With the event that happened at the University of Texas on Monday and with the loss of a home due to a fire with one of our students, it was a harsh reminder that life can change rapidly. Here is information on how we can help support this family:
Please consider contributing gift cards or even hotel stays or points towards hotel stays. You can drop off any donations to Karen in the Chap Court or to Holly in the Front office. If you can think of another way to help, please reach out to Katie Bryant at WHS. As always, thank you for being the amazing community you are. In this week’s reflection, I have given Kristi Waidhofer, one of our student support counselors, the opportunity to provide valuable information on the dangers of alcohol. With prom, lake excursions, venturing into downtown, and the summer ahead, we felt this was good timing. In high schools around the world May is synonymous for many things: AP Tests, STAAR, final exams, the official count down to summer. But perhaps at the top of the list, our students are thinking about prom. Prom means dresses, dinner reservations, party buses/limos and a slew of parties (both pre-gaming and the after party). For many students prom also means alcohol. We want to make sure that our parents are educated in providing a fun but safe prom experience for their students! Did you know that when a teen admits to drinking, they aren’t admitting to drinking the same way an adult drinks? Chronically teens are binge drinking (having 4-5 drinks in 2 hours). Approximately 50 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds who admit to drinking say they have had five or more drinks at one sitting, as do 65 percent of admitted drinkers aged 15 to 17 and 72 percent of admitted drinkers aged 18 to 20 years. Furthermore, about one in seven teens binge drinks, yet only 1 in 100 parents believe that their teen binge drinks. Binge drinking is much more dangerous than casual/social drinking. Binge drinkers are 14 times more likely to report alcohol-impaired driving than non-binge drinkers. Drinking is associated with the three leading causes of death and serious injury in teenagers (motor vehicle accidents, homicides and suicides). Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens and about a quarter of those crashes involve an underage drinking driver. Additionally, statistics show roughly a third of all alcohol-related teen traffic fatalities occur between April and June, which is considered the peak of prom season. Most teens learn about the perils of driving under the influence during Driver's Ed, but have reported that their fear of getting into trouble with their parents appears to outweigh the risk. According to AAA, 84 percent of teens surveyed said their friends would be more likely to get behind the wheel after drinking than to call home for a ride (if they believed they'd get in trouble for using alcohol). Another 22 percent said they'd ride in a car with someone who was impaired instead of calling their parents. What's a parent to do? SAMHSA recommends to "Talk. They Hear You.", with the following goals in mind:
Three Things To Remind Your Students About Alcohol:
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Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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