships, studying battery storage companies and “end-to-end strategy and corporate development strategies” with the publicly traded San Jose solar power company, SunPower Corporation, in summer 2011, then climbing radio and cell phone towers to install and maintain AM/FM radio and cell phone antennas for Prescott Tower Services in Vermont in summer 2012.
Asked why he chose to intern with Learning Life, Kane says Learning Life’s “goal of educating the general public by spreading knowledge on everyday surfaces intrigued me. I was also happy to intern with Learning Life because as a start-up I could directly help and influence its development.”
As one of our summer interns, Kane pursued his interests in research and marketing by drafting a number of Learning Life quizzes, including the seven most recent quizzes posted about Egypt, world geography, international acronyms, U.S. income inequality, U.S. government income and spending, Americans’ spending and savings, and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He has also worked on upcoming Learning Life quizzes on a diversity of topics, including U.S. prisons and prisoners, U.S. geography, U.S. presidential history, weights and measurements, financial investment terminology, China, Mexico, heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Learning Life is grateful to Kane for his help in researching and developing so many of our quizzes current and upcoming. We look forward to working with you further, Kane!
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life and other ways you can help, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Fall Internships Now Available
Students:
Looking for an interesting internship opportunity this fall semester?
Do you love learning?
Are you interested in helping to educate the public in innovative ways?
If so, you may be interested in the following internship with Learning Life…
Note: Inquiries in advance about interning over winter break or spring semester 2014 are welcome.
ABOUT LEARNING LIFE
Learning Life is a non-profit educational project based in Alexandria, VA, in the Washington D.C. metro area, and a program of United Charitable Programs, a registered 501(c)(3) public charity. Learning Life seeks to inform and empower more people by spreading knowledge on the surfaces of everyday life – like volunteer and employment opportunities on tabletop tents in school cafeterias, health and safety facts on posters in public bathrooms and laundromats, poetry and philosophy on cup sleeves in cafes and coasters in bars, science and history on napkins and cereal boxes, etc. – then connecting these surfaces to a world of learning here at Learning Life’s website.
At Learning Life, we work for a world where learning happens in everyday life, not just in school, a world with less inequality and more empowered people because knowledge is everywhere, fun and rewarding. We are looking for motivated volunteer and interns who want to help us build this better world.
ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP
Learning Life is now recruiting responsible, motivated graduate and undergraduate students to help with a variety of tasks including academic and market research, quiz development on a variety of topics, website, design and social media work, and assisting with pilot educational projects.
No experience necessary. Each intern’s precise work will depend on their personal interest, experience and skill as well as organizational need.
Interns must commit at least four hours per week, all or most of which time will be spent working directly with Learning Life founder, Dr. Paul Lachelier, and other interns at a regular time and day each week. Interns are also expected to participate in once-monthly Learning Life staff meetings via Skype, phone conference, or face-to-face.
The internship is unpaid, but available for credit or non-credit, as the intern prefers. Credit interns must secure a sponsoring professor then fulfill whatever academic requirements that professor expects for the course credit. Besides course credit, interns and volunteers alike can gain resume-building experience and a formal reference and/or recommendation letter given satisfactory performance.
HOW TO APPLY
Email your resume to Learning Life at inquiries@letlearninglive.org. We will then contact you to schedule an interview.
Intern Spotlight: Kayla Hamedi
This summer, Learning Life was lucky to have three student interns who contributed valuably to our work. This spotlight series will showcase each of our summer interns, starting this month with Kayla Hamedi.
It doesn’t take long to look at Kayla’s resume to realize she’s an achiever. Kayla, a Maryland resident, delivered the commencement address at her high school class’s graduation ceremony after graduating in the top 5% of her class, earning a number of awards (e.g., Maryland Distinguished Scholar Award Honorable Mention, National Society of High School Scholars Nominee, Scholar Athlete Award), and serving as Class of 2011 Second Vice President, the student newspaper’s Business Manager and News Editor, Persian Club President (her parents hail from Iran) and International Club Vice President, among other roles.
This fall semester, Kayla will be entering her junior year at George Washington University in Washington D.C., majoring in political science and minoring in development studies. At GW, Kayla has an impressive 3.75 GPA, and has been involved with The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the College Democrats, and Students for Barack Obama. Upon graduating, Kayla aims to go to law school in order to pursue a career advocating for human rights internationally.
Just as Kayla’s resume signaled she’s an achiever, so did her work with Learning Life this summer. Cumulatively, Kayla:
1) Researched and wrote over a hundred facts on varied topics of importance, from identity theft to global warming, for dissemination via Learning Life’s social media outlets.
2) Compiled newspaper advertising rates to compare with Learning Life’s rates for designing, printing and distributing sponsored educational napkins, coasters and other surfaces in the DC metro area.
4) Gathered online opportunities for Learning Life to guest blog
5) Generated a list of selected businesses in Alexandria, VA for Learning Life to contact for possible partnership.
6) Helped increase Learning Life’s number of likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter.
7) Collected notable quotes about education and the importance of information to support Learning Life’s work.
In addition, one of the sometimes lesser appreciated but essential characteristics of any good intern or employee is punctual attendance, and Kayla’s attendance at staff meetings was consistent and punctual, even with a long commute from Maryland to Virginia, where Learning Life is based.
Outside Learning Life, Kayla has, among other things, assisted local food banks in distributing boxes of food to local homeless shelters, tutored students in a variety of subjects, helped re-elect Barack Obama, and most recently joined Homeward Trails Animal Rescue to help find homes for stray, abandoned and rescued dogs and cats.
Asked why she chose to intern with Learning Life, Kayla said, “I feel Learning Life’s work can really make a difference in the way of educating outside of a school environment. The more well-informed our society is, the better we become as a whole, and to be a part of something that promotes that is an honor.”
Thanks, Kayla! We look forward to keeping in touch with you, and seeing you occasionally at Learning Life volunteer events!
1) Launched Learning Life’s interactive website
