Summer Course Do's and Don'ts

Summer courses are a great way to try and get ahead in your college career. Get that pesky public speaking requirement out of the way. Good for you! Before you start, make sure you take a look at these do’s and don’t’s of taking summer classes from Straighter Line.


This summer, invest in yourself by taking online college classes to earn college credit. By taking your summer college courses online, you can learn anywhere, anytime – and at your own pace.

Here are the essential do’s and don’ts of taking summer college courses:

DO -
Consider the flexibility and convenience that online summer courses offer a busy college student. Even if your summer plans include a job, you can still keep a full work schedule when you take classes online.

Online college courses give you the freedom to study any time of the day or night. By taking online courses this summer, you can start whenever you want and complete your required college courses at your own pace – allowing you to fit your summer academic goals within the confines of your work, family or social calendar.

"With the online revolution in education, there’s no reason to pay name brand prices for generic courses when store brands will suffice."

DON'T -
Assume that you are too busy to make academic progress during the summer. You’ll find that online college courses allow you to hunker down and move through material when you have time, and back off when you don’t.

Tip: Keep this process going, and over the course of a few weeks or months, you may be surprised by how many college courses you have successfully completed and how many college credits you have managed to earn at ultra affordable prices.

DO -
Complete required general education courses or prerequisites for your major by taking online classes this summer. With the online revolution in education, there’s no reason to pay name brand prices for generic courses when store brands will suffice.

DON'T -
Take online college classes without verifying first if the school to which you’d like to transfer will accept those college courses for full academic credit. While many colleges and universities do accept ACE Credit recommended courses for transfer, not all of them do.

Tip: It’s your job to verify that your school will accept ACE Credit recommended courses for transfer – and get it in writing to avoid any hassles later on. High quality online college course providers will have Student Advisors who can help guide you through this process.

"You can conveniently take college courses for credit online that are equal to or above the required standards at on-campus colleges and universities."

DO -
Take advantage of the low cost structure of online college course providers. These days, you can start taking college courses online for as little as $99 per month through StraighterLine and earn fully transferrable college credit.

Remember to check if your college accepts ACE transfer credits. Since over 2,000 colleges and universities do, there’s a good chance yours does as well. (And of course, if you’re taking courses at StraighterLine, those courses are guaranteed to transfer to partner colleges.)

Tip: The more ultra affordable courses you take online through low cost college course providers, the more you save on your degree.

DON'T -
Confuse the quality of learning outcomes with price.

You can take college courses for credit online that are equal to or above the required standards at on-campus colleges and universities – and save thousands towards your degree - even more when you factor in the average annual cost of tuition, room, and board is $14,300 at a public institution and $37,800 at private ones, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Tip: Many accredited colleges and universities, in fact, have transfer agreements with online college course providers, community colleges, and international schools that are based exclusively on learning outcomes. These degree programs are part of the competency-based education movement.

DO -
Take online college courses you were prevented from taking at your current college due to over-subscription issues or because life got in the way. Due to budget cuts, many colleges and universities are being forced to “ration” some of their most popular and/or required courses.

DON'T -
Delay your graduation just because you don’t have access to a required course or had to withdraw. Consider this: online summer college classes don’t fill up and don’t have quotas.

Tip: With online college courses, you can quickly and affordably take the courses you need this summer, transfer the credits back to your college or university, get back on track to earn your diploma on time – and avoid a mountain of student debt.


Do you have experience with earning college credit over the summer? What are your favorite tips for taking online courses?

Summer of Fun

This summer has so much in store for events. There are so many festivals and events going on in the area that you don’t have any excuses to stay at home! This weekend head to Hartwood Acres for a fireworks festival! Then on Monday you can honor the men and women in the military at Soldiers & Sailors Hall in Oakland for a Memorial Day celebration. For more information check out the City Paper website.


ONGOING

Pittsburgh Neighborhood Festivals. Held throughout the city through fall. 412-422-6405 or www.citiparks.net for complete list

MAY 22-23
Pyrofest. Fireworks festival, Hartwood Acres. www.pyrofest.com

MAY 25
Memorial Day Celebration. Soldiers & Sailors Hall, Oakland. 412-621-4253

MAY 31
Open Streets. Recreate on more than 4 miles of closed city streets from Downtown to Lawrenceville. www.openstreetspgh.org

JUNE 5-14
Three Rivers Arts Festival. Downtown. Visual-art exhibitions, public art installations, music and dance performances, and arts-and-crafts market. 412-456-6666 or www.3riversartsfest.org

JUNE 7
Animal Friends Mutt Strut. South Park. Games, activities and pooches. 412-847-7000 orwww.thinkingoutsidethecage.org

JUNE 13
Riverview Park Heritage Day. Free family fun includes games, crafts, refreshments and more. Riverview Park. 412-255-2493

JUNE 13
Harmony Herb and Garden Fair. Harmony Museum, Harmony.www.harmonymuseum.org

JUNE 14
Pride Awareness March and PrideFest. Downtown. www.pittsburghpride.org

JUNE 20
Atlatl Competition. Meadowcroft, Avella. Try your hand at the ancient spear-throwing implement. 724-587-3412 or www.heinzhistorycenter.org

JUNE 27
Jam on Walnut. Shadyside. Live bands perform. 412-682-1298 or www.thinkshadyside.com

JUNE 28
Classic Car Show. Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington. 877-728-7655 or www.pa-trolley.org

JUNE 28
Open Streets. Recreate on more than 4 miles of closed city streets from Downtown to Lawrenceville.www.openstreetspgh.org

JULY 2-4
Three Rivers Regatta. North Side and Downtown. Boat races, fireworks, food, fishing.www.threeriversregatta.net

JULY 2-5
Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival. Twin Lakes Park, Greensburg. 724-834-7474 orwww.artsandheritage.com

JULY 3-4
Independence Day Celebration. Meadowcroft, Avella. Games, food and demonstrations of 19th-century rural celebrations. 724-587-3412 or www.heinzhistorycenter.org

JULY 3-11
Big Butler Fair. Butler County Fairgrounds. Head for the biggest fair 'round these parts. 724-865-2400 or www.bigbutlerfair.com

JULY 10-19
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Various locations. Vintage car races and shows. www.pittsburghvintagegrandprix.com

JULY 11
Doo Dah Days: Stephen Foster Music and Heritage Festival. Allegheny Cemetery, Lawrenceville. www.doodahdays.com

JULY 13
Vintage Grand Prix Car Show. Walnut Street, Shadyside. 412-682-1298 or www.thinkshadyside.com

JULY 17-18
Picklesburgh. Food, demos, live music. Rachel Carson Bridge, Downtown. www.picklesburgh.com.

JULY 18-19
Harambee Ujima Black Arts and Culture Festival. Kelly Street, Homewood. 412-255-8983 orwww.citiparks.net

JULY 18-19
Polish Hill Civic Weekend. Brereton Street, Polish Hill. 412-255-8983 or www.citiparks.net

JULY 25
Jam on Walnut. Shadyside. Live bands perform. 412-682-1298 or www.thinkshadyside.com

JULY 26
Open Streets. Recreate on more than 4 miles of closed city streets from Downtown to Lawrenceville.www.openstreetspgh.org

JULY 26-AUG. 1
Bedford County Fair. Bedford County Fairgrounds, Bedford. 814-623-9011 or www.bedford-fair.com

JULY 29
141st Annual Rain Day. Waynesburg, Greene County. 724-627-8111 or www.raindayfestival.com

JULY 30-AUG. 2
Fort Armstrong Folk Festival. Riverfront Park, Kittanning. Arts and crafts, food, music and other entertainment. www.armstrongfestival.com

JULY 30-AUG. 8
Fayette County Fair. Fayette County Fairgrounds, Dunbar. 724-628-3360 or www.fayettefair.com

Make the Most of Your Summer Break

Summer break is upon us! That means it’s time to kick back and relax and forget everything you learned this semester. Right? Wrong! Get the most out of your summer vacay by getting involved! Put your best foot forward for your future. These tips from Hack College will help you get the most out of your summer vacation.


If there’s one thing you’re going to miss most of all once you graduate from college, it’s probably going to be your summers off. Even though plenty of us take classes or work, there’s nothing like having a nice three-month break from monotony every year, so you might as well take advantage of it while you have the chance.

There are plenty of different ways to spend your summer vacation, depending on what kind of summer person you are, so here are a few of the ways to make your summer valuable and more memorable!
Making Connections

We don’t really want to think about making connections and planning our future when we’ve got a three-month break from reality; but we should. We can take this opportunity to really shine in our jobs or just in relation to our various connections.

Professionals love eager undergraduates — mostly because college students provide bored professionals with an awesome ego boost. Finding somebody to give you an internship or to be your mentor can be the difference between McDonald’s and Merrill Lynch when you start searching for that first job. Take a little time to connect with your friends’ parents at BBQs, or with your professors at end-of-semester and summer events, and you might have a job before you graduate.

Related: LinkedIn for College Students: The Importance of a Professional Online Presence
Extracurricular Activities

There are no excuses for not working out during the summer. You don’t have 12-page papers and all-nighters. You have beautiful morning weather and plenty of time to nap. Now is the perfect time to join that Flag Football League, or the Half Marathon Training Group.

You can get a buddy to do it with you and then make plenty of friends along the way. It’s a great way to burn off some of those extra beers from the previous semester and a fun way to stay active!
Traveling the World

You see those people who had the extra cash to spend a semester in Europe or Spring Break in Mexico, but you know what? It’s possible for you too! Now is the time when you really want to get a few solid weeks of epic traveling in. It willteach you so much about yourself along the way.

If you want to take a week at Lake Havasu instead, go right ahead, but if you can swing the plane ticket, you should get as far away from your home country as possible and really experience life in another country. Grab friends for a two-week vacation in Southeast Asia, or join some sort of exchange or study abroad program in Europe. With student discounts and exchange programs, you’ll never get the opportunity to travel so cheaply again!

Related: 7 Unconventional Ways To Save Money While Traveling
Volunteering

This can go hand-in-hand with the traveling, or you can do it in your own community on Saturday mornings, but volunteering is an excellent addition to your summer holiday. It might be an early weekend day here and there, or you might have to do some unpleasant work, but it will reward both your mind and your resume. We all spend time donating canned food during the holidays, but what about summer?

There are plenty of children and adults who need help all year, so grab Costco-sized cans of soup, fruit, or vegetables, and see if your local pantry could use some help this Saturday afternoon.
Catching Up

If you go to school far from your hometown, this might be a good time to decide which location you prefer. Some of us never return after leaving for college, while others spend every spare break with their high school friends.

Your summers are a good time to figure out where you might want to make connections and find a job after college. It’s also a good time to catch up with your oldest friends and introduce them to your newest ones!

Giant Slip and Slide Coming to Pittsburgh This Summer

Slide the City is coming to Pittsburgh this summer! A giant 1000 foot long slip and slide will be in South Park from June 6 to June 7. Don't miss out on your opportunity to slide the city. Head to CBS Pittsburgh for more information.

Want to ride through Pittsburgh on your belly?

If you said yes, you’re not alone.

More than 17,000 people have signed up to participate in “Slide the City” when it comes to Pittsburgh.

The event will make its first debut in the Steel City in June and will feature a 1,000-foot-long slip and slide set up in South Park.

Registration opens at 10 a.m. April 22 and costs anywhere from $15 to $60, depending on when you sign up and how many times you want to slide.

If you want to “Slide the City” and buy tickets, visit slidethecity.com.

Pittsburgh Marathon Weekend

This weekend is the annual Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. Whether you’re participating or just in the area, you may be affected by the marathon. There will be multiple road closures throughout and surrounding the city this weekend. Make sure you know what is going to be closed and how to get around it. For more information visit WTAE.com.

Organizers have announced many street closures in downtown and throughout the city related to the 2015 Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend.

Marathon events are scheduled for Friday through Sunday, the day of the marathon itself. More than 40,000 runners are expected to participate in races Saturday and Sunday.

A detailed map of road closure information can be found here. Race organizations have also provided a Guide to Marathon Sunday map, with routes in and out of the city provided.

A full map of the marathon course can be found by clicking here.

Downtown road closures will begin Friday, starting at noon on the Boulevard of the Allies, between Wood Street and Stanwix Street. This section of Boulevard of the Allies will remain closed through Sunday.

For Saturday events, North Shore and Downtown road closures will start at 7:30 a.m. and continue until noon.

For Sunday events, road closures will begin downtown at 11:30 p.m. Saturday and continue Sunday in neighborhoods throughout the city through 2:30 p.m.

Certain sections of the city will be completely closed to traffic on race day. Anyone in those areas who needs to leave during the race should consider parking elsewhere.

The race will begin downtown, near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and travel through the Strip District, the North Side and the West End, continuing down East Carson Street in the South Side, making its way through Oakland, Shadyside and Oakland, then through East Liberty, Highland Park and various other stops before returning downtown to the finish line.

Stay tuned with WTAE and WTAE.com on Sunday for reports from the course!

Pittsburgh Events This Weekend

This weekend in Pittsburgh, there is something in the area for everyone. The next few days are packed full of things to do in the Pittsburgh region. For the full list head to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.


THURSDAY

Singer/songwriter Madeleine Peyroux performs at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland at 8 p.m. as part of The Andy Warhol Museum’s Sound Series. Ms. Peyroux’s work exists at the intersection of jazz, pop and blues. Beyond a wealth of original material, she also is highly praised as an incredibly insightful interpreter of a wide range of material by classic performers such as Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Bessie Smith and Leonard Cohen. The performance features songs from Peyroux’s recording “Keep Me In Your Heart for A While: The Best of Madeleine Peyroux.” The event is co-presented with WYEP. For tickets, $35, $30 members and students; warhol.org or 412-237-8300.

THURSDAY

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will present “Celebrate Wilkinsburg,” a concert honoring the history of the borough and benefiting the school district’s music programs. Led by resident conductor Lawrence Loh, the annual community engagement concert includes works by Sousa, Rossini and Josef Strauss, a medley of music by Duke Ellington, a showcase of guitarist Joe Negri, a singalong and more. The performance starts at 7 p.m. at Wilkinsburg High School, 747 Wallace Ave. $10 for adults, $5 for students, at 412-392-8991 or at the door. The orchestra’s previous Wilkinsburg concerts have raised more than $63,000 for the borough’s music programs.

SATURDAY

“August Wilson’s Women,” presented by Friends of the August Wilson Center, explores the writer’s works through the eyes of the female characters in his plays, at the AWC, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown, at 8 p.m. Directed by Todd Kreidler, Mr. Wilson’s collaborator on “How I Learned What I Learned,” the event will feature performances by a jazz ensemble and dance and spoken word artists. The event is free and open to the public, but seats are limited, so RSVP by the end of Monday to augustwilsonwomen@gmail.com.

SATURDAY

The Aeolian Winds of Pittsburgh, women’s choir Belle Voci, Giambelli String Quartet and dancers from La Roche College will join forces to perform the music of American composer Gwyneth Walker, as part of a larger initiative to support the Pittsburgh Women’s Shelter. The multi-sensory event includes Ms. Walker’s setting of Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son,” along with her “Songs for Women's Voices” and “Sunshine State” for woodwind quintet. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, but WQED-FM host Anna Singer will interview Ms. Walker prior to the concert at 6 p.m. Tickets are free at bellevocipgh.com, and donations of sheets, towels and gift cards will be accepted at the door.

SATURDAY

Brazilian pianist and composer Andre Mehmari and Tatjana Mead Chamis, Pittsburgh Symphony associate principal violist, perform a genre-bending concert at The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side, at 8 p.m. as part of the museum's Sound Series. The event is co-presented with MCG Jazz and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Latin American Studies. Free parking in The Warhol lot for this event. For tickets: $15, $12 members and students; warhol.org or 412-237-8300.

Craft Beer Week Kicks Off Tomorrow

Pittsburgh’s Craft Beer Week kicks off this Friday, showcasing the best of the craft brew community in the area. With over 340 events taking place over the course of the week it’s difficult to decide where to start! Many of the events are already sold out so get your tickets quick before they’re gone. For more information head to the Post-Gazette’s website and for a full calendar head to Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week’s website.

You may not know which of 340-plus events you’re going to attend yet during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, but you can know a few that you aren’t attending during the promotion that kicks off Friday.

One event — Commonwealth Press’ Beer Barge beer fest-on-a-Gateway Clipper boat this Saturday, April 18 — sold out immediately.

But there still are more beer happenings than humanly possible to attend between Friday and April 26, during which time the non-profit Pittsburgh Craft Beer Coalition is publicizing events at area breweries, distributors and restaurants and bars.

At a media day last week at Penn Brewery, Andy Kwiatkowski, who’s president of the nonprofit Pittsburgh Craft Beer Alliance and head brewer at Hitchhiker Brewing, gave a shout-out to a couple of special events. One is the first Brewer’s Olympics to be held April 26 in the parking lot at Millvale’s Grist House Brewing Co. Brewers from there and 15 other regional breweries will compete in various beer-themed “feats of agility, strength and stamina.” Spectators pay $15 and get a souvenir glass for tasting brews from all of them. Proceeds go to help Titusville’s Blue Canoe Brewery, which is closed but rebuilding after a March 17 fire. Get tickets at2015brewersolympics.simpletix.com.

Mr. Kwiatkowski also mentioned another “Blue” event — Homestead’s Blue Dust’s Bikes, Brews and Oyster Fest, held under the Homestead Grays Bridge on April 25.

But you’ll find events and brews of every hue across the region, from Erie to Slippery Rock to North Huntingdon. Many events will feature the eight-plus “collaboration brews” that teams of brewers made together. In addition to those that we wrote about in this space last week, Erie’s Lavery Brewing Co. did two others: a Berliner weisse with North Country Brewing Co. and a Bavarian black ale with North Huntingdon’s Full Pint Brewing.

Tonight is the release of the collaboration beer Caliente Pizza & Draft House in Bloomfield brewed with East End Brewing Co. On Friday, Caliente Pizza & Draft Houses in Bloomfield and Hampton will pour eight collabs.

You can meet the brewers at many events. Carnegie’s 99 Bottles on April 21 will present a brewer from Full Pint and Dave Cerminara of Carnegie’s Apis Meadery with several of their brews along with some from Zelienople’s Shu Brew, including those three brewery’s collab, Shu Full of Bees double India pale ale. (The three also did a bottled barleywine, Glutenous Maximus, that Shu Brew is releasing Friday.)

Other places will debut their own collab brews, including Homestead’s Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, which, with help from the Strip District’s Milkman Brewing and West Newton’s Bloom Brew, made a light American ale brewed with flavored tortilla chips that Rock Bottom has dubbed Ghoul Branch Burritos. Head brewer Brandon McCarthy expects that it’s not a beer one would like to drink all night, but he believes a lot of people will want to drink one. “It’s weird, but it’s good.”

The same could be said about some Craft Beer Week events, which range from simple tappings, tap takeovers and tastings to beer-and-food pairings, beer brunches and full beer dinners and more, at a wide range of venues.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Lawrenceville’s Row House Cinema will present the Pittsburgh premiere of “Blood, Sweat, and Beer: The Movie,” a craft-beer-industry documentary that features Braddock’s The Brew Gentlemen Beer Co. as well as Maryland’s Backshore Brewing Co. The theater will present that and other beery movies all week, along with tastings in the new tap room of the adjacent Atlas Bottle Works (rowhousecinema.com).