17th Anniversary of 9-11...

17th Anniversary of 9-11...
On the 17th Anniversary of 9-11, we continue prayers for a path to peace. (Picture above - TishTrek and husband Harry @ the podium inside the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City). It was the privilege of a lifetime for us to be with leaders from around the world on a night when honoring excellence in writing and reporting was the common language uniting all of us. As one of the proud sponsors of the Annual U.N. Correspondents' Dinner, we enjoyed honoring excellence in writing and communications by helping to fund scholarships for international university students who had the courage & talent to tackle some of the difficult issues of our time. Through their magnificent words, they successfully created content that helped readers see through the lens of their research & life experiences. These students inspired all of us. I have confidence the next generation will pick up where we leave off.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tuition Reimbursement: While ON-THE-JOB!

TishTrek - THE JOB BLOG

My father-in-law - who was a professor @ the College of Staten Island for 30 years - always stated that the Acquisition-of-Knowledge should not be viewed as something you do for four quick years after high school; he believed it should be a 'lifetime commitment!' Some would say, nice thought, but how can anyone afford to do such a thing?

What most high school students and many parents don't realize is that for more than 40 years a large percentage of corporations have offered Tuition Reimbursement Programs like the great 2011 plan highlighted below.

Here is an actual Tuition Program straight from a corporate benefit handbook:

• To qualify for the Tuition Reimbursement Program, schools have to be accredited colleges or accredited graduate schools.
• Employees must receive a C- or better, or a Pass if pass/fail basis. For CLEP exams, you must receive a passing grade and show proof of college credit acceptance from the academic institution for which you are applying for college credit.
• Employees need to have received a performance rating of at least 3 – “Strong” rating or better on the last performance review for undergraduate and graduate courses to be reimbursed under the Tuition Reimbursement Program
• The Tuition Reimbursement Program pays 100% of tuition costs for full-time employees and 75% of tuition costs for part-time employees (not including amounts covered by other sources; such as grants, scholarships, etc.) for approved courses
• There's a maximum annual benefit of $5,250 per calendar year for undergraduate courses, and $12,000 per calendar year for graduate courses or a combination of graduate and undergraduate courses. Fees for CLEP exams are included in these limits. All reimbursement costs are the responsibility of each individual department; however, budget restraints cannot be used to deny reimbursements.

High schools don't tell kids about corporate tuition reimbursement programs because most school districts are graded & earn points when they are ranked across the state on how many kids immediately track out of high school and go directly to college.

The sad fact is: Many 18 year old kids are simply not ready, prepared or even have a clue as to what they want to do for their rest of their lives @ this juncture in their life. Aside from that, too many families figure out that they simply do not have the means to participate in funding their children's college dreams, so... For gosh sakes - Let corporations help!

Make no mistake, it's important for kids to spend some part of their high school years gaining skills & experiences that will help them secure the entry-level positions they will need to survive and thrive.

All adults should be screaming from the roof tops that these kids should not leave high school without doing some combo of the following: Make sure you have a basic understanding of math-for-life & accounting. Learn how to type on a keyboard beyond 'LOL' and 'How r u?'; take business writing courses; learn as many computer programs for business as possible; and sharpen your presentation skills!

Finally, take any course or become involved in any extra-curricular program that builds confidence and communication skills. Every year, high school students should be working on enhancing their face-to-the-client skills! Most entry-level opportunities and all high end executive positions require skills and competencies in all these critical areas.

Those who complete their education while getting ON-THE-JOB experience & training actually show up at the job interview with a real competitive edge. Aside from that fact, it is always impressive to employers to find out that a person who wanted to improve him/herself by increasing their knowledge and credentials was willing to execute those requirements on their own time and around the responsibilities of their job. This highly motivated person has already demonstrated a track record of excellent time management skills which helped balance two priorities! Is that you?

Best regards,
TishTrek
Quote of the Day: "If you leveraged an option to get someone else to pay for college costs - Congratulations! You belong at the head of the class!"

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tucson, AZ: Journalism 101

Welcome to TishTrek - The JOB BLOG: Journalism 101

This post is dedicated to all the career professionals @ Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal and all other media outlets who followed the facts to light the way for viewers and readers everywhere during and after the assassination event which killed six and wounded 19 in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, January 8, 2011.

Thanks for reminding the nation through your reporting that the true tenets of journalism which demand objectivity and a review of the facts have to prevail over the horrific agendas of those hell-bent on doing our citizenry harm through hostile actions, words, and deeds.

With gratitude,
TishTrek

----- Original Message -----
From: Tish Ferguson
To: Tish Ferguson ; Hannity@foxnews.com ; Forbes@foxnews.com ; newsmanager@foxnews.com ; oreilly@foxnews.com ; glennbeck@foxnews.com ; huckmail@foxnews.com ; ontherecord@foxnews.com ; Kelly@foxnews.com
Cc: countdown@msnbc.com ; mediainquiries@msnbc.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 4:48 PM
Subject: Thank you Fox News: The Assassination of FACTS in AZ starts with Keith Obermann!


Dear Fox News Family,

THANK YOU for hearing my screams in the wind last weekend. I've appreciated your headlines, thought-provoking news reporting and help over the past four days. Viewers across the globe appreciated having a place to go to assess the FACTS from your programming and we were extremely grateful for the Wall Street Journal editorial on Monday as well. We also want to acknowledge all the other media outlets & journalists who recognized and talked about the actual collision of innocence and evil that played out before our own eyes on the world stage in Tucson, AZ.

On behalf of America's beautiful baby girl, our revered federal judge, the beloved campaign worker, the grandma & mom from New Jersey, the hero husband, and all the others murdered & wounded in Arizona, I'd like to thank Fox News for working tirelessly to counter the outrageous accusations heaped on viewers and readers alike as they were made by Keith Olbermann, Caroline Howard, the Pima Sheriff and the Westboro Baptist Church. Make no mistake, they all selfishly climbed on our dead and didn't think twice about using their bodies as soapboxes to promote their agendas & vendettas to keep political hatred alive.

By every standard, the boundaries of human decency continue to be ignored by these people even as the families of our dead plan funerals. Their legacies and careers will be forever indelibly tied to the damage they tried to do and the pain they tried to inflict off the back of an innocent third grader who was shot to death by a mentally ill man after winning her first Student Council election. Our nation will not forget.

Respectfully submitted,
Tish Ferguson
2404 Maria Place
Pt. Pleasant, NJ 08742
732-259-2780 - Cell

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Keith Olbermann: "Scottie Who Knew Too Much"

Thank you, MSNBC.

I was so completely outraged by the comments of Keith Olbermann and others immediately following the assassination of fellow citizens in Tucson, Arizona that I was compelled to send the passionate e-mails below 'directly' to Mr. Olbermann and to anyone who would listen @ both MSNBC and Fox News.

Mr. Olbermann said goodbye to viewers last night and ended by reading a James Thurber short story as was often his habit on Friday nights. This one was titled "Scottie Who Knew Too Much" and it was published in 1940. The story's final line was this: "It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all of the answers."

Yes, Mr. Olbermann - journalists have a responsibility to live the tenets of the Thurber message you selected for your final moments on MSNBC. Best wishes with your job search. Good luck moving forward.

Sincerely,
TishTrek
Quote of the Day:
"If you see something, say something." NYPD

----- Original Message -----
From: Tish Ferguson
To: mediainquiries@msnbc.com ; keith.olbermann@msnbc.com
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 11:47 AM
Subject: The Assassination of FACTS starts with Keith Obermann!


Dear MSNBC Management,

What a disgrace! Keith Olbermann and every other reporter and anonymous blogger in this country sarcastically & maliciously minimizing the horror of yesterday's assassination attempt on a revered Arizona public official by targeting Palin & others while screaming their 'usual' contrived talking points are what's wrong with this country! People who work to score twisted political points off the backs of dead & wounded public servants and who use the death of Dallas Green's beautiful and innocent 9 year old grandchild for sick personal promotion is what is destroying the tenor & discourse in our country!

What happened to mourning the dead out of respect for a few days so a sense of community & determination can prevail over chaos & horror to bring all thinking people in our country together @ a time of tragedy? Who raised you people? Right after the Oklahoma Bombing, the same losers with microphones were screaming "Right Wing" in crowed theaters! Right after the Times Square Bomber terrified all of us in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg was QUICK (like all of you!!) to succinctly announce to the press & public that the bomber was probably upset about Obama Care! The rhetoric & hypothesis's were wrong and no one ever apologized for the hysteria & damage these false comments inflicted! The Times Square Bomber turned out to be part of a terror network and I'm still waiting for a few apologies!

Get a grip people! When we find out that today's 22 year old assassin has been exhibiting bizarre behaviors for 15 years and that he was actually practicing taking people out with a remote control 19 hours a day on the #1 selling Video Game Call-of-Duty Series, 'Black Ops & 'Modern Warfare 2' before today's killing spree, shall we blame Palin & Beck for that too? Obermann's ignorant comments that had no roots to any investigative journalism were abusive to our stunned nation last night. Thanks for the new low. Now - Out of respect for the dead, can you give your on-line rancor & political rhetoric a rest for a few days and let us bury these people in peace. - Thank you.

I've worked global jobs in New York City and beyond for 25 years, so don't call me some Right Wing-Nut, Desperate New Jersey Housewives clone and/or a Snooki look-a-like who doesn't get it. I'm a professional woman who has been married for 25 years; I'm the mother of two children in this country who witnessed the horrors & devastation of 9/11 with my own eyes. Trust me - Keith Olbermann is the one who doesn't get it!

Respectfully submitted,
Tish Ferguson
2404 Maria Place
Pt. Pleasant, NJ 08742
732-259-2780 - Cell
732-714-8483 - Home

----- Original Message -----
From: Tish Ferguson
To: Countdown@msnbc.com
Cc: Hannity@foxnews.com ; Forbes@foxnews.com ; newsmanager@foxnews.com ; oreilly@foxnews.com ; glennbeck@foxnews.com ; huckmail@foxnews.com ; ontherecord@foxnews.com ; mediainquiries@msnbc.com
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 3:35 PM
Subject: Note to Mr. Olbermann: The Assassination of FACTS in AZ starts with YOU!

Dear Mr. Keith Olbermann,

I was the only one in my house left with the stomach to listen to your rants on Countdown over the past two years, but last night you ended that for me when you created the Worst-of-the-Worst cable moments of all time.

In the late 1990's I turned on The Keith Olbermann Show with great anticipation as you launched your first political analysis show where it was my personal observation that you hated dissecting the details of 'that' dress in the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal, (you told us you hated it!). I know it wasn't the show you had expected to be part of and the nation's obsession with that current event was distasteful for you... and as a viewer I felt that show ended the way it started: painfully.

I believe listening to the other side of legitimate arguments is important in the debate process so I execute my responsibility to seek out knowledge on all sides of issues whenever I can. That approach helps position, reposition or validate my arguments; and/or it can change my point of view if I'm enlightened by something I hadn't researched or known previously; or it helps me prepare a response when someone asks my opinion about an important issue of our time.

Here is my eclectic list of some of my talking-head favorites: Sean Hannity, Anderson Cooper, Bill O'Reilly, the late Tim Russert, Alan Colmes, Ralph Peters, Brit Hume and the mix of guests at the desk of Fox News Sunday, David Gergin who spoke at my daughter's OSU graduation in June, George Stephanopolis, etc. - Why are some of those left-leaning voices in the mix and not yours'? Because unlike you, they never stopped respecting me & others.

What you did last night (Saturday, Jan 8th) on television was one of the most disrespectful & disgraceful acts in political theatre that I've ever witnessed. Moderate, middle-of-the-road people who vote based on issues were actually tearfully praying for the health and welfare of the victims of the Arizona assassination event; we were mourning the death of a revered judge, a beloved social worker known for his community outreach efforts on behalf of the 8th District, and we were shocked by the the death of a 9 year old child who - at that hour - we didn't even know was the grand daughter of a much loved sports legend. We were literally praying for the life of a radiant shining star in our U.S. Congress; and then there was YOU on MSNBC and your distorted face, and your rant, and your hatred..... I sat so sickened & so stunned by your words that I knew instantly that nothing you say could ever influence my opinion again. I e-mailed friends until 3 a.m.

Sir - look at the tape: It was as if you were speaking to only yourself in some mirror as you deeply enjoyed this moment on the back of this horrendous tragedy in Arizona. You looked like you actually thought the importance of your contrived and unresearched diatribe somehow trumped the required respect for the dead and wounded yesterday. Where do you get off doing such a thing??!!

I'm sending the e-mail chain below because I was a follower-of-yours-from-the-early-days. Go ahead and tell me to pound salt.... but when I turned on the television in the 1990's you were a vibrant, handsome, high potential & high caliber talent blazing a trail on cable and ready to set the world on fire. The confluence of your interests & deep knowledge in sports, current events & politics differentiated you from others. At that time, I thought you had an interesting edge over peers in your field. Ten years later, your positive face to the audience is gone. Forget about those of us you could give a damn about... Families have to bury their children in Arizona this week, so please be quiet for five minutes and give 'it' a rest. Thank you.

The e-mail chain under my signature below captures what went wrong in the MSNBC studio last night!

Sincerely,
Tish Ferguson from Pt. Pleasant, NJ
Contact Data Below

----- Original Message -----
From: Tish Ferguson
To: Hannity@foxnews.com ; Forbes@foxnews.com ; newsmanager@foxnews.com ; oreilly@foxnews.com ; glennbeck@foxnews.com ; huckmail@foxnews.com ; ontherecord@foxnews.com
Cc: mediainquiries@msnbc.com ; keith.olbermann@msnbc.com
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 12:55 PM
Subject: Fw: The Assassination of FACTS in AZ starts with Keith Obermann!


EVERYONE @ FOX NEWS:

HELP!!! OMGosh - I'm furious!! I just sent the note below to MSNBC and because I couldn't sleep all last night, I sent a similar note to writer Caroline Howard @ Forbes On-Line @ around midnight because she produced the first article that I read yesterday which maliciously targeted Sarah Palin and 'all of you' as a root cause for the assassinations that played out in Arizona yesterday! I'm writing to you to ask you to FIGHT BACK with the FACTS because I'm confident that you will prevail as the consummate professionals & journalists that you are.

I've never been so proud to be a FOX NEWS viewer! I've never been so turned-off or rendered so sick to my stomach by any journalist before last night! I watched Keith Olbermann climb on the back of dead public servants whose next of kin had barely been notified; and to make those actions worse he essentially jumped on the tragic death of Dallas Green's innocent granddaughter to attack all of you and by extension "me" - your repeat customer and viewer - a patriot, professional woman, wife, working mom, and public servant for 30 years. How dare he do such a thing??!!

Keith Olbermann's attack on all of us was sooo over-the-line, so I'm respectfully requesting that you to publicly defend me and all of your viewers, repeat customers and followers in the days ahead.

The families of beautiful nine year old girls who are murdered and those of revered public servants who are mortally wounded in an open square in our country need to be protected from the vitriolic & contrived rants of people like Keith who put themselves & their agendas before every tragedy everyday. I applaud Sunday Night Football and ESPN for assessing Mr. Olbermann's abysmal behaviors that consistently target large segments of the viewing population and for eliminating him as a FACE & VOICE of America's favorite past-times.

He's no political analyst; he's a washed-up political hack who made a conscious choice last night to run-his-highly-energized-mouth off the back of someone else's dead child at the same time one of America's radiant and shining stars in Congress fights for her life in critical care. The public had come to expect so little from Keith Olbermann, but no one expected this. - It's an unforgivable act.

Please READ my note below. Thank you.

With Great Sadness & Respect,

Tish Ferguson
2404 Maria Place
Pt. Pleasant, NJ 08742
732-259-2780 - Cell
732-714-8483 - Home