People celebrate this day following old Irish traditions as well as modern Irish ways. Belfast, the capital of Ireland celebrates this day around the city hall with a carnival parade, music, and dancing. People in Dublin follow 5-day celebrations that include a huge parade, a road race, and music performances. Though the oldest traditions are not followed these days, residents of Ireland respect the importance of these traditions.

Traditions and Importance 

1. The Shamrock

The Shamrock or Irish Seamrog is a trefoil plant and is St. Patrick’s Day symbol. It symbolizes ‘the rebirth of spring’. These plants were worn by poor Irish people on Christmas celebration days. Three leaves of the Shamrock represent a holy trinity and mean ‘Faith, Hope and Love’. Three-leaf clovers or four-leaf clovers are used in the celebrations.

2. Traditional and Modern Irish Music

St. Patrick’s day is incomplete without Irish music concerts. The music represents the holy history of Ireland and people perform in the concerts to remind the residents about the culture, heritage, history, and important events. In traditional music, Whilst Caoineadh songs are played to represent pain and sorrow in Ireland’s history. Along with Sean nós, modern American music Jazz and Pop music is played. ‘Céilí’— a social gathering held in Ireland includes music and dancing events.

3. St. Patrick’s Day Parade

This parade is held to honor St. Patrick. It was first started in the city of New York in 1762. Dublin and Belfast also have big parades on this day. People march wearing traditional attire, especially green color outfits as it represents the color of the Irish rebellion. The largest parade was held in Chicago, the USA where 2 million spectators participated in the parade.

4. Modern Celebrations

Modern celebrations include sports and games as sports play an important role in Irish culture. Every year, on this day, all Ireland club championships in Hurling, camogie, and GAA football are arranged in Dublin.

5. Food, Drinks, and Green Color

To honor St. Patrick, Christian people celebrate by hosting feasts and parties. Irish food like corned beef, cabbage, and soda bread is famous among people. Along with good food, people are fond of drinking and thus, it is the fourth-biggest drinking day of the year. Chicago is famous for its ‘River-green’ ceremony which is held from morning to evening.

The world celebrates different festivals with different traditions around the world. Every celebration has its own culture, own traditions, own meaning, and different ways of celebration. St. Patrick’s Day is one such vibrant celebration in the world.

Related: 50 Best Paulo Coelho Quotes to guide you

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Australian researchers James Paynter, Rachel Webster, and Eric Thrane used the technique of gravitational lensing to detect the intermediate-mass celestial body. This black hole is being considered an ancient relic, of the universe that must have been created before the origin of stars and galaxies.

Gamma rays are released when a high-mass star collapses and forms a neutron star or black hole. GRBs are the most energetic form of electromagnetic events throughout the universe, where short bursts of Gamma-rays travel at the speed of light.

A Gamma-ray burst from a distant source known as GRB 950830 was first observed in 1995 when the light reached earth. These rays when coming under the influence of a strong gravitational field tend to bend. The bending of light was observed by the researchers which led to the discovery of the Goldilock classification black hole.

Classification of black holes

Black holes are celestial objects of high mass density in an extremely small space. The universe has an abundance of black holes of different masses. Every galaxy contains at least one black hole. Up till now only a handful of the intermediate class black holes have been discovered and none of them have been close to the Goldilock black hole.

All black holes ever observed can be classified into two well-known categories based on their size and the gravitational force exerted. Stellar class, which is 3 to 10 the mass of our sun, is generated when a high mass star collapses. The other type is the Supermassive class, which is highly abundant in the universe and its origin is yet to be determined. Their size can be hundreds of thousands of times more than the size of the sun.

Unveiling the secrets of our universe

The Goldilock black hole can be the answer to the question of “how did the Supermassive black holes came into existence?”

Many scientists believed that Supermassive black holes originated from the Stellar class, but there is no observational or theoretical evidence to justify the theory. This intermediate class Goldilock blackhole can explain the origin of the Supermassive counterpart.

Also Read, The Curious Case Of ‘Fast Radio Bursts’ From Space Repeating Every 16 Days

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The Bedford High School’s students Ilana Ravindra and Hussein Jomaa created a visual project honoring the contributions from the African American Pioneers. They made 50 posters of Influential Black Americans who changed history and demonstrated them throughout the halls—something that was never happened on the campus of Bedford High School.

“We wanted to step up and be the change, as Gandhi once said, be the change that you see in the world and we just want to follow that and make a change,” said Jomaa.

Alongside, the students will recite a quote during the morning announcements from an African American Pioneers to start the day, three days a week.

Who is behind the Black History Month?

In 1915, Woodson traveled to Chicago to participate in the national celebration of the 50th anniversary of emancipation. After the abolition of slavery, he wanted to do something to be inspired to do more in the spirit of celebrating Black history and heritage. In February 1926, Woodson sent out the press release announcing the first Black History week. The Association officially made a shift to Black History Month in 1976, on the 50th anniversary of the first Negro History Week. 

Theme for 2021

The theme for Black History month 2021 is “Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity”. This theme will discover the African diaspora and the spread of families across the United States.

Here is a Tribute to 5 famous African American Pioneers forgotten in history:

1. Mary Ellen Pleasant (Entrepreneur and Activist)

Popular in the community for her philanthropy and public support for civil rights, this was unusual for a woman and particularly unusual for a woman of color.

2. Bessie Coleman (Pioneer Aviatrix)

She is popularly nicknamed “Queen Bess.” Coleman earned her title due to her daredevil aerial tricks and interestingly, her race and her gender became a selling point instead of a liability.

3. Jesse LeRoy Brown (Navy Pilot)

Jesse LeRoy Brown is one of the early African American pilots to join the U.S. military. He had observed that no African American citizens were in the military and questioned the same in a letter to President Roosevelt Franklin. He was profiled in both The Chicago Defender and Life.

4. Matthew Henson (Arctic Explorer)

Henson is recognized as the co-founder of the North Pole. He paved the way for success for the expedition journey to the North Pole. Henson received the Congressional Medal in 1944 and a Presidential Citation in 1950.

5. William H. Hastie (Lawyer and Judge)

He is one of the highest-ranking Black federal Judges and openly spoke about racism and segregation and support decisions that combatted them. He has left behind a legacy of record public service that only a few could better.

Also read, Black Artists’ Work Adorns the Walls of the National Gallery of Art

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With campuses deserted worldwide, most colleges and universities are still deciding if they will open for in-person classes this fall. Some are planning for the return of students, but many are putting off any final decisions until the end of 2020. Over the past few weeks, some colleges and universities throughout the United States welcomed students back to classrooms with strategies aimed at coronavirus prevention.

Similarly, the United Kingdom efforted to reopen universities in the midst of the pandemic, which could be unraveling soon. The country’s three largest universities called a halt to face-to-face teaching.

The pandemic lesson

While every college would love to be reopened in the fall, some unnoticed old behaviors can create holes that ultimately could put students at risk. More than 80 universities in the UK have reported at least 5,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among students and staff, including more than 1,000 at the University of Manchester, which announced that it was suspending in-person teaching, reported The Guardian.

University outbreaks are tied to party rituals much more than classrooms. The coronavirus spread rates at colleges and universities are frightening where sororities, fraternities and off-campus parties are some of the biggest clusters. Many universities have penalized students after violating the code of conduct regarding the coronavirus.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the state could create a “bill of rights” to protect college students who face expulsion for attending parties under COVID-19 rules.

The masked measures

A research conducted by National Public Radio reported an analysis of testing strategies at more than 1,400 institutions, which found more than two-thirds either have no clear testing plan or are only testing “at-risk” students, those who either feel sick or who have had contact with an individual who tested positive for coronavirus.

“Just 25 percent of colleges are conducting mass screening or random “surveillance” testing of students. Only 6 percent are routinely testing all of their students.”

Many elites have agreed upon the priority of reopening campuses in the fall because if colleges stay shuttered, “it’s not a question of whether intuitions will be forced to permanently close, it’s how many.” Campuses will need “rapid testing”, ways to “trace the spread” and “spaces for isolation” for students who get sick.

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Young people are experiencing a unique and challenging time. Their lives have been disrupted by a pandemic; they’ve heard a lot about social unrest in the media. In response, AT&T and CNN are collaborating to launch Youth Voices Collective, a program to support student expression and teach writing and journalism skills at a moment when young people are looking for ways to speak out.

The program ‘Youth Voices Collective’ aims to provide instruction and publishing opportunities to thousands of students across the U.S., especially those in underserved communities. 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the country, and VOX ATL, a longtime CNN collaborator that amplifies the voices of Atlanta youth have come forward as support.

Opportunities

Students participating in Youth Voices Collective will get opportunities to learn from journalists at CNN, such as Carl Azuz, anchor and writer of CNN 10. The digital news program is producing student-focused segments on balanced news reporting, scriptwriting, and on-air delivery.  The Youth Voices Collective will give students a sense of community and provide insight into how journalists objectively cover world events.

Approach

In a unique way with 826 National’s New Orleans chapter, students are posting their writing on windows, front doors, and fences for the city to read. 826 students in our chapters across the country write urgent stories about the issues in their cities and communities. In addition to its own platforms, 826 National will introduce students from its nine chapters across the U.S. to publishing opportunities with Six Feet of Separation.

As protests over social justice swept the U.S. in recent weeks, Youth Voices collaborators have seen young people’s need to express themselves grow. The world needs to hear from young people now more than ever, said Susan Landrum, executive director of VOX ATL.

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The advent of Covid-19 has caused internships across the country to be canceled, which has jeopardized on-the-job experiences for underserved youth. Understanding the situation, Walker & Dunlop, has launched a paid summer internship program for high school and college students from diverse backgrounds. The six-week program offers students the opportunity to work with leading commercial real estate firms, where live transactions will help participants gain real-world experience in digital marketing.

To build the pipeline of future leaders

The internship program will be administered by Project Destined, which has deep experience in training underserved youth. The interns will dedicate eight hours per week to working within the commercial real estate industry. In addition to building a range of technical, financial, and leadership skills, interns will participate in weekly team-based competitions. The weekly competitions will comprise presentations on multifamily transactions, offering students the opportunity to collaborate with real estate professionals on real-world scenarios. The program will culminate in a Shark Tank-style finale, in which each team of interns will present a digital marketing plan to industry leaders.

Project Destined is a social impact education and investment non-profit with projects in Detroit, Memphis, London, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, as well as the Bronx and Baltimore. Partners and also integral to the internship experience are REPLI, a full-service property tech company providing software solutions to owners of multifamily properties, and REIRail, a real estate lead generation, and business education platform.

A guide for racial and social justice

Walker & Dunlop remains committed to diversifying the commercial real estate industry, and this partnership with Project Destined will help build a pipeline of future leaders.

“Racial and social justice in America begins with education and opportunity.  These internships provide a unique educational experience, along with access to industry leaders, that will transform the career opportunities for these interns,” stated Willy Walker, Walker & Dunlop’s Chairman and CEO.

Opportunity and access are often denied when those in power don’t recognize talent when it doesn’t look like them. Corporate America needs guides who have roots in black and brown communities. Project Destined is providing that guidance and helping to cement a pipeline into those organizations.

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Educating through “Head, Heart, and Hands” has been a hallmark of Waldorf educators for decades. The concept at the back of the phrase is that gaining knowledge should involve the whole human being and be based totally on applicable and multi-sensory experiences that engage and inspire every student.

With schools shuttered worldwide and maximum college students now studying at home, how are Waldorf schools continuing to engage the entire child? What does experiential learning appears outside the classroom?

Learning comes into play

Waldorf educators are rising to the challenging task before them, adapting and operating creatively to not longer just deliver curriculum but also to ensure students continue to feel safe, welcomed, supported, and a part of a greater learning community. While distance studying may be more suited towards providing short period memory learning such as facts, vocabulary lists, or math worksheets. Waldorf educators continue to delve on applying and linking learning concept to wider stories. Maintaining this hallmark of the Waldorf curriculum is where creativity with distance learning comes into play.

Take for example how 7th-grade history students at many Waldorf schools are learning about the Age of Exploration and are receiving assignments to choose and study an explorer online. The remainder of the lesson is an experiential offline assignment, including a written and illustrated biography to be published in major lesson books. Additionally, the Portland Waldorf School, students are involved in the creation of a board game each outlining and gamifying the trips made via their explorer of choice.

Language arts training at the Aurora Waldorf School include pandemic journals for class 7 and 8 students, to be designed with the information of what the sort of journal could require to be at some point used as historical primary source material.

In-house skills development

Math instances tables can still be tied to leaping rope; fractions and units of measure to cooking; geometry to hand-drawn geometric forms; and platonic solids to 3-d modeling all with easy materials sent to or located in students’ homes.

While care in curriculum addresses the head and hands, the heart preserves an equal priority and Waldorf schools and teachers have found new ways to focus on community and connection. Resources for parents are an integral part of the community support offered by faculties and frequently include supportive instructions, songs, crafts, and other online resources parents may need to enhance both learning time and unstructured playtime at home.

Experiential education is at its heart. It adapts and innovates around students’ unique learning strengths and needs. As such, it is no wonder that Waldorf educators have taken distance learning in stride and that examples of revolutionary curriculum delivery and network-building carry on and expand in our communities as school closures continue.

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From school closures to isolation, to a persistent sense of fear and anxiety, the effects of this pandemic are impacting childhoods worldwide. To dwarf the situation, UNICEF and Microsoft Corp. united for the expansion of a global learning platform to help children and youth affected by COVID-19 continue their education at home. The Learning Passport is designed to provide education for displaced and refugee children through a country-level curriculum for children and youth whose schools have been forced to close due to COVID-19. The platform promises key resources to teachers and educators.

Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “We need to come together and explore every avenue to keep children learning and help them through this difficult time.”

With long-term partners like Microsoft, UNICEF is able to swiftly deploy innovative, scalable solutions for children and youth. The adaptations made to the platform are a powerful reminder of what can be achieved together for children as the crisis deepens globally.

No border solutions for no border COVID-19’s impact

UNESCO reported, 1.57 billion students have been affected by school closures in more than 190 countries worldwide. The Learning Platform has been in development for the past 18 months due to start as a pilot program this year. Now due to the global pandemic hit and schools were closed worldwide, the program underwent a rapid expansion of its reach. Now all countries with a curriculum capable of being taught online will be able to facilitate online learning for children and youth with devices at home.

Students continuing their education online can do so through a country-specific platform, accessed via their country’s learning passport.unicef.org page. The platform provides a digitized curriculum with textbooks and a selection of supplemental content, in country-wise national languages, that is jointly curated at the country-level to best serve learners’ and educators’ specific needs.

The platform “Learning Passport” is part of the Generation Unlimited Global Breakthrough on Remote Learning and Work that aims to use technology to address challenges faced by learners, facilitators, and education providers, particularly in conflict-affected and humanitarian contexts.

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The current coronavirus pandemic has driven students to the edge of the financial crisis. Student Loan Hero commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey of 1,052 full-time college students. The survey found 81% of full-time college and university students are facing financial difficulties. More than a quarter having trouble paying bills or feeding themselves.

The alarming data in the report suggests that the current coronavirus pandemic may be disproportionately affecting college students of color.

Reported Black and Hispanic students were facing a much higher level of food and housing insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic than their white peers. Specifically, 33% of black students were having trouble affording food costs, and 22% struggled with housing expenses.

Rebecca Safier, the report’s lead researcher said, “In those same categories, the figures were 36% and 18% respectively, for Hispanic students. By comparison, 21% of white students reported suffering from food insecurity, and 14% faced housing issues.”

To cope with some of the unique challenges, more than one-third of students (36%) are taking on additional debt, over 17% reported amassing credit card debt, and 16% said they had to borrow additional student loans.

Moreover, student loan borrowers (47%) were more likely to take on additional debt than those without student loans (19%). And students who identified as either black or Hispanic were much more likely to be taking on debt (48%) than white students (29%).

Additional Key Findings

• Not only black, but Hispanic students have higher levels of food and housing (36% and 18% respectively), compared to their white counterparts.
  
• About 1 in 4 students lost their job due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
  
• More than one-third of students are taking on debt to cope with losses caused by the pandemic. Over 17% reported amassing credit card debt, and 16% said they had to borrow additional student loans.
  
• Black and Hispanic students were much more likely to be taking on debt (48%) to deal with the crisis than their white peers (29%).
  
• Almost half (49%) of graduating seniors think the pandemic will impact their chances of finding a job after graduation. And nearly 51% of all students said they felt less prepared to enter the workforce because of COVID-19.
  
• Most students (77%) want at least partial student loan forgiveness from the government. This number was higher among women than men (81% versus 74%) and highest among student loan borrowers (84%).

Also Read, 5 Reasons To Feel Optimistic About Coronavirus

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As the world shifts to a new way of working and learning, it needs new solutions, which will significantly improve the way we communicate with one another. Powtoon is offering its tools and guides that will change the way people conduct and experience remote learning and remote working. 

The new tools, along with Powtoon’s video creation capabilities, allow for the easy and seamless creation of training videos for learning and development, internal communications, business presentations, product launches, digital and broadcast ads, explainer videos, and educational materials for the classroom.

The entire world is adapting to the new work- and learn-from-home reality. Businesses, managers, teachers, and educational institutions have been forced to change how they teach and function and companies are relying more than ever on effective internal communication to keep remote-working team members updated and engaged.

Remote learning and remote working

The challenge, however, is that students and employees quickly become overloaded, inattentively spending hours in video calls while multitasking, leaving managers and educators unable to effectively communicate with their audiences.

The video creation and visual communication platform, Powtoon launched its remote learning and working tools that enable users to convey their message and value in an attention-grabbing way, changing the way viewers consume material.

Powtoon’s platform allows users to create professional videos, presentations, and other visual communications quickly on their own, without design or technical skills, using its library of characters, props, stock images and footage, ready-made templates, and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to suit any occasion.

In addition to the new tools, Powtoon is making it easier than ever to get started with the following:

• Removing all content limitations from free Powtoon plans for charities, nonprofit organizations, and government bodies through June 30
• Classroom education plans will now be free through June 30
• Reducing the price of Powtoon Pro+ annual plans by 50%
• Offering special plans for large corporations through the duration of the crisis

Ilya Spitalnik, Founder of Powtoon comments, “Keeping students and employees engaged is more important than ever and Powtoon is the perfect tool for that.”

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