Page 12 - Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens - April '25

Page 12, Lifestyles in Palm Beach Gardens
College Tuition Rising:

How Scholarships Can Help You Afford College

By Peggy Forgan, M.Ed., affordable. College planning can help position your child to test prep helps your child increase their SAT scores to earn
College Planner earn scholarships. the most support.
College tuition has Scholarships come in many forms. Academic scholarships Finding scholarships can be challenging, but it’s worth
steadily risen for the last reward students for achieving strong grades and high test the effort. With the right scholarships, college can be
two decades, with private scores. Athletic or activity-based scholarships are awarded more accessible than ever. If you’re interested in learning
universities seeing a 5 to students excelling in specific areas like sports or the arts. more, Class 101 advisors are here to help make the college
percent increase and There are also scholarships based on identity, like those application process easier and more affordable. For more
public out-of-state tuition targeting specific religious or ethnic backgrounds. information, schedule a free 30-minute consultation or sign
increasing by 4 percent in Here in Florida, the Bright Futures Scholarship is a great a student up for the SAT test prep course. Contact Peggy
the past year alone. For many opportunity for students who excel in academics. It’s tied to Forgan at (561) 418-7897, or email pforgan@class101.com
students, scholarships are SAT/ACT test scores and a specific GPA, offering significant for more information.
crucial in making college financial assistance to those who meet the qualifications. Our
Northern Notes

Raccoons – Misunderstood

Masked Marauders

By Katie Roundtree,
Director of Finance and
Administration
Northern Palm Beach
County Improvement District
Trash pandas, bandits,
thieves—these are all
nicknames for northern
raccoons. Raccoons,
c om m on t hro ughout
Florida, are a testament to
the adaptability of wildlife.
They can thrive in both urban and rural environments, even and the burrows of other animals. This adaptability is helps keep the ecosystem clean. In addition to benefiting
as their natural habitats shrink. A large part of their success is a testament to their resilience and survival skills in the ecosystems, raccoons also help keep urban areas clean
due to their adaptability to new challenges and opportunities, face of changing environments. by consuming dead animals on our streets.
whether that’s nesting in cozy chimneys, invading chicken Like all living creatures, raccoons play a critical role While raccoons can carry diseases such as rabies and
coops, or breaking into trash bins, their reputation as sneaky in their ecosystems. Their role can be similar to that of roundworm, good hygiene and not handling raccoons can
thieves who prefer to steal trash to survive is a testament to a gardener or pest control, and they’re often referred to limit the spread. The best advice is to leave them alone,
their intelligence and resourcefulness. as a natural “cleanup crew.” The raccoon diet, a mix of give them their space, wash your hands after gardening,
Raccoons are about the size of a small dog and weigh plants, invertebrates and small mammals, serves a unique and secure trash cans or other tantalizing targets. If you
around 1 to 25 pounds when fully grown. They are purpose in the ecosystem. When they consume berries suspect a raccoon is sick or behaving unusually, it’s best
most notable for their black eye masks and ringed tails. and nuts, raccoons act as natural gardeners, distributing to contact local wildlife authorities for assistance.
Raccoons also have flat feet, with their hind legs longer seeds to promote the growth of new plants and trees. Their NPDES tip: Your neighborhood drainage system
than their front legs, giving them a hunched appearance. digging behavior contributes to soil turnover, promoting is not a garbage disposal – don’t treat it like one.
Their feet have five moveable toes, allowing them to grab decomposition and plant renewal. Encourage residents to take responsibility and to not
and handle food. Both a raccoon’s front and rear paws Raccoons help control populations of parasitic species dump chemicals, fertilizer, paint, oil, etc., in inlets or
resemble a human hand, featuring five slender, finger- like lizards, frogs, toads and rats. When these creatures pipes. Discourage sweeping of lawn clippings and dirt
like toes that enable them to easily manipulate food and grow abundant, raccoon populations rise to curb the into street drains and disposing of lawn clippings and
objects. Raccoons have extremely sensitive front paws population growth. Raccoons also help protect bees by other debris (wood, concrete blocks, Christmas trees, etc.)
with specialized hairs, allowing them to easily locate feeding on wasps, one of the bee’s main predators. directly into retention lakes. Keep drainage facilities clear
and identify objects by touching them. This sensitivity Perhaps their most important role in the ecosystem of vegetation, trash, improperly and illegally discarded
increases when their paws are wet. While it appears that is consuming carrion (or dead animal carcasses), which appliances, shopping carts, tires, cars, garbage bags, etc.
raccoons “wash” their food by dunking it in water, they
are actually using this behavior to enhance their sense of
touch. In fact, their scientific name, Procyon lotor, literally
means “washing dog.” When raccoons dunk their food
in the water and, seemingly, wash it, they are really just
making their paws more sensitive. Water increases the
tactile nerve responsiveness of their paws, allowing them
to learn more about what they are holding and eating. The
highly developed nerves in their forepaw pads and their
manipulative abilities help them to identify items. Their
forepaws are almost like a second set of eyes. They will
often rub and roll objects in their hands or will even rub
their hands together when they are not holding anything.
Raccoons are also extremely intelligent and good at
solving complex problems. Some measures of intelligence
have placed raccoons above cats but below primates in
their ability to distinguish between objects. They have
exceptional memories and can remember the solution to
tasks for up to three years without reinforcement.
Raccoons will eat almost anything. Raccoons are not
fussy about their choice of food. Although classified as
a carnivore, the raccoon eats as much, if not more, plant
matter as animal matter during the year. When ripe fruits,
acorns, and seeds are available, raccoons feed heavily on
them. At other times and places, they will feed on bird
and turtle eggs, insects, crayfish and crabs, frogs, fish
and small mammals. They’ll eat dead animals that they
encounter, raid bird feeders for seed and pet food bowls
for kibble and check out garbage cans that aren’t secured.
Raccoons are not fussy about their living quarters
either. Under normal conditions, they usually select a
den in a hollow tree limb instead of the trunk. Dens in
trees may be anywhere from ground level to 60 feet above
ground. However, in urban areas, raccoons demonstrate
their adaptability by choosing a wide variety of “cavities,”
including rock and debris piles, attics, crawl spaces
beneath homes, decks, sheds, culverts, sewer drains