Drug and alcohol abuse in middle school? No way! YES WAY!

Today we learned that many of our girls have been approached to take part in drug and alcohol activities. Yes I was shocked!

Some say that their "friends" bring bottles of pills to school. Other say that when they are out with friends some try to entice them with liquor including vodka.

After a few minutes with Kim Matone Community Organizer for Charlotte Mecklenburg Drug Free Coalition and Marcella Young, a Prevention Specialist with Anuvia we learned that our girls have been exposed to a multitude of situations that are dangerous to their health and deadly to their lives.

The girls were challenged to come up with ways to help their "community" (school) with alcohol and drug abuse. Their ideas are below:

-Education (parents and students) by using assemblies, videos and posters

-Self decisions

-Empowerment (posters)

-Talking with counselors (support)

-Experience (goggles, ABC officers)

-Friends

Remember to encourage your children, friends and family to say no to alcohol and drug abuse!!!

For more information about alcohol and drug abuse prevention please visit the following websites and get involved in prevention.

Anuvia Prevention & Recovery Center is a nonprofit serving Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with alcohol and drug education, prevention, assessment and treatment services. The agency is more than 50 years old and has been known as The Chemical Dependency Center, The Randolph Clinic and the Charlotte Council on Alcoholism. Roughly 20,000 people are impacted by Anuvia's services each year, from children and teens to parents and educators to people with court-related problems and people who have an alcohol or drug dependency
http://www.anuvia.org/index.php

Charlotte Mecklenburg is an active, vibrant, diverse community that promotes collective and individual responsibility for wellness and fosters safe, healthy and substance abuse free lifestyle for children and adults.
http://drugfreecharlotte.org/aboutus.asp

                     

How can a middle school girl stay organized?

As many of you already know, middle school brings on so many demands including school work, homework, music, sports, social activities and for girls a multitude of body changes.  So how do we keep it all together? We call in the professionals!!!!

Catie Eller with Simplicity Organization visited our girls today and gave them a lesson on how to keep it all together.

First Mrs. Eller recommended that the girls stay organized with school work by purchasing a binder and dividers. She also suggested in order to maintain good grades and stay on top of those assignments the girls must be diligent with time management and creating a organizational system that works for them.


Mrs. Eller also recommended that the girls create a timeline of all their daily duties which included everything from getting dressed in the morning to watching television to doing homework to going to bed. After each girl created their list they were tasked with prioritizing the list for 1 less important to 10 most important.

This was hilarious watching our girls prioritize their list of duties. One question:  does looking at Justin Bieber posters on your bedroom wall constitute a priority on your list of duties each day?  For some of our girls this was very important. ;-)

So for more information on Organizing your life or your teens life please check out Simplicity Organizers at http://simplicity-organizers.com/

Simplicity is a professional organizing company, committed to changing homes and lives by creating customized and maintainable organizational systems. Simplicity’s goal is to change our client’s perspective on their possessions and help them to identify what is most important.

The Etiquette Coach arrived and boy did she have a message for our girls!!!

LaShaune Tisdale, Owner of the Academy of Etiquette and Charm was fantastic as she shared about the importance of manners and life skills for the 21st Century.

The girls came into the room with frowns and looking at the ground discouraged by a day of hectic schedules and peer pressure. The outlook was bleak and the girls were not really interested in hearing a pep talk or the importance of manners. But by the time Ms. Tisdale finished encouraging them to change their attitude and their disposition most girls where all smiles when they left our session.

Ms. Tisdale provided the following tips to help the girls be successful with attitude and personal conduct:

1. Sit up straight and cross your legs at ankle or knee

2. Positive attitude and smile

3. Speak in a respectable tone and maintain your composure

4. Use appropriate language without cussing

5. Be a true friend and offer encouragement

6. Participate in your scheduled activities as well as class

7. Know your personal space and personal limit

Thanks to the Academy of Etiquette and Charm!!!
For more information on the Academy of Etiquette and Charm visit
http://etiquetteandcharm.com/#

It's Kick Off Time!

On Thursday, October 3, 2013 we kicked off our new year! We had about 40 guest including parents, mentors, students, community partners and school administrators in attendance. The group was excited and anxious to learn who they would have as a mentor or mentee.

The morning began with introductions and mentor training facilitated by Elizabeth Mitchell, Neighborhood Resources Liaison for the Neighborhood and Business Services division of the City of Charlotte.

Participants discussed the importance of mentoring and learned that mentoring is "a relationship over a prolonged period of time between two or more people where an older, caring, more experienced individual provides help to the younger person as he/she goes through life." as defined by the Connecticut Mentoring Partnership.

Participants also learned that the key to creating effective mentoring relationships lies in the development of trust between two strangers of different ages.

Mentees were able to talk with their peers and learn the importance of having a mentor and how this new relationship can be beneficial to their success in school and beyond.

Many thanks to Chick Fil A Albemarle Road for serving us breakfast.

For more information on the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance visit
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/mayor/MentoringAlliance/Pages/newhome.aspx