2008 Woodie Awards
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) _ For a second straight year, SAT scores for the most recent high school graduating class remained at the lowest level in nearly a decade, a trend attributed to a record number of students now taking the test. The 1.52 million students who took the test is a slight increase from last year but a jump of nearly 30 percent over the past decade.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Tech students returned over the past week to a campus that appears as normal as any other, but is still healing from the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Last August, the fall semester began in Blacksburg with a somber, tear-filled ceremony to dedicate memorial stones on the main lawn for the 32 people killed by a student gunman the previous spring.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ China is hoping that American college students watching the Summer Olympics will want to travel there, providing a bump similar to what Australia and Greece enjoyed in 2000 and 2004. But even before the 2008 Games, China was already on its way as the hot new destination for study abroad.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Two-year community colleges are seeing record enrollment as families squeezed by tough economic times steer high school graduates away from more expensive four-year universities. While the shift solves one funding problem, it potentially raises another.
Claudia Ukonu searched for three months for a summer job, to no avail. She remained unemployed throughout the summer. As a slumping economy and soaring fuel prices rise to record levels, Ukonu is one of thousands of college students who found it difficult to find summer employment.
A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says. In 2005, 15 prominent business groups warned that a lack of expert workers and teachers posed a threat to U.
WINONA, Minn. (AP) _ On the morning after the house party on Johnson Street, Jenna Foellmi and several other twentysomethings lay sprawled on the beds and couches. When a friend reached over to wake her, Foellmi was cold to the touch.
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. (AP) _ She'd spent a lifetime less than an hour's drive away, but it had never crossed Joquetta Johnson's mind to visit Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. What, she wondered when a friend suggested it, could a park in rural, lily-white West Virginia hold for a black teacher from Baltimore?
More than she could have imagined.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ It's not much of a report card. Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, according to an Associated Press poll released Friday, June 27th.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Skeptical states are shoving aside millions of federal dollars for abstinence education, walking away from the program the Bush administration touts for slowing teen sexual activity. Barely half the states are still in, and two more say they are leaving.
CRY FOR MR. SUNSHINE: The new co-worker sitting next to you is a real beam of light. Everyone loves him. But don't be jealous - he's more likely to have his high hopes dashed after the honeymoon glow of the new job has worn off, and more likely to seek out another job.
ROLLA, Mo. (AP) _ A tech-savvy university near the Missouri Ozarks is resorting to an old standby to reduce illegal music downloads by students: the pop quiz. Missouri University of Science and Technology now requires students to ace a six-question quiz on digital copyright law to get six hours of access to peer-to-peer software they can use to share music and movies online.
Parents who pile on the toys, pricey electronics and after-school enrichments that can cost hundreds of dollars spend with full hearts and high hopes of future benefits. But could all the spending lead to a far more ominous outcome? Are we raising a generation of spenders? Stephen Epstein, 27, says the answers are a resounding yes.
As the country's sagging economy dominates the headlines, college students are being hit in their wallets along with other members of society. Students say they are struggling with higher tuition, gas and food prices and worry that they will be unable to repay student loans after graduation.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A pilot project at nine Virginia high schools will eliminate one step of college admissions: mailing transcripts to colleges. The Virginia Department of Education is testing an electronic transcript program. It is intended to create a more secure and speedy way to get transcripts to colleges and universities, said Bethann Canada, director of information management.
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