As leaders in the online education field, our faculty and staff here at Ashworth College believe it’s very important to continuously innovate dynamic ways to communicate with our student community. Our Ashworth College “Live” Events initiative has proven to be quite a hit and has helped us take our vision in exciting new directions, which is why we continue to exponentially increase the number and frequency of these events every month. These events are terrific opportunities to interact with Instructors on the cutting edge of their field and gain career advancement insights that only a true expert can provide.
In addition to our career training oriented chats, we host weekly student orientation chats that are open to existing students and anyone else simply interested in learning more about what Ashworth College is all about. The orientation chat allows you to get all of your questions answered and issues resolved by an Ashworth Student Advisor via “live” video stream. You don’t even need a web cam to participate—just show up and gain plenty of valuable personal, educational, and career advice to help you get ahead!
We’re adding new events on a daily basis, so please check out the Ashworth College Event Calendar for the latest information. Thanks everyone!
As students in the Fashion Retailing Program, I’d like to get your feedback on the influence of celebrities on fashion. As a former dress buyer, I often think of this question in relation to the Oscars and other major awards shows, when everyone quickly tries to copy the dresses that were hot for prom—from a silhouette to color. Hairstyles, shoes, and accessories are also scrutinized to see what is hot and what is not. Fashion has consistently defined some of the most memorable moments in Hollywood award shows from Jennifer Lopez a few years back with a dress that was barely there to Bjork’s infamous swan dress. The tradition continues with pop icons such as Lady Gaga, whose’ highly experimental style and perpetually evolving fashion identify on is perhaps even more trend setting than her music.
Here’s the fundamental question: How do you think celebrity styles translate to the mass market and how much influence, in terms of affecting consumer buying behavior and what’s culturally hot, do these celebrities ultimately have in your opinion? On a personal level, do celebrities influence your style? Let me know why or why not this is the case. I look forward to reading your feedback. Thanks everyone!
A couple of weeks ago, I took a tour of a data storage facility managed by a company called SunGard. The building I went to was the size of a Wal-Mart and houses racks and racks of networking equipment comprising data centers for their clients. Sun Gard either allots customers a space to bring their own racks and equipment to build their data center or supplies the customer with the space and equipment they need for their data center. Customers can then either physically or remotely manage the equipment.
The reason why an organization would want their data center housed at a remote location such as this Sungard facility is for redundancy. First off, Sun Gard has two separate power lines coming into their facility and each power line draws power from a separate power grid. Should the surrounding area encounter a blackout from one grid going out, Sun Gard will still be up. Next is the cooling system. As I have written earlier, data centers generate a lot of heat due to the servers, so imagine how much heat is generated at a facility such as this. Sun Gard has huge air conditioning units and has a backup for each one, so if six units are needed, they have twelve. They have a command center which monitors both their power and cooling systems to ensure that everything is running perfect and that counter actions can be implemented quickly in the case of a problem.
They have a large room with shelves and shelves of UPS units—the largest UPS units I’ve seen up close. The administrator told me that the UPS units can keep the data centers up for up to fifteen minutes in the case of a complete power failure. They also had a water tank which held over a week’s worth of water.
All of this costs money of course, which is why the rental fees for data center customers aren’t cheap, but then again building the redundancy infrastructure that this facility boasts would require tremendous investment. With more and more companies resorting to cloud computing, facilities such as this one will continue to blossom across the globe.
What are your goals as a massage therapist? Have you really stopped to think about what it is that you are trying to achieve? Whether they are personal or professional, having goals ensures that you are working towards something meaningful. Try using the S.M.A.R.T. goal model:
S-Specific: Be as specific as possible about your goal. For example, you want a successful massage practice, but what KIND of massage will you give? In what type of setting?
M-Measurable: Make sure your goal is measurable so that you are able to track your progress. How many clients will you see weekly? How much money would you like to earn weekly?
A-Attainable: By setting goals that challenge you but are not too much of a stretch you make sure they are attainable. Which brings us to…
R-Realistic: Be realistic in what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you are aiming to make $2000/weekly charging $70/hour, you’d need to give 30 massages! Is that really what you want?
T-Timely: Be sure to set a time frame in which you want to realize each goal. By giving yourself “deadlines” you are more likely to do whatever it takes to get the job done!
Are you a budding poet, short story writer, or just want a place to share your creative work? Join us for Ashworth High School’s first creative writing contest! Turn in your poem, short story, or excerpt (please limit to 1000 words) to be shared among your peers.
ALL students who submit will be rewarded with extra credit in their current online High School English course (25 points) and an award will also be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Send your original creative work to sfoster@ashworthcollege.edu with your full name and your current High School English course. Entries MUST be submitted by Friday, July 16.
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