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Jennifer Small-Huynh



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Orange is Green! April 2009 Press Release

Orange is Green
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gene X. Hwang (415) 255-7478 x820

Just In Time For Earth Day:
Orange Is Green!

San Francisco, CA – On April 13th 2009, Orange Photography was officially certified
“green” by the San Francisco Department of the Environment’s Green Business
Program, making them the only recognized “green” photography studio in the city
and county of San Francisco.

The process began in 2008 when founders Gene X. Hwang and Jack Huynh
applied for their green audit. The criteria included compliance with environmental
regulations, conservation efforts, and pollution prevention. They also had to show
green initiatives that benefit their employees, clients, community, and the growth of
their business:

• 80% of the studio’s employees walk or bike to work.
• The Orange workplace is anti-waste and environmentally friendly.
• By going green the company has lowered costs: two examples include
green transactions (e.g., online paperless and postage-less billing
and online image galleries).
• Clients reduce their environmental impact by receiving “digital
souvenirs” such as free-image downloads for event attendees and web
slideshows.

“Our photography is cutting edge, as is the way we do business and address
social responsibility as a company,” says CEO Gene Hwang. Along with their green
campaign, the company also has a Social Photography program that has served 60+
non-profit organizations in the Bay Area over the past eight years.

About Orange Photography
Orange Photography is a full service agency providing corporate, wedding, and
lifestyle photography. They have been serving the Bay Area for 8 years, and are
located at 1261 Howard Street.

Supporting Website Links
Orange Photography
San Francisco Green Business

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Orange Photography Success Story: Louise Jardell, Events Manager for the San Jose Museum of Art

Taken by Team Orange

taken by Team Orange

Challenge

Event Manager for the San Jose Museum of Art, Louise Jardell, was brought on board to create a revenue-generating department to promote the Museum as a special events venue. She needed a portfolio that expressed the ambiance of the space, as well as photography that complimented the Museum’s contemporary presence in the art community.

Louise first worked with Orange Photography in 2004. At that time a client personally hired Orange to shoot an event held at the Museum. While working with Orange at this and future events, Louise saw how Orange was capturing the Museum, and recognized that she could collaborate with them to convey exactly what she was looking for in regard to creating a promotional portfolio for the Museum. From there the relationship took on a new depth and dimension.

Solution

Promotional Portfolio
Orange’s solution was to produce a promotional portfolio from the archived images of previous events held at the Museum, delivered in the form of an elegant Asuka Coffee Book. Now used by Louise to sell the Museum as a venue, she explains, “It is the main tool that we use, other than the site visit, to sell the client on the use of the facility. It’s very much an integral part of our sales process.” Louise also sends her clients an Orange Photography produced CD compilation of images.

Event Documentation
Another form of collaborative work Orange does for the Museum, is documentation of the design and production of specific events. When Apple Computer used the Fairmont Plaza and Museum to host 1,200 people for an employee appreciation event, Louise shares, “We used Orange to document the set up and the actual event. We now have that as a record to show other clients who are interested in using that space, just how we orchestrate the production of that type of a large event.”

Client Referrals
Louise also refers Orange to corporate clients who are looking for photography services & coverage. “Many of our corporate clients are looking for on-site photography, either for candids or in the form of photo stations, where the client is looking to give a gift to attendees the night of the event . Orange prints these on-site. We are happy to refer because Orange is easy to work with. They are very professional and artistic in their presentations.”

Result

The results for Louise have been the ease of using one source for a variety of photography needs. For the San Jose Museum of Art, Orange Photography not only creates promotional collateral (i.e., portfolios and marketing CD compilations), but also supplies photography coverage for Museum clients. Orange Photography’s diversity and professionalism gives event managers and planners, like Louise, the ability to create a professional relationship with one studio that produces high quality photography and deliverables.

“We particularly like the fact that they are attentive to the clients that we recommend to them, that they respond quickly and appropriately, and always have very professional photographers on-site who make working the event together very easy.” ~ Louise Jardell, Events Manager for the San Jose Museum of Art.

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INTESCI: Journal of the College of Science & Engineering


NASA Expeditionary Learning for San Francisco State Pre-Service Science & Mathematics Teachers

Each night, strong winds crashed against the loose window frames of an adobe-style dormitory building in a remote section of the Mojave Desert.  A series of Pacific storms pushed cold fronts across Southeastern California, reaching this desert setting as chilling, arid blasts. The Zzyzx Desert Studies Center, located 60 miles east from Barstow on a winding dirt road, is a field station of the California State University system that accommodates up to 75 individuals. It sits just west of a desolate lake bed called Soda Dry Lake, framed by flat terrain ringed by parched mountains that appear purple in the distance. This stark setting served as a backdrop for a lively field tip, the Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 expedition, attended by the top planetary scientists, biologists, and geologists in the nation and by future science and math teachers from San Francisco State University. Their goal? To study life in extreme environments while inspiring better science education for California’s children.

By day 14 SFSU students—each working in a certificate or degree program to become a math or science teacher—met with a variety of specialized scientists whose work is supported by NASA. Dr. Chris McKay, for example, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames in Mountain View, lead the expedition. Dr. Penny Boston, a microbiologist from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, came to collect samples of microbial life living in extreme conditions. Together, the 33 Spaceward Bound members hiked up extinct volcanoes, explored a ‘field’ of ancient lava tubes, and collected samples of heat-seared crust from the desert floor. Both the researchers and their student counterparts were carrying out “Mars analog” research for our nation’s space agency. They used the extreme Mojave environment as an analog for extraterrestrial habitats and studied the adaptations of earthly microorganisms for clues as to how life may once have lived on Mars. Armed with such information about our planer’s toughest survivors, NASA scientists hope to design better remote experiments for their Mars missions.

On day two of the four-day expedition, April 7th, 2008, in the unforgiving midday sun, scientists and students sat at a crustal site on the desert floor trying to come up with a remedy for a malfunctioning device. Ashley Gam, a student in the science teacher credential program, recalls, “The device was supposed to measure the thickness of the crust, and to quantify that, it measured the amount of force necessary to break the crust.” Unfortunately, the device proved too weak for the task. In the spirit of ingenuity everyone tossed out ideas and searched around for makeshift materials to add weight to an attached bucket; sand, rock, even quarters from their own pockets. “The bucket they had wasn’t big enough,’ Gam continues, “so they tried using rocks, but they couldn’t fit them in the bucket. They partially solved this problem by using sand, which used all the space in the bucket. They then bagged the sand in zip lock bags and weighed it back at the camp.”

On day three of the expedition, April 8th, 2008, two vans full of students, scientists, and equipment, headed west from Zzyzx for a drive to Pisgah Crater. While passing through the Kelso Dune area, white sand sporadically wiped away remnants of the road and high winds raked the sides of the vehicles. Once in view of the Pisgah cinder cone, the surrounding landscape was sprinkled with small volcanoes stretching toward the horizon. We ventured up to a vista point for a briefing on geology, but walking up a steep slope of crumbling pumice stone proved its own challenge. Most of us slipped and dug into the person’s footprints in front of us to avoid skidding down. Our efforts were rewarded by a panoramic view of the Lavic Lake volcanic field. And spreading directly below the vista point we could see Pisgah’s long-solidified lava flow, scattered with large, cave like holes that turned out to be nearly 200 lava tubes.

Together we ventured into a specified tube site to look for life living in this desiccated environment. We also retrieved thermography equipment that had been collecting data on site for four days. Stephanie Cunningham, a biology major at SFSU who will begin the teacher credential program in 2009, recounts her experience in one of the lava tubes, “I took three samples. Penny Boston had a number of people do that so she had multiple samples from the same site. I’ve never done fieldwork like that before. I’ve taken samples in a lab environment where it’s very controlled. Here we were balancing on rocks in caves!”

Experiences like these were exactly the intent of the expedition’s sponsors, SFSU’s Center for Science and Mathematics Education (CSME) and NASA’s Education Division.
These groups plan to continue offering expeditionary learning opportunities to students preparing to be science and math teachers (also called, pre-service teachers) at SFSU and other California State University (CSU) affiliated colleges. Jan Mokros, CSME Director, explained how the program is funded, “The Chancellor’s office has given each of the CSU’s an allocation to develop a cadre of teachers. We used some of that money to pay for the NASA trip and we’ll do that for a future tip to Mount Lassen as well.” To “grow the program substantially,” Mokros says that NASA has submitted an internal proposal for further funding. If granted, NASA’s Spaceward Bound program will invite SFSU students on future expeditions planned for Canada, Australia, and the Arctic.

Jan Mokros became the Director of CSME in September of 2007 in an effort to research and address current problems surrounding science and mathematics teaching in California – problems that are part of a national trend. The rate of attrition for high school science and math teachers within four years of starting the profession is nearly 40% nationally. The percentages who quit are higher in economically disadvantaged districts. In addition, more than 66 percent of CSU students who begin degree programs in Science and Engineering drop out and choose other majors before graduation. Because so many students drop out of university science programs, and because so many new teachers become dissatisfied with their teaching experience, the number of credentialed science and math teachers is woefully lacking. The mission of CSME is to find successful remedies.

Jan Mokros hopes that by creating programs to stimulate interest in teaching science and mathematics, CSME will provide a support system and network of aspiring teachers. She and others have designed assessments to evaluate the new programs over the next five years to see if they will successfully generate more teachers and lower attrition rates from the profession. Mokros explains, “We have a data gathering effort that’s broader then these programs to just find out what happens to science majors. How many of them are interested in teaching? Where do they go after they leave San Francisco State? The whole idea of documenting them and following them is important, but then also there is a more qualitative part on what do they get out of the experiences.” Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 was the first time CSME or SFSU offered an expeditionary learning program.

Well in advance of such assessments, students on the expedition felt the program was extremely useful. Stephanie Cunningham first heard about Spaceward Bound Mojave 2008 while involved in SFSU’s Math and Science Teaching Initiative program (MSTI), which is part of CSME. She applied for the expedition and was selected as one of the fourteen student participants. Reflecting on the experience and how it affected her outlook on teaching, she explains, “This was a life-changing experience for me.” She feels she can speak more knowledgeably about the nature of scientific fieldwork and thinks the experience will give her more credibility in the eyes of her students.

Another benefit of expeditionary learning is creating a supportive atmosphere for learning about science. Students expressed a sense of connection to the scientists and feel they now have a resource to use when science and educational questions arise for them in their classrooms. The students –most of who will be working in Bay Area school districts—also look forward to having a network of like-minded colleagues. “I think the expedition was effective because we got to know each other personally and we worked together,” Cunningham explains. “We talked about why we want to teach from different points of view and different points of science. If I’m lucky,” she adds, “I may work with some of these people one day!”

Regarding the affect of this program on pre-service teaching students, Mokros predicts, “My hypothesis is that there are two changes that are going to be the most salient: one, feeling a part of these educational communities, and two, having a better understanding of the nature of science.” It is important, she continues, to look beyond the steps of the scientific methods taught in science. Teachers and students benefit from understanding the actual “messier process” of science in the field and laboratory that involves creativity, hunches, false leads, and collaboration.

As far as using expeditionary learning as a model, Mokros explains, “It’s not all of science, but I think it’s a very powerful kind of science for teachers to be involved in, because there’s so much you can see and experience. Working in the lab sometimes takes a much longer period of time, and it’s harder to see.” Most participating students also had some familiarity with lab work from their science courses. An expedition, Mokros adds, is another way to broaden their experience and allow them to feel the adventure of discovery that is often not communicated in the sciences.

How long the Spaceward Bound program continues will depend on future funding, Mokros says. CSME’s funding is “solid for the next few years.”

Written by Jennifer Small
originally posted 5/24/08

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realize3D | Legal Overview

realize3dPresent effective and complex evidence with realize3D models and strengthen your next case. Our physical models help tell your story.

A physical representation of complex legal arguments creates a clear, persuasive, and memorable foundation that elucidates the heart of the evidence.

Compelling evidence that is viewable and tangible for the court, sends a strong message to opposing counsel and decision makers that you have prepared a competent case.

People learn better when a visual representation compliments the verbal explanation. Seeing a model of the evidence work -or fail- augments understanding of the issue. Models can be used to take witness ‘theory’ and either prove, or disprove, credibility.

Visual demonstratives help produce successes in legal briefs, Markman hearings, focus groups, settlement hearings, and trials. Whether you are consulting with experts, or litigating a class-action case, models have a large range of applications. realize3D models are cost-effective and compliment images, animations, photos, text, and depositions.

As our client, you have access to your product anytime, anywhere, via our secure, password-protected website. All work is quickly within your reach for real time review, and downloadable to your office or trial war room.

realize3D works to make your evidence understood.

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Editing Excerpt from Chapter 5: Teaching in Japan

Keiko Fukuda Sensei

I arrived in the port of Nagoya after traveling to Japan on a cargo ship named the Teinsin. I traveled by train to Tokyo Central Station where Kitaoka Sensei greeted me warmly with a beautiful smile. After getting my luggage into a taxi, Kitaoka Sensei took me to a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn, just across the road from the Kodokan Judo Institute.

I first met Keiko Fukuda Sensei in 1964 and I will always remember her kindness when I arrived in Japan. We established an immediate rapport. The morning after I arrived, Keiko Fukuda greeted me and introduced herself. I was extremely honored to meet her. She assisted me while I moved my luggage by taxi to a boarding house ran by Donn F. Draeger, then the Chief Instructor of the Foreign Students Division of the Kodokan. The boarding house was located in the Ichigaya district of Tokyo.

As fast as I could catch my breath and grab my judogi, Fukuda Sensei whizzed me off to the Kodokan Judo Institute. After a quick introduction to several instructors, she proceeded to enroll me and take care of all formalities. I could not speak or write Japanese, so Sensei filled in the details for me. Soon after, I found myself bowing in for the commencement of Shochugeiko: the summer training course conducted on the hottest, most humid days of the Japanese summer.

The women’s division area was packed to capacity with female students from all prefectures of Japan and two foreign students: myself and Sheila Mainland from Canada. I was extremely pleased to meet Sheila and have someone to speak English with. We soon became good friends. Sheila was kind enough to brief me on the rules and regulations at the Kodokan, such as dojo etiquette, or Reigisaho, which is the first essential training for students aspiring to become black belts, also called Yudansha…

Written by Pat Harrington

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Yoga Bear Grant

yogabeartitle_stretched

Note

This document was created during Yoga Bear’s inception. The content no longer reflects the current organization’s goals or intentions.

Executive Summary

Yoga Bear is a volunteer based non-profit 501(c)(3) that incorporated in December 2006 in San Francisco, California. Founder and Executive Director, Halle Tecco, envisioned a synergistic way to bring yoga studios and instructors together with cancer patients and survivors, to offer free yoga instruction in the Bay Area. Yoga Bear has provided on-site classes to constituents at Kaiser Permenante, for events Like Relay For Life that is hosted by The American Cancer Society, and at Shanti’s L.I.F.E. Institute. Currently they work with 22 Bay Area yoga studios. To date, approximately 300 participants lives have been touched by this program. Yoga Bear also volunteers assistance for studios creating their own programs that offer free non-registration, on-site yoga classes for cancer patients and survivors. Yoga Bear, through their devotion to the well-being of cancer patients and survivors during and after treatment, creates a supportive community for its constituents.

Yoga Bear’s efforts to bring yoga studios in contact with the cancer community not only enhances the quality of life for the constituents, but also helps studios become exemplary role models within their own communities. Providing yoga instruction to those with limited incomes, due to treatment costs, is Yoga Bear’s top priority. Because of the success of the program, Halle Tecco is seeking funding to hire a Program Director with prior non-profit experience, particularly in the field of cancer and wellness programs. On behalf of Yoga Bear, she is seeking funding of $$$ to fill this part-time position.

Organizational Information

While interning at Columbia Hospital – St. Luke’s Roosevelt, Halle Tecco, Yoga Bear Founder, read an article about research concerning how yoga can benefit cancer patients. Now a financial analyst, Halle explains:

I naturally thought about the marginal costs involved in studios offering free spaces to those who could or would not have participated otherwise. It would cost a studio virtually nothing, yet make such a difference in someone’s life!

Because wellness programs like yoga are not covered by insurance; because of the heavy financial burden of cancer treatment; and because of the ease with which yoga studios can be involved, Halle created Yoga Bear.

The Bay Area proved to be the perfect location to start this innovative organization. Most recently Yoga Bear has extended to include two sister chapters in New York City and Washington D.C. Within a year it established 20 participating studios in the Bay Area and four studios in the newest addition in Washington D.C. By creating a collective of participating yoga studios, Yoga Bear offers convenient locations for its constituents.

Recipients must complete a screening process managed by Annie Valente, Participant Coordinator, to attain acceptance into the Yoga Bear program. First the recipient must fill out a “participation form” which in turn must be completed and signed by her or his physician. Once the screening process is complete, the recipient is matched up with the closest participating studio location. Miyoko Nida, a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Survivor and Yoga Bear recipient, shares:

I am delighted to become a recipient of your service at Yoga Bear! I thank all of you for donating your time and energy to help cancer patients and survivors. I believe that yoga can benefit a cancer patient and survivor in many ways. Community building, physical as well as emotional support, and nurturing is essential to the healing process from cancer.

Yoga Bear has four board members: Halle Tecco, Founder and Executive Director; Kelly McGonigal, PhD Advisor and Yoga expert who teaches Yoga and Psychology at Stanford University, who offers support, advise, and contacts; Megan Keane, Yoga Instructor and Advisor with a BA from UC Berkeley, who teaches yoga to Yoga Bear participants; and Susan Tenby, an Advisor who is a 10-year cancer survivor and yoga enthusiast who connects Yoga Bear to local support groups and hospitals.

Volunteers include Michelle Wong, Event Coordinator, who manages community outreach and organizes charity yoga classes; Annie Valente, Participant Coordinator and medical student at UCSF, who screens patients for participation eligibility; Jennie Sikora, Intern Coordinator / Marketing Director and marketing and communication student at San Francisco State University, who solicits yoga studios for donations; Jeff Hammerbacher, Technology, who created and monitors the Yoga Bear website; and Emily Tan who serves as Community Outreach Coordinator.

Yoga Bear currently has 3 interns: Becky Tsang, Public Health Intern and student of Public Health at UC Berkeley, who markets programs to hospitals and support groups and is a participant recruiter, Kat Chen, and Wendy Chew. Chapter Directors are Michelle Robins, New York City Chapter and graduate of NY College of Pediatric Medicine, and Tracey Klien of the Washington D.C. Chapter.

Financial support has been contributed by the Western Athletic Club. Yoga Bear’s dedication to providing cancer patients and survivors with more opportunities for wellness and healing through the practice of yoga was the perfect compliment to WAC’s philanthropic mission statement, “We Enhance People’s Lives.” WAC was created in 1977 and is an established leader of wellness on the West Coast.

Other individual contributors are: Roger Saad, for legal advice; Andrea Stern from Satori Yoga who gives continued support and donation of space; Beth Steinberg, private donator; The Women’s Cancer Resource Center; Dr. Meg Jordan; Charlotte Maxwell Clinic; and Dr. Timothy McCall.

Statement of Need/Problem Statement

The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 Statistical Abstract web page, under Health Conditions and Diseases (172 Cancer—Estimated New Cases and Deaths by State 2007), shows that California’s New Cases of cancer in 2007 were estimated at 151, 300. Yoga Bear focuses on this community to offer a yoga lifestyle to supplement recovery and post-treatment. Even for those who will not fully recover from cancer, during treatment, yoga can offer alleviation of symptoms and relieve discomforts associated with treatment. A study done by Bower, Woolery, Sternlieb, and Garet supports evidence that yoga is benefiting cancer patients and being brought into their medical treatment:

Positive effects were reported in a variety of outcomes, including sleep quality, mood, stress, cancer-related distress, cancer-related symptoms, and overall quality of life, as well as functional and physiologic measures. As evidence for yoga interventions in cancer care accumulates, yoga is being incorporated into cancer programs and national symptom management guidelines.

For post-treatment patients and survivors of cancer it is important to be a part of a supportive community. It benefits them to engage in a physical routine that is gentle and accommodating for whatever level of recovery and strength they have at the time of involvement, with their physician’s approval. Concerning cancer treatment decisions, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has posted on its website information regarding yoga as a supplement to cancer treatment:

According to a report to the National Institutes of Health, there is also some evidence to suggest yoga may be useful when used along with conventional medical treatment to help relieve some of the symptoms linked to cancer…

Because the American Cancer Society and the National Institute of Health acknowledges the use of yoga as a companion to cancer treatment, this illustrates that there is a population of patients who seek information regarding this alternative. The ACS goes on to say , “Some cancer treatment centers even offer yoga in addition to standard medical treatment,” and that, “There is some evidence which shows that yoga can lower stress, increase strength, and provide a good form of exercise.”

Having cancer bears financial hardships (i.e., loss or suspension of employment, and health care costs), and because wellness programs like yoga are not covered under insurance it can be difficult for cancer patients to use their resources to participate in a yoga routine. This is more evident for low-income patients who have less financial means and higher socioeconomic stress factors related to the development of cancer. There are limited resources about yoga available to patients who might find this type of wellness care beneficial for their healing process.

To date, Yoga Bear has given 23 recipients (21 females and 2 males) one to six month yoga memberships for participating Bay Area yoga studios. Most constituents, approximately 300, have received yoga instruction through the previously mentioned on-site classes. Yoga Bear is still in it’s infancy. Because of the large number of cancer patients and survivors in the Bay Area, the amount of studio’s donating their space, the amount of interested participants, and the opening of the NYC, Chicago, and Washington D.C chapters, we are seeking funding to create a part-time Program Director position. We feel it is time to move forward with this to address the needs of our growing organization.

Goal

To provide cancer patients and survivors with the opportunity for wellness and healing through the practice of yoga.

Objectives:

• To hire a part-time Program Director by January 1, 2009.
• To give 65 new recipients 6 month memberships to participating yoga studios.
• To offer 40% more on-site classes within the next year.

Outcomes:

• Create the position of Program Director to run and manage participant and studio outreach, and to manage new chapters. The person who fills this position will be helping to establish a foundation for a Bay Area Headquarters. This will entail Yoga Bear to manage all programs, and reach constituents, more effectively.
• By generating 65 new recipients, we hope to serve a larger number of constituents who do not have the extra income to partake in a yoga routine.
• We plan on offering more classes at Kaiser Permenante, for the American Cancer Society,at L&LS, at Mount Sainai (NYC), and at Shanti to give more constituents the chance to practice yoga.

Methods

Since its inception, Yoga Bear has established a base foundation from which they aspire to expand from. To increase its reach into the community, it will:
• Create and fill the position for Program Director.
• Create effective outreach collateral.
• Inform the public through education and awareness.
By making these changes, it will be able to recruit more participants and increase productivity.

A) Staffing Yoga Bear
Yoga Bear has successfully run on 100% volunteer staffing since its inception. To expand Yoga Bear’s efforts, hired staff will be required in the next year. One part-time employee will act as Program Director. Because they are still a young organization, one person is sufficient to fulfill the responsibilities required at this time. The Program Director will manage San Francisco staff and outreach programs. This person will have to be a person who leads a yoga lifestyle or who shows interest in becoming involved in a yoga community. To address outreach activities, such as generating more participants, studio involvement, promotional writing, and educational outreach, Yoga Bear will hire stipend interns. Internships will last 6 months to introduce fresh faces and ideas into Yoga Bear bi-annually, while giving the intern a long enough experience to feel involved with the constituents and the organization.

To hire a Program Director they intend to put a posting on craigslist, and in Bay Area newspapers. In addition, to find interns, Yoga Bear will use SFSU’s Community Involvement Center which they are already an existent member of. Hiring of the Program Director will be handled by Yoga Bear Board Members. The first stipend internships will be offered to existing Yoga Bear interns and thereafter chosen by the Program Director.

B) Outreach Collateral
In order to generate a higher rate of participation, a new plan concerning written outreach and community involvement will be established. For support groups and events like Relay for Life, professionally written brochures and/or flyers expressing Yoga Bears mission, program information, and call to action, will be managed by Jennie Sikora, Marketing Director. 1,000 brochures and flyers are the estimated number for the remainder of this year. These will be distributed by those who volunteer for events.

C) Public Awareness Web Project
Yoga bear has created the first online resource center addressing research done in the field of yoga and its benefits for cancer patients. It is looking to expand the site to include more informative articles and scholarly journals and to inform the public of yoga benefits. This site will support caregivers, patients, physicians, yoga studios, and the general public. Time invested in this project will require research, further web development, web content, analytics, and a blog for participants.

D) Increase Participation
The intended target audience is the full spectrum of cancer patients and survivors–specifically those who have lower incomes. Physician involvement to refer Yoga Bear to patients, who otherwise may not be familiar with yoga, will be an integral part of generating higher participation numbers. Interested community support groups and related cancer organizations will also bear an affective voice for generating more participants.

Yoga Bear Timeline

1. Board Members will re-evaluate the program to identify a cohesive plan of responsibilities and duties that the new position of Program Director will require. (1 month)
2. Halle Tecco will lead hiring of new Program Director. She will place ads, follow up inquiries, screen applicants, and do the first round of interviews. Secondary interviews will be held by a meeting with all Board Members. After applicants have succeeded through both interviews, the board will decide, as a whole, which will acquire the position. (6 months)
3. New Program Director will meet with the 3 current interns to figure out if they would like to extend their time with Yoga Bear into the first stipend internships. Whomever decides to stay will be brought into the 6 month stipend internship. It will be the Program Director’s responsibility to fill remaining internship positions, with final approval from Halle Tecco. (expected within first 6 months of Program Directors hiring- 2nd half of fiscal year)
4. Create written collateral for outreach programs. Decide who will write and design collateral internally. Find company to print materials. (3 months)
5. Complete website construction with 10 new research articles, testimonial page, and blog for participants. Jeff Hammerbacher will work with Halle Tecco concerning design and presentation of information on the website. He will also create the new blog function. Interns will research articles and interview participants for testimonial page. (9 months)
6. Reach our goal of 65 new cancer patient and participants. (12 months)
7. Do an evaluation to assess successes and areas that need work (Final month)

EVALUATION

Halle Tecco and the Program Director will perform Yoga Bears evaluation. Halle will generate a budget report, an analytics report concerning website trends, and evaluation of grants received and fund raising efforts. The Program Director will submit an evaluation of volunteers and interns; participant numbers and statistics describing attrition and number of classes taken; satisfaction with program; Studio attrition and satisfaction; and a written report addressing Outreach tactics (which are effective and ineffective). They will then meet with the remaining Board Members to discuss proper steps to take concerning areas that are not successful and how to amplify those which are.

Currently Yoga Bear is ran on 100% volunteer work. Revenue will increase over the next year from grant proposal submissions, individual donors, and yoga classes offered in the Bay Area for a $10 donation. Sustainability will be included in our evaluation.

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Mains Associates Project: Joan Vernikos Bio

g-connectioncoverDr. Joan Vernikos is a published author, public speaker, entrepreneur, and consultant. She is the former Director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division (1993-2000) and President of Thirdage, LCC.

Based on the international success of her first book, The G-Connection: Harness Gravity and Reverse Aging, she again is pursuing her passion for communicating the social and health benefits of space research to the general public with a follow up “how-to” guide. This sequel provides readers with ways of adapting their lifestyle by using gravity efficiently to stay healthy and maintain an active life.

Dr. Vernikos also writes editorials and columns about her research on stress, space, and gravity for various magazines like Muscle & Fitness and Popular Science. Her writings and lectures focus on her 30 years of pioneering NASA laboratory research at California’s NASA Ames Research Center, dating from 1964 when she was recruited as the first scientist to explore the effects of stress on astronauts.

She later studied the effects of gravity reduction on healthy men and women who volunteered for a long-term bed rest research project. Vernikos reflects, “It seemed to me that the countermeasure treatments to spaceflight effects we were testing on astronauts, and our bed rest volunteers, could also be applied to all of us to delay, prevent, or even reverse many of the symptoms we commonly associate with old aging.”

Dr. Vernikos’s uniqueness in her field as a sought after public speaker is based not only on her highly regarded research, but on her charisma and ability to communicate complex science into understandable terms. She speaks to an array of audiences from the informed public to Congressional Representatives. Examples include Stanford’s Café Scientifique; The National Academy of Science’s Space Studies Board Town Hall Meeting in Washington D.C.; The Aerospace State Association Conference in Denver, Colorado presented to 450 science teachers; several American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) group functions; the 1995 World Economic Forum; and the Executive Women’s Roundtable.

Dr. Joan Vernikos is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, The Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences, The Advisory Committee for Human Spaceflight, and The Microgravity and Exploration Board of the European Space Agency. She is space editor for Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, and holds several patents including one for the human-powered centrifuge.

Originally published July 28th, 2008

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