Recognizing Signs of Teen Dating Abuse
- Details
- Hits: 4076
Teen Dating Abuse Program on School District’s Website What would you do if you knew a teen was in an abusive relationship? A program entitled Teen Relationships and Dating Violence, on the Video on Demand feature of the Scarsdale School District’s website, offers excellent guidance for teens, parents and even bystanders.
This program, originally presented at the Scarsdale High School (SHS) PTA’s November 8, 2011 meeting, features an SHS Drama Club skit about healthy and unhealthy teen relationships, and a discussion by experts of teen relationship issues. Both high school and college students, who often witness control and abuse in relationships, can play a critical role in helping affected peers.
“Teens should talk with their friends about what they would do if they or a friend found him or her in an abusive relationship, whether as the abused person or the abuser,” says SHS Youth Outreach Worker Lauren Pomerantz, who with the Scarsdale Coalition on Family Violence helped develop the presentation.
Pomerantz urges parents, teens and all Scarsdale residents to watch the program, and to use it to begin a conversation with their children and neighbors or peers. “No one needs to suffer alone,” she adds. “Once we learn the warning signs, we can all step up on behalf of victims—as friends, peers or ourselves.”
Early Decision: A Mother's Point of View
- Details
- Hits: 4158
Anyone out there with a high school senior knows that this is the week before early decisions are announced by the majority of schools that offer that choice to prospective students. What is early decision? It is the chance for a high school senior to apply early to their number one choice college and get a decision by December 15th. The catch is that it is a binding contract; if you are accepted early decision, you must attend that college, no second guesses, no second thoughts, no change of mind permitted. The admissions officer that my daughter and I saw when we visited Tufts University in Massachusetts summed up early decision in a very comical way: if you are ready to put your arms around me and say “I love you,” then you should apply early decision. If you don't feel that strongly, then don't apply early decision! My daughter and I left knowing that we were not ready to tell Tufts "I love you."
But besides the enticement of getting a decision by December 15th,there is another attraction to applying early decision to the college you love. Many schools take a greater percent of applicants from their early decision pool than later on from their regular decision pool in the winter. Early decision does give you a better shot at getting an acceptance. Some schools even announce their early decisions in late November. Last year, one mom was thrilled when her oldest child found out they she had been accepted into her top choice school the day after Thanksgiving allowing her to enjoy the rest of her senior year! Another mom that I spoke to had mixed thoughts on the early decision process. It worked out well for one child who was accepted early decision to an Ivy League school but not for her second child who felt awful after being rejected. It was hard to continue the rest of the college application process after facing one rejection. She would prefer that the college application system go back to the old days when there was no such thing as early decision, but it appears that the colleges like it and early decision will stay around.
Early decision applications have to be submitted by November 1st, so it's a good six weeks before you hear a response and the wait can kill you. I have tried to avoid the topic of college decisions around our house this past month. I have planned fun weekends in NYC and family gatherings in hopes of diffusing the pressure of simply waiting. This is probably the first big decision that my daughter has made that I cannot play any role in the outcome whatsoever and its killing me. Will College XYZ take her? Maybe, maybe not. It's completely their decision now. Sure, I made sure that she took a good SAT prep course and sure, I always encouraged her academically and sure, I allowed her to participate in countless clubs, sports and extracurricular activities always, but was it all enough to make it into XYZ?
Maybe I should have hired a college expert. Maybe I should have reviewed her essay (We agreed that I should not see it -- what do I know about college essays anyway? That was her guidance counselor's responsibility). Maybe I should have written a letter to the college telling them how amazing she is? Ok, I'm not serious on that one at all. But maybe I should have done something more. Next week, we will know and I will either bake a congratulations cake or bake a cheer up cake. I will be on standby to hug her and hold her tight no matter what the decision is, and the actual decision can take three forms: 1) welcome to our school, we love you and you are accepted 2) sorry you are a great person but we are not taking you or 3) we are simply not sure at this point whether we want you or not, so we are deferring you and will let you know in the spring! I think a "defer" may be harder to accept that an outright denial. Of course, anything but an acceptance is crushing to most kids. I think a rejection or a deferral could be a blessing in disguise, since then she'll apply regular decision to a number of other schools and have a choice (and I love having choices!) But I understand that rejection hurts and as a mother, I don't want to see any of my kids hurt.
One sad thing in all this is that whether she is happy or not next week, she will of course go to some good school next September and ultimately I am sure she will be happy wherever she winds up ... as for me, I will have to drop her off at college and drive away. Now that’s what is sad!
Caroline Tzelios is a "stay at home" mom of three kids who never stays at home. She has spent the past twelve years volunteering in the Edgemont Schools and recently completed her two year term as PTSA co-president of Edgemont High School and is the current co-chair of Edgemont's PISA Theater Committee.
SHS Grad Improves the Backpack
- Details
- Hits: 3837
When Lauren Bass attended school in Scarsdale (where she lived from the ages of 4- 17 ), she realized backpacks could be greatly improved upon. And now, years later, Bass has launched the business Gutzy Gear to do just that. Gutzy Gear, which Bass founded with her cousin Wendy Koolik, offers kids the opportunity to personalize their backpacks and messenger bags with patches (called Gutzies) that express their hobbies, interests, and passions.
“Children’s backpacks are the same today as when I was bringing a backpack to school in Scarsdale,” says Bass. So when she and her cousin Koolik found a sweater their grandma Betty had made featuring patches from all of the golf courses where she had played, it sparked an idea. They decided to create “flair”-like, removable, tradable patches that could be used to customize any bag and reflect the personality of the carrier.
Gutzy Gear has already seen great success—the Gutzies were featured on “The Today Show” and in Us 
Weekly. But it was in Scarsdale where Bass first honed her business sense. She was always inventing little businesses and flexing her creative muscles as a young girl. Then in college, at the University of Michigan, she started her first real company called the Privelege dining card.
Gutzy Gear is available at Child’s Play and Denny’s in Scarsdale and at Millers in Mamaroneck.
Leading the Parade
- Details
- Hits: 3635
Sara Sherman, a senior at Scarsdale High School took part in the opening number for this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She was part of a group of students from Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp, that sang and danced an original song written for the event. Following the opening, the students made their way to the top of the parade route and marched the entire length of the parade, eventually escorting Santa Claus into Herald Square.
A Halloween Message from the Chief
- Details
- Hits: 3304
Here is a letter from Greenburgh Police Chief Joseph DeCarlo about Halloween Safety: Halloween has now become a celebration for both children and adults which is evidenced by the opening of several large retail stores in the town dedicated only to the sale of Halloween related items. This day has also evolved into the creative decorating of homes throughout the Town.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the parents, teachers and student leaders whose collective efforts helped make last year's Halloween the safest that our town has experienced in many years. This, of course, could not have been accomplished without the cooperation of our young people, most of who acted quite responsibly in their celebration of the holiday. To all those kids, a very special thank you.
We cannot, however, rest on our laurels and expect this Halloween weekend to be as successful as last unless we maintain the 
same level of vigilance. Therefore, I am again requesting the cooperation of parents, teachers, student leaders and all of our young people in making Halloween 2011 as safe and enjoyable as was 2010. This year I will again assign additional police officers to patrol throughout the holiday weekend. Their orders will be to take into custody those individuals who insist on ruining the enjoyment of the holiday for young and old alike through acting disorderly, terrorizing our younger citizens and committing acts of vandalism. People under 16 who are arrested will be processed as juvenile delinquents; those over 16 will be treated as adults. While these actions may, at first, seem a bit extreme or an overreaction to a fairly insignificant problem, my conversations with various civic and educational leaders have convinced me that such measures are indeed necessary to ensure the safety of our citizens and their property. I therefore appeal to ALL parents to impress upon their children the serious ramifications which engaging in this type of conduct can carry.
In past years I have been somewhat startled at the reaction of some parents when items such as eggs have been confiscated from their children on Halloween night. They simply could not see the harm in kids throwing a few eggs and resented the police interrupting their fun. Parents should be aware that egg throwing is the major cause of property damage occurring on Halloween. Such conduct results in the siding on homes and businesses being stained, broken windows, the obstruction of driver's views and injuries to children who are struck by them in the face or head. It is important that parents make their children aware of the harm that can be caused by egg throwing and insist that they not participate in this activity.
In closing, I also call upon our young people to keep Halloween safe and fun by resisting the temptation to be mischievous through avoiding those individuals and groups bent upon this intent. Keeping Halloween safe and happy is our collective responsibility and a task that can be accomplished as we noted last year. The Police Department is determined to do its share and asks for your cooperation.
