When Rachel Heimke was seven, she realized what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Little did she know a $40,000 BigFuture Scholarship would help her pursue her dreams.
Heimke and her parents were living an unconventional lifestyle, to say the least. The summer after she completed first grade, she and her parents boarded a sailboat and sailed from their hometown in Alaska down the Pacific Coast. The family would spend the next two years traveling on the water, passing Mexico and then sailing across the world to Australia before returning home. It was on the sailboat, watching whales and dolphins breach the water under their boat, that Heimke realized her life’s purpose.
“I was really obsessed with these little porpoises called Vaquitta, who only live in one tiny area of water off the coast of Mexico,” she recalled. “When I learned about them as a kid, there were only 22 left in the wild. Now, there are only ten.” Despite her interest, Heimke was never able to actually see any Vaquitta on her trip, both because of their inherent shyness and because they were so critically endangered due to detrimental fishing policies in the area. “That was my wakeup call,” she says. “I’ll probably never be able to see this porpoise, and I don’t want that to be true of other species.”
Now a young woman of 23, Heimke is realizing her childhood dream of ocean conservation by recently graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in ocean sciences and enrolling in a grad program in Canada to study science communication. Heimke is well on her way to achieving her childhood dream—but she acknowledges that none of this would have been possible without her ocean adventures as a child, the support of her parents, and significant financial support.
At 18, when Heimke was deciding where to study ocean sciences, she stumbled upon an opportunity from BigFuture, College Board's free college and career planning site. The opportunity was the BigFuture Scholarship, which provided students the chance to win a $40,000 scholarship by completing six action items on the website. Heimke was intrigued, since she didn’t need to provide an essay, her GPA, or any test scores to enter. Her eligibility was also not tied to citizenship status or family income, so she decided to give it a shot.
“One of the action items was just going on the BigFuture site and creating a list of colleges I was interested in,” said Heimke. Another item required her to apply for financial aid through FAFSA—something Heimke was planning to do anyway. Every completed action item gave students more chances to win the scholarship, so Heimke completed all six action items quickly.
Months later, Heimke’s parents ushered her over to a call over Zoom, where she met a BigFuture representative who had some surprising news: She was one of 25 students who had won the $40,000 BigFuture college scholarship. Each year she would receive $10,000 in scholarship funding, which would cover her entire tuition bill for all four years of schooling.
“That experience taught me that it’s really important to not give up on your goals and just go for opportunities,” said Heimke. “I never thought I would win anything, but I’ve learned it's worth applying anyway. Even a small scholarship of $1,000 can pay your rent for a month,” she said. “And If you write an essay that takes an hour and you win $5,000, that’s probably the most money per hour you’ll ever make in your life.”
The tuition money made it possible for her to attend college, and for her to apply to graduate school immediately afterward without any financial burdens.
“Now that I’m in graduate school and paying for rent and a phone bill and graduate school tuition, it’s truly a blessing to not have student loan debt on top of that,” Heimke said. Because of the BigFuture scholarship, Heimke doesn’t need to pay for her graduate program either—she’s able to fund her education with the money her parents saved by not having to pay for her undergraduate degree.
One of the biggest blessings, Heimke said, was not needing to delay graduate school to work or find extra funds. With climate change worsening, entering the workforce becomes increasingly important over time.
“I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with my degrees, but I hope to have a lot of different jobs that ultimately will work toward saving our ocean,” she said.
As a child, witnessing marine life up close and personal was life-changing. Heimke’s goal is for future generations to have that experience, as she did.
To learn more and get started, visit bigfuture.org/scholarships.Olympic breakdancer gets musical canceled, comedian responds
Do you remember that one time breakdancing was an Olympic sport? It was short lived so if you blinked during the 2024 Paris Olympics you might have missed it. But even if you didn't see the Olympics at all, there was no escaping seeing Rachael Gunn, an Australian breakdancer that goes by the name Raygun. The breakdancer went mega viral for her interesting choices during her dance battle on the world stage.
Clips from her big moment where she did the now infamous kangaroo hop and pushed herself in a circle on the floor circulated the internet. Not only did the Aussie accidentally become a meme but she was impersonated on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. The backlash was so overwhelming from people around the world that Gunn issued an apology to the breakdancing community in Australia.
While mocking someone's abilities is considered bad form, people still find the dance moves Gunn performed at the Olympics to be amusing. This has lead to other people impersonating the dancer and one of them is a fellow Aussie, comedian Steph Broadbridge. The woman wrote "Raygun: The Musical" and was set to perform the one woman show for $10 per ticket at a local Australian venue until the breakdancer caught wind of it.
Paris Breaking GIF by NoireSTEMinistGiphy
It was then that Broadbridge found her comedic musical facing legal notice from Gunn barring her from performing her show. The letter came at an inopportune time as she was already in dress rehearsal having sold tickets to see the musical. Typically celebrities don't legally object to smaller artists poking fun at them in an impersonation, even if they're not happy about it. But Gunn may not see herself in a celebrity light which may help explain the unexpected reaction.
Broadbridge could've gotten upset or went on with the show forcing Raygun to sue, instead she decided to poke fun at the entire situation with a little dry humor. In a video on her Instagram page, Broadbridge announces the unfortunate news to her fans.
Olympics Breaking GIF by NoireSTEMinistGiphy
"I'm comedian Steph Broadbridge just hanging out in my casual day wear," the woman says as she's clearly wearing the same outfit the Olympic breakdancer wore during her dance battle. "My trail show tonight for 'Raygun: The Musical' has been canceled. Raygun's lawyers got in touch with the venue and threatened legal action so we will be refunding everyone their $10 back for that."
Obviously, Broadbridge was not putting on a full length high budget Broadway musical but that didn't stop the breakdancer from putting a halt to it. The comedian shares a surprising revelation in her announcement saying, "her lawyers trademarked my poster which is flattering, I hope they have fun with that. And they're also worried that I was damaging her brand, which I would never do. She doesn't need me to do that."
The entire video is done in deadpan which made it made the one liners pack a little more of a punch, especially when she reveals that she was told she wasn't permitted to hop like a kangaroo.
"They also said I wasn't allowed to do the dance because she owns the kangaroo dance, that one did puzzle me, I mean that's an Olympic level dance. How would I possibly be able to do that without any formal breakdance training," Broadbridge asks.
The comedian's fans were supportive of Broadbridge but were a bit miffed about Gunn putting a halt to the show with one writing, "I heard that the proceeds from the tickets sold for this were going to charity to help women and children facing homelessness. It makes it even worse that Raygun and her lawyers would still pursue this."
Another person encourages the comedian saying, "This will be amazing publicity. Just need to get it to all the news outlets."
Someone else chimes in, "Steph, this is Olympic level PR parody. How did you do this without any formal training?"
If you want to see the musical, don't worry. Broadbridge doesn't sound like she's giving up anytime soon. The Australian is planning to get around the complaint by changing the name of the main character to "Raigun" so there's no confusion. And while the letter from the breakdancers lawyers say Gunn owns the kangaroo dance, that may be something that is challenged by a court of kangaroos...a kangaroo court if you will–pun intended.
No, it was not through organized crime.
It’s a question that’s plagued us since November 10th, 1990: how the heck did the parents from Home Alone afford their massive, luxurious house nestled in the picturesque suburbs of Chicago? (Not to mention a Christmas vacation to Paris for nine people) Seriously, what impressive job title could Kate and Peter McCallister possibly have to make all this happen? In a recession, no less.
There have been several memes dedicated to this headscratcher, along with a few theories—including one arguing that Peter McCallister must have been involved in organized crime—but finally, we now have a definitive answer.
While appearing on a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, prolific filmmaker Chris Columbus (who directed both Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) revealed what Kevin’s parents did for a living.
“Back then, [screenwriter] John [Hughes] and I had a conversation about it, and we decided on what the jobs were,” Columbus shared.
Kate, everyone’s favorite neglectful mom, made iconic by Catherine O’Hara, “was a very successful fashion designer." In fact, we see clues to her profession in the film, when Kevin places mannequins in the windows to trick the Wet Bandits into thinking there was a holiday party afoot.
Filmmakers weaving hints into the story via set design, color scheme, costume choices, etc., otherwise known as “Easter eggs,” is a storytelling technique that’s been around since the art form began, essentially. But it’s a concept that’s taken on a life of its own with the introduction of social media. After all, there are entire Youtube channels dedicated to finding and breaking down these hidden clues mere days after a show or movie’s release—especially with comic books or fantasy series, which are franchises with a ton of lore to excavate.
Corporations that churn out these pop culture behemoths, like Disney, have undoubtedly caught on to this, and infuse Easter eggs into a lot of their movies, hoping to make bank off of the intrigue it incites. Does actual substance get sacrificed for this marketing ploy? Sure. But is it effective? Often, yes.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Point being: perhaps if Home Alone had premiered today, in the digital age, we might have never wondered so much about the McAllister’s jobs in the first place.
As for the late great John Heard’s Peter—Columbus’ memory is a little foggy. “The father could have, based on John Hughes’ own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did,” he told THR. Still, we can definitely put one fan theory to rest, as Columbus said Peter’s income did NOT come from “organized crime, even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”
While that settles one quandary involving this legendary house, since it was recently sold for around $5 million, we are left once again wondering who might possibly be able to afford living there…and if their place of employment is currently hiring.
Again, living in the age of Google, it’s easy to find at-length breakdowns behind virtually every piece of modern day pop culture out there. Whether you’re hunting down origin stories to alternative endings to meanings behind obscure references, the answers are fairly easy to find. Which is what makes these little reveals about older pop culture mainstays so satisfying. Often they come after years of dedicated fans relentlessly asking questions.
Take for instance the ultra viral “mystery song” that played during an episode of The X-Files, which took a whopping 25 years to solve, and involved hunting down the original call sheet that listed every person who participated in said episode. That simply would not happen with a show today. Not likely, anyway.
Just saying, when thought is carefully put into it, a story becomes enduring. That’s the reason why we are still captivated by these shows even years after.
