HOBY- Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership

HOBY is a national youth leadership development organization.

Yearly 9,000 high school sophomores are chosen to participate in HOBY Leadership Seminars.

Students who become HOBY ambassadors have a network of innovative thinkers, over 4,000 volunteers, organizations, institutions and corporations that can benefit them in their future endeavors.  

To learn more about HOBY leadership seminars please visit www.hoby.org or visit with Ms. Hendrickson.

J.F.K. Essay Contest

Topic: 

Write an original and creative essay of 1,000 words or less that demonstrates an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage. First place receives $5,000, second place receives $1,000, and five finalists receive $500 each.  For more information visit www.jfklibrary.org

Eligibility:

• U.S. high school students grades 9-12.
• Past winners and finalists are not eligible to participate.

All students must register online.  Essays submitted via regular mail must be postmark date of January 5, 2013.

Prudential Georgia Realty Scholarship

HOW HAS THE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOME OWNERSHIP INFLUENCED YOU?

Helping families achieve the American Dream of home ownership has been a core philosophy of Prudential Georgia Realty. Home ownership has been linked to better-educated children, stronger communities, job creation, and many other benefits.

Prudential Georgia wants to hear from the next generation of homeowners about their experience of growing up in a home they could call their own, their dream of one day owning a home, or their volunteer experience in the community. To help encourage young people to think critically about this particular facet of the American Dream, Prudential Georgia Realty will be awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a high school student who best personifies this dream.

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Describe your experience of volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or any other charitable organization that supports home ownership.
2. Today, fewer families are living in their homes for extended periods of time. How has moving to a home in a different neighborhood, city, or state changed and/or influenced your values?
3. Do you feel that the American Dream of home ownership is still valued? Why or why not?

CONTEST RULES

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

The contest: Beginning 9/1/2012 PRUDENTIAL GEORGIA REALTY will promote, by means of Internet and print, the opportunity to submit entries to win a scholarship valued at $1000.00.

To Qualify:  The contest is open to U.S. residents. No purchase necessary. All participants must be enrolled as full-time high school juniors or seniors. Entries are limited to one submission per person. Immediate family members of PRUDENTIAL GEORGIA REALTY employees are excluded from this contest. All essay submissions must be received by 11:59pm EST on 11/30/2012.

How to enter: To apply, students must submit an essay based on one (1) of the three (3) essay questions about their personal experience with homeownership.

• The essay should be between 500-1000 words.
• Send a Word doc attachment to scholarship@prudentialgeorgia.com with your essay submission
• The file name should be your full name, state, and date of birth.  For example, Chipper-Jones-GA-4-24-1972
• All submission emails must contain the student’s full name, date of birth, email address, postal address, high school they are currently enrolled in, and a phone number to contact.

How to win: PRUDENTIAL GEORGIA REALTY will select the winner based on the best essay as determined by our internal panel of judges. Selection criteria will include, but is not limited to:

• Compelling and engaging essay that describes the impact of home ownership on the personal life of the student.
• Thematic consistency throughout the submission around the central thesis.
• Proper spelling and grammar usage throughout the submission.

PRUDENTIAL GEORGIA REALTY will select the winner during the month of December 2012 and will announce the winner via our website (http://www.prudentialgeorgia.com) pending notification of the student and his or her family.

P.L.A.Y Scholarship

The contest: Beginning 09/10/2012 P.L.A.Y. will promote, by means of internet and print, the opportunity to submit entries to win a scholarship valued at $1000.00.

To Qualify:  The contest is open to U.S. residents. No purchase necessary. All participants must beenrolled as full-time high school juniors or seniors. Entries are limited to one submission per person. Immediate family members of P.L.A.Y. employees are excluded from this contest. All essay submissions must be received by 11:59pm EST on Friday, November 30, 2012.

How to enter: To apply, students will submit an essay with 2-3 photos of their volunteer efforts to help animals in need and how that involvement has changed their lives or shaped their perceptions on the importance of animal welfare.

• The essay should be between 500-1000 words.
• Send a Word doc attachment to scholarship@petplay.com with your essay submission
• The file name should be your full name, state, and date of birth.  For example, Chipper-Jones-GA-4-24-1972
• All submission emails must contain the student’s full name, date of birth, email address, postal address, high school they are currently enrolled in, and a phone number to contact.

How to win: P.L.A.Y. will select the winner based on the best essay as determined by our internal panel of judges. Selection criteria will include, but is not limited to:

• Compelling and engaging description of volunteer efforts and their impact on the personal life of the student.
• Thematic consistency throughout the submission around the central thesis.
• Proper spelling and grammar usage throughout the submission.

P.L.A.Y. will select the winner during the month of December and will announce the winner on the website pending notification of the student and his or her family.

		YoungArts' Award Application: Deadline October 19
		Do you know talented students grades 10-12 who are passionate about: • Cinematic arts • Theater • Dance • Visual Arts • Jazz • Voice • Music • Writing • Photography Encourage your students to apply for a YoungArts Award. Visit  www.youngarts.org/apply. The YoungArts Awards program: • Has 600 winners each year • Awards $500,000 each year • Provides individual awards of up to $10,000 each • Gives national recognition of artistic excellence to students, teachers and schools • Is an exclusive opportunity to be nominated as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts • Provides winners with an all-expenses paid weeklong learning and performance/exhibition intensive in Miami, FL, working with world-renowned artists • Has 16,000 alumni Questions? Want More Information? YoungArts staff members are available to answer questions by phone at 800-970-ARTS(2787) or via email at  apply@youngarts.org.
		777 Brickell Avenue, Suite 370 Miami, FL 33131

Connecting With Your Child's School Counselor

Just wanted to send out something I ran across today. Had I found it a week earlier I would have put it in the newsletter...but this works too :) The following link will take you to an article about what your I, your school counselor, can do for you and your student(s). I hope you will take a minute to take a look at it. Please let me know if you have any concerns thus far this year. Hope all is off to a great start!!!!

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/files/BackToSchoolTips.pdf

Rated G? PG? M? MA? What's the Big Deal Anyway???

Something every parent should consider....I hope you will take a few minutes to read this and to consider the implications of what your child watches and plays via TV & video games!

ThinkUKnow e-Newsletter - Volume 3 Issue 8

This month’s ThinkUKnow newsletter is classified PG – parental guidance is recommended for young readers. It will focus on the importance of classifications in guiding what content is appropriate for children and young people.  Three events prompted the theme of this month’s newsletter: the first was my recent viewing of Snow White and the Huntsman (M). I was shocked to see that half of the audience was under 12 and the cinema staff was happily providing booster seats for them. The second was a newspaper article claiming that parents had been tricked into seeing Ted (MA), mistakenly believing it was a family movie. Finally, the horrific incident in the USA where a gunman shot moviegoers at the premiere of the Dark Knight Rises (MS); one of the victims was a 6 year old girl. These events had me questioning why so many parents allow their children to see movies and other material which experts advise are inappropriate for their age group? Why are classifications important? In Australia, the Classification Board is responsible for assigning classifications to material as specified under the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. Broadly, these classifications include G, PG, M and MA15+ for films and computer games, with R18+ and X18+ also applicable to films. G, PG and M are advisory categories and serve as recommendations, whereas MA15+, R18+ and X18+ are legally enforceable. The classification decisions are based on the guiding principles of protecting minors from viewingcontent that may harm or disturb them and that everyone should be protected from unsolicited material which they may find offensive. Classifications are an important first step in deciding what movies your child sees or what games they play, but they are not the only step. Classifications should prompt further inquiry into the content of the film or game and don’t be tricked into thinking games’ classifications are any less important than films! Search online for reviews of the content (see www.commonsensemedia.org) and think about how appropriate it may be for your child. At the end of the day it’s your decision to allow your child to see G, PG or M content. How can I monitor what can be accessed online? It’s easy to monitor what films your child sees when it’s you driving them to and from the cinema but this can get a bit trickier when they are accessing content online. Here are some steps you can take to minimise any exposure to inappropriate content online: Talk about the issues Discuss with your child what steps they should take if they ever see something which upsets them or makes them feel uncomfortable. This might be minimising the window and looking for a parent, or walking away from the gaming console or phone. Let your child know that they won’t be in trouble for coming across the content and that letting a parent know what they’ve seen is better than trying to deal with it on their own. Some young people may deliberately seek inappropriate content online because they are curious and feel embarrassed asking a parent for information. It may be beneficial for you to talk about the difficult issues such as sex and self-harm, otherwise your child may find the wrong information online instead of the truth.

Time2Talk This section provides some useful conversation starters for talking with young people about their use of technology. Do you think classifications are important? Why do you think films and games are classified? Would you see scarier things in an MA-rated movie or on the internet? How do you think content should be classified? Develop rules It’s important to have rules around what type and when media can be consumed online or on a mobile device. If you don’t allow your child to see an M-rated film at the cinema, then M-rated games, shows and films shouldn’t be allowed at home. You can set up parental controls on your gaming consoles to restrict certain classifications of games being played. You can find out more information on how to do this here. Link to Monitoring apps on mobile devices can be a little bit trickier as they use self-generated classifications. It’s a good idea to talk to your child about what apps they are able to download and what apps they require your permission for. Find out more about app safety here. You may also wish to enable parental controls on computers which restrict adult content as well. These may be available as part of your operating system or form part of a content filter program. Learn more Finally, if you are unsure of what websites your child frequents, ask them! Take an active interest in their online activities so you have a better idea what type of content they may come across. If you’re unsure if the games, apps and websites your child is using are appropriate for them, check them out and do some more research. You may even find that you too enjoy the same activity as your child!