Posts filed under ‘Education’
Sharing BrdsNBz Success at 2012 SexTech Conference, April 1-4
The 2012 Sex::Tech Conference is enjoying it’s fourth year and we’ve been chosen to speak on a panel including not only APPCNC but also Deb Levin, SexTech founder, and Jonathan Holly from Educational Messaging Services.
OneSeventeen’s public-private partnership with the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina (APPCNC) will share the success as the first text messaging service for sexual health education. Kennon Jackson, Jr. (APPCNC) and Jessica Fitts Willoughby will discuss “Adolescents’ Questions about Pregnancy Posed to an Interactive Text Message Service.”
Just in case you’re in SF and attending SexTech, be sure to stop by and hear Kennon and Jessica. Here’s a brief abstract of their panel discussion:
Want to know what questions adolescents really have about what leads to pregnancy? We examined the questions asked of a sexual health text messaging service promoted to North Carolina teens ages 14 to 19. BrdsNBz North Carolina allows adolescents to text a question to the service and receive a personalized response within 24 hours from trained health educators. Adolescents had a number of questions about pregnancy, mainly what situations can lead to pregnancy (60%). They wanted to know whether anal sex and oral sex could lead to pregnancy, if having sex when a girl is on her period could lead to pregnancy, and if having sex underwater could lead to pregnancy. Adolescents also often wanted to know how to detect and prevent pregnancy. Knowing what questions adolescents have may help health educators address them before they come up. Come find out what teens really want to know about pregnancy.
City of Austin Launches New Programs for Parents and Teens
The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign (APPCNC) in Durham, NC has coordinated with officials in Austin, Texas the launch of the nation’s first personalized text-and-answer services specifically for parents and teens. A product of its public-private partnership, BrdsNBz National is APPCNC’s successful expansion of its North Carolina service over the past three years. This initiative is in conjunction with Houston-based OneSeventeen Media, the Austin City Health Department and the Austin Healthy Adolescent Initiative (AHA).
APPCNC caught the attention of public health officials nationwide with the launch of their BrdsNBz Text Message Warm Line in February 2009. The BrdsNBz service supplements the work of parents, educators, and medical professionals by providing North Carolina youth a medically accurate, personalized answer to teens’ sexual health and relationship questions.
AHA is an interagency collaborative that will ensure the overall health and well-being of all adolescents, 10-18 years of age, in Austin/Travis County and their adult caregivers to prepare them with a strong foundation for adult life. The Initiative uses a comprehensive evidence-based approach to increase healthy behaviors and decision-making among Texas adolescents by promoting the development of confidence, competence, connectedness, character, and contribution.
Teens and Technology Predict a Better Future by 2015
It is no doubt that teens gravitate to technology, and as far as young Americans are concerned, a greener future is coming soon.
Powered by technology and fueled by creativity, fundamental change is about to emerge in the electronically connected world they inhabit. Gasoline-powered automobiles, compact discs, and desktop computers are headed toward the technology scrap heap according to a recent survey of American high school students. Their laptops, cell phones and I-pods are entry level tools that, combined with education and creativity, will lead to changes that improve the world.
Teens predict technology will create change by 2015, and these familiar objects will be replaced with newer, better, energy efficient cars and communications equipment. According to teens, developers of hydrogen and electric cars better get busy. The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, which gauges Americans’ attitudes toward invention and innovation, found that a third (33 percent) of today’s technology educated young adults predict that gasoline-powered cars will be obsolete by the year 2015.
The tech savvy teens are used to toting phones that let them access the Web, text and download tunes. Laptops and a flash drive are their heavy duty home to dorm or classroom computing equipment. And it’s no surprise that more than one in four teens (26 percent) expect compact discs to be obsolete within the next decade. Another one in five (22 percent) of the teens predict desktop computers will be a thing of the past within the next ten years.
Teens Believe Global Issues Have Solutions
Using cell phones to download music, facebook to keep in touch and blogs to communicate ideas is fun, but these American teens are optimistic that the creativity unleashed by computers and other modern technology can help solve important global issues. Students need to learn to use techology in engaging ways to develop higher level thinking skills.
Accessing international communities via the Internet is second nature to these digital learners. The young adults who took the survey are confident that just about any crisis facing the world can be solved by working together to apply new technologies and innovative thinking to global concerns.
Their faith in innovation and invention is a hopeful sign. On clean water, 91 percent expect technology to step in and create a solution. A whopping 89 percent of the teens think that world hunger will end by 2015. Disease eradication (88 percent), pollution reduction (84 percent) and energy conservation (82 percent) are all within the realm of being history with the application of creative new applications that these electronically connected teens will help develop.
Technology and Change Is Their Comfort Zone
“Perhaps more than any preceding generation, today’s young people are completely comfortable with rapid technological change,” Lemelson-MIT Program Director Merton Flemings said.
“Teens’ belief that science and technology may hold the answers to our biggest societal challenges is encouraging,” Flemings added. Technology coupled with teen creativity creates a winning team. Who would have predicted that cell phones, I-pods and laptop computers would have such far reaching effects?
Will Education Be Able To Keep The Pace?
The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index found that these teens believe they have developed some of the critical skills that will be needed to address these issues. More than three out of four teens (77 percent) believe they have learned problem-solving skills well while in school.
They also feel prepared to work in teams (72 percent), think creatively (71 percent) and lead others (61 percent). However, they fall short when it comes to budgeting money. Only 32 percent of teens said they feel they learned that skill well while in school.
With teens like these working on solving the world’s environmental and conservation issues, you begin to believe that the 2015 predictions really have a chance to become reality.
College Application Time – ‘Tis the Season
This year Stanford admitted only 7.2 percent of applicants and Harvard accepted only 6.9 percent of them. The process seems daunting. At Harvard, before kids even get to the essay questions, they need to circle whether their career, academic, and athletic plans are “very likely to change” or “absolutely certain.” Then they’ve got the 250-words-or-more Common Application essay. (One suggested topic: “Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.” Yikes.) And many schools add on “optional” essays.
Writing a college application essay can be pretty stressful, and it should be time-consuming. After all, you don’t want to give the admissions counselors at your dream school a bad impression based on a poorly written essay that you threw together the night before the due date. Proper planning is essential because you will need to give yourself plenty of time for adjustments, rewrites, and proofreading.
Here’s a guide to some ways you can use to help you through this rite of passage:
Be Yourself. “Applications are best if they reflect the way the student is,” says Light. “It’s very tempting to sit down and try to figure out what admissions officers — we as a species — want to see, and there are perils in that.” Why? “We have pretty good radar to detect the overly varnished,” says Keith Light, who has worked in admissions at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and now at Brown. “It’s not that we’re cynical and looking for cheating or too much input. [But] it’s not very hard for us to spot when a parent or someone else [like a teacher] has had too much of a heavy hand in the writing.” It makes admissions officers wonder, “Are we really getting to really know the student, or what others thinks the student is?” he says. It’s best when students pen their own essays, which sound 
as though they’re written by the person their teachers are describing in their recommendation letters.
Once it’s time to begin writing your essay for real, you’ll have a notebook full of ideas from which to choose. Go through your notes and see if anything seems worthy of using; you can even choose two or three topics as “maybes” and narrow things down as you go.
Decide which essay topic you are going to use, and begin by writing an outline. Even though you may have been told otherwise, your admissions essay doesn’t have to be about something that no one else has ever done. While it’s important that your essay is unique and talks about you, most high school students go through similar experiences … and you don’t want to create an essay full of lies, remember?
Once you begin writing, you’ll probably realize that the experience isn’t as bad as you’d imagined it would be. Just remember that the purpose of writing this essay is to present a personal view of you to the college admissions staff. If the school does not require in-person interviews, your essay may be all they have to go on. Take your time and allow others to read your essay and provide constructive criticism before you turn it in.
Don’t underestimate yourself. Keep your attitude positive. Most kids don’t go to Harvard — but still get into a college and love it. This fall about 7.5 million students are expected to attend public four-year institutions and 4.6
million to attend private four-year institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (There are more than 420 public colleges and universities alone, according to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.)
Don’t feel compelled to add extras, such as resumes. “We neither ask for or expect them, but they pop up,” says Light. (Some even include “mission statements.”) Light once received a 12-page one. The parent told him, “The son of my friend down the street just got admitted to Harvard last year, and his resume was 14 pages.” Light’s take on it: “He was admitted in spite of the essay.” (Resumes aren’t the only add-ons: Once Light received multiple copies of a color-coded family tree, dating back to the 1800s, which showed close relatives’ connections to a university.)
Follow the essay guidelines that were specified on your application. You don’t want it to be too short or too long. Most schools allow typed essays, so they will probably have specifications for font size and spacing; others will request hand-written essays, so be sure to submit your essay in the format that is required. Read your directions carefully.
Remember to proofread your essay. Check your work carefully for grammar, spelling, and structure. Ask others to proofread it, too – your English teacher is a great choice for this job, if they’re willing to help you out, as well as your friends and family. An essay that is full of typos and grammatical errors will look sloppy and rushed and will reflect poorly on you.
Save your essay. It’s fine to use the same essay with minor revisions for more than one college application, so be sure to save your essay. Keep it on the hard drive of your computer, but burn it to CD or place it on an external hard as well. You never know when your computer may crash and cause you to lose everything. You can even email it to yourself as an attachment.
Good luck!
The Young Minds Digital Times Competition is BACK!
Registration in the 2010-2011 Young Minds Digital Times Competition is now open at http://www.youngmindsdigitaltimes.com. The Third Annual Competition presented by KidThrive.org and encourages students in grades 6-12, for free, to create short films, documentaries, and public service announcements. Last year we had over 1100 student register, and we are back to do it again.
“The competition is a way to honor the amazing work kids are generating in the digital creative arts,” says Jaclyn Bell, Competition Director, “This is the next wave of digital education; not just knowing the tools, but being able to use them well and manipulate their boundaries to produce something relevant, meaningful, and in our opinion, beautiful. Plus, we have some surprises and further opportunities coming up for students once registration is underway.”
The competition features two tracks: Young Filmmakers “Doing Good” and Young Filmmakers Freeform. In the “Doing Good” Track, students are invited to create public service announcements relating to social issues the public should be informed of, or relating to an organization that works towards social good. In the Freeform Track, students can enter films on any topic into six different categories: documentary, short film, animation, music video, non-moving movie, and comedic creation.
A Grand Prize Winner from each track receives a prize package to attend the 2012 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. First place winners in each category and age division (6-8 grades and 9-12 grades) take home $200 and Judges Choice honorees receive $100. The school with the most student film entries that make it pass the Public Voting Stage will also win $1000.
The chance for the public vote will end March 30th, and the films that make it to the second round will be viewed and critiqued by industry directors, actors, filmmakers and producers.
The competition registration runs from October 4th, 2010 to February 18, 2011, with films due by March, 19, 2011. Films enter a three tiered voting process, beginning with public voting March 22-30, 2011. Winner announcements will be posted May 20, 2011 on the Young Minds Digital Times website. Plus, we are pleased to announce that there will be a lot of surprises in store in this year’s competition, so REGISTER TODAY!
The Bullies and the Bullied – A National Epidemic
The study of the “Ethics of American Youth” released Tuesday surveyed more than 40,000 high school students. The survey reported that half of all high school students say they have bullied someone in the past year, with nearly as many saying they have been the victims of bullying.
A study by the non-profit Josephson Institute of Ethics also found that one-third of all high school students say that violence is a big problem at their school, and nearly one in four say they do not feel very safe there.
The issue of harassment gained prominence this year after a spate of suicides by students who were being bullied. President Obama has even stepped forward, calling for greater awareness of the bullying epidemic, saying the nation must “dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up.”
This past Tuesday also featured The U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, holding a national press conference announcing guidance to schools on handling bullying and discriminatory harassment.
Earlier this month, Duncan released a statement about anti-gay bullying in response to to a trend of recent suicides — particularly Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman who took his life in September:
“This is a moment where every one of us — parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience —needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms. Whether it’s students harassing other students because of ethnicity, disability or religion; or an adult, public official harassing the President of the University of Michigan student body because he is gay, it is time we as a country said enough. No more. This must stop.”
Duncan’s statements and planned press conference also comes at the time that the local story of Cassandra Morris was published. Morris dropped out of Ogemaw Heights High School earlier this month because she said she couldn’t handle the bullying from students for being a lesbian. Her bullying went beyond the walls of the school.
So with all these cries for justice, cries for help, occurring this week, the question remains: will something actually be done? Bullying is a crisis that is always discussed, but never really tackled. Maybe now that the harsh spotlight of the media is highlighting every painful angle progress might actually be made? The White House has even gone as far as to say that it would host a conference next year on preventing bullying and harassment. But is this soon enough?
Registration in the 2010-2011 Young Minds Digital Times Competition is Open
The Third Annual Young Minds Digital Times Competition presented by KidThrive.org, encourages students in grades 6-12, for free, to create short films, documentaries, and public service announcements. Registration is now open!
“The competition is a way to honor the amazing work kids are generating in the digital creative arts,” says Jaclyn Bell, Competition Director, “This is the next wave of digital education; not just knowing the tools, but being able to use them well and manipulate their boundaries to produce something relevant, meaningful, and in our opinion, beautiful. Plus, we have some surprises and further opportunities coming up for students once registration is underway.”
The competition features two tracks: Young Filmmakers “Doing Good” and Young Filmmakers Freeform. In the “Doing Good” Track, students are invited to create public service announcements relating to social issues the public should be informed of, or relating to an organization that works towards social good. In the Freeform Track, students can enter films on any topic into six different categories: documentary, short film, animation, music video, non-moving movie, and comedic creation.
A Grand Prize Winner from each track receives a prize package to attend the 2012 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. First place winners in each category and age division (6-8 grades and 9-12 grades) take home $200 and Judges Choice honorees receive $100. The school with the most student film entries that make it pass the Public Voting Stage will also win $1000.
The chance for the public vote will end March 30th, and the films that make it to the second round will be viewed and critiqued by industry directors, actors, filmmakers and producers.
Competition registration runs from October 4th, 2010 to February 18, 2011, with films due by March, 19, 2011. Films enter a three tiered voting process, beginning with public voting March 22-30, 2010. Winner announcements will be posted May 20, 2011 on the Young Minds Digital Times website.
Stand Up To Cancer Strikes a Cord with Teens
Did you know that 1 in 2 men and 1 out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. In fact, there’s not a person that exists that has not been affected in some way by cancer. Stand Up To Cancer ‘s one-hour, commercial-free telecast aired on Friday, September 10, 2010 on over a dozen channels and over 30 online streaming partners like AOL, Yahoo! and YouTube. The SU2C broadcast was dedicated to the over 12 million U.S. cancer survivors illustrating how groundbreaking research can change the tide in the fight against the disease. Since 2008, Stand Up To Cancer has raised more than $100 million for cancer research.
The all-star line-up of presenters, performers and phone operators who gave up their time to help raise funds for cancer research charities and awareness about the killer disease included teen stars Naya Rivera, Vanessa Hudgens, Brenda Song, and Logan Lerman. The goal is to raise awareness and funds for research but, more importantly, to inspire, inform, and support young adults face to face with cancer and build an understanding of what is happening to them and their family; acknowledging the sense of uncertainty and introduce healthy ways of dealing with feelings and changes.
Many teens are at a time in their lives when they are trying to break away and be independent from their parents. When a parent has cancer, breaking away can be hard for them to do. They may become angry, act out, or get into trouble.
Trying to get teens to talk about their feelings is already difficult. Telling them as much as they want to know about cancer is a start. Asking their opinions and, if possible, letting them help make decisions is also helpful.
Teens may want to talk with other people in their lives. Friends can be a great source of support, especially those who also have serious illness in their family. Other family members, teachers, coaches, and spiritual leaders can also help. Encouraging teenage children to talk about their fears and feelings with people they trust and feel close to is essential. Some towns even have support groups for teens whose parents/family members have cancer.
Stand Up To Cancer raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. The show is over but Stand Up To Cancer is still accepting donations online at http://www.su2c.org. 100% of the funds received from the public go to research.
Think Green, Act Green: Teens are the biggest advocates for Green Living
These days, most people are concerned about protecting the environment and “going green.” Individuals are recycling, reusing and reinventing more than ever. There seem to be thousands of eco-friendly tips and techniques out there for earth-conscious adults to use, but today’s teenagers are also looking for new ways to be green.
Today’s teens are more wired up, plugged in, worldly and savvy than ever. Many care deeply about the threats facing our environment, and are committed to making difference. To help in this earth-friendly endeavor, here are some green lifestyle tips geared to teens and tweens.
Green Garments
To help save the environment and their budgets, teens are purchasing distinctive, stylized clothing from area resale stores. Getting bargains on name brands and gently worn clothing at a fraction of the cost, teens are being economically responsible and following fashion trends. Their one-of-a-kind garments, accessories, and jewelry can really make a fashion statement and add personal style to their wardrobe. Plus, they are saving thousands of garments from ending up in landfills.
Green Products
Teens are looking at product labels now more than ever, looking for “green” alternatives. The purchases they make on their beauty, hair, or personal care products, feature all-natural or organically certified ingredients. Many commercial shampoos, conditioners, skin cleansers, moisturizers, makeup and other products contain a host of chemicals, additives and generally bad-for-the-environment ingredients. Natural and organically certified personal care products do not contain these harmful ingredients and still come in all of the fresh, fruity scents, colors and shades that teens like. In fact, many are made from recycled, reclaimed or organically grown materials and are manufactured using methods that save natural resources.
Green Grades
When toting school supplies, teens are choosing an earth-friendly backpack or tote made from reclaimed or organic fabric. There are countless styles out there, from stylish messenger bags to traditional slingback bags. Also think about the supplies that are put in those bags. Notebooks, paper, pencils, pens, markers, rulers, folders and book covers are all available in green versions that have been recycled, reclaimed or revamped in some way to save resources and materials.
Green Careers
As teens start thinking about their future, they are considering pursuing a green careers. Now more than ever, many different career fields are expanding to include green branches or offshoots for environmentally conscious individuals. Eco-friendly careers include environmental biologists, sociologists, social movement organizers, earth-friendly business owners, environmental attorneys, public relations professionals, educators, science teachers, green construction builders and architects, green city planners, environmental fundraisers and grant writers, community affairs managers and foresters, to name just a few.
Global warming is at the forefront of serious issues concerning America and the World, and topics such as alternative fuels, recycling, and environmentally friendly products are being discussed more and more. Although environmental issues are a serious matter, it seems that they will affect future generations more than any others. Teens are becoming more familiar with the “green” movement and developing opinions of their own about the state of the environment. The above tips, and more, are ways teens are beginning to “Go Green”.
For more on how teens can go green, check out Teens Turning Green.
The Young Minds Digital Times Winners Are Announced!!!
The Young Minds Digital Times Film Competition is pleased to announce the Grand Prize Winners in our second annual film competition. Student Andy Wood, student of Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington, won the Grand Prize in the Young Filmmakers “Doing Good” track for his public service announcement, Education Proclamation. Wood drew attention to Converge Magazine’s, in partnership with Project Tomorrow, collaboration focused on grabbing the attention of our public and elected officials to entreat them to hear what students have to say about their rights to a 21st -century education.
In the Young Filmmakers Freeform Tack, the avant-garde short film, Tilt, by Dennis Walker of Armwood High School, Seffner, Florida claimed our second Grand Prize. Walker’s surreal short film caught our judge’s attention, particularly award winning entertainer and philanthropist, Ivy Koehler, ”I literally laughed out loud! You accomplished the illusion you were reaching! Great work.”
The final judging panel consisted of fifteen professional judges with insight into film making and youth culture. The judges were unanimously impressed by the films they viewed and hoped participants would continue to seek out opportunities to learn and improve their film making. Eight additional Category Winners and Judge’s Choice Awards were also announced by the Competition. The winning filmmakers represent nine different schools and were joined by over 730 other individuals throughout the competition’s process.
“Today’s tech savvy students are eager to explore what this innovative competition has to offer – they want a venue to share their ideas, showcase their work, and tell their stories – what better media than film? The tools are already at students’ fingertips, we just need to show them how to use them responsibly,” said competition director Jaclyn Bell of OneSeventeen Media. “The Young Minds Digital Times competition fosters an interest in promoting social good, and uses film to give today’s youth a voice to reach the masses. We are incredibly proud of all the young people that participated in our contest, and we are excited to expand the competition for young filmmakers next year – we hope they will choose to join us again.”
