This November, HiTOPS will again present workshops at the New Jersey Education Association’s (NJEA) conference taking place in Atlantic City. Every year, hundreds of public school teachers from all over New Jersey attend. This year’s conference focuses on increasing the educator’s knowledge in the area of global awareness and global community.
For this year’s conference, HiTOPS will promote its message of adolescent health and well-being by educating educators on issues teens face inside and outside of the classroom.
Health educators Connie Poor, RN, and Corrine O’Hara, RN will present on “The Cyberbully: Meanness Goes Toxic” and “LGBTQ Issues: Too Tough for Middle School?”
For more information about these workshops, please call 609-683-5155 ext. 218 or email elizabeth@hitops.org. We are delighted that HiTOPS staff has regularly given presentations to teachers at the conference and look forward to a continued relationship with the NJEA.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
HiTOPS Co-sponsors 6th Annual New Jersey Gay Straight Alliance Forum
This year’s Gay Straight Alliance Forum was held at Princeton Day School where more than 280 high school and middle school students from across the state, as well as teachers, and professionals gathered for a day devoted to creating safe, inclusive and supportive school environments for all. Participants took advantage of networking opportunities, a wealth of workshops, special guests, and, local, state and national resources. Workshops included topics such as: “Religion and LGBT Concerns,” “Creating, Building and Maintaining Alliances,” "Let's Talk About Race," "Legal Rights," and the HiTOPS Teen Council performed “Bridges of Respect," a homophobia reduction workshop.
Eliza Byard, Director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), gave an inspirational speech over lunch about GLSEN’s history and her recent trip to the White House where she got to meet President Obama. Pandora Scooter also performed a dynamic spoken word piece on being inclusive which energized the room and celebrated the LGBTQ community. Rush Holt, representative of the 12th District of New Jersey, was unable to attend the forum, but sent a video stating his broad support of LGBTQ issues and how impressed he was with the planning behind the forum.
Corrine O’Hara, HiTOPS educator and LGBTQ Program Coordinator, said: “The forum allows LGBTQ youth, professionals and their allies to come together to learn, and share ways to make our schools and communities safe for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As an organization that promotes health and well-being for youth, the forum is a great partnership for HiTOPS and GLSEN to support and nurture adolescents.”
Eliza Byard, Director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), gave an inspirational speech over lunch about GLSEN’s history and her recent trip to the White House where she got to meet President Obama. Pandora Scooter also performed a dynamic spoken word piece on being inclusive which energized the room and celebrated the LGBTQ community. Rush Holt, representative of the 12th District of New Jersey, was unable to attend the forum, but sent a video stating his broad support of LGBTQ issues and how impressed he was with the planning behind the forum.
Corrine O’Hara, HiTOPS educator and LGBTQ Program Coordinator, said: “The forum allows LGBTQ youth, professionals and their allies to come together to learn, and share ways to make our schools and communities safe for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As an organization that promotes health and well-being for youth, the forum is a great partnership for HiTOPS and GLSEN to support and nurture adolescents.”
HiTOPS Responds to the Need to Immunize Local Residents
As many of you are aware, there is a vaccine available for the H1N1 flu, the so-called “swine flu” virus. As a community-based organization that serves youth and families, HiTOPS is stepping up to support the Health Department’s efforts to administer the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.
HiTOPS has a strong relationship with local health departments and contracts annually to provide a variety of testing and risk-reduction education to adolescent residents in Princeton, Hopewell and Montgomery. Since one of the priority populations to receive the vaccine is youth, HiTOPS professional nurses will staff the public immunization sites and we will also begin offering free H1N1 immunizations at 21 Wiggins Street (first come, first served) beginning on November 2 from 1-5pm in our J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Center for Adolescent Health. Vaccinations depend on availability and are for youth between the ages of 13 and 24, with parental consent for those under 18.
The Princeton Department of Health will staff a hotline to answer questions about the flu vaccine and they will also publicize hours and locations for receiving the vaccine. Vaccination is voluntary. Please visit http://www.princetontwp.org/ or http://www.princetonboro.org/ for more information.
HiTOPS has a strong relationship with local health departments and contracts annually to provide a variety of testing and risk-reduction education to adolescent residents in Princeton, Hopewell and Montgomery. Since one of the priority populations to receive the vaccine is youth, HiTOPS professional nurses will staff the public immunization sites and we will also begin offering free H1N1 immunizations at 21 Wiggins Street (first come, first served) beginning on November 2 from 1-5pm in our J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Center for Adolescent Health. Vaccinations depend on availability and are for youth between the ages of 13 and 24, with parental consent for those under 18.
The Princeton Department of Health will staff a hotline to answer questions about the flu vaccine and they will also publicize hours and locations for receiving the vaccine. Vaccination is voluntary. Please visit http://www.princetontwp.org/ or http://www.princetonboro.org/ for more information.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
8 Traits of Teens Who Abstain From Sex
Article written by Dr. Bernadine Healy for Houston News. Piece taken from: http://www.39online.com/news/local/sns-health-teens-abstain-sex,0,449910.story
Teens need to be thoroughly educated about sex: why and how to avoid it when it's of no benefit to their physical or emotional well-being (virtually always) and how to maximally protect themselves if they do get sexually involved (all too often).
At a public-health level, there is no such thing as virginity -- if only because it doesn't serve close to half of all teens, who are already sexually active. Actually, it's a wonder it's not more. We live in an anything-goes society in which Sex and the City has become a cultural icon, half of 18-year-olds using social network sites like MySpace clutter them with the joy of risky behaviors that include sex and drug abuse, and grown-ups seem to be more worried about what the kids are divulging than what they are doing.
Encouraging abstinence -- maintained or regained -- should be the goal of all teens. In fact, by the measure of recent sexual behavior, rather than virginity, close to 70 percent of high school students are abstinent. And many teens who are not currently abstinent are succumbing to peer pressure, real or virtual. (A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that a third of sexually active teens were not so sure about it, and roughly a quarter said they were doing "something sexual they didn't really want to do.")
High school abstinence is associated with better physical and mental health across socioeconomic groups, no matter how much you torture the statistics. Teens themselves will tell you that they have stayed away from sexual intercourse because of their own fear of pregnancy (which new data suggest is on the rise, with teen births up in 26 states) and sexually transmitted diseases, not because they're weird or antisex. And there is plenty of evidence that being able to make an abstinence decision is linked to less depression and suicidal thinking.Kids who can make abstinence decisions do better in school, too, even when the comparison group was matched for social background and the desire to pursue education. Abstinent teens are far more likely to attend and graduate from college than those who are sexually active, based on an analysis of the NIH-supported National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health by Robert Rector and Kirk Johnson, researchers at the Heritage Foundation. Seems obvious: less distraction and more time to study.
But maybe it's more. The researchers identified eight personality and behavioral traits that were associated with both abstinence and academic achievement--traits that to some extent may be inborn but can also be taught and reinforced regularly at home and at school:
- Future orientation, with a focus on long-term goals
- Willingness to postpone current pleasures for larger future rewards
- Perseverance, as in the ability to stick to a task or commitment
- A belief that current behavior can positively affect the future
- Impulse control, including ability to control emotions and desires
- Resistance to peer influence
- Respect for parental and social values
- Sense of self-worth and personal dignity
The right kind of sex education of our young is really about more than sex. It's about raising the kind of people we all want to be.
Teens need to be thoroughly educated about sex: why and how to avoid it when it's of no benefit to their physical or emotional well-being (virtually always) and how to maximally protect themselves if they do get sexually involved (all too often).
At a public-health level, there is no such thing as virginity -- if only because it doesn't serve close to half of all teens, who are already sexually active. Actually, it's a wonder it's not more. We live in an anything-goes society in which Sex and the City has become a cultural icon, half of 18-year-olds using social network sites like MySpace clutter them with the joy of risky behaviors that include sex and drug abuse, and grown-ups seem to be more worried about what the kids are divulging than what they are doing.
Encouraging abstinence -- maintained or regained -- should be the goal of all teens. In fact, by the measure of recent sexual behavior, rather than virginity, close to 70 percent of high school students are abstinent. And many teens who are not currently abstinent are succumbing to peer pressure, real or virtual. (A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that a third of sexually active teens were not so sure about it, and roughly a quarter said they were doing "something sexual they didn't really want to do.")
High school abstinence is associated with better physical and mental health across socioeconomic groups, no matter how much you torture the statistics. Teens themselves will tell you that they have stayed away from sexual intercourse because of their own fear of pregnancy (which new data suggest is on the rise, with teen births up in 26 states) and sexually transmitted diseases, not because they're weird or antisex. And there is plenty of evidence that being able to make an abstinence decision is linked to less depression and suicidal thinking.Kids who can make abstinence decisions do better in school, too, even when the comparison group was matched for social background and the desire to pursue education. Abstinent teens are far more likely to attend and graduate from college than those who are sexually active, based on an analysis of the NIH-supported National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health by Robert Rector and Kirk Johnson, researchers at the Heritage Foundation. Seems obvious: less distraction and more time to study.
But maybe it's more. The researchers identified eight personality and behavioral traits that were associated with both abstinence and academic achievement--traits that to some extent may be inborn but can also be taught and reinforced regularly at home and at school:
- Future orientation, with a focus on long-term goals
- Willingness to postpone current pleasures for larger future rewards
- Perseverance, as in the ability to stick to a task or commitment
- A belief that current behavior can positively affect the future
- Impulse control, including ability to control emotions and desires
- Resistance to peer influence
- Respect for parental and social values
- Sense of self-worth and personal dignity
The right kind of sex education of our young is really about more than sex. It's about raising the kind of people we all want to be.
HiTOPS Open House
Stop by HiTOPS on October 28th between 8-9am or 5:30-7pm. Learn about the programs and services we offer, meet staff and much more. Look foward to seeing you there!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
HiTOPS and Horrorfest
During the month of October, HiTOPS has a chance to win a $7,500 cash prize courtesy of Shady Brook Farm & 94.5 WPST.
Use the promotional code "HiTOPS" to purchase Horrorfest tickets. HiTOPS will receive 20% of the total you spend. For event dates, times and details, visit www.shadybrookfarm.com/hrrfst.
It's so easy...it's scary.
Monday, September 28, 2009
HiTOPS in the News
All in a Day's Work. Town Topics, May 12, 2010
HiTOPS Executive Director, discussing teens and Facebook.
My9 news, May 10, 2010
http://www.my9tv.com/dpp/my9_news/take_it_on/Take-It-On-Should-Facebook-Be-Banned-For-Middle-Schoolers%3FEconomic stresses affect teens, too. The Princeton Packet, December 29, 2009
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/12/30/njhealth/news/doc4b3b88b96bb25782664352.txt
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/12/30/njhealth/news/doc4b3b88b96bb25782664352.txt
HiTOPS thanks Health Department for flu vaccine distribution efforts.
Town Topics, December 9, 2009 http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/12/30/njhealth/news/doc4b3b88b96bb25782664352.txt
HiTOPS Executive Director, Elizabeth M. Casparian, on LX New York. November 31, 2009 http://ow.ly/HWxe
Devoted to total adolescent wellness, HiTOPS is "Poised to grow and poised to serve more" Town Topics, November 4, 2009
http://www.towntopics.com/nov0409/other1.php
Health Center sees recession and its effects. Trenton Times, May 4, 2009
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1241409954183730.xml&coll=5
HiTOPS renames Health Center to honor $500,000 Legacy Gift.
HiTOPS Executive Director, Elizabeth M. Casparian, on LX New York. November 31, 2009 http://ow.ly/HWxe
Devoted to total adolescent wellness, HiTOPS is "Poised to grow and poised to serve more" Town Topics, November 4, 2009
http://www.towntopics.com/nov0409/other1.php
Health Center sees recession and its effects. Trenton Times, May 4, 2009
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1241409954183730.xml&coll=5
HiTOPS renames Health Center to honor $500,000 Legacy Gift.
Town Topics, April 15, 2009
http://www.towntopics.com/apr1509/story3.php
HiTOPs listed as partner on Teen Sense in Center for HIV Law & Policy Paper.
HiTOPs listed as partner on Teen Sense in Center for HIV Law & Policy Paper.
Winter 2008/2009 http://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/briefingpaper/winter0809/CHLP_BriefingPaper_v3.pdf
To make a donation to HiTOPS, visit www.hitops.org/abouthitops/donatenow.shtml or call 609-683-5155 ext. 241.
To make a donation to HiTOPS, visit www.hitops.org/abouthitops/donatenow.shtml or call 609-683-5155 ext. 241.
HiTOPS is not a shoe store and other common myths.
When asked, "What is HiTOPS?" it is always tempting to say that we are a sneaker outlet. But an organization that deals with adolescents, health, and sexuality does not need any help creating misunderstanding. Misinformation abounds. Here are some common myths about HiTOPS...and the facts.
Myth #1: HiTOPS is great for those kids.
HiTOPS staff often receives praise from parents who are so glad that we are here for kids who need our services and have little parental support. "Those" kids happen to be all of our kids. Teens who benefit from our programs and services are not "good" kids or "bad" kids. They are just kids. HiTOPS is a safe and confidential resource for all young people, ages 13 to 26, their families and the greater community.
Myth #2: HiTOPS encourages kids to become sexually active.
Studies show that youth who learn the facts about sex are more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity than those who do not. Our educational programs help young people sort out the risks and consequences of sexual behavior and make decisions that fit their values and protect their health. Sexual activity is not a criterion for making an appointment. Teens also use the Health Center for sports or camp physicals, for basic health concerns, to quit smoking or to get a referral to another professional.
Myth #3: HiTOPS is free.
HiTOPS is a not-for-profit organization. We cover our expenses by charging for our programs and for visits to our Health Center, and by raising funds through grants and individual donations.
Our prices are on a sliding scale based on age and while we don't turn anyone away because of inability to pay, we teach young people to be advocates for their own health by making and keeping their appointments and eventually paying off their balance for our services. If a client wants to submit a bill to their own parents' insurance company, HiTOPS can prepare a comprehensive bill for services.
Myth #4: HiTOPS comes between kids and their parents.
We believe that parents can and should be their child's primary sexuality educator. Our parent classes cover a host of topics including talking to your kids about sex, sharing your values, raising kids' self-esteem and handling bullying, as well as body image, eating disorders and nutrition. Following the "Minors' Rights to Confidential Reproductive Health Care in NJ" guidelines, our clinical services are strictly confidential. However, our staff encourages the youth who use our services to talk with their parents about important decisions that affect their health and well-being.
HiTOPS envisions a world in which youth have the resources they need to live happy, healthy lives.
Myth #1: HiTOPS is great for those kids.
HiTOPS staff often receives praise from parents who are so glad that we are here for kids who need our services and have little parental support. "Those" kids happen to be all of our kids. Teens who benefit from our programs and services are not "good" kids or "bad" kids. They are just kids. HiTOPS is a safe and confidential resource for all young people, ages 13 to 26, their families and the greater community.
Myth #2: HiTOPS encourages kids to become sexually active.
Studies show that youth who learn the facts about sex are more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity than those who do not. Our educational programs help young people sort out the risks and consequences of sexual behavior and make decisions that fit their values and protect their health. Sexual activity is not a criterion for making an appointment. Teens also use the Health Center for sports or camp physicals, for basic health concerns, to quit smoking or to get a referral to another professional.
Myth #3: HiTOPS is free.
HiTOPS is a not-for-profit organization. We cover our expenses by charging for our programs and for visits to our Health Center, and by raising funds through grants and individual donations.
Our prices are on a sliding scale based on age and while we don't turn anyone away because of inability to pay, we teach young people to be advocates for their own health by making and keeping their appointments and eventually paying off their balance for our services. If a client wants to submit a bill to their own parents' insurance company, HiTOPS can prepare a comprehensive bill for services.
Myth #4: HiTOPS comes between kids and their parents.
We believe that parents can and should be their child's primary sexuality educator. Our parent classes cover a host of topics including talking to your kids about sex, sharing your values, raising kids' self-esteem and handling bullying, as well as body image, eating disorders and nutrition. Following the "Minors' Rights to Confidential Reproductive Health Care in NJ" guidelines, our clinical services are strictly confidential. However, our staff encourages the youth who use our services to talk with their parents about important decisions that affect their health and well-being.
HiTOPS envisions a world in which youth have the resources they need to live happy, healthy lives.
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