Emily Gautreaux, Author at Arlen "Benny" Cenac Jr

Nicholls State Online English Degree Takes Top Rank

Nicholls State University’s online English degree has been ranked one of the most affordable by an online education resource.

Nicholls degree was ranked No. 5 by SR Education Group, who considered the tuition rates of every accredited college offering fully online degrees to determine and rank the most affordable options. The results were published on onlineu.org. The 2019 rankings looked at 861 schools across the nation to find schools committed to providing the most economical options for students. Nicholls was the only school in Louisiana to be ranked in the top 25.

“I think this new ranking indicates that we have an outstanding academic program that is also affordable,” said Dr. Ellen Barker, department of language and literature chair. “We have remained in the top seven, often in first and second place, for affordability in the last few years, so it is rewarding to maintain that ranking in this category.”

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Washington, SR Education Group provides online resources to help prospective college students find the education that best suits their budget and career aspirations. The group provides over $250,000 annually in scholarships.

Online courses have expanded rapidly and have the potential to extend further the educational opportunities of many students, particularly those least well-served by traditional educational institutions. However, in their current design, online courses are difficult, especially for the students who are least prepared. These students’ learning and persistence outcomes are worse when they take online courses than they would have been had these same students taken in-person courses. Continued improvement of online curricula and instruction can strengthen the quality of these courses and hence the educational opportunities for the most in-need populations.

Online courses offer the promise of access regardless of where students live or what time they can participate, potentially redefining educational opportunities for those least well-served in traditional classrooms. Moreover, online platforms offer the promise, through artificial intelligence, of providing the optimal course pacing and content to fit each student’s needs and thereby improve educational quality and learning. The latest “intelligent” tutoring systems, for example, not only assess students’ current weaknesses, but also diagnose why students make the specific errors. These systems then adjust instructional materials to meet students’ needs.

Yet today these promises are far from fully realized. The vast majority of online courses mirror face-to-face classrooms with professors rather using technology to better differentiate instruction across students. As one new study shows, online courses can improve access, yet they also are challenging, especially for the least well-prepared students. These students consistently perform worse in an online setting than they do in face-to-face classrooms; taking online courses increases their likelihood of dropping out and otherwise impedes progress through college.

Online college courses are rapidly growing. One out of three college students now takes at least one course online during their college career, and that share has increased threefold over the past decade. The potential for cost savings and the ease of scaling fuels ongoing investments in online education by both public and private institutions. Online courses have grown in the K-12 sector as well. Florida, for example, requires each high school student to take at least one online course before graduation and the Florida Virtual School offers over 150 classes to students across the state. An estimated 1.5 million K-12 students participated in some online learning in 2010, and online learning enrollments are projected to grow in future years.

Non-selective and for-profit higher education institutions have expanded online course offerings particularly quickly. These institutions serve a majority of college-aged students, and these students typically have weaker academic preparation and fewer economic resources than students at other more selective colleges and universities. As such, their ability to provide useful course work, engage students, and build the skills necessary for economic success is particularly important. Their use of online coursework is promising to the extent that it can reach the most students in need and serve them well.

While online course-taking is both prevalent and growing, especially in non-selective higher education institutions, relatively little evidence has examined how taking a course online instead of in person affects student success in college. A new study is the first of which to provide evidence on the effects of online courses at-scale at non-selective four-year colleges. It is also the first to assess the effects of online course taking at for-profit institutions. Nearly 2.4 million undergraduate students (full-time equivalent) enrolled at for-profit institutions during the 2011-12 academic year, and the sector granted approximately 18 percent of all associate degrees.

A new study uses data from DeVry University, a large for-profit college with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 100,000 students, 80 percent of whom are seeking a bachelor’s degree. The average DeVry student takes two-thirds of her courses online. The remaining one-third of courses meet in conventional in-person classes held at one of DeVry’s 102 physical campuses. The data include over 230,000 students enrolled in 168,000 sections of more than 750 different courses.

DeVry University’s approach to online education makes it particularly well suited for estimating the effects of taking online courses. Each DeVry course is offered both online and in-person, and each student enrolls in either an online section or an in-person section. Online and in-person sections are identical in most ways: both follow the same syllabus and use the same textbook; class sizes are approximately the same; both use the same assignments, quizzes, tests, and grading rubrics. Many professors teach both online and in-person courses. The contrast between online and in-person sections is primarily the mode of communication. In online sections, all interaction—lecturing, class discussion, group projects—occurs in online discussion boards, and much of the professor’s “lecturing” role is replaced with standardized videos. In online sections, participation is often asynchronous while in-person sections meet on campus at scheduled times. In short, DeVry online classes attempt to replicate traditional in-person classes, except that student-student and student-professor interactions are virtual and asynchronous.

Taking a course online, instead of in person, increases the probability that a student will drop out of school. In the semester after taking an online course, students are about 9 percentage points less likely to remain enrolled. This reduction is relative to an average of 88 percent of students remaining enrolled in the following term. Moreover, taking a course online reduces the number of credits that students who do reenroll take in future semesters. While this setting is quite different, we can compare the effects on online course taking to other estimates of effects of on college persistence. For example, the literature on financial aid often finds that $1000 in financial aid increases persistence rates by about three percentage points and college mentorship increases persistence rates by five percentage points.

The negative effects of online course taking are concentrated in the lowest performing students. As shown in Figure 2, for students with below median prior GPA, the online classes reduce grades by 0.5 points or more, while for students with prior GPA in the top three deciles we estimate the effect as much smaller and, in fact, we cannot tell whether there is negative effect at all for this higher-achieving group. Thus, while online courses may have the potential to differentiate coursework to meet the needs of students with weaker incoming skills, current online courses, in fact, do an even worse job of meeting the needs of these students than do traditional in-person courses.

These analyses provide evidence that students in online courses perform substantially worse than students in traditional in-person courses and that experience in these online courses impact performance in future classes and their likelihood of dropping out of college as well. The negative effects of online course-taking are far stronger for students with lower prior GPA. The results are in line with prior studies of online education in other settings such as community colleges and highly competitive four-year institutions that also show that online courses yield worse average outcomes than in-person courses.

The current negative effect of online course taking relative to in-person course taking should not necessarily lead to the conclusion that online courses should be discouraged. On the contrary, online courses provide access to students who never would have the opportunity or inclination to take classes in-person.[11] As one indication, of the 5.8 million students taking online courses in the fall of 2014, 2.85 million took all of their courses online. Moreover, advances in AI offer hope that future online courses can respond to the needs of students, meeting them where they are in their learning and engaging them in higher education even better than in-person courses are currently able to do. Nonetheless, the tremendous scale and consistently negative effects of current offerings points to the need to improve these courses, particularly for students most at risk of course failure and college dropout.

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From-Scratch Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving: the one time a year for many that they will make delicious food from scratch and veer from the usual “fast and easy” style cooking. Thankfully, if you’re ready to ditch the cans and boxes and tackle a truly homemade Thanksgiving day supper, below is just the menu you need.

The Turkey

Pasture-raised birds tend toward toughness, both because they have the freedom to exercise their muscles more and because they’re culled at an older age than birds that are raised conventionally. There’s really only one reliable way to produce particularly tender results when it comes to cooking pastured poultry, and that’s with long cooking times and low temperatures. That might mean that you simmer birds in water, for bone broth and soups, or that you braise it, or that you slow roast it.

Those long cooking times and low temperatures give the proteins in the bird’s meat an opportunity to break down, and for the fat to melt into meat which also helps it to become tender; moreover, pasture-raised birds tend to have high amounts of collagen within their skin, joints and bones, and slow-roasting facilitates the breakdown of that collagen which then melts into the meat and leaves it impossibly tender.

Slow-roasting is a pretty easy, hands-off approach. Begin by preparing an herb butter, and then slipping that softened, flavored butter between the skin and flesh of the breast. As it roasts, the butter melts into the bird’s meat, and not only helps to make it tender, but also infuses it with the vibrant flavor of fresh herbs. Stuffing the bird’s cavity with lemon, onions and herbs also helps to keep it moist while it roasts.

Beyond that, you just need to pop it in the oven, baste it occasionally with pan juices when you check on it. It’s a fabulous way to cook a turkey overnight, in a low and slow oven, while you sleep. We usually serve Thanksgiving dinner around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, which means that we stay up late the night before drinking hot spiced cider, place the bird in the oven to bake, and then baste it when we wake up. When the bird is done, pull it from the oven and allow it to rest, then carve it where it falls apart into utterly tender pieces.

Slathered with butter, dressed with thyme and stuffed with onions and lemons, this slow-roasted turkey is rich with flavor, succulent and wonderfully easy to make. Slow roasting is a long process with a rewarding result, make sure to plan in advance.

Ingredients

½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup chopped fresh thyme
¼ cup chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons finely ground sea salt
1 whole turkey, about 16 to 18 lbs, giblets removed and reserved for another purpose
2 large yellow onions, quartered
2 large lemons, quartered
1½ cups dry white wine

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Beat the butter together with thyme, sage and sea salt until well-combined.
Rinse the turkey and pat it dry. With a butter knife, loosen the skin of the turkey from the flesh of the breast. Spread the herb butter between the skin and the meat of the turkey breast, and place the seasoned turkey on a rack in your roasting pan.
Stuff the turkey’s cavity with onions and lemons. Pour wine into the pan.
Roast the turkey for 45 minutes. Remove the turkey from oven, tent it with foil, and then return it to the oven.
Turn down the heat to 225 F, and slow roast it approximately twelve hours. Baste with pan juices every 2 to 3 hours.
Increase the heat to 375 degrees and continue roasting for twenty minutes or until the skin is a rich brown and the meat has reached an internal temperature of at least 185 F.
Allow the turkey to rest for 30 minutes prior to carving.

Rosemary Potatoes

Ingredients
6-8 medium red potatoes halved and then quartered (gently scrub the skins to remove dirt)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 TB chopped rosemary
4-5 garlic cloves crushed, Place the garlic on a cutting board and crush them with the back of wooden spoon-this helps unlock the flavor and fragrance.
2 TB extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425F–this is the secret to crispy potatoes!
Place the potatoes on a greased large sheet pan. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and pepper. Add the crushed garlic and rosemary. I usually add 1-2 whole rosemary sprigs, cut in half, for the extra fragrance–this is optional. Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes, then toss with your hands until the potatoes are coated with oil.
Position the potatoes in a single layer so the skins are facing up (yes, some of the flesh of the potatoes will also face up since the potatoes are quartered).
Bake for roughly 30-35 minutes (keep an eye on the potatoes at the 25 minute mark), until the potatoes are soft on the inside (try piercing one with a fork) and crispy on the outside.

Veggie Side- Real Food Green Bean Casserole

So, what are the essential parts of any green bean casserole? The green beans, the cream of mushroom soup, and the french-fried onions, right?

This beloved casserole has earned a place of honor on our Thanksgiving table each year, but up until a few years ago, it consisted of opening cans of green beans, opening cans of soup, and yup – opening a can of french-fried onions to whip up and bake to perfection.

But many families have switched to a whole foods journey over the last few years. Green Bean Casserole putting you in a conundrum? What to do with our beloved favorite?

Now, a word to the wise – the evaporated milk takes a while to make. If you want a much quicker version, feel free to use canned evaporated milk, but preferably find a brand that doesn’t contain carrageenan if you can.

However, if you really don’t want to make your own evaporated milk and can’t find an acceptable brand, you can substitute a ratio of one part cream to three parts milk for the evaporated milk when making the cream of mushroom soup, but it won’t have quite the same texture. (It will be yummy, nonetheless!)

Really don’t want to make your own ingredients – or don’t have time? There are more and more acceptable store-bought versions available these days, which even two years ago wasn’t the case. (Yay!) So, if you’re wanting a store-bought organic cream of mushroom soup, try this one or for French-fried onions, these ones are spectacularly delicious. I’ve also seen acceptable French-fried onions at places like Trader Joe’s, so definitely look around in your area.

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds green beans, snapped into 2-inch pieces
a dash of traditionally-fermented soy sauce (see where to buy traditional soy sauce)
a dash of Worcestershire sauce (see how to make a homemade version in The DIY Pantry
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups condensed cream of mushroom soup (see recipe below)
2 cups French fried onions (see recipe below)

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the beans. Cook until tender but still bright green, 6-8 minutes. Drain well.
Place the beans in a large bowl and add the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and the cream of mushroom soup. Mix well.
Place in a square casserole dish and bake until bubbly, 15-25 minutes (depending on whether your soup base was hot or cold). Add the French fried onions on top and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the onions are crispy and golden.

For more from-scratch Thanksgiving recipes, click here. For general recipes, click here.

SLCC and LUMCON Hold Open House

SLCC and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) recently held an Open House event at the Maritime and Corporate Training Center in Houma to celebrate its partnership. SLCC administrators along with area dignitaries shared remarks and then enjoyed a delicious Boucherie.

The program was opened with a welcome by Mr. Anthony Baham of SLCC and was followed by local representatives Jerome Zeringue and Beryl Amedee, as well as Drs. Craig McClain, Kristine Strickland and Jermaine Ford, among others.

Mr. Walt Cenac with CENAC Marine Services was there to represent Mr. Arlen Benny Cenac, CEO of Cenac Marine Services, who In November 2017 dedicated a fully refurbished barge to South Louisiana Community College’s Maritime training program. Mr. Cenac and employees met with Captain Carl Moore of SLCC and discovered the need for updated equipment and have since made this need come to fruition.

The very first open enrollment class began in August. Depending on the size of the class, hands-on barge training can last approximately eight hours long. The goal of the South Louisiana Community College and their Maritime training program is to offer the class every two weeks, depending on instructor availability. They currently have two Cenac Boat Captains serving as tankerman instructors during their off time. The Cenac instructors have been certified through the state of Louisiana to teach the course. It takes a total of 32 hours to complete the course. After completion of the course, they are required to complete basic firefighting training before they can become a certified tankerman.

Mr. Arlen Benny Cenac Jr. stated, “From the very start of this project I have been excited about what we can offer to the community and to those interested in becoming tankermen. My company and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to provide a hands on learning experience to many people for years to come.”

People interested in taking the class can register on site at 331 Dickson Road in Houma. The barge is also housed at this location. Captain Carl Moore, Assistant Dean of Marine Operations said, “The barge donated by Mr. Cenac and Cenac Marine services has been a game changer. We’re excited to be able to offer hands on, real life experience while under the supervision of an instructor. This will help everyone in a way we just haven’t been able to in the past.”

To learn more about South Louisiana Community College and its Maritime training offerings, please visit, http://www.solacc.edu. More information on this inaugural class was featured on Workboat’s website. To read about the barge dedication that took place in 2017 please see this article.

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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Louisiana

Everyone thinks they know Louisiana but we bet there is something on this list of 10 that you weren’t aware of. Louisiana has a rich, complex history that is fascinating to learn about. How many did you know out of 10?

While all of Louisiana may be known for its crawfish, Breaux Bridge reigns as king of crustaceans. The city is called the “Crawfish Capital of the World” and has been proving it for over 50 years with its annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. The Crawfish Festival has also become one of the largest gatherings of world famous Cajun musicians. All weekend long you can hear the sound of authentic Cajun, Zydeco and Swamp Pop music rising from the festival. Whether your musical taste is Cajun or Creole, you can witness over 30 bands perform over the three day event if you think you have the stamina. It’s a perfect opportunity to see our musical tradition passed from generation to generation. Watch the Cajun dance contests, and if you’re brave, join in. There’s no better way to learn. There are even Cajun music workshops held in the heritage tent.
2. The first bottler of Coca-Cola, Joseph Biedenharn, lived in Monroe, where he purchased a small bottling plant to produce the drink. The plant is now a museum and can be toured year round. Young and old can connect to the gracious life of his daughter Emy-Lou through guided tours of the house. The rooms are exhibited as they were lived in, reflecting the eclectic taste of a well-traveled woman. In the furnishings and accessories, one will see Emy-Lou’s love of music, nature and family. Guests will enjoy the beauty of rare furniture and antiques featured in the library, music, dining, breakfast and living rooms. The bedrooms display crystal chandeliers, high tester beds, and artistic accessories highlighting Emy-Lou’s European singing career.
3. Louisiana was named in honor of King Louis XIV, the King of France from 1643-1715.
4. Until about 1890, City Park in New Orleans was a favorite dueling spot for Creole people. They would gather at the “Dueling Oaks” with a pistol, saber or colichemarde (long sword) and fight with their opponents. New Orleans City Park lost approximately 2,000 trees after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures, but the Dueling Oak still stands where Dueling Oaks Drive meets Dreyfous Drive between the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden and the New Orleans Museum of Art. At one point, there was a placard that explained the tree’s historical significance, but it’s no longer there. Originally, there were two “dueling oaks,” but one was lost in a hurricane in 1949. In the 1800s, men would defend their pride and honor by dueling each other under the oaks at what is now City Park but then was a normally quiet spot secluded from the rest of the city. Some of the city’s most notable figures who participated in duels in City Park include U.S. Congressman Emile LaSere and Bernard de Marigny, a nobleman and president of the Louisiana Senate in 1822-23. Many of the disputes between parties were either reconciled before the duel or after one party sustained a minor injury. Dueling deaths were reported, however. In 1805, Micajah Green Lewis, Gov. William C.C. Claiborne’s private secretary and brother-in-law, was killed by Robert Sterry, a Claiborne opponent. By 1890, dueling was outlawed.
5. In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million dollars, nearly doubling the size of the country. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.
6. Just because it’s called the “French Quarter” doesn’t mean that being in New Orleans’ famous neighborhood is like strolling through a Parisian city. Most of the buildings today were influenced by Spanish architecture after a fire in 1794 destroyed most of the French colonial architecture. The fire started on December 8, 1794. The fire area stretched across 212 buildings, including the royal jail.[1] It spared the Mississippi River front buildings. Among the buildings spared were the Customs House, the tobacco warehouses, the Governor’s Building, the Royal Hospital, and the Ursulines Convent. Despite widespread fire damage, the St. Louis Cathedral was not destroyed but was dedicated just 2 weeks later, on December 23, 1794.
7. Louisiana is the only state that still acts under Napoleonic code, which derives from the original French emperor’s civil code. It was drafted by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on 21 March 1804. The Code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major step in replacing the previous patchwork of feudal laws. Historian Robert Holtman regards it as one of the few documents that have influenced the whole world. The Napoleonic Code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a civil legal system; it was preceded by the Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis (Bavaria, 1756), the Allgemeines Landrecht (Prussia, 1794), and the West Galician Code (Galicia, then part of Austria, 1797). It was, however,the first modern legal code to be adopted with a pan-European scope, and it strongly influenced the law of many of the countries formed during and after the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic Code influenced developing countries outside Europe, especially in the Middle East, attempting to modernize their countries through legal reforms.
8. The town of Jean Lafitte was once a hideaway for pirates. It was also named after the French-born Louisiana pirate of the same name. The Barataria region was originally home to Native Americans, whose shell middens and ceremonial mounds are still found along the bayous. Shortly after the founding of New Orleans in 1718, the French explored the area and established Barataria Bay as a harbor for large vessels on the Gulf Coast. By the 1730s, early colonists used the area’s virgin forests of cypress and oak trees for ship construction. Canals were dug between the Mississippi River and bayous to transport lumber, and logging persisted until the last sawmill closed in 1929. Meanwhile, plantation owners cultivated the land for sugar and rice production, and the area was an important supplier of fish, game and furs. The name “Barataria” first appeared on French maps in 1729 and means dishonesty at sea. In 1808, brothers Jean and Pierre Lafitte organized a group of smugglers and privateers and set up headquarters in the barrier island of Grand Terre. They were known to use Indian shell middens for storehouses and sold merchandise to merchants and plantation owners. During the War of 1812, the brothers joined Andrew Jackson to defend the City of New Orleans and were given pardons for their service. The bayou communities grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as residents harvested shrimp, crabs, oysters and fish from the estuaries. Forests were logged, moss was harvested for filling mattresses and furniture, and mink, muskrats and alligators were trapped for skin and fur. The diverse cultures of the early French and Spanish settlers were later joined by Croatians, who were followed by Filipino and Chinese.
9. There are almost half as many alligators as there are people in Louisiana. Louisiana alligator hunters currently harvest more than 28,000 wild alligators, and farmers harvest more than 280,000 farm-raised alligators annually. Raw meat and hide values are estimated at more than $11 million for wild harvest and more than $46 million for farm harvest. (Note these values consist of raw meat and hides only and do not reflect hide values after tanning and product manufacturing, values associated with jobs, tourism, economy, etc. or egg values.)
10. The first opera in the United States was performed in New Orleans in 1796. The date of the very first staging of opera in the Crescent City cannot be firmly established and seems forever lost to music historians. But it can safely be stated that since 1796, in the final decade of the Spanish colonial era, New Orleans has had operatic performances on almost a yearly basis. What is also significant is that, with few exceptions throughout the nineteenth century, each year the city hosted a resident company which was engaged for its principal theatre and which could be depended upon for performances throughout an established operatic season. The Théâtre St. Pierre, on St. Peter street between Royal and Bourbon, opened in October 1792. Louis Alexandre Henry had purchased the land the previous year and built the theatre, which featured plays, comedies and vaudeville. It was there, on May 22,1796, that the first documented staging of an opera in New Orleans, André Ernest Grétry’s Sylvain, took place. The St. Pierre closed in 1803 and the Théâtre St. Philippe, at St. Philip and Royal streets, opened January 30, 1808 with the American premiere of Etienne Nicholas Méhul’s Une Folie. During the first third of the nineteenth century there was slow yearly growth as various theatres opened (and in some cases closed) and the repertoire was expanded to include, in addition to the popular light scores of Grétry, Méhul, Nicolo Isouard, Nicholas Dalayrac and François Boieldieu, works by Italian composers such as Giovanni Paisiello’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Luigi Cherubini’s Les Deux Journées.

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DIY Trip Planning vs. Using A Travel Agent

Once upon a time, about 20 years ago, you needed to use a travel agent to book a trip. Your travel agency would book your flights, give you a stack of maps and brochures, and they might even highlight the roads to take on the highway map if you were driving to your destination. Then, the Internet came around. In the world of Google Flights, and better travel rewards credit cards, and the many different flight booking sites, do people still use travel agencies? If you’re like many budget travelers, you probably started booking your own trips yourself online in the early 2000s and thought travel agents went extinct. That’s actually the farthest thing from the truth. Sure, travel agents and agencies are not as common as they once were, but, they are still in demand. In fact, 34% of Millenials used an offline travel agent in 2017 (and many others with some crazy travel requests)! You know, the same generation that can send you a text message or tweet but won’t have a face-to-face conversation with you. I’m surprised that many know what a travel agency is.

How to find a reputable travel agent?

You can perform a quick Google search for “travel agents near me” and you will most likely find at least one private office. Or, you can always look for your local AAA location as well.

Why would anybody use a travel agency when you book the same flight or hotel room as the agent and maybe even save a few dollars in the process?

There are a few reasons actually. Let’s break those reason down below.

By finding a travel agent who is an expert on the region you want to visit, they can book the best flights, hotels, and even make top-notch recommendations of where to eat and sight-see. If you have never been to another continent, what looks appealing on the Internet doesn’t always work out so well once you arrive and begin to play tourist. Since the agent has already “been there, done that,” they can immediately tell you where to go so you can maximize every minute of the trip.

Not every travel agent is going to know everything about every corner of the globe. Travel Leaders can help you find an agent who specializes in the area you want to visit. For example, you can find an agent that specializes in beach weddings, Riviera Mexico, or Hawaii.

Travel Agents Aren’t That Much More Expensive
The Internet has driven the cost down for many items and services, travel agents included. To remain competitive, travel agents cannot charge the same fees they did before anyone could book their own dream vacation themselves. Travel agents do receive a small commission from the airlines and hotels when they book your trip, but, this helps keep your travel costs down.

Some agents might not charge any additional fees, but, you can expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $50 per person to book your trip for you. If you can afford the convenience or simply do not have the time to research your own flights, hotels, and sightseeing itinerary this can be money well-spent.

If you own one of the best travel rewards cards like the Capital One Venture or a Chase Sapphire Preferred, you have complimentary access to the Amex or Chase travel concierge. You tell them where you want to travel or even what special event you want to attend in your hometown and they will make it happen for no additional fee.

You Have a Complex Trip
Many great free, online tools exist that make booking a complex trip look extremely easy. Any DIY traveler needs to use Google Flights, Momondo, or Skiplagged (hidden city fares) to research a one-way, roundtrip, or multi-city fare. But, buying your plane tickets is only one side of the equation.

If you don’t have the time to research or simply can’t seem to put all the pieces to the travel puzzle together, don’t be afraid to call a travel agent. After all, it’s their job to book these complex fares so that you can have the trip of a lifetime. How often would you regret not going on a complex trip because you were afraid to ask for help?

Why People No Longer Use a Travel Agency
There will always be a demand for travel agents. That doesn’t mean you will use one to book most of your trips though. Here are several reasons why you won’t use a travel agency.

You Want Rewards Flights and Nights
One reason why you might book your own travel is so you can redeem your credit card rewards points. For example, there you can transfer and redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you earn from your Chase credit cards to book award flights on just about any airline and you don’t have to pay a dime (okay, maybe fees and taxes) to fly or stay at a quality hotel. Travel rewards card benefits have improved so much, you can even buy your own ticket to the Emmys and other exclusive events just for owning an elite travel credit card.

When you use a travel agency, your only payment method will most likely be cash. That means you will have more rewards points to use next time, but, that doesn’t necessarily help you now.

If you need help booking an award flight, you can call the airline when you transfer your points or the credit card travel concierge when you try to redeem your points through their travel portal (i.e. AmexTravel.com or the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal).

Plenty of Free Travel Advice Online
Not only can you book your travel directly from the airline or hotel, you can also research everything there is to do and even find the best flights from online travel blogs (like Johnny Jet!). Whether you want to research the best travel rewards card, things to do in Ireland (or anywhere else), and also the best award travel options, you can find all that information online.

Travel agents might know about the best places to stay and the must-see tourist sites, but, their job is to book a travel reservation that you pay for. If you want to book award travel or simply relish DIY travel, you can access all these resources online for free from travel aficionados that have witnessed the same sights and sounds that you will soon experience yourself!

Summary on Travel Agencies
People of all generations till use travel agencies. The Internet has made it easier than ever for you to book your own travel, and in a lot of cases, you may never need a travel agent. But, booking travel is the sole profession for travel agents and the good agents can be extremely helpful when you have complex routes or simply don’t have the time to research and book the travel yourself.

For more travel tips, click here.

Vegan Pizza Recipe

This vegan pizza is a perfect weeknight fix and is quite the crowd-pleaser. It’s an easy base to add to as well, in case you’re one of those people who eat pineapple on pizza and want to see how it goes with veggie meatballs.

Why go vegan? Several reasons:

For Your Health

Well-planned vegan diets follow healthy eating guidelines, and contain all the nutrients that our bodies need. Both the British Dietetic Association and the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recognise that they are suitable for every age and stage of life. Some research has linked vegan diets with lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

Going vegan is a great opportunity to learn more about nutrition and cooking, and improve your diet. Getting your nutrients from plant foods allows more room in your diet for health-promoting options like whole grains, fruit, nuts, seeds and vegetables, which are packed full of beneficial fibre, vitamins and minerals.

For The Animals
Preventing the exploitation of animals is not the only reason for becoming vegan, but for many it remains the key factor in their decision to go vegan and stay vegan. Having emotional attachments with animals may form part of that reason, while many believe that all sentient creatures have a right to life and freedom. Specifics aside, avoiding animal products is one of the most obvious ways you can take a stand against animal cruelty and animal exploitation everywhere. A more detailed overview on why being vegan demonstrates true compassion for animals can be found here.

For The Environment

The production of meat and other animal products places a heavy burden on the environment – from crops and water required to feed the animals, to the transport and other processes involved from farm to fork. The vast amount of grain feed required for meat production is a significant contributor to deforestation, habitat loss and species extinction. In Brazil alone, the equivalent of 5.6 million acres of land is used to grow soya beans for animals in Europe. This land contributes to developing world malnutrition by driving impoverished populations to grow cash crops for animal feed, rather than food for themselves. On the other hand, considerably lower quantities of crops and water are required to sustain a vegan diet, making the switch to veganism one of the easiest, most enjoyable and most effective ways to reduce our impact on the environment. For more on how veganism is the way forward for the environment, click here.

For People

Just like veganism is the sustainable option when it comes to looking after our planet, plant-based living is also a more sustainable way of feeding the human family. A plant-based diet requires only one third of the land needed to support a meat and dairy diet. With rising global food and water insecurity due to a myriad of environmental and socio-economic problems, there’s never been a better time to adopt a more sustainable way of living. Avoiding animal products is not just one of the simplest ways an individual can reduce the strain on food as well as other resources, it’s the simplest way to take a stand against inefficient food systems which disproportionately affects the poorest people all over the world. Read more here on how vegan diets can help people.

Technique tip: For the “mozzarella” sauce, if you are not using a high-powered blender, such as a Vitamix, soak cashews overnight or boil for 10 minutes and drain. This will soften them and ensure a silky smooth cream. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to four days or frozen for up to one month and thawed before using.

Ingredients

MEATBALL PIZZA
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 pound pizza dough
1 cup tomato sauce
3/4 cup mozzarella sauce
1 cup Vegetarian Meatballs
Optional toppings: Caramelized onions, fresh basil, sliced tomato, crushed red pepper

“MOZZARELLA” SAUCE
1½ cup raw cashews
1 cup
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1½ teaspoons sea salt
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly brush a large baking sheet (approximately 9- x 13-inch) with olive oil.

2. Sprinkle the bottom of the baking sheet with cornmeal. On a lightly floured surface, roll or stretch the dough into a large rectangle. Fit it into the baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Spread enough tomato sauce to generously cover the dough, leaving about a ¾-inch border. Top with meatballs and any optional toppings. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until edges are golden.

3. For the “mozzarella” sauce, in a high powered blender, combine cashews and water. Blend on high until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt, garlic, onion powder, and cornstarch and blend until smooth.

4. Remove pizza from oven, lightly drizzle with Mozzarella Sauce, then bake for 1 minute more. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before slicing. If desired, season with crushed red pepper before eating.

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