The Hour (Norwalk, CT) July 30:
"An hour a week. 'It seems like nothing in the grand scheme of things,' said Jackie Effren, who coordinates the Norwalk Mentor Program at the Human Services Council. 'But look what it can do.' According to an end-of-the-year survey completed by the program's 212 mentees, 205 mentors and various liaisons to schools, it can do an awful lot."
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Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Binge Drinking Crisis Among Teens, College Students
9 News Now (Fairfax, VA) July 29:
"YouTube is full of videos of young people who appear to be binge drinking. If you need proof it's happening everywhere, especially on college campuses, meet Ryan Smith. He's with Virginia Tech's Center for Applied Behavior Systems which is studying alcohol consumption. They give 400 breathalyzer tests every Thursday night in Blacksburg, at Fraternity parties around and downtown...Smith says more than 60% of their tests show people with over .08 blood alcohol content, the legal DUI limit. But 15% are over .2 BAC, more than twice the legal limit. 'It's about tremendous amounts consumed very rapidly and kids getting totally drunk,' said Jeff Levy who lost his son in a drunk driving wreck after the driver, a student at Radford, had been binge drinking. 'My son was one of five students that died in a single weekend in alcohol related incidents in college in Virginia.' Levy says parents need to be strict about not allowing their underage kids to drink..."
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"YouTube is full of videos of young people who appear to be binge drinking. If you need proof it's happening everywhere, especially on college campuses, meet Ryan Smith. He's with Virginia Tech's Center for Applied Behavior Systems which is studying alcohol consumption. They give 400 breathalyzer tests every Thursday night in Blacksburg, at Fraternity parties around and downtown...Smith says more than 60% of their tests show people with over .08 blood alcohol content, the legal DUI limit. But 15% are over .2 BAC, more than twice the legal limit. 'It's about tremendous amounts consumed very rapidly and kids getting totally drunk,' said Jeff Levy who lost his son in a drunk driving wreck after the driver, a student at Radford, had been binge drinking. 'My son was one of five students that died in a single weekend in alcohol related incidents in college in Virginia.' Levy says parents need to be strict about not allowing their underage kids to drink..."
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'Bigs' And 'Littles' Cruise The Clouds
Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT) July 28:
"Each year since 2002, the members of the 43rd Aviation Flying Club have donated their time, expertise and equipment so youngsters in the Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program can become familiar with the basics of flying, and then experience the thrill of actual flight in a carefully maintained and fully equipped four-seat, single-engine plane. The activity has become so popular at Nutmeg that a lottery must be held annually to regulate the crush of candidates. This year's group was made up of 10 'bigs' (adult mentors) and 'littles' (the children being mentored)."
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"Each year since 2002, the members of the 43rd Aviation Flying Club have donated their time, expertise and equipment so youngsters in the Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program can become familiar with the basics of flying, and then experience the thrill of actual flight in a carefully maintained and fully equipped four-seat, single-engine plane. The activity has become so popular at Nutmeg that a lottery must be held annually to regulate the crush of candidates. This year's group was made up of 10 'bigs' (adult mentors) and 'littles' (the children being mentored)."
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Our View: Parents, students part of bullying solution
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) July 29:
"These days, with the popularity of social network websites, e-mail and text messages, a bully doesn't even need to be in the same room to victimize someone. Targets of physical, written or verbal abuse can have trouble focusing on their schoolwork. They might become so nervous that they get physically ill. Students and their parents often don't know exactly where to turn. A bully most likely isn't interested in becoming friends, and students might dread reprisal if they 'tell on' their antagonists...Preparing staff members to recognize bullying behavior and equipping them with effective means of dealing with it is an excellent step, and so is having school staff reach out directly to students. But it's going to take more. Parents, talk with your children. Tell them it's not OK to pick on others -- and tell them why..."
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"These days, with the popularity of social network websites, e-mail and text messages, a bully doesn't even need to be in the same room to victimize someone. Targets of physical, written or verbal abuse can have trouble focusing on their schoolwork. They might become so nervous that they get physically ill. Students and their parents often don't know exactly where to turn. A bully most likely isn't interested in becoming friends, and students might dread reprisal if they 'tell on' their antagonists...Preparing staff members to recognize bullying behavior and equipping them with effective means of dealing with it is an excellent step, and so is having school staff reach out directly to students. But it's going to take more. Parents, talk with your children. Tell them it's not OK to pick on others -- and tell them why..."
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OxyContin prescription drug abuse "a silent, growing problem" among youths
Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) July 27:
"Next to its tarry opiate cousin, 'hillbilly heroin' appears clean and trustworthy — pastel tablets neatly engraved with the dosage digits of modern medicine. But oxycodone packs a painkilling wallop with a strong addictive force. It hooked Rush Limbaugh, and these days it has gained a firm foothold in the youth party scene — with grim consequences...That false sense of pharmacological safety, experts say, has helped drive a pill-popping trend among teens and young adults that appears to be escalating. Emergency room visits for abuse of oxycodone products rose 152 percent from 2004 to 2008, with an even steeper increase among people younger than 21, according to a study released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration..."
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"Next to its tarry opiate cousin, 'hillbilly heroin' appears clean and trustworthy — pastel tablets neatly engraved with the dosage digits of modern medicine. But oxycodone packs a painkilling wallop with a strong addictive force. It hooked Rush Limbaugh, and these days it has gained a firm foothold in the youth party scene — with grim consequences...That false sense of pharmacological safety, experts say, has helped drive a pill-popping trend among teens and young adults that appears to be escalating. Emergency room visits for abuse of oxycodone products rose 152 percent from 2004 to 2008, with an even steeper increase among people younger than 21, according to a study released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration..."
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Anti-gay bullying left out of school harassment law
The Anniston Star (Anniston, AL) July 29:
"Under an anti-harassment policy passed by the Anniston Board of Education Wednesday, students are explicitly protected from bullying based on their race, gender, religion or disability. Sexual orientation? Not so much... 'When you leave the most common form of bullying out of your policy, that’s problematic,' said Carly Friedman, an assistant professor of psychology at Mississippi State University. Friedman studies school bullying, and worked as a research consultant to the Alabama Safe Schools Coalition, an anti-bullying group that campaigned for a sexual orientation clause in the state policy. Formerly a professor at Samford University, Friedman said her studies found that 49 percent of Alabama students hear anti-gay slurs multiple times per day, and 60 to 70 percent hear at least one anti-gay slur per day."
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"Under an anti-harassment policy passed by the Anniston Board of Education Wednesday, students are explicitly protected from bullying based on their race, gender, religion or disability. Sexual orientation? Not so much... 'When you leave the most common form of bullying out of your policy, that’s problematic,' said Carly Friedman, an assistant professor of psychology at Mississippi State University. Friedman studies school bullying, and worked as a research consultant to the Alabama Safe Schools Coalition, an anti-bullying group that campaigned for a sexual orientation clause in the state policy. Formerly a professor at Samford University, Friedman said her studies found that 49 percent of Alabama students hear anti-gay slurs multiple times per day, and 60 to 70 percent hear at least one anti-gay slur per day."
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High school confidential
Easy Reader (Manhattan Beach, CA) July 28:
"A golden retriever will show up unexpectedly to sniff your car for contraband. You will be asked to take a drug test if your parents sign off on it. If you are discovered with drugs or alcohol, or if you decide to tell on yourself, you will be offered help from well-trained peer counselors, and a well-informed teacher, and can be steered to outside counselors as well. Welcome to Mira Costa High School, regarded by members of the treatment community as a model of enlightened action when it comes to addressing drug and alcohol use among young people... The methods of prevention and treatment have been evolving and improving. In the hard sciences, researchers are ferreting out the precise connections between how substances make us feel good and how they can damage our brains and bodies, and are refining drugs that can be used to ease an addict’s withdrawal and recovery. In the soft sciences, counselors are making increasing headway using cognitive therapy, which is designed to identify and change the dysfunctional thinking and behavior that can pervade an addict’s drugging or drinking. Counselors are involving entire families in the treatment of one member’s abuse, and educators at Mira Costa and at Redondo Union high schools are arming students with increasingly effective weapons against peer pressure to drink and use."
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"A golden retriever will show up unexpectedly to sniff your car for contraband. You will be asked to take a drug test if your parents sign off on it. If you are discovered with drugs or alcohol, or if you decide to tell on yourself, you will be offered help from well-trained peer counselors, and a well-informed teacher, and can be steered to outside counselors as well. Welcome to Mira Costa High School, regarded by members of the treatment community as a model of enlightened action when it comes to addressing drug and alcohol use among young people... The methods of prevention and treatment have been evolving and improving. In the hard sciences, researchers are ferreting out the precise connections between how substances make us feel good and how they can damage our brains and bodies, and are refining drugs that can be used to ease an addict’s withdrawal and recovery. In the soft sciences, counselors are making increasing headway using cognitive therapy, which is designed to identify and change the dysfunctional thinking and behavior that can pervade an addict’s drugging or drinking. Counselors are involving entire families in the treatment of one member’s abuse, and educators at Mira Costa and at Redondo Union high schools are arming students with increasingly effective weapons against peer pressure to drink and use."
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