Finding Scholarships for Your College Major

My oldest son is at the end of his junior year of high school. He’s been attending college fairs, he’s scheduled to take his SATs, and he knows what he wants to go to college for, and even which college. He’s looking at biology with a fisheries major. His ultimate career goal would be to work for the fish and game commission.

We found out that in Pennsylvania, there is only one school that offers this major as an undergrad program and it’s Mansfield University. I’ve asked for guidance from other parents who have recently been through the college application process (it really is overwhelming). Also doing my own searching and education has yielded some results. Of course the hope is always that maybe he’ll qualify for a some grants and/or scholarships.

If we take my son’s fishery major as an example. I started doing searches for scholarships, fisheries scholarships, and scholarships specific to Mansfield University. I was actually surprised to find several. One of which was the Ralph Abele Conservation Scholarship that includes several conservation majors in Pennsylvania including fisheries. I was able to find this buy searching the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat commission website. I also found that many colleges and university have scholarship funds set up from donations and trusts specific to the university and even majors. There are scholarships geared towards auto mechanics out there too. If fixing damaged cars is your thing, there’s scholarships out there for you.

There are scholarships that anyone can apply for but are lesser-known like the Melvin Brewing Scholarship. This scholarship is for students who are currently enrolled either full-time or part-time in a college or university. Melvin Brewing Company also does a fair amount of Philanthropy work around Jackson Hole, Wyoming and beyond.

This post is sponsored by Diamond Links.

Affordable Family Fun: Johnstown Tomahawks Games + tips when attending the game

A couple years ago, I was looking for something to do with the kids. I asked the little ones if they had any interest in going to a Johnstown Tomahawks hockey game. They said, yea sure. For some reason I found that the tickets were actually cheaper through Tickemaster than buying them directly from the 1st Summit Arena site, like half the price cheaper.

I was able to get really good seats, 2nd row from the glass seats, for $13 for adults and I think it was $10 for the kids. I wasn’t a huge hockey fan, but it was something to do. I could not believe how much the little ones and I enjoyed the experience. They really knew how to make it fun. The kids were cheering, there was a lot of action, they got the crowd involved, it was really a good time. Even the refreshments were reasonably priced. The experience made me a Johnstown Tomahawks hockey fan.

We had such a good time I had to tell my husband (who couldn’t go because he had to work). We decided for the whole family to go, even take my older boys girlfriends. That was 8 of us going and it still was under $100 for all 8 of us to get tickets when buying through Ticketmaster. To be clear, this was for regular season games not playoff games.

The Johnstown Tomahawks do theme nights. We planned that big family trip for the Star Wars themed night. All kids 12 and under received a free Star Wars light saber toy. They had tons of costumed characters and lots of vendors set up.

Since then we’ve made it a point to try to get to a couple games a year at least. Season ticket are still a little out of our reach for a family of 6 but there are definitely perks to getting season tickets.

We hadn’t made it to a game this year and we actually won a 4 pack of tickets from a facebook giveaway thanks to Pennhighlands Community College. These weren’t just any tickets though, they were Robertson cup playoff tickets! The first time we had a chance to go to a playoff game. A lot of action at this game. I have no idea how much playoff tickets usually run since we won our tickets. We had a good time though. My husband and I have talked about doing a couple Tomahawks games for a date night here and there.

Tomahawks hockey season runs from about the end of September and can run into April with playoffs. Get a Johnstown Tomahawks schedule to see when their theme nights are. They have lots of them: Star Wars, hero and princesses, and more to get more bang for your buck for the kids.

Tips for going to the game:

You can purchase blue and red hockey pucks for a small donation. These will be thrown out onto the ice during an intermission. If you hit the target they put on the ice you can win big money!
There are tons of food vendors all around the building from funnel cakes, to shrimp and fries, to dippin dots ice cream. Some vendors are more affordable than others so shop around.
There are always lots of marketing tables with raffles to win things like hockey sticks, jerseys, gift cards, tickets, and more. Some are for a fee and some are free you just have to check.
There are always vendors giving away free stuff. The kids got yoyos, we all got free raffle tickets for a chance to win a hockey stick, I got chapstick, and a sunglass pouch. All free.
The Johntown Tomahawks merchandise is more affordable than you would think. The kids can easily get a souvenir like a branded cowbell, foam hand, and more for $5 or less.
PARKING: The 1st Summit arena itself doesn’t really have it’s own parking. There are many local businesses that open up their lots for parking for a fee. This usually ranges anywhere between $3 – $5. If you can find meter parking it’s free after 5 pm on week days, on Saturdays and Sundays, and federal holidays. You can see this info on the city of Johnstown website
Get a schedule so you can see when theme nights are scheduled for even more fun for the kids and bonus freebies.

Children’s Book Festival of Johnstown 2019 a Fun and Free Event

Every year the Children’s Book Festival is held at the Bottleworks in the Cambria City section of Johnstown. The area itself has become a cultural district featuring the Discovery Center, Ethnic festivals, and more. The Bottleworks itself displays art from local artists and offers many classes. The first weekend of April draws families from all over the area for the Children’s Book Festival.

This free event centers around children’s books with authors, illustrators, and local businesses and educational resources pregnant. In fact, I credit the Children’s book festival for helping us discover my son’s lazy eye. The blind association was there the one year and was offering free vision screenings. I took advantage of this with my kids. They had these cool, 3D goggle looking things that tracked the eyes and they noticed my son’s one eye was off. They suggested we take the info to an ophthalmologist. We did and found that my son has very low vision in his one eye due to a lazy eye! I got off track there but there are so many great services present to learn about.

There are craft tables galore for the kids to do for free. The volunteers are all so pleasant and helpful. The first station we stopped at this year, the kids got to make vests out of paper bags.

They have a number of special events available at different times throughout the weekend. Joe Wos, a professional illustrator and maze maker, offered an illustration workshop for kids in grades 3rd to 6th grade. An awesome opportunity for kids to learn some tips and trick from a real illustrator.

Camtran, the local public transit system, has been present the last few years. The kids have an opportunity to board the bus, talk to the bus driver, explore the bus a little. This year they also offered story time on the bus.

The Children’s Book Festival of Johnstown has a book sale with new books but they also have a used book sale. My kids each picked a book from the used book sale and they were only 50 cents each! Another awesome thing they do for the kids is, every kid that attends get a FREE brand new book. They have a table set up with all kinds of titles for babies up to middle school age. So no kids walks away without a book they got to choose. I think this is awesome that they do that.

It’s fun to interact with the businesses, authors, and illustrators. We enjoy seeing Julie from Macaroni kids for the Johnstown/Altoona/Laurel Highlands area. Always there with a smile and macaroni necklaces for the kids to make. They really enjoy this craft!

There’s so much to do at the Children’s Book Festival of Johnstown, we usually don’t get to do it all. They have food truck available outside, face painting, and more. This event really renews my kids’ interest in reading. It’s a great way for kids to meet the people that actually write some of their book. It’s a great way to learn about local resource for kids.

Huge thanks to all involved in this festival. It is definitely something my kids look forward to each year. Because it’s a free event and every kids walks away with a free book, it’s help bring people from all walks of life together to share in the joy of reading!

Huetrition March Giveaway $25 Gift Card of your Choice

I’ll admit, I know I should make better choices sometimes. One of my favorite things to do now is to look for healthier recipe version of my favorite snacks. Do you think there are things you should be doing to be eating better foods? The mission of HueTrition is to help you eat better – but they make it fun and easy! All you need to do is fill your plate with colors – with an assortment of fruits and vegetables. They have a list of HueApproved foods to make it easy to eat nutritious meals and snacks. They encourage you to check the labels and make time to plan and prepare healthy meals for your family.

HueApproved tool:

The goal of the HueApproved Tool is to help people choose healthier products and/or find out if the products they purchase or would like to purchase are good for you to eat. It can help you make better choices when shopping at the grocery store or online. They have simplified the label and nutritional regulations with their nutrition experts and chefs to come up with a tool that will rate the product on a scale of 1-5. The higher the number, the better it is for you!

Subscribe to their HueTube Channel for healthy tips and hacks. It is updated regularly with many tips to eat healthy food and make better choices for you and your family.

HueTrition Live: Where Health & Wellness Meets Technology – The New Gateway to Food as Medicine and Preventative Health Destination.

With a HueTrition Live subscription, you will have access to contact experts, attend health and wellness support groups, see healthy culinary events with our Chefs, take online classes and reach your goals all in one! HueTrition also provides nutritional advice with HueTrition Live Events. You can attend and experience live events with HueChefs, dietitians, physicians. You will also have access to topics about health and real-time video, and advice from experts. You can ask questions and get answers in real time.

HueTrition Lifestyle Subscription

The first health & wellness live platform where you can contact experts, attend health and wellness support groups, see healthy culinary events with our Chefs, take online classes and reach your goals all in one! What you’ll need for this subscription is a computer with a webcam or phone with a camera and access to the internet.

HueTrition Live Event Subscription

Access HueTrition live events featuring experts tackling health and wellness topics you want to know!

VIP Family Membership

Your membership includes the FREE Downloadable HuePets app, HueTrition’s™ debut program, this fun mobile app turns daily healthy eating into a game for young children and their families. Image-Recognition Technology enables kids to “feed” photos of their real-life food to an adorable digital pet, encouraging a well-balanced diet from an early age.
Ongoing culinary classes with our chef as well the ability to have a conversation live with other people our chef and experts that want to help you achieve your health and wellness goals!
Our HueTrition E-Book called “Healthy & Colorful Eating Made Fun” written by me, our CEO & Founder! To find out more about me, click here. This book has been featured on Times Square in NYC and is worth $9.99, but free with your HueTrition Live subscription

Check out this video: HueTrition Live: Spice It Up Adding Flavor without the calories Vegetarian. It’s a cooking class!

Stay tuned to our HueApproved Tool for an exciting Live Event on April 11 at 7pm EST!

Learn more about what HueTrition has to offer – Healthy eating made simple!

Giveaway Details:

Keep Track of Your Kids During Summer Break with MamaBear App

This post is sponsored by MamaBear App. Any opinions expressed are my own. Prize is sponsored by Mamabear app

I’m a mom of 4. I also have anxiety issue. 2 of my kids are teenage boys. They run around all summer with their friends, ride bikes, play football, and hang out with their girl friends. My boys are pretty good about checking in with me via phone every so often. Sometimes though there is a delay with replies if they’re into a football game or don’t here the text go off.

Admittedly sometimes I wonder if they really are where they say they are. If I need to get a hold of both of them I have to send them each texts or phone calls individually. For some reason, I have issues with my texts at times (I really need to talk to my carrier about that).

But there is an app called MamaBear that can help give me some piece of mind and it’s a lot more affordable than you might think.

What is MamaBear App?

It’s a family communication app. You can add your whole family to the app. Once everyone has the app downloaded you can do a lot of cool stuff with it.

Enter in safe places, like a grandparent’s house for instance, and when they stop at their house you get a notification that your child is there. On the other hand, if there are places you absolutely do not want your child to go, you can plug those in too and the app let’s you know that they are there as well.
Monitor your child’s social media. You can put in keywords for the app to monitor and if those words show up in their social media it can alert you.
Send messages to the whole family with the family messaging system. I actually find myself using this more than I thought. Even for little things like letting the family know when supper is ready.

If you have a teen of driving age you can set speed notifications. If your teen surpassed that speed you’ll get a notification. lol I actually got a notification the other day when my 14 year old son was on the bus and the bus drove past our house!

There is also text message monitoring. Unfortunately at this time it seems to only be for android users and we all have iphones.
Maps allows you to see where your child is too.
Very affordable. There is a free option for ads which everyone can use. But a paid ad-free subscription is available in monthly, 3 month, and 6 month subscription plans. 6 months is only $24.99 total. For as much as this app does and the peace of mind it can give, it’s a real bargain. More affordable than a lot of apps out there.

How can I get the MamaBear app?

MamaBear is available for both apple and android devices. Visit mamabearapp.com for more info, subscriptions, and download links.

GIVEAWAY

5 winners will get a code to unlock the premium version of the app (no ads for you!)

US only

MamaBear App Giveaway 5 winners!