Today I had the opportunity to attend The Real High School Musical at Linfield College, sponsored by numerous Yamhill County public health, education and non-profit partners. The actors were high school students and the audience was filled with 8th graders from around the county.

The actors portrayed emotions (some happy, some not), struggles, crushes, relationships and even high risk behaviors, including a suicide. All of us can relate to something in the performance, having been a teenager at some point in our lives.

One part I particularly enjoyed was the popularity chart. Immediately, I had a strong emotion of “Wow, times have changed,” when I saw that ’skaters’ are now one rung under ‘preps’ for popularity. I am, in fact married to a skateboarder (who has been skating now for over 20 years) and back in high school, skaters were not considered popular, mainstream or cool.

What hasn’t changed? Stereotypes, assumptions, bullies. Teens just trying to live day to day. Whether it be to study for an upcoming test (Daria’s overachieving tendencies) or falling in love (Ethan and Daria) or who to text message (Payton), teenage years are difficult. On top of all those things, some of the characters were homeless, in foster care, had a parent leaving for Iraq, self-cutting, depressed, and didn’t fell like they fit in with anyone.

I appreciated the dichotomy (and truth) to the explanation of how we all ‘fill up’ or ‘feel fulfilled’ somehow. For Colby he’s the most popular, but inside self harms by cutting. On the outside, Colby appears confident and cool. Everyone wants to be him or be like him. Vita is trying to articulate what it’s like to be the ‘big’ girl and tryout to be a dancer in a world unrealistic expectations of girls and women. At times, a character makes a comment that is truly offensive to another person, but doesn’t recognize how. Zac makes fun of kids that wear jeans with ripped jeans as you see Justin (homeless) lying under the train tracks with ripped jeans. Does Zac know that Justin is homeless and has no access to other pants? In the lunch-line, a group of kids make assumptions about Daria. Are you Chinese? Are your parents from there? As one kid explains that her parents are white and she’s adopted. She storms out, obviously offended.

The Real High School Musical begins to tell the story of how difficult being a teenager may be. It gets at some of the core issues that kids face. And, points to the importance of friendship, communication, respect, community and support. After the performance, the audience of 8th graders filter into the Field House where booths of resources and community partners are there to share what they can do to provide support for youth and their families and friends.

I think this production would encourage more teens to dialogue about different issues their facing and potentially save lives. BRAVO to the partners, directors, choreographers, tech, crew and of course the teenage actors!

In Yamhill County Oregon’s NewsRegister.com at http://www.newsregister.com/article/39538-activist+questions+mac+schools039+sexed+curriculum

Neal Lockhart believes that SEX is a bad word. One his kids shouldn’t hear.  First, The Great Body Shop is one of the strongest comprehensive elementary curriculum programs in the country and it is NOT a series of pamphlets. It is a curriculum comprised of lessons that  elementary teachers teach, aligned to the National Health Education Standards and reinforce age-appropriate knowledge and skills development, including decision making, goal setting, advocacy, communication skills, etc.
McMinnville used a process to select the curriculum engaging parents and community members. Some of that process was facilitated using a tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health called the Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool. The process was a fair and ethical one.

What Lockhart doesn’t know is that prevention of risk behaviors needs to begin in the classroom two years prior to initiation of that behavior. The reason 9 and 10 year olds are learning about these topics is because we know that some middle school youth are starting to become sexually active, and most are going through puberty. Many have questions that their parents can’t or don’t want to answer. Sometimes the classroom is a safe place for youth to have their questions answered. It’s important to teach these topics and give opportunities for students to practice interpersonal communication skills if they do get into certain risky circumstances.

I would encourage Lockhart to review the Oregon Healthy Teens Data for his county to understand that students are engaging in sexual behaviors at a young age. As health educators we ALWAYS advocate for abstinence to be the healthiest choice for our youth, but we need to educate them on how to protect themselves as well.

Healthy Kids Learn Better Cadre of Trainers;
Providing Professional Development to Pre-Service and K-12 Health Education Educators

The Healthy Kids Learn Better Cadre of Trainers provides evidence-based health education trainings and resources to teachers all over Oregon.  The Cadre began in 1996 and was initially funded through Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’ Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) HIV funds. In 1999, the funding was augmented with state tobacco and Safe and Drug Free school funds. In 2003 increased DASH funding provided even more resources.

Over the past ten years, the cadre has had an average of 18 trainers during a school year who commit annually. Trainers are selected based on their health education credentials and teaching experience.  Trainers included K-12 teachers, district prevention specialists and curriculum directors, retirees and professors of higher education.

Cadre trainers receive professional development twice a year at a retreat to ensure that they are able to provide health education resources that reflect the most current best practices in health topic areas and teaching practices.

When resources from the CDC were no longer available, the Coordinated School Health Team Lead in the Department of Human Services worked with partners in need of school health education expertise to pool resources.  The Team lead, with support from other partners, wrote and now administers a contract whereby the Oregon’s professional organization for Health and PE teachers called Oregon Alliance for Health, PE, Recreation and Dance (OAHPERD) serves as a fiscal manager to the Cadre.   During the 2008-09 school year, two funding sources provided the dollars for the cadre: The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Department of Human Services’ Problem Gambling Program. Together these organizations provided about $110,000 for the fiscal year.

The Cadre provides training focused on Problem Gambling Prevention and Disaster Preparedness, to school district personnel using curricula, aligned to Oregon Health Education Standards.

The hope of the Cadre members, OAHPERD, DHS, and the funding partners is that others will understand the value of the Cadre and that additional scopes of work will be funded.  Leaders in the Cadre will be meeting with other interested partners later this month.

If you are interested in hearing more about how we function, how we build partners for sustainable dollars and how we train, contact us!

Jess@bogliconsulting.com