Driving to school a big responsibility for teens
Sunday, August 31st, 2008Local educators and school resource officers said more will be added to the rolls as sophomores hit 16th birthday milestones.
“The number of students requesting parking decals to drive to school increases after Christmas. When those sophomores get their licenses, we usually do get a waiting list in the spring,” said Frank Myers, principal at Rossview High.
But 16 candles don’t automatically translate into shifting into park on school blacktop.
“We see this as a privilege, not a right,” said Bonnie Principle, student council adviser at Clarksville High School.
Tags: cipal, sophomore, TeensRelated posts
A high school for 21st century teens
Sunday, August 31st, 2008WITH ALL THE TALK ABOUT reforming public education these days, it’s wonderful to see a high school which is already blazing trails on its own. I dropped by the new campus of El Camino High School in Ventura last week for a tour with Principal Kelsie Sims.
It’s the only independent study high school located on a college campus which offers the full range of A-G series college prep courses and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Sims is the kind of principal every teen-ager wants. Young and energetic, she juggles multiple tasks with ease and keeps tabs on everyone with a motherly eye. While talking to a visitor about the school recently, she stopped mid-sentence to open her office window and call out a friendly greeting to a passing girl.
STUDENTS COME FROM all over the county and from neighboring Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, too. Many of the 300 enrolled are dynamic teens already busy making their mark on the world. “El Camino provides an opportunity to students to explore their passions and interests and still have it be a high school experience,” Sims said.
There’s the surfer who now ranks third in the world among women; another is a competitive ice skater and one senior plays in a local symphony orchestra.
Students take classes at VC and also work one-on-one with a teacher. They have full access to the college’s facilities like the library. “All of my students are over there studying,” Sims said. Many concurrently complete certificate programs in various disciplines.
Students also volunteer their time around the city. “I have a high school student in every elementary school in the district,” Sims said.
Tags: cipal, education, TeensRelated posts
Overscheduled teens down energy drinks
Thursday, June 5th, 2008Between homework, cheerleading and working at Wendy’s, Megan Ward was tired from being always on the go. So last year the 16-year-old began drinking a Red Bull or Monster energy drink before school and sometimes a second one before cheerleading practice.
But while teens tout the coolness, energizing factor and taste, the popularity of energy drinks among young people has raised concern among medical professionals, schools and state and local officials, who are pushing to limit teens’ access to the drinks.
At issue are the drinks’ heavy caffeine and sugar content, the common practice of mixing them with alcohol, and advertising that seems to target minors for drinks with names like Cocaine.
Principals and teachers across the United States are urging parents not to send their children to school with them. Legislators from Maine and Kentucky introduced bills this year banning the sale of highly caffeinated energy drinks to minors.
In Florida, Broward County schools considered a districtwide ban after four middle school students became sick from drinking energy drinks. A 16-year-old student in Palm Beach County, Fla., died last month after consuming alcohol and energy drinks, according to her family. Investigators were awaiting the results of a toxicology report.
The FDA does not have a formal limit on the amount of caffeine that can be in foods, but says about 72 milligrams of caffeine is “generally recognized as safe” for cola-type beverages. A 240-millilitre cup of coffee has anywhere from 75 to 300 mg, according to caffeine researcher Laura Juliano, a professor at American University.
Energy drinks can impair children’s sleep, make them jittery and add unwanted calories, says registered dietitian Joan Salge Blake. She adds that the drinks are displacing low-fat and skim milk, needed for calcium and vitamin D.
Still, teens report drinking several cans in a row for a continuous buzz. Some mix energy drinks with alcohol - Red Bull and vodka, for example - or consume alcoholic energy drinks, such as Anheuser-Busch’s Tilt and Miller Brewing Co.’s Spark.
College students who drink alcohol mixed with energy drinks are at a higher risk for injury and other alcohol-related consequences, compared to students who drink alcohol alone, according to research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
“They can drink longer without feeling drunk and drink more without feeling drunk,” says Dr. Mary Claire O’Brien, associate professor of emergency medicine and lead researcher on the study. “But the take-home message is they are still drunk. They don’t think they are.”
Last year, state attorneys general from 28 states, Guam and the District of Columbia sent a letter to federal authorities warning that brewers were aggressively marketing alcoholic energy drinks to teens.
In response to such complaints, Anheuser-Busch stopped selling Spykes, an alcoholic energy drink that came in chocolate and fruit flavours. Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing are co-operating with state attorneys general investigating the companies’ marketing, but insist they do not target underage drinkers.
Meanwhile, the FDA came after Redux Beverages for its energy drink Cocaine and the manufacturers of a powdered energy mix called Blow, saying they were marketed as alternatives to illegal drugs. Blow is a common street name for cocaine.
Cocaine was pulled from the shelves voluntarily, had no name for several months and then relaunched earlier this year as Cocaine again, according to Redux Beverages founder James Kirby. The can now has an FDA disclaimer and a warning: “This message is for the people who are too stupid to recognize the obvious. This product does not contain the drug cocaine (Duh).”
Lauren Rogat, a spokeswoman for Blow, says the energy drink mix is “not an alternative to anything but canned energy drinks.” She said Blow and its attorneys believe that the drink is being lawfully marketed.
Illicit-sounding names aside, Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioural biology at Johns Hopkins, is bothered by even seemingly innocuous ads that show energy drinks as performance enhancers. He says kids get the message that to be a better skateboarder, they should drink an energy drink.
Tags: authorities, broward county schools, cheerleading practice, cipal, cocaine, coolness, county fla, cup of coffee, drink alcohol, energy drinks, homework, investigators, joan salge blake, Kid, legislators, lori, medical professionals, megan ward, middle school students, milligrams, monster energy drink, palm beach, palm beach county, parents, red bull and vodka, sugar content, Teens, toxicology reportRelated posts
Random drug tests explored
Monday, May 12th, 2008Random drug testing of Colorado Springs high school students involved in extracurricular activities is likely to begin in the next few years, experts say.
Such a move will require area school boards and administrators to grapple with testing policies. But more importantly, it will require school communities to recognize that teens do drugs and embrace stricter testing policies as a way to deter drug use.
Sierra High School showed interest in the possibility, sending Assistant Prin- cipal Gayle Hinrichs on a “fact-finding mission” for her new principal.
“Certainly for extracurriculars it’s going to happen,” said Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. “It’s part of a trend. There’s a tendency for schools to act like law enforcement.”
Whether that trend reaches the Pikes Peak region in the next two or three years will be decided by people who work with students daily, such as Hinrichs.
She was the only one from the Pikes Peak region among 50 school administrators, parents and law enforcement officers who attended a forum in Pagosa Springs on April 24.
No public or private high schools in the Colorado Springs area do random drug testing for students in extracurricular activities. Most have a policy allowing them to order drug testing under a reasonable suspicion standard set by a 1995 Supreme Court decision that also allowed drug-sniffing dogs and locker and purse searches.
Most school policies include “honor codes” that require students to sign a form saying they will not use illegal drugs - such as marijuana, methamphetamine and opiates - or drink alcohol or use steroids.
Hinrichs traveled to Pagosa Springs to learn about random drug-testing programs and their major issues: student privacy and cost. She and other participants left with the tools needed to implement a policy, including samples of policies from around the country. But only if the school board and community decided one is needed, Hinrichs said.
Much of a five-hour forum led by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy pertained to how school district officials can promote a random drug-testing policy to parents of students in extracurricular activities.
Many administrators left the forum convinced that such a policy is feasible but that selling the idea to parents may be difficult.
“They’re the ones who will be most upset,” Hazouri said. “Do you think the parents of the quarterback or the top girls tennis player thinks their kid does drugs?”
Some parents may welcome testing. Last month’s forum came about after a group of concerned parents formed the Promoting Prevention Coalition of Pagosa Springs. A school official broached the subject of random drug testing at a board meeting after some high-profile incidents in the community.
At Battle Mountain High School, six recent incidents have prompted the Eagle school board to make plans to consider the issue later this month, according to the Associated Press.
The fact that the White House delegation went to Pagosa Springs is an indication of the administration’s desire for testing to spread nationwide.
“This is grass roots only,” said Bertha Madras, the deputy director for demand reduction at the ONDCP. “This is not a mandate.”
Madras said communities must have the will to random test once a need is recognized. Federal grants are available to pay for programs, she said.
“Every community has to decide if this will help,” she said. “Don’t allow passivity to get in the way.”
That is usually one of the hurdles for a school community to clear: admitting there may be a problem.
“People simply don’t want to face it head on,” Madras said.
Ignacio High School, in the town of Ignacio, near Durango, is the only secondary school in Colorado to have random drug testing. Assistant Principal Melanie Taylor said in the program’s three years no student has tested positive.
“We don’t bury our heads in the sand and say we don’t have a problem,” she said. “Everyone does.”
Each student is assigned a number that can come up in a plastic bingo ball turner. If a student’s number comes up, they’re pulled from class for a urine test.
That is the most cost-effective method, according to Sonja Hoppe of Southwest Laboratories of Phoenix. The most common tests look for marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines, opiates and PCP. Adding steroids and human growth hormone costs more. Hoppe said that if masking agents and dilution are evident it prompts another test.
“It’s getting cheaper as technology improves,” said Principal Chris Steffner. “We can always test for steroids if they show signs.”
Madras said steroids are a small part of the overall drug problem addressed by random testing.
That number (reflected in the graphic) includes schools that received money, applied for money or came to the office’s attention through media reports.
ONDCP general counsel Edward D. Jurith said he expects the number of school districts conducting random testing to grow.
Whether random drug testing will keep kids from using drugs is another issue.
For proponents, stopping one child from doing drugs makes it worthwhile.
Tags: american civil liberties, american civil liberties union, cathryn, cipal, civil liberties union, cocaine, colorado springs area, drink alcohol, drug sniffing dogs, fact finding mission, high school students, hinrichs, Kid, law enforcement, methamphetamine, pagosa springs, parents, peak region, private high schools, proponents, random drug testing, reasonable suspicion, Sand, school communities, sierra high school, signs, southwest, student privacy, supreme court decision, Teens, urnRelated posts
Teens talking about sex and drugs is helpful
Sunday, April 27th, 2008It’s anonymous, voluntary, doesn’t cost school districts a dime, takes less than an hour and provides governments, public health professionals, community agencies and youth groups with valuable information about kids aged 12 to 18.
Who wouldn’t want to participate in the Adolescent Health Survey (AHS), which is conducted every few years by the McCreary Centre Society, a non-profit dedicated to improving the health and safety of youth?
Well, up until this year, the Surrey and Delta school districts. Trustees in both municipalities refused to allow students to take part in the surveys in 2003, 1998 and 1992, citing the personal nature of the questions being posed in a school environment.
The topics touched on in the pen-and-paper survey certainly cover a range of issues and, yes, they are personal.
From the McCreary website: “Question topics include: school achievement; common health problems, chronic illness and disabilities; body image and weight; drugs, alcohol and tobacco use; sexual behaviour; injuries and injury prevention, such as seat belt use; emotional health; experiences of violence or discrimination; help seeking behaviour; use of technology; and exercise, sports and leisure activities.â€
But the results are used to plan youth services and programs, and provide a valuable snapshot of adolescents’ lives.
For example, the 2003 questionnaire revealed that many teen smokers buy their cigarettes (illegally) from convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations. They also get them — or steal them — from their parents.
In 2003, just half of all 15-year-olds ate breakfast; more than half watched TV or used the computer for more than four hours on school days; and one third of teen motorists with novice licences had driven after using alcohol or drugs.
This information could most certainly influence public policy, such as implementing crackdowns on unscrupulous cigarette retailers or ramping up nutrition and exercise programs for teens. Interestingly, the most contentious questions in the survey, for trustees and parents at least — the ones about S-E-X — produced some of the more optimistic results.
In 2003, the number of students who were sexually active dropped by 6% since 1992, from 30 to 24%. Fewer younger teens were having sex, with just 7% of 13-year-olds reporting they were sexually active, down from 14% in 1992. And more teens were using condoms — 68% in 2003 compared to 58% in the 1998 survey.
To date, 73,000 students across the province have had a hand in creating much-needed resources by filling out the AHS. More student participation would be even better.
Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, research director for the McCreary Centre Society, explains that a small sample of students — say 1,000 or so — would be enough to calculate how youth are doing for the province as a whole (much like national polls can sample 1,000 Canadian voters to estimate the outcome of an election). “But it is much more useful for the health authorities, local communities and school districts to get a better picture of what’s happening in their particular region,†Saewyc says.
This year, 51 of B.C.’s 59 school districts — including Coquitlam — are participating, and Saewyc is particularly pleased the largest district, Surrey, is now involved.
Tags: adolescents, authorities, cipal, having sex, Kid, parents, participation, Teens, tobacco use, violenceRelated posts
Tribute to dull and dependable Sally
Monday, April 7th, 2008 HOLD the remote in respectful silence, Australia: Sally is
leaving the Bay %26#151; tonight.
The departure of Home and Away stalwart Sally Fletcher
may not be up there with Molly meeting her maker on A Country
Practice, Richard Carleton’s “blood on your hands” joust with
Bob Hawke or more contemporary fare such as the Sex and the
City finale, but for some viewers %26#151; generations have now
fed on a diet of seaside soap %26#151; the last episode featuring
Sally is a TV moment of note.
It is a rite of passage in Australia: a youthful interregnum
spent viewing either Home and Away and/or Neighbours.
TV programmers are attuned to this predisposition: the half-hour
episodes of each show are conveniently located between 6.30pm and
7.30pm weekdays. Perfectly packaged for the practise of another
important contemporary cultural tradition, the TV dinner.
Junk food for the soul, however, will be the priority tonight as
mums, dads and kids circle the TV for the last sighting of Sally,
who defied odds and stuck around the same show for two decades.
What makes Sally’s endurance especially noteworthy was that many
%26#151; including Kate Ritchie, the actor who played her %26#151;
found her dull and boring. Once asked if she was similar to her
on-screen role, Ritchie replied: “I would hope that I was a little
more interesting and that I probably wasn’t so dependable.”
Sally, youngest of the now long-departed Pippa and Tom
Fletcher’s (he died, she moved away) brood of foster children,
certainly got off to a slow start. She arrived, pig-tailed, in
episode one (1989) as the clan was relocating from Sydney to the
quirky seaside town of Summer Bay, where most of the action seemed
to be in the vicinity of the surf club or the local diner (note the
subliminal junk-food theme there). The family, who acquired the
local caravan park, were standard bearers for a new and windswept
way of Australian living: sea changers before the notion acquired
cachet on the ABC.
As a pre-teen, however %26#151; Sally was about eight when she and
her imaginary friend, Milco, started worming their way into our
collective psyche %26#151; she was a wallflower by another name.
Nothing much seemed to happen to her. At all. Storylines started
improving for her when she hit puberty; Heath Ledger played one of
her nascent boyfriends, but she remained an Everygirl. Flashier
types bearing exotic names such as Angel, Gypsy, Shannon and Hayley
always seemed to get more screen %26#151; and TV Week %26#151;
time.
Yet Sally was the survivor. Others might have had a teen
pregnancy or gone off in real-life to LA or romanced Borat or
Lleyton, but Sally grew up and became surrogate daughter to he of
the flamin’ mongrel, Alf Stewart. She also had professional success
far more respectable than spawning, say, a hit single. No hotpants
for her. Sally embraced the aspirational values of John Howard’s
Australia: she became a role model for dissolute adolescents
everywhere when she nabbed the plum role of Summer Bay’s school
principal. She was later stood down, but no matter. The achievement
was no mean feat before the age of 30.
As an adult, by the standards of Home and Away, a trim
and taut Sally also enjoyed a flowering of her personal life. The
consequence was that her alter-ego, Kate Ritchie, nabbed a Gold
Logie last year %26#151; and more TV Week covers and Alex
Perry gowns than she could have dreamed of.
By tonight’s episode, a quick tally would also determine that
Sally didn’t fare too badly in the familial stakes. She has amassed
four fathers, three mothers (everyone knows Pippa mark one and two
should be counted as separate personalities) and a cornucopia of
foster siblings. On the eve of the longest goodbye, she’s also
discovered her imaginary friend Milco was really her long-lost twin
brother, Miles.
Dull and boring? Maybe not when you really beachcomb the
detritus of Sally’s life thus far.
Summer Bay’s favourite daughter not only beat the TV odds but
the medical odds, triumphing over cancer and an
obsessive-compulsive disorder. She’s outlived a much-loved husband,
dallied with some fiancees and seen out natural disasters, stalkers
and others who would do her harm. She has also been at the
forefront of pioneering social change: implanting her egg into the
womb of her friend Leah, who acted as a surrogate when she could
not conceive naturally.
So tonight, when Sally sails away from the Bay %26#151; with her
medical miracle daughter, Pippa jnr, and foster child, Cassie, in
tow %26#151; be comforted by this thought: dull and and dependable
isn’t so bad, after all. Is it?
Home and Away screens weeknights at 7pm on
Seven.
Related posts
Tribute to dull and dependable Sally
Monday, April 7th, 2008 HOLD the remote in respectful silence, Australia: Sally is
leaving the Bay %26#151; tonight.
The departure of Home and Away stalwart Sally Fletcher
may not be up there with Molly meeting her maker on A Country
Practice, Richard Carleton’s “blood on your hands” joust with
Bob Hawke or more contemporary fare such as the Sex and the
City finale, but for some viewers %26#151; generations have now
fed on a diet of seaside soap %26#151; the last episode featuring
Sally is a TV moment of note.
It is a rite of passage in Australia: a youthful interregnum
spent viewing either Home and Away and/or Neighbours.
TV programmers are attuned to this predisposition: the half-hour
episodes of each show are conveniently located between 6.30pm and
7.30pm weekdays. Perfectly packaged for the practise of another
important contemporary cultural tradition, the TV dinner.
Junk food for the soul, however, will be the priority tonight as
mums, dads and kids circle the TV for the last sighting of Sally,
who defied odds and stuck around the same show for two decades.
What makes Sally’s endurance especially noteworthy was that many
%26#151; including Kate Ritchie, the actor who played her %26#151;
found her dull and boring. Once asked if she was similar to her
on-screen role, Ritchie replied: “I would hope that I was a little
more interesting and that I probably wasn’t so dependable.”
Sally, youngest of the now long-departed Pippa and Tom
Fletcher’s (he died, she moved away) brood of foster children,
certainly got off to a slow start. She arrived, pig-tailed, in
episode one (1989) as the clan was relocating from Sydney to the
quirky seaside town of Summer Bay, where most of the action seemed
to be in the vicinity of the surf club or the local diner (note the
subliminal junk-food theme there). The family, who acquired the
local caravan park, were standard bearers for a new and windswept
way of Australian living: sea changers before the notion acquired
cachet on the ABC.
As a pre-teen, however %26#151; Sally was about eight when she and
her imaginary friend, Milco, started worming their way into our
collective psyche %26#151; she was a wallflower by another name.
Nothing much seemed to happen to her. At all. Storylines started
improving for her when she hit puberty; Heath Ledger played one of
her nascent boyfriends, but she remained an Everygirl. Flashier
types bearing exotic names such as Angel, Gypsy, Shannon and Hayley
always seemed to get more screen %26#151; and TV Week %26#151;
time.
Yet Sally was the survivor. Others might have had a teen
pregnancy or gone off in real-life to LA or romanced Borat or
Lleyton, but Sally grew up and became surrogate daughter to he of
the flamin’ mongrel, Alf Stewart. She also had professional success
far more respectable than spawning, say, a hit single. No hotpants
for her. Sally embraced the aspirational values of John Howard’s
Australia: she became a role model for dissolute adolescents
everywhere when she nabbed the plum role of Summer Bay’s school
principal. She was later stood down, but no matter. The achievement
was no mean feat before the age of 30.
As an adult, by the standards of Home and Away, a trim
and taut Sally also enjoyed a flowering of her personal life. The
consequence was that her alter-ego, Kate Ritchie, nabbed a Gold
Logie last year %26#151; and more TV Week covers and Alex
Perry gowns than she could have dreamed of.
By tonight’s episode, a quick tally would also determine that
Sally didn’t fare too badly in the familial stakes. She has amassed
four fathers, three mothers (everyone knows Pippa mark one and two
should be counted as separate personalities) and a cornucopia of
foster siblings. On the eve of the longest goodbye, she’s also
discovered her imaginary friend Milco was really her long-lost twin
brother, Miles.
Dull and boring? Maybe not when you really beachcomb the
detritus of Sally’s life thus far.
Summer Bay’s favourite daughter not only beat the TV odds but
the medical odds, triumphing over cancer and an
obsessive-compulsive disorder. She’s outlived a much-loved husband,
dallied with some fiancees and seen out natural disasters, stalkers
and others who would do her harm. She has also been at the
forefront of pioneering social change: implanting her egg into the
womb of her friend Leah, who acted as a surrogate when she could
not conceive naturally.
So tonight, when Sally sails away from the Bay %26#151; with her
medical miracle daughter, Pippa jnr, and foster child, Cassie, in
tow %26#151; be comforted by this thought: dull and and dependable
isn’t so bad, after all. Is it?
Home and Away screens weeknights at 7pm on
Seven.
Related posts
Tribute to dull and dependable Sally
Saturday, April 5th, 2008 HOLD the remote in respectful silence, Australia: Sally is
leaving the Bay %26#151; tonight.
The departure of Home and Away stalwart Sally Fletcher
may not be up there with Molly meeting her maker on A Country
Practice, Richard Carleton’s “blood on your hands” joust with
Bob Hawke or more contemporary fare such as the Sex and the
City finale, but for some viewers %26#151; generations have now
fed on a diet of seaside soap %26#151; the last episode featuring
Sally is a TV moment of note.
It is a rite of passage in Australia: a youthful interregnum
spent viewing either Home and Away and/or Neighbours.
TV programmers are attuned to this predisposition: the half-hour
episodes of each show are conveniently located between 6.30pm and
7.30pm weekdays. Perfectly packaged for the practise of another
important contemporary cultural tradition, the TV dinner.
Junk food for the soul, however, will be the priority tonight as
mums, dads and kids circle the TV for the last sighting of Sally,
who defied odds and stuck around the same show for two decades.
What makes Sally’s endurance especially noteworthy was that many
%26#151; including Kate Ritchie, the actor who played her %26#151;
found her dull and boring. Once asked if she was similar to her
on-screen role, Ritchie replied: “I would hope that I was a little
more interesting and that I probably wasn’t so dependable.”
Sally, youngest of the now long-departed Pippa and Tom
Fletcher’s (he died, she moved away) brood of foster children,
certainly got off to a slow start. She arrived, pig-tailed, in
episode one (1989) as the clan was relocating from Sydney to the
quirky seaside town of Summer Bay, where most of the action seemed
to be in the vicinity of the surf club or the local diner (note the
subliminal junk-food theme there). The family, who acquired the
local caravan park, were standard bearers for a new and windswept
way of Australian living: sea changers before the notion acquired
cachet on the ABC.
As a pre-teen, however %26#151; Sally was about eight when she and
her imaginary friend, Milco, started worming their way into our
collective psyche %26#151; she was a wallflower by another name.
Nothing much seemed to happen to her. At all. Storylines started
improving for her when she hit puberty; Heath Ledger played one of
her nascent boyfriends, but she remained an Everygirl. Flashier
types bearing exotic names such as Angel, Gypsy, Shannon and Hayley
always seemed to get more screen %26#151; and TV Week %26#151;
time.
Yet Sally was the survivor. Others might have had a teen
pregnancy or gone off in real-life to LA or romanced Borat or
Lleyton, but Sally grew up and became surrogate daughter to he of
the flamin’ mongrel, Alf Stewart. She also had professional success
far more respectable than spawning, say, a hit single. No hotpants
for her. Sally embraced the aspirational values of John Howard’s
Australia: she became a role model for dissolute adolescents
everywhere when she nabbed the plum role of Summer Bay’s school
principal. She was later stood down, but no matter. The achievement
was no mean feat before the age of 30.
As an adult, by the standards of Home and Away, a trim
and taut Sally also enjoyed a flowering of her personal life. The
consequence was that her alter-ego, Kate Ritchie, nabbed a Gold
Logie last year %26#151; and more TV Week covers and Alex
Perry gowns than she could have dreamed of.
By tonight’s episode, a quick tally would also determine that
Sally didn’t fare too badly in the familial stakes. She has amassed
four fathers, three mothers (everyone knows Pippa mark one and two
should be counted as separate personalities) and a cornucopia of
foster siblings. On the eve of the longest goodbye, she’s also
discovered her imaginary friend Milco was really her long-lost twin
brother, Miles.
Dull and boring? Maybe not when you really beachcomb the
detritus of Sally’s life thus far.
Summer Bay’s favourite daughter not only beat the TV odds but
the medical odds, triumphing over cancer and an
obsessive-compulsive disorder. She’s outlived a much-loved husband,
dallied with some fiancees and seen out natural disasters, stalkers
and others who would do her harm. She has also been at the
forefront of pioneering social change: implanting her egg into the
womb of her friend Leah, who acted as a surrogate when she could
not conceive naturally.
So tonight, when Sally sails away from the Bay %26#151; with her
medical miracle daughter, Pippa jnr, and foster child, Cassie, in
tow %26#151; be comforted by this thought: dull and and dependable
isn’t so bad, after all. Is it?
Home and Away screens weeknights at 7pm on
Seven.
Related posts
School puts cap on sun exposure
Sunday, February 24th, 2008 Protecting students from the sun has been neglected in senior
schools, reports Caroline Milburn.
GETTING a teenager to wear a broad-brimmed hat is like getting
an infant to recite the complete works of Shakespeare.
But if you drive past Kyabram Secondary College at lunchtime you
will witness something almost as unlikely: students playing
football wearing hats.
“The hats often fly off but the kids put them back on again,”
says assistant principal Mick Walsh, whose school of 900 students
is in rural Victoria, 200 kilometres north of Melbourne. “The kids
accept the no hat no play policy. If anyone doesn’t accept it they
spend a few lunchtimes with me watching educational videos on skin
cancer.”
Only 20% of Victorian secondary schools have adopted
comprehensive policies to help protect students from skin cancer,
according to the Cancer Council Victoria.
Kyabram is one of those schools but new research on teen
attitudes shows how much further the public health campaign on skin
cancer has to go. Adolescent girls believe having a tan increases
your popularity at school, according to new focus group research
done for the council this month.
“Girls were aware of the risks of tanning but they didn’t see it
as an immediate risk and they said if they ever got skin cancer
they could have it cut out,” says Kylie Strong, the Cancer
Council’s SunSmart manager. “They found it hard to believe it could
be fatal.”
At Kyabram, the message about sun damage has sunk in. Each
lunchtime a classroom near the oval is opened for students who
don’t have hats but the maximum number in there has never gone
above six.
The school has created large shade areas, amended its uniform
and provides large pump packs of sunscreen for student and staff
use. When the school council decided to introduce the compulsory
hat policy and other measures, some parents objected.
Mr Walsh sent each family a DVD on melanoma and asked them to
watch it. “If we get particularly disagreeable parents we just say
to them this is the way we do things here. I haven’t had one parent
take their child out of this school because of the hat policy.
“If anything it’s one of the reasons why our enrolments are
growing because people know we’re prepared to make a stand on
things and there’s no greater issue than a child’s health.” To
overcome resistance among students, Mr Walsh says it was vital for
sun protection measures to be embedded in the school’s culture
rather than implemented as an extra program. The changes were
overseen and driven by the school’s Student Representative Council
and its health and physical education staff, who included it in
their curriculum.
Mr Walsh, a member of the Cancer Council’s advisory board, says
other principals commonly complain that sun protection measures are
too difficult to introduce. “I was amazed when the principal of a
large independent school in Melbourne told me he couldn’t get his
staff to wear hats, especially the female staff who didn’t want the
problem of ‘hat hair’. Well, all of our staff has hat hair when we
finish yard duty. A quick comb and it’s fine. You’re never going to
get kids to do something if the staff doesn’t role model it.”
In a bid to get more schools to adopt sun protection policies,
the Cancer Council recently launched a Secondary School Sun
Protection program. About 50 schools from government and
independent schools have registered with the program so far. It
requires schools to implement eight key sun protection policies to
gain SunSmart accreditation. Associate Professor Grant McArthur of
the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, says the low take-up rate of
SunSmart polices among secondary schools is worrying. “We would
like to see more schools make an effort and introduce mandatory
suncare practices,” says Dr McArthur, an oncologist. “It requires a
co-ordinated effort between governments, principals, teachers and
the cancer councils. You can’t just say that the cancer councils
can fix it because they don’t have the resources to get the message
out effectively.”
He says the Cancer Council research about teen attitudes towards
tanning is also troubling.
“Girls think you can just get a skin cancer cut out. Some skin
cancers, especially the most deadly type, melanoma, have the
propensity to spread quickly through the body even before you
notice it on the skin. That’s what happened to Clare Oliver - the
first clue she had to melanoma was a lump under her arm, not on her
skin.” Ms Oliver, 26, died in September from a melanoma caused by
exposure to UV radiation from solariums and natural sunlight.
Before her death she successfully lobbied the State Government
to introduce tougher laws for solariums, including a ban on
customers aged under 16.
Dr McArthur was Ms Oliver’s oncologist.
WAYS TO CHANGE:
? Hats for school days and sport
? Staff and students use sunscreen
? Outdoor events scheduled early morning or late afternoon
? Staff should be role models when outside, wear sun
protection
? Create shade in lunch areas, and where students congregate
? Sun smart message in curriculum
SOURCE: Cancer Council Victoria
Related posts
School puts cap on sun exposure
Friday, February 22nd, 2008 Protecting students from the sun has been neglected in senior
schools, reports Caroline Milburn.
GETTING a teenager to wear a broad-brimmed hat is like getting
an infant to recite the complete works of Shakespeare.
But if you drive past Kyabram Secondary College at lunchtime you
will witness something almost as unlikely: students playing
football wearing hats.
“The hats often fly off but the kids put them back on again,”
says assistant principal Mick Walsh, whose school of 900 students
is in rural Victoria, 200 kilometres north of Melbourne. “The kids
accept the no hat no play policy. If anyone doesn’t accept it they
spend a few lunchtimes with me watching educational videos on skin
cancer.”
Only 20% of Victorian secondary schools have adopted
comprehensive policies to help protect students from skin cancer,
according to the Cancer Council Victoria.
Kyabram is one of those schools but new research on teen
attitudes shows how much further the public health campaign on skin
cancer has to go. Adolescent girls believe having a tan increases
your popularity at school, according to new focus group research
done for the council this month.
“Girls were aware of the risks of tanning but they didn’t see it
as an immediate risk and they said if they ever got skin cancer
they could have it cut out,” says Kylie Strong, the Cancer
Council’s SunSmart manager. “They found it hard to believe it could
be fatal.”
At Kyabram, the message about sun damage has sunk in. Each
lunchtime a classroom near the oval is opened for students who
don’t have hats but the maximum number in there has never gone
above six.
The school has created large shade areas, amended its uniform
and provides large pump packs of sunscreen for student and staff
use. When the school council decided to introduce the compulsory
hat policy and other measures, some parents objected.
Mr Walsh sent each family a DVD on melanoma and asked them to
watch it. “If we get particularly disagreeable parents we just say
to them this is the way we do things here. I haven’t had one parent
take their child out of this school because of the hat policy.
“If anything it’s one of the reasons why our enrolments are
growing because people know we’re prepared to make a stand on
things and there’s no greater issue than a child’s health.” To
overcome resistance among students, Mr Walsh says it was vital for
sun protection measures to be embedded in the school’s culture
rather than implemented as an extra program. The changes were
overseen and driven by the school’s Student Representative Council
and its health and physical education staff, who included it in
their curriculum.
Mr Walsh, a member of the Cancer Council’s advisory board, says
other principals commonly complain that sun protection measures are
too difficult to introduce. “I was amazed when the principal of a
large independent school in Melbourne told me he couldn’t get his
staff to wear hats, especially the female staff who didn’t want the
problem of ‘hat hair’. Well, all of our staff has hat hair when we
finish yard duty. A quick comb and it’s fine. You’re never going to
get kids to do something if the staff doesn’t role model it.”
In a bid to get more schools to adopt sun protection policies,
the Cancer Council recently launched a Secondary School Sun
Protection program. About 50 schools from government and
independent schools have registered with the program so far. It
requires schools to implement eight key sun protection policies to
gain SunSmart accreditation. Associate Professor Grant McArthur of
the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, says the low take-up rate of
SunSmart polices among secondary schools is worrying. “We would
like to see more schools make an effort and introduce mandatory
suncare practices,” says Dr McArthur, an oncologist. “It requires a
co-ordinated effort between governments, principals, teachers and
the cancer councils. You can’t just say that the cancer councils
can fix it because they don’t have the resources to get the message
out effectively.”
He says the Cancer Council research about teen attitudes towards
tanning is also troubling.
“Girls think you can just get a skin cancer cut out. Some skin
cancers, especially the most deadly type, melanoma, have the
propensity to spread quickly through the body even before you
notice it on the skin. That’s what happened to Clare Oliver - the
first clue she had to melanoma was a lump under her arm, not on her
skin.” Ms Oliver, 26, died in September from a melanoma caused by
exposure to UV radiation from solariums and natural sunlight.
Before her death she successfully lobbied the State Government
to introduce tougher laws for solariums, including a ban on
customers aged under 16.
Dr McArthur was Ms Oliver’s oncologist.
WAYS TO CHANGE:
? Hats for school days and sport
? Staff and students use sunscreen
? Outdoor events scheduled early morning or late afternoon
? Staff should be role models when outside, wear sun
protection
? Create shade in lunch areas, and where students congregate
? Sun smart message in curriculum
SOURCE: Cancer Council Victoria
