【推荐1】Natalie Hampton spent most of her 7th and 8th grade school years eating lunch alone. The new girl at an all-girls private school in Los Angeles. A group of “mean girls” excluded her from parties, called her names and even physically attacked her. They told her she was ugly and would never have any friends.

Once a kid who loved going to school, but Natalie now dreaded it. She stopped eating, she couldn’t sleep. The anxiety became so bad that she had to be hospitalized. Her mom calls it “the darkest period of our lives.”

Natalie’s mother sent her to another school for high school. Now a 16-year-old junior, she’s happy there, with a group of close friends and many after-school activities. But she’s never forgotten those two dark years, and she hates the idea of other kids going through what she did.

So Natalie came up with an idea that would allow students a judgment-free way to find lunch mates without the fear of being refused. She developed an app called “Sit With Us,” where students can sign up as “ambassadors” and post that there are open seats at their lunch table. (When signing up as ambassadors, the students make a promise that they’ll be kind and welcoming to whoever comes to sit with them). A student who doesn’t have a place to sit can look at the app and find an ambassador’s table and know they are invited to join it.

“Lunch might seem really small, but I think these are the small steps that make a school more inclusive,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like you’re asking that much, but, it starts to change the way students think about each other. It makes a huge difference in how they treat each other.”

【推荐3】Being responsible outside of class

Manage your time wisely

Managing your time will greatly help you become a better and more-productive student. Time-management skills are highly valued by teachers.     1    .

Study for tests and exams ahead of time

    2    . If your teacher hasn’t specified(详细说明)how he or she arranges tests and exams and which materials will be covered, you’ll need to ask your teacher outside of class. That way you’ll be able to fully prepare for the test more efficiently(有效率地).

Get help if your grades fall behind

Whether you miss an important class, have trouble with certain concepts, or are dealing with a stressful family emergency, there’s a chance that your grades might fall at some point.     3    . Remember that you don’t have to feel dissatisfied with grades if you’re actively absorbed in your studies.

    4    

If you fail to finish your homework, turn in a paper on time, or show up to your task on time, it’s no one’s fault but your own.    5    . Accepting responsibility is a major mark of maturity(成熟), in part because taking your responsibility can help you stay focused and decide what to do in the future.

【推荐1】Karla, a recent graduate of one high school in Los Angeles, designed an 18th century-style dress for the yearly “Stuck at Prom” competition and was named a finalist last week.

Unlike what we normally expect, the dress is surprisingly made out of duct tape(胶带)Tape is so rigid and you can’t move it like fabric. So it was really challenging to make it all come together. But the fashion-forward teenager overcame that challenge and is now competing for votes to win the grand prize: a $10, 000 scholarship.

Though it’s Karla’name officially in the competition, she said the entire process is more of a collective effort of her family, especially her parents. She and her mom spent at least 120 hours, over many days, working on the dress by trial and error, and used 14 rolls of tape.

“I really love fashion. It’s a really big passion of mine, and I’m willing to try any style.” she said. She often spends hours looking at outfit ideas or different styles, from the 70s to Gothic to Rococo, on Pinterest and TikTok-which is how she found the competition. But it wasn’t until a recent visit to the Getty Museum-the only field trip she took in high school-that she found her inspiration from the 18th century French paintings featuring lavish, ornate dresses and eventually created the possibly award-winning dress.

“It means a lot to me that I was able to make it this far with the support of my parents. As the first generation college student in our family, I wouldn’t want my parents to pay for my tuition(学费)Although there is a long way to go to get the $10, 000 prize, it would really help my parents, and we’re feeling confident and hopeful that we can win.” Karla said. She plans to study business marketing in college, ideally focusing on the fashion industry.

【推荐2】When she worked in banking, Irini Tzortzoglou’s idea of cooking was to pick up a ready meal from Marks &Spencer on her way home, and put it in the oven (烤箱). But now, since winning the BBC cooking competition Master Chef at the age of 60, with menus inspired by her Greek heritage (遗产), food has become her life and new career.

She had not been overly interested in cooking, though as a child, food was an important part of her life. Tzortzoglou, 64, was born in Greece, where her grandparents’ house was always open, and her grandmother would often be cooking for dozens of people. Tzortzoglou would help out: “I loved the smells. I loved the processes.”

Tzortzoglou felt very bored after retiring. Then one day her husband said, “Why don’t you try Master Chef because you always love watching it.”

She was a reasonably good cook, who loved entertaining and could put together a decent dinner party menu but competing on the show demanded a whole new skill level. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself by leaving in round one, so I trained myself for a year,” she said.

She put in time, effort and money. She went to Athens to see what was happening with Greek food today. She ate at Michelin-star restaurants to see what Greek Master Chef and the young chefs were doing. And then she started practicing. She also started physical training because she could see how tough it was to run around the kitchen while filming, or stand for hours.

Since her win, Tzortzoglou has become immersed in (沉浸于) Greek food, and has written a cookery book, Under the Olive Tree. “I don’t have free time, but I love it,” she said. “I feel like a child let loose in a sweet shop.”

【推荐3】It was in 2008 when I was at one of the lowest points of my life that I decided to go to India. Never had I visited India. At 45, I was at an age when more rational people would be thinking mostly about settling down and playing it safe. But I knew I had to go. I was trying to recover from a deep sadness-losing my parents, and the only thing that had helped was yoga.

Eventually, three classes a week turned into teacher training, which led to a desire to visit the country where yoga was born. So on 5 December, I boarded a plane bound for Delhi - leaving my job as a writer behind.

Approximately, it took 11 months from the determined moment to lift-off. I sold about one-third of my belongings, moved out of my apartment and into a small one and saved as much money as I could.

As we landed in the Indira Gandhi International Airport, I had no idea what waited for me, no idea what India would look like, no idea how I would be able to handle these months of travel in such a different and challenging place.

I was met at the airport by an old friend who invited me to stay in his family’s home. They helped me get used to India. I felt very lucky to have such a soft landing. From that start, my trip unfolded with one journey after another. By the time my journey ended on 2 June, I was deeply in love with India and heartsick about leaving. India changed me. It gave me hope, inspiration and a new start in life.

Thanks to my travels, I developed the attitude that every incident I met with was meant to happen. Today, back to Toronto, I run Breathedreamgo. I make my living as a travel writer. As I write this, I am getting ready to leave for my seventh trip to India.