10.01 "The Year of the Crack-Up"

10.01 "The Year of the Crack-Up"

Happy New Year! And welcome back to the Athena Mentor newsletter. Let's take advantage of this quiet time of year, when people all around us are dreaming and planning, to ask, "What's in your future?"Are you thinking ahead to college applications? Can you imagine yourself as a successful college student? Are you wondering what it takes to get from here to there?Teenagers, I have news for you: It's your life. Until now, your parents have been making important decisions for you. Your teachers have assigned your reading and your homework exercises. However, with every passing day, you become more and more responsible for your life. You are the one whose choices will determine your future.

Athena Advises

You could start by choosing what you read. If you are studying history, you are likely to be reading about what happened one hundred years ago, in 1919. Does the Treaty of Versailles ring a bell?It's not just material for a test in school! Critical decisions made at the end of the First World War set the stage for the world you have inherited.Why let your views be determined only by what is assigned in school? In this anniversary year, there are sure to be many commemorations and reexaminations of the way the world was restructured at the close of the First World War.If, like many international students, you are interested in international relations and considering applying to study this fascinating field in college, step up right now! Attend those lectures! Read the articles and books that real scholars are publishing.Start with today's New York Times. The front page of nytimes.com features an opinion column on "1919: The Year of the Crack-Up." The author, Ted Miller, is a "distinguished lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York, and a senior fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs."The article is an example of a distinguished scholar writing for the general public. This means you. Read the article. Take charge of your world.Oh, and that photo above? That's Woodrow Wilson, not on his way to the peace talks in Paris, but in the mid-1870s, when he was closer in age to you; perhaps even when he was a student at Princeton.Wishing the world a peaceful 2019,Dr. Marlena CorcoranFounder and CEOAuthor of Year by Year to College, on amazon.com, amazon.de and many national amazon sitesThis photo of Woodrow Wilson is in the public domain.