A TEACHER’S TEACHER TELLS ALL ABOUT WHY SHE BELIEVES INSTRUCTORS ARE FALLING ILL BY THE HUNDREDS ACROSS THE NATION:  IT ALL COMES DOWN TO ONE THING: SOCIETY’S DESIRE TO MAKE THEM BE ALL

Dear Readers: This story came to my attention from one of my favorite readers. He asked me to reprint it and I did so because everything the author says here is the truth. Our teachers struggle everyday. They struggle because our expectations of them are unbelievably high. We don’t just expect them to teach. We expect them to cure society’s ills – and become a student’s mom, father, uncle, aunt. We expect them to do this for next-to-nothing in pay and we expect them to run many other programs beyond the classroom – such as harvest festivals, after school clubs and scores of other projects.

The other thing we forget – and the reason I don’t ever want to be a teacher – is the sea of sadness they walk through in their classrooms every day. It’s almost better not to know that this student is dying, this one’s brother has been fatally shot and this kid – well, this child is raising his siblings because his parents are drug addicts. Some teachers harden themselves to this and try not to know. Other teachers go home and cry. How can we expect any teacher to possibly fix society’s overall trouble?s

As Mindy Sloan, Ph.D, says – who is author of Say It Now Thank You to A Teacher – we all need to understand that they can’t.

By Mindy Sloan

The personal cost of teaching may be becoming too high. In my 10 years as a teacher of teachers, more and more of my students are reporting headaches, sleepless nights, irritated stomachs, chronic illness and even cancer. As someone who cares about children, and sees the necessity of having healthy teachers to support them, I can’t help but feel compelled to understand why teachers are getting sick.

Here are the reasons I have identified thus far:

Unrealistic expectations.
One reason may be that we place unrealistic expectations on teachers. Classrooms are a place in which every societal challenge presents itself. If a community is impoverished, violent or drug infested, it is expressed through the children in the classroom. It is society’s expectation that the teacher in the classroom must be prepared to remediate any societal problem we present, and teach each child to read at the same time.


Changing requirements.

The requirements to keep a teaching credential keep changing. As the needs of California’s http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/California children change, the training required to teach changes as well. For example, you may be a special-education teacher who has been effectively teaching children with autism for 20 years, but unless you go back to school
and earn the new Added Authorization, Autism Spectrum Disorders, mortgage foreclosures, violence in our streets, child abuse articles
last summer, “Grading the Teachers: Valued-Added Analysis.” New
York City Schools has followed suit, releasing ratings of 12,000 teachers. In both cases, each individual teacher was ranked based on the performance of the students in his/her classroom. While some ineffective teachers may be identified using this approach, there is no distinction between ineffectiveness and those competent teachers who are willing to take on the most challenging learners. Indeed, the message of the approach is clear. If you care about all learners, even those who have the most challenges, you will be identified as a bad teacher. For those who choose the profession because they love children and teaching, such a label is devastating.

Lack of support systems.

There is no argument that the focus of our educational system should be on children, first and foremost. Caring for our children, however, means we must do what we can to give them the kind of adults they need to succeed. Some of these adults must be teachers, teachers who are not only academically prepared, but teachers who are emotionally and physically healthy as well. Thus far, teacher preparation programs focus on academic knowledge and skills. There is little to no mention of self-care or preparing for the emotional realities of working in today’s schools.
 
Likewise, district funding does not include teacher support groupsor
systems to facilitate emotional health in current teachers. It should stand to reason that teachers who struggle with their own emotional and physical health cannot provide the kinds of environments students need to succeed. Indeed, one may consider that it is the emotionally unhealthy teacher who can be the most damaging to children.

In my experience, teachers internalize. They do not tend to complain and are not particularly good at advocating for themselves. They tend to put their own needs on the back burner, considering others first. The importance of healthy and effective teachers cannot be overly stated. As a group, they see every child. They impact every child. If we want to
support our children, we must support their teachers.

Sloan is director of accreditation and associate professor of special education at Brandman Univeristy, part of the Chapman University System. She is the author of “Say It Now: Thank You to a Teacher.” Her e-mail address is msloan@brandman.edu

A Brilliant 17-Year-Old Student With Tourette’s Learns How to Live With His Diagnosis and Make the Grade Anyway; He’s Looking at Schools Like Brown University

Dear Readers:

I just can’t resist a story like this. This is a student who is going to make it despite the issues he’s faced. Success stories like this make me so happy and thrilled to know that our future will be better, because a teen already navigated a difficult syndrome and still faced the world head on. I applaud Oliver for forging ahead despite Tourette's and getting top grades at his school. He was recently accepted to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and San Diego State University and is waiting responses from other universities. Here is an essay he wrote revealing what it’s like to have Tourette’s– Diana


By Oliver Hegge

My childhood was the same as any other kid’s in elementary school. I had friends that I played many sports with such as baseball, soccer, and basketball, and found a love of reading by delving into the depths of books like The Hardy Boys and Harry Potter.
In 5th grade, I started to have what I thought were bad habits. For some reason that I couldn’t fathom, I would get urges to shake my head or make soft noises. These bad habits would come one at a time and would eventually fade away, so I never thought much of them.

Sixth grade is when things escalated. These bad habits started to come with other ones, and before long, I found myself constantly twitching and making noises. While it was hard enough adjusting to life in middle school, I had the added discomfort of not knowing what was going on with my body. It was extremely embarrassing when I would catch people staring at me. I felt ashamed that I could not control my body.
In 7th grade, I finally found out what was wrong. I had a disorder called Tourette’s Syndrome, and my bad habits were called tics. During this time, I participated in a research study at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study helped me to understand and cope with having the disorder by supplying me with strategies called competing responses. The program helped me to deal with Tourette’s without the use of drugs.

Having Tourette’s Syndrome has impacted me tremendously in my life. It has molded me into a person with many sides to my personality. No matter what I do, I always make sure that I do my best because I don’t want people to judge me by my appearance. I want them to know me not as the, “weird kid who twitches and makes weird noises,” but as someone who is reliable, intelligent, and considerate.

I reserve my judgments about people until I have a conversation with them. All too often I am reminded of the ugly fact that most people develop ideas about people that can be untrue. Close friends have told me that the first time they met me they thought I was on drugs. I keep these experiences fresh in my memory because they remind me not to judge others.

Tourette’s Syndrome has often posed a challenge to learning. There are times where my attention is divided between dealing with my tics and paying attention in class. I have however, succeeded in getting straight A’s all throughout high school because of my aptitude for learning and willingness to work. It is through determination that I have been able to keep my studies up and become respected by my teachers and peers.

Tourette’s Syndrome is the biggest challenge in my life. I can’t choose to stop twitching like I can choose to turn off a light. I can’t run away from it or try to ignore it. It is always there, no matter how badly I might want it to disappear. Yet this burden has given me a perspective on life that few can boast of having. I understand that one has to take the initiative in life if one wants to truly live.

I could easily live a sheltered life, choosing not to participate in social events and shrinking away from forming meaningful relationships with others. Instead, I refuse to allow Tourette’s to control my life and relationships. Tourette’s has motivated me to be outgoing and to take leadership roles. I am the president of the Knights and Knightettes, which is an elite student organization dedicated to serving my high school. I took this leadership role to prove to myself that Tourette’s cannot hold me back from contributing to society in a positive way.

The greatest lesson that I took from the UCLA study is: I may have Tourette’s, but Tourette’s doesn’t have me.

 THANK GOODNESS THE LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD TOOK DOWN CRESCENDO CHARTERS; IF YOU ARE GOING TO TELL STUDENTS NOT TO CHEAT, THEN YOU CAN’T HAVE TOP EDUCATORS AROUND THEM THAT DO

By Diana L. Chapman

The Los Angeles Unified School Board, which has frustrated me for years with its alignment to the city’s mayor and it’s decisions to open up our schools to charters, has finally gained ground with me after doing the right thing. It agreed to close all six of Crescendo’s cheating charter schools last week.

This time, nope, it wasn’t the kids cheating. More scary: It was the adults.

School Board Member Richard Vladovic said there was no room for cheating anywhere or at anytime and last Tuesday – in a 6-0 vote -- approved the shuttering of the campuses along with five other board members.

 “I believe Crescendo had undermined the fabric of public schools and I will never support them unless all the participants are immediately fired and across the board and ethics training commences with the remaining staff,”  Vladovic e-mailed me,  one of the many reasons I will vote for him Tuesday on March 8. “What message are we sending these kids when we teach them it’s ok to cheat? One of these Crescendo schools is my school and I will not stand for it. Thank you for these whistle blowers who reported this heinous ethical breach. The message that was sent by this ethical breach is that we don’t have faith in our children…”

The Los Angeles Times, which broke the story, reported last week that then founder, John Allen, allegedly encouraged principals to provide the exact questions that would be given on state standardized tests and teach them directly to its students – which might have been missed had not some courageous teachers blown the whistle.

Crescendo’s high-end reputation scaled the ranks of amongst charters – especially due to its high test scores. But now everything is questionable. If cheating happened in 2009, we don’t know when it started. This instance alone has  poisoned all the good work Crescendo might have done, because no one knows for sure exactly how and when it all began.

But it did start – and it cannot be accepted despite a school administrator’s recommendation that Crescendo had done enough to clean up its act. LAUSD top administrator, Parker Hudnut, who oversees charter schools, recommended to the board last Tuesday that they extend the contract of two schools for five more years. Those included Crescendo Charter Academy in Gardena and Crescendo Conservatory in Hawthorne.

Hudnut seemed satisfied that suspending the principals for ten days and demoting the founder was enough cleanup for the six charters, that run in Los Angeles, Gardena and Hawthorne.

Thank goodness that morning, someone had some coffee percolating in their brains, including Vladovic who oversees the Harbor area and southern portions of Los Angeles.

Vladovic and I don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. For instance, I don’t like our schools being shoved off for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s non-profit to run. It’s grating that a mayor who can barely run the city believes he should run schools.

But here’s one thing Vladovic and I agree on completely. It’s absolutely repugnant to teach students not to cheat and threaten them with suspension and failures when you have adults around cheating!

  “I want to be very clear in my words,” Vladovic said. “If you cheat, you are history! I do not support anyone that went along with this blatant cheating and I do not support Mr. Allen (the director) or any of the principals who went along with the plan to cheat on the test, and more importantly cheat our children. Cheating will not be tolerated.”

Had the school board not taken such a stance, it would set a dangerous precedent that charters and LAUSD schools alike could cheat – and only receive a slap in the hand. If it had not taken such stiff measures, clearly it would open up the doors widely to allow such behavior.

School Board Member Marguerite LaMotte, who abstained Tuesday, did so in part  because she was concerned what would happen with the students at Crescendo’s charters. There is cause for concern. Where will they go?

Incoming Los Angeles School Board Supt. John Deasy was directed to find out what happened with those involved in the matter for the board to consider what will happen next.  Here are my suggestions to the board:

--Making sure that all the principals and director are fired for this breach. Not one of those principals should be staying on board – and the founder must go. By now, many of the students know what happened. As I’ve said before, students absorb what they see and the message they receive must be right: Cheating is not OK.

--Form a committee that must include the whistle blowing teachers, parents, LAUSD officials, and scandal-free administrators on how to reform Crescendo Charters if possible and to form an entirely new board to oversee the schools. It’s current board members allowed this cheating under their noses. Provide a new plan to the LA Unified school board for consideration. If enough steps have been taken to truly clean these charters up, then consider a one year extension/probationary contract for each school. From then on, its contract would have to be renewed yearly for each school.

-- Should no reform package come to fruition, LAUSD school officials must help parents find new campuses for their children. The students, after all, should not be punished. They weren’t the ones that cheated.

--To prevent further cheating incidents, clarify to teachers – public or charter --that they will be applauded for calling in information such as this. For all we know, this type of deception could be ongoing blatantly throughout schools. To curb it, provide school officials and teachers with information on where to call and report it.

Only is this way, can Crescendo gain any secure footing again and only in this way, should it.

 

Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Area

Community Meeting Notice

Monday, March 7, 2011    6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Peck Park-Auditorium

560 N. Western Avenue

San Pedro CA 90732

Burglary-Burglary-Burglary

Harbor Division is experiencing a rise in Burglaries & Thefts! Come hear from Harbor Division Detectives, Home, vehicle & Personal Protection Specialists.

Learn how to prevent and report!

For further information please contact

 Harbor Area Community Relations at 310-726-7920

Artist Beth Elliott's rendition of the San Pedro High tsunami wave to come.

Students begin the work on the wave.

TSUNAMI WAVE OF PLASTIC AT SAN PEDRO HIGH: WANT TO HELP OUT? JUST COLLECT YOUR PLASTIC BOTTLES

By Diana L. Chapman

It all came together in the curl of wave.

Students in San Pedro High’s environmental house were getting into recycling, cleaning up after football games and organizing beach clean ups.

Artist Beth Elliott, who works primarily with recyclable art, wanted to do more work with schools and didn’t have funding.

The Angels Gate Cultural Art Center received a $100,000 grant to bring art into Los Angeles Unified classrooms.

How plastic bottles can look like water.

And the San Pedro High Community Outreach Club, which links the community to students and students to the community, helped to bring it all together in one big sweeping project – an attempt to build a tsunami wave out of plastic bottles in the school’s senior court area.

A 90 foot long fence will act as the loom, explains artist Elliott, who already started the project last week, but needs thousands of plastic bottles to make the big splash she’s planning. To make the surf work over the next six weeks while getting ready for Earth Day (which will be celebrated at San Pedro High April 13) Elliott is looking for help from citizens as well as students. She needs people to save thousands of plastic bottles.

 “Like a tsunami, San Pedro High students are unstoppable and anything is possible,” she said. "'We can make fish and other sea life in the water,' a student chimed in and the concept grew. Like a tsunami, it began with a trickle and is rapidly growing. We hope to involve all facets of the student body in gathering bottles, weaving the wave and constructing sea life."

Ironically, it was one of those moments in time, where just like a wave, everything seemed to merge together. Students from the Community Outreach Club worked with Elliott to conceive the idea and were the first to launch the project last week. San Pedro High School’s principal, Jeanette Stevens, said she would “stand on her head” to received the funding from the Angels Gate Cultural Center. And the cultural center agreed to supply the funds.

 “I am thrilled to be able to officially notify you that the Angels Gate Cultural Center is able to fund an Artist in Classrooms residency at San Pedro High School!,” wrote  Laurine DiRocco, who is in charge of the funding for Angels Gate. ..The AGCC will fund 36 hours of artist-teacher contact with students, plus a guarantee of $510 toward supplies…we, at Angels Gate Cultural Center, are very excited about SPHS’s Tsunami project!”

Hundreds of students are expected to participate. Students began slicing plastic bottles last week and weaving them into the fence after coloring them with permanent marker pens that will give glints of blues and greens to appear more like moving water.

Principal Stevens said she was delighted by the program.

“I am thrilled that art and recycling have joined together to bring an old fence to life!” Steven’s e-mailed. “And this yet another exhibit (literally this time!) of how our school community comes together to create and energize the culture at San Pedro High School.

“The Community Outreach Club of San Pedro High Schools works to bring non-traditional resources into our school to connect with the growing and expanding interests of our students. Yet again, student and volunteer outreach have brought an incredible program to our school that this time includes recycling, art, and campus beautification.”
Excited students gathered last week to begin the tsunami, weaving in out plastic strips through the fence and eager to see the outcome. Some students are even encouraging the community to participate.
Said Dominique Rubens, 18, a senior, who helped generate the art work: “It is a beautiful project. It’s sending a blessing of consciousness through a wave of a tsunami. I think it will teach kids there’s a fun way to use recyclables and given them a different perspective. And it gives them a great sense of art.”

To donate your plastic bottles, email Diana at hartchap@cox.net or beth-elliott@sbcglobal.net.

 Giving Kids a Session In Cheating Is Not Funny; If the Adult Educators at Crescendo Charters Get Away with This Deceit Then the Students Just Absorbed One Scary Lesson

By Diana L. Chapman

Students at Crescendo’s six charter schools in Los Angeles learned the most extraordinary lesson ever recently. If you cheat, like some of the adults at their schools apparently did, you can get off the hook and still keep your job.

In a story broken by the Los Angeles Times, I was infuriated to read that Crescendo Charters – whose top official encouraged its principals and teachers to cheat by using the actual questions its students would face in state exams – were simply reprimanded by top administrators of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In fact, no one even lost their jobs – despite overwhelming  evidence of cheating, the Times said, which allowed Crescendo charters test scores to improve dramatically and place them at the top of the charter chain.

After investigating, school district officials gave the charters less than a slap on the hand and agreed to let them continue running their facilities after the charters demoted the director, suspended the principals for 10 days and agreed to overhaul Crescendo’s board.

The matter goes before the Los Angeles Unified School Board Tuesday and I’m hoping it will do the right thing:  Refuse to renew  contracts at two schools that are up for the extension, Crescendo Charter Academy in Gardena and Crescendo Conservatory in Hawthorne.

 Los Angeles Unified has the responsibility to protect its nearly 700,000 kids under its wing  from many things – including cheating. This type of cheating promotes lies to the parents, lies to the students and has to lob into question what kind of education Crescendos students are truly receiving – if any at all.

Should the school board renew the contracts, I’d suggest Crescendo needs to revise its mission statement which currently says its goal “ is to produce a community of scholars who desire to be lifelong learners.” Perhaps it should read that the goal of the adults there is to produce a community of scholars who have learned how to cheat for a lifetime.

The good news is that some teachers were honest; They stepped up and blew the whistle and deserve a medal. No they deserve more than medal for their honesty. They risked their jobs to do so.

But what if they hadn’t?

In my book, nothing less than this should happen if the contracts are renewed:

Each principal, who apparently participated, and the now demoted director, Allen,  must be fired. Crescendo’s seven-member board needs to be entirely overhauled and must have at least three parents – not just one. Parents are one of the few watchdogs that exist for public schools -- especially charters.

What bothers me the most is adults inability to understand just how intelligent children are. They absorb what’s going on. By now, they’ve already figured out what happened and are likely wondering if it’s OK to cheat. That’s why this is much more tragic than the embezzlement charges of an administrator. This is more horrific than a teacher being bad.

 This is about laying down an entire system that shows students a nasty game plan to dupe the educational system.

This is more than unacceptable; it’s criminal and grossly unfair and neglectful to students.

Crescendo has been considered a top-notch organization, with test scores making magnificent leaps in 2010. For example, the Crescendo Charter Academy leaped from 57 percent in 2009 to 74 percent in language arts in 2010 at the second grade level.

The second grade class also earned great strides in math as well for the same time period, jumping from 86 percent to 91 percent.

While its third graders actually did a severe drop in test scores, the fourth grade class ascended dramatically from its 2009 45 percent in English rate to an astonishing 85 percent. The third graders  also made significant leaps from 70 percent to 90 percent in math.

If these 2010 test scores were received through cheating – which appears so – then we are not doing these students any favors.

We are sending them out to face the rest of the educational system without the proper skills – not to mention the world.

I can’t think of anything more wrong and negligent than that – to pretend we are just educating our kids.

 My Son’s 16-Year-Old Friend Dies From Two Strokes

Aziz Tajj Malik Harris Was An Old Soul With a Heart of Gold

Strokes Are Hitting the Younger Generation Much Harder Than Ever; Mother Asks Youngsters to Tell Someone if They Have Body Pains

By Diana L. Chapman

The morning after four teenagers spent the night at our house, three were in the living room waiting boisterously for their breakfast and, as most boys do, dashed about yelling chaotically.

And then there was Aziz Tajj Malik Harris.

I needed something from my son’s room, which was  a whirlwind of a mess, and there I found Aziz kneeling on the floor, neatly folding his blanket and the blankets of the other three kids, and stacking them perfectly.

Pleasantly surprised by his mild manner, polite disposition and willingness to help without being asked, I picked up the phone and talked to his mom, Lovitta McLaughlin.

“Your son can come to my house anytime,” I announced, repeating it for good measure: “Anytime.”

But instead of more pleasant calls between us, I didn’t’ see Lovitta again until dark clouds gathered Friday, Feb. 25, at the 16-year-old’s funeral at the Manchester Missionary Baptist Church in south Los Angeles.

He died five days after Valentine’s Day, when he decided to stay home from Banning High School in Wilmington because of a headache. He was on the computer at his grandmother’s Carson home (where he lived) when she heard a sound and found him slumped on the floor.

According to a family friend, Aziz’s body was suffering from some type of virus; he had two strokes and his organs began to shut down one-by-one. No one saw this coming. No one ever thought of Aziz as ill. He was thin and ran cross country and did “anything I asked him,” said Coach Avery.

“He was a child who would do anything you asked him,” she said, trying to hold back the tears at one of the most painful services I’ve ever attended. “He was always willing and never complained. He always made things so simple.”

“We were honored to have him,” said Gaetano (Tom) Scotti, the principal at Port of Los Angeles Charter High School where Harris attended before moving out of the area.  “I remember his smile and how quiet he was. I meet a lot of great kids in this business, but you can tell when one has a heart of gold. He had a heart of gold. We will never forget him.”

Aziz was described as a model child, a straight A student and one that all mothers would love to have. His younger cousin, Brian, called him his idol who told him right from wrong. More than 300 people, including cousins, aunts, uncles, stepbrothers, sisters and  classmates, crowded into the service to say goodbye to a beloved boy, who touched so many hearts on his short time on earth. Aziz had won numerous awards, presidential certificates. He made the honor roll every year. And yet, there was much more to this quiet child whose uncle joked he would pay good money if he could just hear him talk.

Despite his shy, tranquil demure, Aziz left an imprint on hundreds, including mine and his many young friends. The room was packed with crowds of tears wondering why a good boy, who stayed away from drugs, gangs and crime, was gone. His politeness alone made him shine in a crowd.

“My Dear Aziz! I was thinking I gave you life. The reality is that you have given me life,” his mother wrote to him.

Aziz had asked his uncle Ricky Eubanks if he could work for him, as several of his cousins had done in the past. Ricky says he told him no “because he had plenty of time to work.” After he heard Aziz was mad at him, Ricky said during the service, he dropped by to explain his reasons. “Little did I know he didn’t have a lifetime,” Ricky said. “For almost 17 years, we had one of God’s angels on Earth walking with us.”

His step-brother, Jonathan Sherrod, added: “My little brother lived his life to the fullest. He always had his head on right.”

Aziz’s death follows breaking news reports in early February that younger and younger children are suffering from strokes. I dismissed the reports because I’d never known any children to have a stroke.  The Centers for Disease Control reported statistics that are frightening.

The incidence of stroke among males between 15 to 34 has increased by 51 percent—17 percent in females in the same age range. More startling is a raise  in even younger children – a 31 percent increase in boys 5 to 14 years old and 36 percent in girls of the same age.

Now, our friend, Aziz, had become one of these horrible statistics.

Many of us – standing with our sons and daughters – were  grateful to Lovitta, who asked that all children between the ages of 12 to 21 to stand through Pastor R. J. Ridgeway, Aziz’s uncle who delivered the eulogy.

As my son rose to his feet along with many of Aziz’s friends, Jake, Carlos, Alfonso, Kamill, Aaron and Brian, and his young family members, the pastor said: “If you feel anything in your body, you’ve got to tell somebody.  Tell your mother, tell your father. Go to the doctor. Don’t sit on it. Talk to someone.”

One of the reasons I wrote this story is to carry Lovitta’s message out to the world. We can’t afford to lose any more children as special as Aziz.

When I woke up this morning after a night of dreaming about Aziz, I had one striking of image of him – he was running at top speed with the wind.

Aziz is survived by his father, Aziz Harris of Sayre, OK; his mother, Lovitta of Carson,; six sisters, Jubree and Alexis of Carson, Azia and Asia of Long Beach, Armani and Imani of Atlanta, GA; two brothers, Naziz of Long Beach and Jabriel of Atlanta; grandmothers, Betty Mitchell of Carson and Karimah Harris of Perris,CA; grandfather Kenneth Robinson of Perris, great grandmother Essie Cantey of Manning, SC, and scores of aunts, uncles, other relatives and friends.

Burial followed at Green Hills Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes.

THE LAST TWO ESSAY WINNERS WHO WON FOR WRITING WHY THEY WANT TO LIVE DRUG FREE

Dear Readers: As I said before, the Alano Club, which helps people rehabilitate from drug and alcohol use, ran a contest for local students on why they wanted to live drug free. The next two pieces are done by the third and fourth place winners. First and second place student stories were posted earlier. Why are they a must read? They are insightful as to what our youth are living with today. Take a read. Diana

THIRD PLACE

Why I Choose to Live Drug Free

By Clarissa Montano

In today's world, where spending a few weeks in rehab is becoming a common thing for young people, I choose to be drug free. I see some of the stars that I watched growing up, in and out of rehab, in and out of court, and splashed on the cover of gossip magazines and web sites for bad behavior caused by using drugs. I ask myself, “Why would someone with so much going for them, throw it all away only to look dumb and cause themselves so many problems? “

There is nothing glamorous about drugs and alcohol, but every day the media and parts of the entertainment industry promote and sometimes even encourage the use of recreational drugs. They try to make it look fun, exciting, attractive, and like such a glamorous life.  Unfortunately, many people are fooled and every day another good, smart people falls victim to drug use. If you stop to think about the physical side effects of drug use, like hair loss, bad teeth, bad skin, and sometimes even bad body odor I ask, “How is that glamorous?” 

Then take a look the financial effects of drug use. Addictions can become so costly. People end up homeless and losing everything they own. Even though sometimes I feel like it is being shoved in my face, I still choose to live a drug free life. I have seen what drugs can do to a person and I have seen how drug use not only hurts the user, but also hurts the people who love them. I would never want to hurt myself that way and I for sure would never want to hurt my family like that either. I am so thankful that I have been educated on the negative effects of drug use by schools, our community, and most importantly my family who encourages me to make smart choices.

I know that I have many years ahead of me and I choose to be healthy, I choose to be happy, and I choose to be a good example to my friends and family. I also choose to have a long and successful life and I would like for everyone who has helped me along the way to be proud. Choosing drugs will not give me any of these things, but making the choice to be drug free will help. I am only in 8th grade now and I know as I get older that the pressures of drug use and the availability of drugs will only get worse,  but I know that my attitude will not change. I have made a choice and I am making a commitment to myself, my family, and my community to live a drug free life and encourage others to do the same because it is the smart thing to do.

                                                        FOURTH  PLACE

Lives Drug Free Because .....

By Kcee Thomas

I live drug free because that's how I choose to be. Most teens are doing drugs or drinking alcohol or living in some kind of chemically altered state nowadays. I am definitely not one of those teens.

Why do I choose to live drug free? This is a very good question. Like most other teens, I have tried drugs in the past. My drug of choice was Marijuana. This is a very commonly used drug that I no longer feel I need to enjoy life. There are many different reasons I choose not to do drugs. Examples of the reasons that I don't feel the need to alter my life any longer are that doing drugs is a waste of money and time: time spent planning on how to get them, time looking for a private place to do them, time trying to maintain a "normal" appearance and time wasted without motivation while being high. After learning some of my family history, I also wanted to be the first person in four generations to break the genetically linked chain of chemical dependence. 

In my opinion living drug free is what is best for me. I just started my new job working Saturdays at the Alano Club from 2-10 PM and I would be a hypocrite to be working there while I was under the influence of any narcotics or chemicals. I wouldn't be a very good example for those people trying to overcome addictive behaviors. When I make money working at the Alano Club, I want to be able to spend it on something I think is valuable like clothes or jewelry or something else that is worth the time I spent making the money. I also know that drugs would impact the future because spending my money now on drugs would mean that I couldn't save any money for the future. I would have no money for having my own place to live, a car to drive instead of having to be dependent on other people or even affect my ability to further my education due to lack of tuition for classes.

We can only live life once in this world and I've decided to do it with a sane and sober thought process and without having to second guess if the decisions I made, or are yet to make, will be influenced by chemicals. I also don't want to earn a reputation associated with drugs and be labeled names like "pothead", "stoner", "alkie", "tweeker" or "drugy". I don't want to live my life knowing that I have earned a nick name or reputation based on something I did when I was not thinking things out clearly. I want to be the first one in my family that is not going to go through any experiences involving the emotional, financial, physical, or illegal sides of addiction like those in my family have gone through. Whether it is the incarceration due to a DUI leading to financial and emotional and even physical changes or the additional stress, I want to avoid it. These are very important reasons why I choose to live drug free.

I have a brilliant future ahead of me and I don't think that using drugs is what is best for me. I'm not willing to let all my future goals in life just fade away because drugs have held me back. I want to live a healthy and long life and one way to do that is to be drug free. Drugs are not healthy so if I want to be healthy I shouldn't do drugs.

These are some personal thoughts that I have shared and I used to help me realize why I want to be drug free. I strongly believe in this commitment and know I can use my confidence to stay sober and drug free. Thanks to the people at the Alano Club that have helped inspire me to stay this way!

One Day At A Time!

Emmanuel Catalan, dealing with a rough course toward college, appears to be making it.

 Former Writing Student Who Called Himself “Worthless” Receives Next-to-Full Scholarship This Summer in Washington, DC to Shadow an Attorney in the Criminal Justice System;

This Tells the Tale of Why the Boys and Girl Club College Bound Program Remains Fruitful; A College Bound Workshop Will Be Held Tuesday After School at San Pedro High

By Diana L. Chapman

When I received the phone call last week, my eyes welled up with tears and then I was near weeping.

“Really?  Really? You are kidding,” I kept saying, my voice breaking in two.

I couldn’t weep anymore for Emmanuel Catalan, who was about 17, when I first met him. He stood up in my writing class at the Boys and Girls Club, told everybody he was “worthless,” had a 1.8 GPA and had moved every two years of his life. There was nothing more to him than that, he said.

Today, he’s into his third year at the University of South Florida and was just awarded a nearly all paid summer summer  scholarship to  the Washington Center in D.C. where he will shadow an attorney in the criminal justice system. The scholarship does not include transporation or meals.

“It was such an exciting moment to hear that I got into this internship,” the 21-year-old e-mailed me. “I feel like I have the academic aspect of my career down. Now, it is about applying all that I know into a real-world situation. I believe that this internship would give me invaluable experience and help me understand how to apply what I  know a lot better than I previously did.”

Emmanuel has had no easy path to trudge toward his dream to become a lawyer first, and then a judge. When I met him, I was able to determine just how brilliant he was and see that his writing potential was magnificent. In the class, though, it was his friend Anabel, who saved him. After he told us all, standing up when he did so, of his heart wrenching insignificance, Anabel piped up that he just had earned the title of sergeant in the Junior ROTC.

“That’s not worthless,” I exclaimed! “That means you’re responsible and committed.”

That, I believe, was the moment his life changed. Emmanuel woke up hard and went to work, raising that 1.8 to 4.1 GPA in the next few months. His writing improved dramatically and he made a new family at the Boys and Girls Club. Seeing his overnight changes, the club employees threw themselves behind him – to make sure he got into college.

But the reason he was so troubled to begin with reared its ugly head again by the end of the school year. His stepfather told Emmanuel he was worthless – and let him know it many times. With only his senior year left to go and all going well, the stepfather, a military man, announced that he was being transferred and they were all moving to Florida.

Mike Lansing, the executive director of the Harbor-Area Boys and Girls Club, offered Emmanuel a place to stay to finish his senior year, rather than moving when he was doing so well. The staff feared they might “lose him,” if he didn’t have a support system.

His step-father refused. Nearly the moment they arrived in Florida, the stepfather then departed from the family, leaving Emmanuel’s mom to raise all three of her boys. This could have destroyed Emmanuel.

“For years, I’ve been impressed with Emmanuel’s abilities to turn things around and stick to his commitments,” I wrote in a reference letter for him to the Washington Center. “He sacrificed to help his mother when he could have returned to California and taken the offer that remained open for him. Emmanuel could have fallen apart when he was forced to move and drop all thoughts of college.”

Instead, he remained to help his mother and enrolled in university.  While it hasn’t always been easy, I am proud to say that he has not quit and will – one way or another – become a lawyer and a judge. I know this, because I’ve seen his grit, persistence and determination.”

Lansing, the Boys and Girls Club  lauded Emmanuel’s success thus far.

 “We are very proud of Emmanuel and the academic career path success he is currently experiencing,” Lansing said. “Emmanuel is a “poster child” for why the College Bound program is so very important for so many of our youth. He came to us at a time he was truly struggling and had much self-doubt – but the potential and capacity to learn and grow were most apparent.

“We were able to pick Emmanuel up, boost his confidence and get him on the right path which obviously has paid dividends given where he is today. I am most proud of Emmanuel and especially my staff who will give (youths) the helping hand they need and deserve.”

My volunteer experiences with students over many years tell me there’s so many more Emmanuels out there. College Bound is one way to find them. If you know any students who need help preparing for college, please send them Tuesday (Feb. 22) to San Pedro High School at 3:45. A workshop will be presented in Room 125 in the main building.

Let’s not even think about wasting anymore Emmanuels who have so much potential and so many gifts to offer our world.

SECOND PLACE WINNER OF THE ALANO CLUB'S DRUG FREE ESSAYS: THIS WINNER ATTENDS THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES HIGH SCHOOL

Dear Readers: I am proud to share these essays from local students at our schools. The Alano Club ran an essay contest asking kids why they want to live drug free. Xander Gangemi was the second place winner and received $150. The club currently is working on programs to keep teenagers busy in San Pedro and away from addictions. As these programs evolve, I will keep you posted. -- Diana

By Xander Gangemi

My name is Xander Gangemi and I have seen dozens of lives get destroyed, maimed, and cut short. I have seen friends, family and those I love fall and collapse under the weight of drugs and alcohol. I choose to live free of the bonds of addictions because I know how it would affect those around me. Susceptibility to drugs and alcohol runs in my blood. Many of those before me in my family were (and still are) heavy drinkers or drug addicts. However, I know that I have the strength to avoid the temptation of these vices. I have a responsibility to myself to be strong and not drag myself down with drugs. I have a responsibility to my family to not waste the life that they gave me and to grow ever stronger. I have a responsibility to my friends and those around me to be a picture of endurance, self reliance and to be able to be there for them when they need me.

I am no saint though. No one really is. All we can do is try our best and give our all. I know that I couldn't do that if I were on drugs or drinking. If you're doing those things, you're not yourself and you say things and do things that you just can't take back. You never just hurt yourself when you're on drugs. It always affects people around you, even if you can't tell or they don't tell you. I think: that it's not worth it, being on drugs, because you lose too much in the process. You lose who you are, piece by piece.

When I grow into the man I know that I will be, I want to be able have a stable job and I want to be dependable and responsible. I want to be able to support a family and be with that family ... If I started drugs, or drinking, reaching goals like these would be so much harder. The brief relief that you get from these things is honestly, truly not worth it in the long run. Doing drugs can stop your dreams from becoming reality, and I won't allow that to happen in my life.

People close to me, have been in horrible, dark places with drugs. They were violent, emotionally unstable, hurtful and not themselves. It hurts to be the recipient of these actions by people under the influence. Drugs and alcohol change how you see things and sometimes, how you act. I love the people around me, and I enjoy and earned the respect I get from them for being strong. I would lose all of that if I were to be on drugs.

I choose to live drug free, because living drug free is to be free. You're free to be yourself, be strong for family and friends and free to go off and accomplish your goals and dreams. I don't believe that drugs are worth the pain, anger, drama and depression that they bring. I need to be myself and I need to be strong and respectable. That’s why I choose to live drug free.

STUDENT ANTI-DRUG ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS HONORED

Dear Readers: I will be publishing this series of essays over the next few days. Please pay attention as they reveal what some of our students, our kids, are going through. It might be harder than we all seem to think. Today, explains how the essays came about and first place winner will be below.  Because the parents are meth addicts, the first place winner is not identified. Diana

Submission from the Alano Club:

The San Pedro Alano Club (SPAC) announced the winners of their essay contest for students at an award ceremony held at the club on January 23rd.

The students wrote essays of 500 words or less titled Why I Choose to Live Drug free. According to Bob Ahl, the Alano Club’s Director and General Manager, more than 50 students from local Middle and High Schools competed for cash prizes.

Contest winners were: 1st place, J.H., San Pedro High School, senior ($300.00), 2nd place, Xander Gangemi ,POLA High School, senior ($150.00), 3rd place Clarissa Montano, Dana Middle School, 8th grade ($75.00), 4th Place, Kcee Thomas, Patton High School, junior ($50.00).

The contest kicked off an outreach program by the San Pedro Alano Club to create awareness and promote prevention of drug and alcohol use amongst San Pedro‘s student population. Citing statistics from two recently released studies by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PADFA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Mr. Ahl noted an alarming spike in drug and alcohol use among students in grades 9-12.

“The PDFA study reported an increase in ‘last month’ alcohol use of 11%, marijuana use increased by 19% and ecstasy use by 67% when compared to the 2009 survey. The NIDA study for 2010 reached similar conclusions,” according to Ahl. “These statistics, alarming as they are, come as no surprise to us. We see kids coming here for help with substance abuse problems at a younger and younger age each year,” Ahl said. “The SPAC has initiated an outreach program, Kids Against Drugs (KAD 2011), to aggressively combat the problem of drug and alcohol use amongst Pedro teens. We will be involving students, parents, teachers, recovery specialists, law enforcement and the business community in a robust effort to break the cycle of teen drug and alcohol use in our community,” Ahl stated.

“I talk to kids every day who are sent here by the courts and schools for drug related problems. Many want to quit using but can’t imagine life without drugs and alcohol. The most common complaint I hear from students is, ‘there’s nothing to do in Pedro for kids.’ With support from students and parents we plan to hold safe, sane and sober events at the Alano Club on a regular basis,” Ahl commented.

1st Place

Why I Stay Away From Drugs

By Y.H.

Drug addiction is a major problem in San Pedro. I have lived here my entire life and I don't think a day has passed where I haven't seen drugs in my surroundings. I have never used drugs in large part due to the environment I grew up in. My parents have been Meth addicts for more than 15 years. My earliest childhood memories are of Meth tearing my parents down and our family apart. They have been in and out of rehabs, programs and prison for the past six years.

The one thing that most affected me was the fact that they did not take care of our family. They have nothing more than the title of mother and father, contributing very little to the responsibilities that come with those titles. As the oldest of three I have taken on the responsibility of head of our family and caretaker for my sister and brother. I am mother to my brother who is 10 years my junior and mentor to my sister. I have always been aware that what my parents were doing was wrong and destructive to them and most importantly to our entire family. The cycle of drug addiction in our family has been long and until this day not totally resolved. My father is now in prison on drug related charges. This is his third incarceration in the past ten years. My mother is trying to reestablish her role in our family.

The one thing my parents have given me is the power to say no to drugs. It is my goal to lead a productive life that does not reflect on the lives of my parents. For me drugs have never been an option because of the many responsibilities I have. In spite of that, drugs have been tempting for me at times. I have a nagging question that if my parents were willing to give up their health, their freedom and their family for drugs… are they worth it? I have concluded that drugs could never be worth all that I would lose. In our community drugs are abundant. At school I see classmates decimated by drugs each year at a younger and younger age. At times I have felt like an outcast from my peers, but I have come to value the independence instilled from watching my parents destroy themselves and the ones they should care most about through drug abuse. I can honestly say drugs will never come into my life.