Category Archive for "Flinn Scholars" |

Achievement vs. empathy in young people

Two weeks ago in The Atlantic, Jessica Lahey reported on a study from the Making Caring Common project at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. The study found that a vast majority of surveyed middle- and high-school students “value aspects of personal success—achievement and happiness—over concern for others.” This preference persists despite the […]

How we respond to disparities between high schools

While I was in graduate school, I lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., a few miles down the road from two of the most prestigious public high schools in the United States. We were renting, but families that bought homes in the surrounding neighborhoods paid eye-popping premiums for proximity to the two schools–often […]

Flinn Scholar Shantanu Bala awarded Thiel Fellowship to pursue research

Shantanu Bala, a Class of 2011 Flinn Scholar and Arizona State University student, has been awarded the prestigious Thiel Fellowship that will match him with the world’s brightest young entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley leaders for the next two years.

New class of 20 Flinn Scholars chooses Arizona universities

The 2014 Flinn Scholarship has been awarded to 20 of Arizona’s highest-achieving high-school seniors, who will receive a comprehensive educational package to attend an Arizona public university.

Graduating Flinn Scholars ready for new life adventures

Seventeen Flinn Scholars graduating this year from the three Arizona state universities were honored during the annual Recognition Dinner May 3.

Flinn Scholars honor educators at annual dinner

At the annual Recognition Dinner May 3, the Flinn Scholars Program and its Class of 2014 honored the educators who played an extraordinary role in the lives of the high-school seniors awarded the scholarship this year.

New class of 20 Flinn Scholars chooses Arizona universities

The 2014 Flinn Scholarship has been awarded to 20 of Arizona’s highest-achieving high-school seniors, who will receive a comprehensive educational package to attend an Arizona public university.

A new SAT is on its way

Big changes are coming to the SAT in spring 2016.

The longstanding penalty for guessing wrong will disappear, just like obscure vocabulary words. The essay will be optional. And the scoring will return to a 1,600-point scale. In addition to the test changes, a new program will give low-income students fee waivers to allow them to apply to four colleges at no charge.

The new exam will be introduced in spring 2016.

Here are the changes, as presented by the New York Times:

Instead of arcane “SAT words” (“depreciatory,” “membranous”), the vocabulary definitions on the new exam will be those of words commonly used in college courses, such as “synthesis” and “empirical.”
The essay, required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essay will be asked to read a passage and analyze the ways its author used evidence, reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.
The guessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrect answers, will be eliminated.
The overall scoring will return to the old 1,600-point scale, based on a top score of 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.
Math questions will focus on three areas: linear equations; complex equations or functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculators will be permitted on only part of the math section.
Every exam will include, in the reading and writing section, source documents from a broad range of disciplines, including science and social studies, and on some questions, students will be asked to select the quotation from the text that supports the answer they have chosen.
Every exam will include a reading passage either from one of the nation’s “founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, or from one of the important discussions of such texts, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

Flinn Foundation report outlines current priorities to benefit Arizona

The Flinn Foundation’s “Action and Impact” report presents the organization’s current grantmaking priorities and activities that are making an impact across Arizona through the biosciences, civic leadership, arts and culture, and the Flinn Scholars program.

Three Flinn Scholars named UA Pillars of Excellence

Three Flinn Scholars have been named University of Arizona Pillars of Excellence, the highest honor for a student bestowed upon by the university.

Congratulations to Scholars Leah Edwards (’10), Daniel Fried (’10), and Paul Thomson (’11), three of the 12 students and alumni honored for their academic achievements during a ceremony on February 13. Eight faculty members were also honored.

Edwards is a Flinn and Udall Scholar who will be graduating with a double major in political science and environmental and water resources.

Fried is a Flinn, Goldwater and Churchill Scholar majoring in computer science, mathematics and information science.

Thomson is a Flinn Scholar studying acting and Africana studies.