Retired Detroit Lion Bennie Blades, and UM Alumni,Glen M. Carter, have teamed up to open a private school, the Glen M. Carter Academy. 

The school, located at 305 North Dixie Highway, Hallandale Beach, FL., will be from the first to the sixth grade. However, due to the 6,000 students who received a certificate of attendance instead of a diploma, they have put together a special program for 12th graders who cannot pass the FCAT. 

This is a fully accredited program with the opportunity to get training with Green companies (solar energy), automotive, A+ computer certification and professional sewing. Students are allowed to attend this school and still play sports at their home school according to Blades, so they can still be eligible for college sports.

With unemployment persisting in South Florida, boosting your marketability becomes all the more essential in today’s workforce. With programs offering education in the recession-proof areas, career colleges offer an appealing option for job-seekers. Short but intensive programs mean you can complete training faster and enter the employment market more quickly. The National Weekly looks at the career college and what you should consider before applying.

Getting the skills you need

Once you decide on a new career, do some research on the profession’s required credentials. Do you need to complete a specific degree or pass a license or certification program? Ask people working in the industry about what credentials are most valued. For professions regulated by the state, the website myfloridalicense.com offers guidelines about certifications in Florida. Other websites such as careeronestop.org and onetonline.org provide information about education paths for various careers.

Yet your most important enquiry will be the human resource departments of the businesses where you would like to work. Find out what credentials they expect an ideal employee to have and what schools they found provided the necessary training.

School is out, and while the summer break leaves you less occupied in traffic, it also leaves your children less engaged during the long dog days.

Research suggests that students from kindergarten to the sixth grade can lose up to three months' worth of schooling during the summer months off. Long departures from a scheduled life also make students less prepared for the sudden return to school.

Regular summer activities can fight against this summer brain drain. There are many affordable options to keep your kids learning throughout the summer.

CARICOM Special Representative on the Reconstruction of Haiti, and former Prime Minister, the Most. Hon. Percival James Patterson will be the guest lecture at the 12th annual Eric Williams Memorial Collection Lecture Series to be held on Friday (Oct. 15) at the Florida International University, College of Law, South Campus, at 11200 SW Eighth Street in Miami.

The lecture series is titled “The Renaissance of Haiti: A Template for Caribbean Integration”, and Mr. Patterson will aptly speak to issues of the Haitian redevelopment project in his capacity as CARICOM’s representative on the coordinating committee for reconstruction of that Nation, a position he has held since his appointment following the Haitian earthquake devastation, last December (2009). This will be followed by a question and answer session.

Mr. Patterson will join the distinguished group of international scholars including several other leaders from the Caribbean region who have made presentations at the Lecture Series since its inception in October 1999.

The event is free to the public and provides an intellectual forum for the examination of pertinent issues about the history and politics of the Caribbean and the African Diaspora, simultaneously highlighting world leaders and international scholars.