Don’t Spend the Rest of Your Life Paying for Student Loans AND a Broken Leg

It's not surprising that many students go through college without health insurance.

Students generally have limited budgets, and health insurance isn't
necessarily on their minds - after all, there are student loans to
think of and resumes to send out.

However, having a health insurance policy when you're a student is
crucial. If you're injured and need medical attention, without health
coverage you could be paying for it even longer than your student
loans. Did you know that the average cost of an uninsured compound leg
fracture is $75,000? And an uninsured spinal fracture is nearly
$200,000.

If you're a college or graduate student or a recent graduate without
health coverage, you're not alone, but you are taking a giant risk. A
good health insurance policy gives you a lot of coverage for a small
cost.

When it comes to health insurance, you have a few options. You can get a high-deductible plan, or you can get short term health coverage.
Short term coverage is a temporary insurance which lasts just until you
get a job with health benefits. Or, if you're healthy, you should
consider a major medical policy, which offers more benefits to those in
good health.

For more information on our health insurance policies, contact us
today! We're Headquarter Insurance.
You may also visit our free health quote page!

Dynamic Lighting

When I was young, learning was a little different than it is today. Technology in the classroom meant overhead projectors and mimeograph. World Book Encyclopedias were the go-to source for general information and any talk of “the web” was probably about Spiderman.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the goal of learning. The way we learn may be different, but our goals are the same. We know that children need a safe environment in which their “needs and opinions are included, “and “a place where they can learn,” as UNICEF puts it. The goal is obvious in its description, but not always so easy in its execution.

As scientists research learning and learning environments, they are finding that even the most basic changes can improve learning environments. And one change can make a big difference: lighting.

The proof is in the classroom
According to a recent study by Prof. Dr Michael Schulte-Markwort, director of the Clinic for Child and Youth Psychology at the University Hospital in Hamburg-Eppendorf, dynamic lighting systems can improve the reading speed of children by 35 percent, and lower reading comprehension errors by a significant 45 percent. “The drop of 45 percent for the group working under dynamic lighting shows that with the right light in the classroom it is possible to increase pupils’ attention span and concentration significantly,” said Schulte-Markwort.

Dynamic lighting allows the teacher to change lighting in the classroom to adjust the mood he or she wants to create. For example, with Philips’ new Dynamic Lighting Classroom System – called SchoolVision – the teacher can set classroom lighting according to each activity. Teachers can choose from settings like “energy, “calm,” and “focus.”

How dynamic lighting works
The rhythm of day and night, together with the seasons, creates ever-changing light patterns during the day. Philips’ light solutions mimic those changes in brightness and warmth, giving people the benefits of natural light. According to Dr. S. Fleischer, ETH, Institut für Hygiene und Arbeitsphysiologie Zürich, “Warm white light facilitates relaxation and improves people’s well-being, while daylight-white light stimulates and activates the human body.

Philips has applied this technology to both office and student environments, and as the Schulte-Markwork study has shown, the results can be significant.

Teachers struggle every day with the goal of keeping the attention of children whose learning styles, attention spans, and interests are quite different. But the classroom should be a positive environment for all children and lighting is one adjustment a teacher can make to improve the environment for everyone.