Supporting students and parents online
I am impressed. Impressed by our kids, our faculty, and our parents. They are rising to the occasion. Few thought even just a few weeks ago that we would be going to school virtually, but we are. Kids are attending classes, doing homework, learning new ideas, participating in class, and taking quizzes. They are doing school almost like they did before COVID-19. Yes, it’s different, but for many students it feels much more “normal” than anticipated. Equally important, virtual classrooms provide an opportunity for our kids to be together, to interact, connect, talk, and maintain community. These are important outcomes of the past two weeks.
Academics, athletics, and the arts, plus so much more
While much of what we are focusing on involves academic, artistic, and athletic skill development, our virtual program offers so much more.
Through our Advisory program, we teach inter- and intra-personal understanding, the development of empathy, and the ability to connect with one another, as well as how to problem solve challenges that are inevitable in growing up. We work carefully to help students better understand who they are and how their decisions will impact their future. This is, of course, tricky because adolescents’ frontal lobes, the seat of higher-order thinking and self-control, are still developing. Think: Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes!
This is also why we take time during the school day to bring in outside experts to talk with and educate our students about suicide prevention, substance abuse, healthy relationships, sexual relationships, human geography, STDs, and much more. I am pleased to share that almost all of the programming that we scheduled for this Spring will continue in an online format. This is important work and must continue.
Updated SPEAK lectures and Parent Association meetings coming your way:
This will also be true for our SPEAK and Parent Association presentations. In fact, we are hard at work reviewing, revising, and adding to this Spring’s line-up of presenters to be sure that we bring to our parents speakers who are relevant to the age of their child and pressing current issues. We should be able to share more details about revised SPEAK programs shortly. Our goal remains to provide our community with the knowledge, tools, and skills necessary to be successful, regardless of the circumstances or challenges we face.
Come to our Parent Association meeting on April 8 via Zoom:
Just recently, I read some statistics about tobacco use, and they are not uplifting. Today, there are 1.5 million more current youth e-cigarette users than there were in 2017. CDC statistics indicate that 4.9 million young people use tobacco products, and the use of tobacco products grew by 38.3 percent among high school students between 2017 and 2018. This is obviously not the trend we would like to see, particularly because there is a relationship between early use of tobacco and addiction.
If you would like to learn more about this relationship and how we can support our young people, please join me for our next Parent Association meeting on April 8 at 8:30 a.m. via Zoom. Jessica Dolgan, PsyD, Founder and Chief Clinician of Integrative Therapeutic Solutions, will share her insights and what parents can do to protect their kids. I will send a link to this meeting via an email and hope to see you there.
If I can be helpful in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me.
SPEAK: “Adolescent Addiction and How to Combat It” – Jessica Dolgan
Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 8:30 a.m. via Zoom
Twice as many Colorado teens vape than the national average. We also know that young people who experiment with nicotine, marijuana, or alcohol are far more likely to become addicted than people who start later. Join Jessica Dolgan, PsyD, Founder and Chief Clinician of Integrative Therapeutic Solutions, for a fast-paced look at addiction and what parents can do to protect their kids. The meeting will be preceded by brief Middle School Parent Association announcements and a question and answer session with Bill Wolf-Tinsman, Middle School Principal.
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