College Newsletter - Holliday Edition

College/Scholarship Information

Cape Fear Academy

November 30-December 10, 2010

This information will be updated weekly for parents and seniors of Cape Fear Academy. Please make note of the deadlines included. Check the new College News bulletin board by the stairs for more information!  The submissions found in red are new for this edition.

Private College Visits to CFA: (held in the Quiet Room unless otherwise noted)

                        December 6              East Carolina University at 2:30 p.m.

         

College Information:

Salem College Open House Events – The Fall Visit for Seniors will be held on December 3.  To register, visit www.salem.edu.

UNC-Charlotte Open House – Dates are at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays -- March 26, and April 16.   Visit http://admissions.uncc.edu for information.

Vanderbilt Black and Gold Days – These open houses are for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who wish to visit the Vanderbilt campus and will be held on the following dates:  Jan. 17, Feb. 7, Feb. 21, April 18, and April 25.  To register, visit http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/black-and-goldprogram.php.

Scholarship Information:

AXA Achievement Scholarship – Awards of $10,000 or $25,000 will be given for students who meet the following criteria:  have been active in the community; have led a project that benefits others; have overcome personal challenges.  Learn more at www.axa-achievement.com.  Deadline to apply:  December 15.

Azalea Festival Princess Scholarship – This is an opportunity for senior women to participate in the NC Azalea Festival Princess Pageant to be held on March 5, 2011.  Girls interested in participating are asked to register between November 15^th and December 17^th.  The young women will be judged on the following:  personal interview; evening gown; impromptu stage question.  Last year’s winners received over $9,000 in scholarship money.  There is a $50 registration fee due at sign-up.  See Ms. Copenhaver for an application.

Gates Millennium Scholars Program -- Students are encouraged to apply for this prestigious scholarship.  The award is renewable up to five years and is open to students attending any U.S. accredited college.  Criteria include:  significant financial need; cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.3; and leadership through community service or activities.  Applicants must be African American, American Indian, Asian Pacific Islander American, or Hispanic American.  If interested, see Ms. Copenhaver.  Deadline to apply:  January 10. Visit www.gmsp.org.

KFC Colonel’s Scholars – Awards up to $20,000 are granted to seniors with financial need and an entrepreneurial spirit.  Criteria include:  minimum GPA of 2.75; enroll in a public college in North Carolina; demonstrate financial need.  Online applications are available from December 1-February 9 at www.kfcscholars.org.   (A student at CFA received this award two years ago!)

Levine Scholars – UNC-Charlotte introduces a new scholarship, which includes full tuition, room/board, a new laptop, and summer experiences totaling $90,000!  If you are interested in being nominated from CFA, please see Ms. Copenhaver for more information.

NFIB Young Entrepreneur Award – Are you a budding entrepreneur?  Do you have dreams of owning your own business?  If you answered yes, visit www.NFIB.com/YEA to apply for this award.

Peace College Scholarship – There are two opportunities for scholarships at Peace.  One scholarship offers full-tuition for students with a 4.0 GPA and SAT score of 1300 (CR and M) or ACT score of 29.  The second opportunity is for students from a private high school.  The award is up to $4,000 yearly for a female student with a GPA of 2.5 or better and a combined SAT score of 900 (ACT of 19).  If you wish to be nominated, please see Ms. Copenhaver by January 15. 

Roanoke College Scholars Program – Students receive $175,000 over four years.  To apply, visit www.roanoke.edu/scholars.  Deadlines:  January 10 for the February competition. 

Ron Brown Scholar Program – This prestigious scholarship encourages underrepresented minorities to apply.  Visit infor@ronbrown.org for information and the application at www.ronbrown.org.

UNC-Greensboro Merit Awards – Awards are given to seniors for exceptional academic achievement in the areas of Business, Education, and the Arts & Sciences.  Criteria include:  minimum SAT of 1800 (ACT composite of 27); GPA of 3.5 or above; admission to UNCG by January 3.  Online applications must be completed by January 3 at www.uncg.edu/fia/meritawards. 

University of Toledo Presidential Scholarship – This award includes full tuition/fees for four years and a stipend for study-abroad.  Criteria include:  3.8 GPA; 1340 SAT/30 ACT.  An application and the scholarship must be submitted by December 1.  Visit www.utoledo.edu/admission/apply and www.utoledo.edu/admission/presidential. 

VMI Institute Scholars – Awards from $5,000 to full tuition will be awarded to students having SAT scores of 1300+ (ACT of 29) and a GPA of 3.7+.  Must apply to the school and complete the scholarship application by February 1^st.  Visit www.vmi.edu/institutescholars for an application and information.

For a great scholarship search, visit www.fastweb.com

Other Opportunities:

Broadreach and Academic Treks – Information on these summer opportunities are found at www.academictreks.com and www.gobroadreach.com.

Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel – BYFI will select 26 high school juniors of Jewish faith to spend a summer in Israel studying, traveling, and meeting with Israeli leaders.  The program is highly selective; however, is it a prestigious and exciting opportunity for students.  To apply, visit http://www.bronfman.org.  Deadline to apply is January 20.

Cambridge College Programme – This is held at the University of Cambridge in England for high achieving high school scholars.  Visit the 2011 Programme at www.cambridgecollegeprogramme.org./  Information for Oxbridge Academic Programs for rising 9^th through 12^th grades can be found at www.oxbridgeprograms.com.   See posters on the bulletin board!

Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Program – This is for students entering their junior or senior year of high school.  The program is a six-week summer experience in Advanced Placement, National High School Game Academy, and Fine Arts.  Visit www.cmu.edu/enrollment/pre-college for details.

C-CATS – Clemson University’s Challenge for Academically Talented Students is a program designed specifically for high achieving 9^th and 10^th grade students.  This program introduces students to an exciting weekend that engages them in academic, social, and recreational opportunities at Clemson.  If you are interested in being considered for this program, see Ms. Copenhaver.  Deadline for nominations:  December 12.

Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship – This is an exchange program funded by US Congress and the German Parliament, which gives US students an opportunity to study in Germany on a one year full scholarship.  Applications must be submitted by December 21.  See Ms. Copenhaver for a brochure.  For additional information and applications on this opportunity, please visit www.ciee.org/cg.    

Learn and Earn Online at CFCC – The spring schedule for the online college courses is available.  The only courses available are STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  Visit http://cfcc.edu/gateway/LEO.html for information.

North Carolina Junior Elon Scholars – This program services academically talented high school juniors.  Students demonstrate superior academic achievement and exceptional involvement in activities.  This is not a need-based award.  Candidates should have an “A” average and combined SAT score of 1900 or higher.  SAT scores will be considered through the January 22nd test date.  Visit http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/justnc.xhtml for an application.  Deadline to apply:  February 10, 2011.

Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics – This is a wonderful opportunity for 10^th and 11^th graders to pursue their interests in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in a university research setting in North Carolina for four weeks during the summer at NO cost.  Visit http://summerventures.org for complete information and video.  More information will be available in the US Office in the coming weeks.  Deadline to apply:  January 31.

Put these testing dates on your calendar:

                    SAT                                                                                           ACT (with Writing)

October 9      Register by September 10                       October 23         Register by September 17

November 6   Register by October 8                                      December 11      Register by November 5

December 4   Register by November 5                         February 12        Register by January 7

January 22     Register by December 23                        April 9                Register by March 4

March 12       Register by February 11                         June 11              Register by May 6

May 7           Register by April 8

June 4           Register by May 6

CollegeWeek Live Special Events

 January 13                Paying for College

February 17                Test Prep

March 23-24               CollegeWeek Live SPRING

April 6                        Study in Scotland

April 26                      Science, Technology, Math,

                                  and Engineering Day

May 3                         New England Day

May 10                       New York Day

May 12                       Texas Day

Visit www.collegeweeklive.com

Accommodation Angst

 

 

 

By ABIGAIL SULLIVAN MOORE

Published: November 4, 2010

EXTRA time. More breaks. A small, quiet room. Seeking such accommodations on entrance exams can be a journey of angst for students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A new set of federal regulations, published in September and effective in March, could smooth the path.
Still, legal experts are skeptical, and guidance counselors, tutors and disabilities advocates say the process has become even harder for the ACT and SAT over the last five years or so.
“They have toughened up,” says Claire Cafaro, a former high school guidance counselor who serves on the executive board of the New Jersey Association for College Admissions Counselors. “It’s clear they are a lot more choosy where those accommodations can be used.”
And the ACT is considered the tougher of the two. “I will do the same documentation for Jane Doe for the SAT and ACT,” says Anne B. Carlson, guidance department chairwoman at Walton High School in Marietta, Ga. “The SAT will come back approved, and the ACT will come back not approved.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
Students with learning disabilities or A.D.H.D. now make up the bulk of disabled students seeking special accommodations, though they are a small percentage of all takers of the ACT (nearly 4 percent) and SAT (about 2 percent).
In reality, the percentage of approvals is relatively high. For the last school year, ACT Inc. initially denied about 25 percent of applications for accommodations. The College Board asked about 20 percent for additional documentation for the SAT. Many persevere, going back and forth until the testing companies are satisfied. Ultimately, the ACT approves about 92 percent of applicants, and the SAT about 85 percent (less than 10 percent of those are for physical disabilities).
Neither the College Board nor ACT believes documentation requirements for special accommodation have toughened.
Steven Pereira, executive director of Services for Students With Disabilities for the College Board, says that such a perception might come from efforts to be more precise about documentation, and that the process has been redefined annually. “I could see that as appearing more stringent,” he says.
ACT officials say they have not changed their standards. Noting their high approval rates, they suggest applicants are self-selecting. “I may be going out a limb here,” says Sherri Miller, an assistant vice president, “but if people didn’t really have a disability they wouldn’t apply because they would see they are not going to pass our requirements.”
BACKSTORY
Testing organizations have long feared that unmerited accommodations, especially extra time, undermines their exams’ integrity.
A 2000 audit of California test takers showed a disproportionate number of white, affluent students receiving accommodations, igniting suspicions of exaggerated or nonexistent disabilities. Three years later, in the wake of a lawsuit, ACT and the College Board stopped flagging scores of accommodated students for admissions offices; with the stigma gone, the incentive grew to game the system. “What was before a pro forma request now turned into a very elaborate process with a lot of waiting time,” says Steven Roy Goodman, co-author of “College Admissions Together: It Takes a Family.”
Meanwhile, courts decided that a disability must be severely limiting to be covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Taking their cue from this definition, testers have especially scrutinized students with average to above-average academic performance — after all, how can a student do so well and be significantly restricted? “Because the A.D.A. is outcome neutral, we are not looking to maximize a student’s performance so that they can do the best they can,” says Susan Michaelson, ACT’s manager of test accommodations. “We are looking to provide equal access.”
Congress, however, over objections from ACT, in 2008 rejected the courts’ “narrow” understanding of disability and amended the A.D.A. New rules are being drafted to expand the definition of disability. The regulations that were just published tell testers to give “considerable weight” to documented accommodations at applicants’ schools, keep documentation requests “reasonable” and give credence to assessments of disabilities by qualified evaluators.
In theory, says Jo Anne Simon, a New York disability rights lawyer, the new rules will mean “schools and parents will not have to jump through hoops.” But she and other lawyers worry about compliance by testing agencies.
“In my general experience, the SAT is using more appropriate standards for proving that you have a disability,” says Matt Cohen, a special-education lawyer in Chicago. The ACT and graduate school entry exams, he believes, “are raising the threshold for the documentation and extent of impairment.”
ACT says it adheres to the A.D.A. “When the regulations become effective,” says Mrs. Michaelson, “the ACT will adjust its policies.”
HOW TO
Patsy J. Prince of Academic Tutoring Centers in suburban Chicago says this of the ACT and SAT: “Both have become more difficult, and rightly so. People sense that they could use extended time and don’t realize that you have to have a diagnosed issue. They are inundated with requests for extended time without testing from an educational psychologist.”
Whatever the exam, applicants need to demonstrate that their disability substantially limits their daily functioning and their ability to take the test. They must show that their requested accommodation fits their disability — extra time (typically 100 to 125 more minutes) for a student with a reading disability, or breaks between tests for a student with poor attention. Extended time is the most requested accommodation.
Students also must prove they have used similar accommodations in their school, even if informally. “The presumption is that if you’re not using it, you don’t need it,” says Nora Belanger, a disability rights and special-education lawyer in Norwalk, Conn.
Public school students may have formal plans: an Individualized Educational Plan for specialized instruction, services, accommodations and academic goals, or a less intensive Section 504 Plan. Private schools, on the other hand, may provide accommodations informally, like giving time at lunch to finish a test. All this documentation is vital. But know what’s in there: plans can lack a diagnosis, recommended accommodations or a usable evaluation.
Parents often find themselves at cross-purposes with secondary school educators, who are unable or reluctant to provide more testing. So legal experts say the best investment is a comprehensive private evaluation, which can cost $1,000 to $5,000. “If you have to choose between a lawyer and someone who can tell what’s wrong with your kid, choose the evaluator,” says Micki Moran, a Chicago lawyer with expertise in special-education issues.
BEST ADVICE
Documentation submitted to the College Board and ACT ranges from one page to hundreds. Sometimes key information is buried. Such was the case for one student whose school submitted his 40-page-plus I.E.P. without summarizing why he needed accommodations for the SAT. He was denied. Vincent Varrassi, his tutor, stepped in: “I wasn’t the evaluator but I took the info that was already there and was able to present it in a four-page letter that flowed logically.” The application was approved.
Perseverance pays. “Sometimes after two, three, four submissions the document with the meat finally turns up,” Mr. Pereira says. Or, on occasion, he adds, a fresh set of eyes will make another determination.
Because testing organizations may ask applicants for more documentation, “parents need to be organized,” says Marybeth Kravets, co-author of the “K&W Guide to Colleges for Students With Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.”
“They need to copy everything in school files as early as possible,” she says. “They need to have a copy of special-education records, if they have medical records when the child was 7 or 9 and a kid was acting out.”
Perhaps the biggest red flag is a late diagnosis.
If a student’s condition is diagnosed in high school or just before
If a student’s condition is diagnosed in high school or just before, that tends to raise questions. If it is less than three school years before their request for ACT accommodations, students are required to submit “full” documentation — for example, for A.D.H.D. that includes results from a professional evaluation, an overview, evidence of early and current impairment, relevant testing, and the impact of current accommodations.
In cases suggesting later diagnoses, the College Board also requires full documentation, but typically when a student has used accommodations or had a formal plan in place for only less than four months.
“It’s a big difference,” says Peggy Hock, a psychologist and learning specialist at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, Calif., adding that many students’ conditions aren’t diagnosed until they begin the demands of high school. Mrs. Michaelson, too, says that bright students, or students who move from school to school, may evade early detection. Still, she says, the ACT follows the  the established criteria that A.D.H.D. symptoms surface before age 7.
So when a diagnosis comes later, she advises families to be creative. “More is always better,” Mrs. Michaelson says. “Some people have done some very creative things. Report cards, letters from baby sitters and child care centers to show difficulty at recess when children are little. We will piece together that documentation.”
Of course, the best route is for parents to push their school to test their child as soon as they sense something is amiss.
“Unfortunately,” says James H. Wendorf, executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, “many parents adopt a wait-and-see attitude that can lead to a situation where it’s wait to fail.”

originally published in The New York Times

Looking Ahead: Student Debt and the College Admission Process

According to data compiled by the College Board for the 2008-09 academic year, the average debt for students who borrowed money for college was $19,800 at public, four-year colleges and $26,100 at private, non-profit colleges.

“I suggest to families that early in the process that parents talk to their kids about what kind of planning they’ve been doing for college finances and whether they feel comfortable that they’re going to be able to handle whatever the kid comes up with,” said Vicki O’Day, an independent counselor in Menlo (CA) who focuses on college affordability. “I worry if people haven’t done any of that kind of thinking before they launch into the whole college application process because then you get into sort of impossible scenarios.”

College affordability has been a national topic of discussion for at least 30 years. During times of both prosperity and economic downturns, prospective and enrolled college students have been able to count on rising costs. When a recessionary economy forced millions of families to reexamine their financial situations during the past several years, anxiety over college prices intensified. Through a survey conducted during the 2008-09 school year, NACAC found an increase in the number of students abandoning plans to attend a “dream school” in favor of a more affordable option. Many students became eligible for financial aid, but the recession had also affected the financial health of colleges and universities. “We have a lot more kids that are more eligible now, but we have a lot of schools that are not meeting need,” said Stephen Williams, a college counselor at Eagle Rock High School (CA). “And frankly, if [colleges] don’t meet need with us, it’s virtually impossible.”

Some students responded to the fiscal crisis with more applications. By applying to more schools than was previously necessary, students hoped to increase their odds of finding a generous financial aid offer. The wounded economy coupled with a competitive admission process appeared to require more applications. Many counseling offices, however, advise against this behavior and sometimes forbid it. Students can apply to less than 10 schools and still find affordable, best-fit schools with solid financial aid opportunities. In addition to the traditional number of target, reach and safety schools, add another school that you can safely secure admission to and afford. During your search for a financial safety, be mindful of the institutional category each school fall under. Public, private non-profit, and for-profit schools range dramatically in average tuition costs.  
In your college search, one of the most important factors to consider involves life after college. When creating a list of potential colleges, academic and social factors often carry more weight than other practical concerns, like your anticipated debt load. Before day-dreaming about studying string theory (or throwing a frisbee) on the quad, learn your financial limitations early. As Steps to College previously noted, a dedicated research effort will help you find out if a particular school is unaffordable. “The time to find that out is before they apply, not, in my opinion, when they are waiting to hear back and disappointed in the spring,” O’Day said.

The recession has been introducing more families to the nation’s financial aid system. Almost 90 percent of colleges reported an increase in financial aid applications in the NACAC survey. Fortunately, the pressence of these financial aid opportunities has had an impact on college costs for many borrowers. A new report from the College Board found that while tuition and fees increased between the 2005-06 and 2009-10 academic years, the overall price of attending a college actually decreased on average due to financial aid opportunities. 
Once you have a list of potential colleges, discuss possible scenarios that allow you to pay for each one. O’Day calls these “affordability stories.” In the affordability story, include any types of financial aid. Student aid includes “gift aid,” like scholarships and grants that do not have to be paid back, as well as work study programs and any federal aid or private loans.  Federal aid offers lower interest rates and is typically safer than private loans. Fees and high interest rates, often included in private loans, will greatly increase your risk of generating a large debt load upon graduation. Private loans are nearly impossible to discharge, even in cases of bankruptcy, and should only be used after all other options have been explored.

O’Day advises students to stay away from private lenders completely. “Don’t go outside the federal loan program,” she said. “They would absolutely love to lend you money on very little more than a signature, but don’t do it.”

To find out more about student loans, ask your college counselor about any informational programs offered by your school district. Many high schools hold evening sessions on borrowing for college that will help you and your family map your financial path to college. Stephen Williams works with his district to offer unbiased borrowing advice to his students. “We try to keep them away from anybody that’s going to sell them something,” he said. Private lenders may try to offer attractive loan products, but remember to read any contracts closely before you sign them.       

Before making assumptions about your financial aid eligibility, fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This form is the most important document to remember when filing for federal student aid. The FAFSA is available online, and recent updates have made it even easier to apply for aid. Visit the FAFSA Website for a helpful introduction to this form, and remember to use the FAFSA4caster to see a preview of your financial aid eligibility. The US financial aid system has evolved over time and is always changing, so fill out the FAFSA even if you are doubtful you will receive the federal assistance. 

Recent changes to the federal student aid system include elements of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). The bill eliminated Federal Family Education Loans, which were funded by banks and other financial institutions, and rolled all federal loans into the Direct Loan program, which lends straight from the federal government. This new structure has streamlined the federal lending process and money saved from this consolidation was used to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant.

Student debt can become a serious problem if left unchecked. Before agreeing to any loan terms, consider your potential for debt. Federal loans are always a safer alternative to private loans, but any loan requires a careful eye and an understanding of financial limitations. Financial planning for college can begin before signing a loan agreement, and even before filling out the FAFSA. Have a conversation with your family about college costs at the beginning of your college search to ease stress and frustration later in the process.
Written by Sean Nyhan
Published on October 26, 2010

Bikes For The World

Just a reminder to bring your gently used bikes out this Saturday for the Beta club's bikes for the world campaign. Help CFA and Wilmington support this wonderful cause. Check out the local press on the event (Article at WHQR)

Tobacco, our most dangerous drug...

Meet Kevin

If you're looking for the baseball team during fourth-period lunch, don't bother searching the cafeteria or the practice diamond. On most afternoons, you'll find a handful of the top players from this Virginia high school, huddled in a friend's nearby basement. They eat pizza. They play Tony Hawk video games. And always—always—they smoke cigarettes.
"Kids hanging out. Whether it's a party or lunch, there are going to be smokes," says Kevin, an 18-year-old senior and a regular attendee at the basement brunch. Kevin is a star member of the school's golf team. He was also the team's ace pitcher until he tore a ligament in his knee.
And, until recently, he smoked two packs a day.
"Kevin's story is not unusual," says Dr. Bill Corrigall, former director of NIDA's Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction Program. "Many teens and even pre-teens begin to experiment with smoking, but soon find they are smoking regularly—they're addicted."

"I Want to Quit"

"I used to be able to run a mile under six minutes. Now I'm lucky to make it in eight. And I'm wheezing all the way," says Kevin, who's cut his daily use down to 10 cigarettes. "I want to quit. But it's not that easy."
More than ever, teens find that the best way to stop smoking is to never start at all. Teen smoking rates have steadily fallen since 1996, according to a NIDA-funded study. That's the good news. The bad news, experts say, is that teen smoking numbers are still too high. Each day, more than 3,600 children and adolescents become cigarette smokers, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's more than 1 million teens a year. Roughly one third of them will die from a smoking-related illness.
"There's hard evidence that smoking leads to addiction, health problems, and death," says Dr. Eric Moolchan, former director of NIDA's Teen Tobacco Addiction Treatment Research Clinic. "Teens have a choice: They can become victims, or they can stop before they go too far. Better yet, they never have to start at all."

"I Must Have Been Crazy"

Even those who are well aware that smoking kills find cigarettes hard to resist. Sarah, an 18-year-old from Stockton, California, knows the dangers of cancer firsthand.
When she was a baby, she developed leukemia, a blood-related cancer. She underwent chemotherapy until she was 2. And, while she's been cancer-free ever since, the prospect of a relapse is never far from her mind.
Still, as a teen, Sarah went on to smoke a pack a day, putting herself at risk for cancer of the lungs, mouth, esophagus, larynx, stomach, pancreas, kidney, and bladder.
"When you're addicted to cigarettes, you can rationalize anything," says Sarah, who hasn't smoked in three months. "I'd tell myself: Well, I beat cancer once. I can do it again. Now I look back and think I must have been crazy."

"A Horrible Thing To See"

Unlike Sarah, some teens see the ravaging effects of cancer and vow never to pick up a cigarette. Ashley, a 14-year-old from Ocean City, New Jersey, watched her grandfather succumb to lung cancer.
"It's a horrible thing to see," she says. "The cancer just took over his body." He began smoking as a teenager in the Navy. Ashley understands how a teen in the 1940s might have been tricked into taking up cigarettes. But she can't see how today's teens fall for it.
"With all the information that's out there, with all the people who have died from smoking, it just puzzles me that kids keep doing it," she says. "You know that if you put that cigarette in your mouth, it might kill you. But you do it anyway. That just doesn't make sense."

Kevin's Story

On his parents:

"The big thing is: My whole family smokes. It's common for us after we eat dinner; we have a cigarette at our house. I smoke with my family. My friends are like, Oh my gosh your parents know, my parents would kill me."

On his girlfriend:

"I had one and she hated it. She used to try to get me to quit. She would take [my cigarettes] and throw them away. You are not going to quit just because someone throws them away. If you don't want to quit for yourself, you won't quit."

On fears of cancer

"Yeah, I'm worried. You think about it every day. You do worry about it. You still think about it, even at my age. It's not like, Oh it's not going to happen to me. What scares me is being sick for that long."

Sarah's Story

On having cancer as a baby:

"People tell me I can't remember, but I do. It's so scary to think about. Imagine my parents. It was horrendous! I kind of feel like I dodged a bullet."

On starting to smoke:

"I had a whole bunch of friends who smoked, and I started smoking with them. Gradually, I started smoking more and more. At my worst, I smoked about a pack a day."

On parents:

"My parents didn't like that I smoked. I told them. My dad is an ex-smoker. He hasn't smoked since I was born. They were kind of mad at first. Then, after awhile, they said, Don't smoke around me."

On expense:

"I got tired of it. It was too much money. The cheapest pack I could find was $3.40."

On regret:

"I wish I had never started, but most smokers say that."

Ashley's Story

On losing her grandfather:

"I was 5 when my grandfather died. I remember him a lot, but I would've liked to have gotten to know him better. He was my baby-sitter. He lived down the road."

On losing her neighbor:

"[Two years ago] I lost another very close neighbor [to lung cancer]. That one I was more aware of. I saw her near the end. She smoked right up to when she died. We were very close."

On getting involved:

"I started to see more of the affects of it from people around me. [So, I joined] the Student Coalition Against Tobacco (SCAT) at my high school."

On how other teens react to her activism:

"No one has ever said anything negative to me. They might have questioned me and wanted to learn more, but I never got a negative response. You get a lot of kids who want to join."
From Scholastic, Inc and the Scientists of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Real Stories: Dangers of Drug Use

By Laura D'Angelo
Adapted from Heads Up: Real News About Drugs and Your Body, Scholastic, Inc., 2003. (While the following story is real, to insure anonymity the photo is of a model and is not of the article's subject).

Daniel, 17, of San Clarita Valley, California, wanted prom night to be special. So, he reached into his tuxedo pocket and took out pills stamped with images of Tweety Bird and Buddha. Ecstasy (also called E, X, XTC, Adam, hug, love drug, and beans) looked harmless enough. But Daniel found out the hard way how dangerous it can be.
"My heart was racing so fast. I thought I was having a heart attack," Daniel said. A friend helped him into the prom because his legs wouldn't stop trembling. The dance floor was located on a Hollywood movie set. Daniel tingled from head to toe. "Then I hit a peak," he said. "I felt like a movie star."
Later at a friend's house, Daniel crashed into gloom and confusion. He swallowed two more "E" pills. Taking multiple doses within a relatively short time multiplies the toxic risks of any drug. With ecstasy, "stacking," or doubling the dose, carries especially high risk. The level of ecstasy builds and the user's body can't keep up with the amount of drug in his or her blood. That's what happened to Daniel.
"I laid down on the bed for a few minutes and couldn't lift my head," he said. "My legs were rocking back and forth."
The following weekend, Daniel dropped "E" at a party where some 200 kids danced on a dirt clearing. Before long Daniel was selling ecstasy. "I'd walk into a party and yell E and people would crowd around. I felt a sense of power." With the profits, he bought more ecstasy which he took often, always with other kids. "I did drugs so I didn't have to feel alone," he said.

When Daniel's father worked nights, friends flocked to his house. Adorned with glow-in-the-dark shirts and beads, they danced to trance music and chewed pacifiers to keep their teeth from grinding.

Lives Destroyed

Soon Daniel was taking up to five "E" pills a day. Desperate to feed his habit, he started selling cocaine and methamphetamine as well as ecstasy. "I was skinny. My skin was the color of paper. My teeth were rotting out," Daniel said. "I would steal anything I could get my hands on. I stole valuables from my dad. I didn't see anything wrong with the way I was acting."
Once, a friend's mother wanted to buy drugs from Daniel. When he delivered the bag of speed to the house, Daniel watched his friend's face crumple in sadness. "I felt really bad. I saw lives being destroyed because of what I was doing," he said.
On New Year's Eve, Daniel's girlfriend called him a "drug addict" and a "lowlife." He jumped out of her car. "Staring at the city hotels and gas stations, I thought I'm going to be living alone in the streets and that scared the daylights out of me," Daniel recalled.
The next morning, he went to his father and said, "Dad, I need help."

New Year/New Beginning

A resident of Phoenix House, a drug-treatment center in Lake View Terrace, California, Daniel has been clean for six months. He's gained weight, and he cares about himself again. But he worries about ecstasy's effects. "I feel like I've suffered brain damage," he said. "Sometimes I get stuck in conversations, because I can't find a word." Other times he walks the unit and stops in horror, forgetting where he's going.
Daniel is trying to understand his past and piece his life back together. "I got into drugs because I felt like no one liked me. Then nobody wanted to be around me because of the drugs, and I ended up completely alone," he said. "I feel like a new person now."

On how he felt when he was on ecstasy:

"I didn't care about anyone or anything. I just cared about doing my own thing, selling and partying. I'd take out anyone who got in my way."
"Ecstasy is a roller coaster. It brings you up so high that you feel like you're on top of the world. When you come down you feel like a complete outsider, like you don't belong anywhere."

On how he saw ecstasy affect others:

"I'd see people get real bad with E. They'd sell the shirt off their backs. This guy once offered me his dirt bike for 40 pills. People tried to give me watches and stuff that I knew they stole from their families. Another guy wanted to give me a bunch of women's jewelry and a 40-speed bike for a couple pills of E."

On what he'd tell other kids:

"I'd like to join an N.A. (Narcotics Anonymous) panel and talk to kids who are using. I'd tell them, Get out while you can. It starts out as all fun, games and parties but it leads to real nasty things. You become your own worst enemy."

I gossip good for us?

“IF you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me,” Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a self-proclaimed “hedonist,” used to say. But it seems the greater pleasure comes from more temperate gossip.
New research finds that gossiping can be good for you — as long as you have something nice to say.
In a presentation in September, Jennifer Cole, a social psychologist, and Hannah Scrivener reported results from two related studies, both of which demonstrate that it’s in one’s self-interest to say “So-and-so’s second husband is adorable” rather than “She married that lout?”
In the first study, intended to measure a person’s short-term emotional reaction to gossiping, 140 men and women, primarily undergraduates, were asked to talk about a fictional person either positively or negatively.
The second study, which looked into the long-term effects of gossiping on well-being, had 160 participants, mostly female undergrads, fill out questionnaires about their tendency to gossip, their self-esteem and their perceived social support.
According to Dr. Cole, after speaking kindly of others, positive emotions were raised 3 percent, negative emotions were reduced 6 percent, and self-esteem rose 5 percent. These are not huge numbers, as Dr. Cole is the first to admit. But it’s nonetheless one of the few times researchers have attributed anything beneficial to the silly art of gossip.
And there was one decidedly positive result: whether kind or cruel, gossip was associated with a greater sense of social support for the perpetuator.
But does tittle-tattle really help attract more friends? “It could be that people who gossip a lot think they have social support, but they don’t actually,” Dr. Cole said, noting that previous research shows people tend to dislike and mistrust gossips.
“We’re all gossipers,” said Judith Martin, a k a Miss Manners. “We bond that way, and people who talk about other people are interesting.” But, she added, “People who spread malicious gossip are despicable.” Miss Manners would appreciate then, that the consequences of bad-mouthing others were pronounced — not just on the targets, something established by plenty of earlier research — but on the gossipers themselves.
After criticizing other people, gossipers’ positive emotions were reduced by 16 percent and negative emotions increased 34 percent. It may be a function of empathy; we feel badly for the objects of our derision. Or it could be selfishness; we realize people won’t like us for nattering on meanly about others.
But what of Mrs. Longworth, the celebrated Washington socialite?
“She was a law unto herself,” said Ms. Martin, who knew Mrs. Longworth during her later years. “A lot of people did sit next to her!”

“Is Gossip Good for You? Links Between Gossiping Behavior and Subjective Well-Being” — Jennifer Cole and Hannah Scrivener, presented Sept. 7 at a British Psychological Society conference.