(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today they are inviting graduating seniors to apply to be a delegate to the 2013 National Youth Science Camp (NYSC).  Two seniors from across the state will receive a full scholarship to exchange ideas with scientists and other professionals from the academic and corporate worlds at the camp, which will be held next summer in West Virginia.  Students may nominate themselves or may be nominated by school administrators, teachers or parents to attend the three-week camp, which includes lectures and hands-on research projects presented by scientists from across the nation, overnight camping in the Monogahela National Forest, and a visit to Washington, D.C.  Delegates must demonstrate academic achievement in science and potential for thoughtful scientific leadership.

The once-in-a-lifetime experience is possible thanks to generous contributions to the National Youth Science Foundation. Educational and recreational programming, as well as meals, lodging, and round-trip air passage are provided to delegates free of charge.  The camp will be held near Bartow in the eastern mountains of West Virginia, within the Monongahela National Forest. The 2013 camp dates are June 26 to July 20.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for two young Iowans to learn about different scientific disciplines and leadership along with delegates from other states," said Branstad. "The camp recognizes the excellence that participants have already demonstrated, and their potential."

"In keeping with the goal of the Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Advisory Council, the National Youth Science Camp is a great way to engage more students in science and to inspire them to become future scientists, engineers and mathematicians," said Reynolds, who is co-chair of the council, along with University of Northern Iowa President Ben Allen. "I hope many Iowa students will express interest in participating."

Application forms are available at http://2013.nysc.org/ and must be submitted directly to the Iowa Academy of Science as follows: Attention Marcy Seavey, NYSC, Iowa Academy of Science; 2607 Campus Street; Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0508.

Applications must be postmarked by Friday, Feb. 15.  A selection committee from the Iowa Academy of Science and the Iowa Department of Education will review applications and select Iowa's two National Youth Science Camp delegates and up to four alternates.  Delegates and alternates will be honored by Iowa's scientific community at the 125^th Annual Meeting of the Iowa Academy of Science at Simpson College on Friday, April 19.

QUEEN STREET AMERICA RESHAPES TRADITIONAL INSURANCE MODEL WITH A FOCUS ON WOMEN SELLING TO WOMEN & FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT; EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN IOWA FOR WOMEN

CHARLESTON, SC (January 15, 2013) - A newly formed national marketing company is introducing a unique business model offering simple solutions to help women succeed - through income and through insurance. Queen Street America LLC (QSA) is seeking full- and part-time, work-from-home female sales representatives across Iowa to launch its product to cancer-concerned consumers.

The QSA Plan for cancer-concerned consumers

The American Cancer Society states that cancer impacts one of every three women, one of every two men, and three of every four families. QSA has responded to these statistics by offering an insurance product called the QSA Plan. The Plan is sold to women by women in the workplace, coffee shop, gym, kitchen, playground, and in all of the places where women connect and build relationships.  The QSA Plan provides women and their families with up to a $70,000 lump sum insurance benefit should a covered individual receive a qualifying cancer diagnosis.

"Cancer has so many hidden costs that a major medical policy doesn't cover," says QSA Founder, President and CEO Chris Weaver. "When our customers receive a cancer diagnosis, their focus needs to be on healing and recovery and family, not on worrying about how to pay their monthly bills and mortgage of child's tuition. Having a QSA Plan makes that possible." He adds, "And, when representatives sell the QSA Plan, it's fulfilling because they know they've shared something that can have a positive and powerful impact in another person's life."

Employment opportunities for entrepreneurial women

Despite the country's lagging job market, QSA is expanding its nationwide network of women representatives to introduce its QSA Plan to cancer-concerned consumers. Prior experience in the insurance field is not required since QSA provides a step-by-step on-line training and coaching program, a comprehensive information portal with business tools and resources, and also personal access to QSA insurance professionals and business development experts.

Women from all educational and professional backgrounds serve as part-time or full-time independent QSA sales representatives to introduce the QSA Plan to customers. According to Sunnie Christiansen, Senior Business Development Manager for QSA, representatives determine their own level of activity within the company based on personal income goals and schedules. "QSA embraces representatives who want to earn extra income by working a few hours a week, as well as representatives who want to launch a full-time career and invest more time and energy in order to earn more," Christiansen says.

Weaver echoes this sentiment of inclusiveness. "QSA prides itself on understanding the need for flexibility in women's busy lives," he says. "QSA was formed in part to create a business opportunity that lets women succeed and have flexibility without having to compromise or re-prioritize other important areas of their lives."

Women interested in learning more about the professional benefits of becoming a QSA representative are encouraged to call 855-772-8517 or to visit www.QueenStreetAmerica.com.

Queen Street America (QSA) LLC, headquartered in Charleston, SC, was founded in 2013 by Chris Weaver, one of the country's leading supplemental insurance marketing experts. Weaver's creation of QSA was fueled by his passion to provide simple insurance products that financially empower individuals and families who someday may manage a qualifying cancer diagnosis, and also fueled by his interest in providing business opportunities to women. Prior to forming QSA, Weaver served as founder, president and CEO of Performance Matters Associates of Dallas, TX, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNO Financial, formerly Conseco, Inc. and also as the president of the Business Marketing Division of Capitol American Life Insurance Company of Cleveland, OH.

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(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today released an education reform package that will bring Iowa closer to its goal of providing a world-class education to all children, no matter where they live.

The package presented for the 2013 legislative session focuses on providing great teaching in every classroom to raise student achievement and to prepare Iowa's children to compete for jobs in a competitive global economy.

"We have many good schools with committed educators, but they are stuck in a system designed for the 20^th century, not the 21^st century," Branstad said. "I am ready to invest significant resources into these educational reforms, which truly have the power to dramatically raise achievement."

Branstad added: "I do not believe we should spend even one minute discussing additional resources to prop up our current educational structure until we have first agreed on the reforms our children need."

The investment proposed by Branstad and Reynolds scales up over five years, starting with $14 million in the first year, $72 million in the second year, and $187 million at full implementation in five years.

Other states and nations have made dramatic, whole-system changes that have pushed their education systems past Iowa's. Iowa, meanwhile, has slipped from being a top performer to middle of the pack on national tests.

"Iowa's children deserve the best education we can provide so they leave our schools with the knowledge and skills necessary for successful and rewarding lives," said Iowa Education Director Jason Glass. "We stand at a pivotal moment in Iowa's storied education history, in which we have the opportunity and will as a community to make the transition from being 'good' to being 'great.'"

World-class schools are one of four top priorities set by Branstad and Reynolds, along with 200,000 new jobs, a 25 percent increase in family incomes and to reduce the cost of government by 15 percent.

The centerpiece of their 2013 education reform package is establishing a new teacher leadership and compensation system. This proposal is based on recommendations from the Task Force on Teacher Leadership and Compensation, which thanks to the Legislature's action, was established as a diverse group of Iowans who spent seven months studying this issue.

The teacher leadership and compensation system raises the status of the teaching profession and attracts and retains talented educators through these approaches:

• Raise Iowa's minimum starting salary from $28,000 to $35,000 to make teaching more attractive.

• Keep top teachers in front of children, but pay these teacher leaders more to take on more instructional leadership responsibility alongside school administrators, which will strengthen the teaching throughout the building.  Teachers who are selected for model, mentor and lead roles will be paid more for sharing their expertise and for working additional days to coach, co-teach and to foster collaboration among all educators.

• Give brand-new teachers a reduced teaching load in their first year so they can spend more time learning from outstanding veteran teachers.

The teacher leadership and compensation system, which will be phased in over several years, gives school districts the flexibility to customize leadership roles to meet their local needs. It builds on landmark, bipartisan legislation in 2001 that created, but never funded, a teacher career ladder.

"This is about strengthening the teaching profession for the benefit of both students and teachers," Reynolds said. "Teachers are the single most important influence on a child's success inside school, and educators are being asked to do much more to prepare students for our knowledge-driven economy. We must make sure new teachers are ready to rise to that challenge, while also providing more support for teachers already in the classroom."

The education reform package introduced today by Branstad and Reynolds also includes four other components:

• Teach Iowa Initiative: Expands an existing program to provide both relief and incentive through tuition reimbursement to top students who commit to teach in Iowa schools for five years, with a focus on hard-to-hire subjects such as math and science. Teach Iowa scholars will receive an extra $4,000 for each year of service, for a total of $20,000. This initiative also includes a new pilot program to strengthen clinical experience with a full year of student teaching in the senior year of college, rather than the typical one semester.

• College- and Career-Ready Seals: Use diploma seals to identify and recognize graduating high school students who demonstrate that they are college- and career-ready. A blue-ribbon commission of business and education leaders would set high standards for the seals to better define what it means to be college or career-ready. The seals are in addition to a high school diploma. The purpose is to help students better prepare for the future and to align education with workforce development in a thoughtful way.

• Improving educator evaluations: Iowa needs to update existing teacher and administrator evaluations to provide more valuable feedback. This will include deciding how student achievement growth should count. This work should help the state win a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

• Expand the Iowa Learning Online program: This proposal expands an existing program at the Iowa Department of Education to allow more high school students the opportunity to take high-quality online courses taught by Iowa teachers. Small districts that often struggle to find applicants for hard-to-hire subjects also will find this helpful. This will require an initial state investment, but would be self-sustaining in three years.