The 20 finalists for the 2010 Act Out Loud competition have been announced, and once again SADD chapters are a big presence!

 

The finalists have all created Facebook fan pages to showcase the progress of their traffic safety projects, and they want YOU to become a fan!  The links below lead to the fan pages of these SADD chapters - please click through and become a fan of each so that you can follow their progress!

Additionally, King Phillip Regional High School SADD in Wrentham, Massachusetts, is a partner with the Be Smart Wellness Coalition team.

 

The teams will complete their distracted driving projects over the next month.  Then, from May 10-21, you can vote online - once a day - for your favorite team.  The team that receives the most votes wins $10,000!  Last year's champion was Anoka High School SADD from Anoka, Minnesota, and Coral Springs Charter High School SADD from Coral Springs, Florida, finished third.  We're pulling for another SADD chapter to win this year!

 

Act Out Loud is part of NOYS' National Youth Traffic Safety Month (NYTSM), which is held each May.  All SADD chapters are asked to complete a traffic safety activity this month.  If you do, you have a chance at cash prizes!

 

Here's how it works: NOYS awards prizes of $1,000 each to the 50 best NYTSM projects.  All you have to do is fill out a simple form to enter your project for a chance at a prize.  You have until the end of May to submit your project, but you might want to do it sooner - as soon as TODAY.  That's because the first 100 groups to submit a project will receive an automatic $200 to carry it out - that's free money, folks! 

 

We'd love for lots and lots of SADD chapters to submit projects - because we think you'll have a good chance at some cash, but also because the national organization whose chapters submit the most Act Out Loud and NYTSM projects will receive $10,000 to support its national conference, and we'd love to get that prize in these tough economic times.  So just for entering a contest today, you'll receive $200 plus a chance at $1,000 plus help SADD National receive $10,000 - what are you waiting for?  

 

You've probably read about SADD chapters winning big cash prizes here in The SADDvocate and wondered, "What's their secret?"  Well, here it is: THEY ENTERED THE CONTEST!  Take ten minutes to fill out the form, and make sure you put "SADD" in the "National Youth Organization Affiliation" section! 

 

NOYS also has a program called "YOUTH-Turn" that shares the stories of communities that have experienced a tragedy and turned it into positive action, educating teens to prevent the tragedy from happening again.  Did your SADD chapter do something similar - respond to a tragedy with a project?  Enter the NOYS YOUTH-Turn contest for a chance to win $2,500!  Fill out the entry form here.

Remember that April 23-25 is Global Youth Service Day (GYSD)!  SADD is proud to serve as a National Partner of Youth Service America on this effort.

 

Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world and is celebrated in more than 100 countries.  On GYSD, youth address the world's most critical issues in partnership with families, schools, businesses, governments, and community, faith-based, and nonprofit organizations like SADD.

 

We encourage all SADD chapters to participate in GYSD - and register your project so it can be tallied!  To get planning materials and information on existing service projects in your area, and to register your chapter's project, visit GYSD.org. 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Ad Council have partnered on a new teen suicide prevention campaign. With a theme of "We Can Help Us," the campaign tells teens going through tough times that they're not alone and encourages them to visit reachout.com to hear from teens who've been there themselves and made it through. The website contains tips and coping strategies to deal with the struggles teens can face today. SADD is proud to support this campaign.

The Ad Council has also been working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on an Internet/texting safety campaign called "Think Before You Post." They've released a compelling new video on YouTube that addresses the growing issue of "sexting" - sending explicit photos via a cell phone. Click here to watch the video, and visit cybertipline.com for more resources.

 

Taylor Hooton was a high school athlete who was told by his baseball coach he "needed to get bigger."  He began using steroids to bulk up but suffered the common side effect of depression and took his own life.  In his memory, his family started the Taylor Hooton Foundation to educate teens about the risks of steroid use.

 

Did you know that illegal steroid use is a serious problem among teens?   As many as 6% of teens have experimented with steroids or other appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs (APEDs), and the fastest-growing user group is ninth-grade girls.  The foundation offers "Hoot's Chalk Talk" - a multimedia, research-based presentation for schools.  To learn more about scheduling a Chalk Talk, click here.

 

Natural High is a popular DVD series that is mailed to schools each year, and often shown in assemblies or classes.  The series profiles celebrity athletes and entertainers and what they do to achieve a "natural high" rather than rely on drugs.  Now the creators of this program have introduced a new website where you can watch compelling video anytime.  Called the Natural High Online Film Series, the first film features pro surfer Dillon Perillo.  Just for giving your opinion on the film, you'll have a chance to win special prize packs.  Visit naturalhigh.tv to check out the video.

 

SAMHSA has created new ads and a new website as part of their efforts to reduce underage drinking.  With a theme of "Talk Early, Talk Often, Get Others Involved," the new website features valuable tools and tips for parents.  Click here to check it out.

 

Remember that May 5 is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  The centerpiece of the day is encouraging teens to visit stayteen.org, the National Campaign's teen-focused site.  Your SADD chapter can call attention to this day and have a time for students to take the quiz.  For more information, click here.

 
Last year's SADD National Activity of the Year was Aevidum (pronounced ah-VEE-dum), a suicide awareness project of Cocalico High School SADD in Denver, Pennsylvania. Now Cocalico seeks to take Aevidum to a wider audience, and is competing for a $50,000 grant from Pepsi - and they need your help! Go to refresheverything.com/aevidum, and create an account to vote. Keep voting every day in April, and Aevidum might just have a chance at $50,000!

Join us for the 2010 SADD National Conference, Under the Sea: Changing the Tide, in sunny Orlando, Florida, June 27-30.  Designed and planned by youth and adults committed to SADD, this event promises to be full of amazing opportunities, valuable information, and time to connect with other SADD students and advisors from across the country.

 

Speakers include Bill Cordes and Nigel Wrangham, with a special presentation of "A Moment's Pause," a powerful new play performed by a dynamic youth theater group from Pennsylvania.  And you won't want to miss out on amazing workshops focused on youth development, traffic safety, leadership, underage drinking prevention, and much more.  All that AND you'll get to visit Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park and Downtown Disney and enjoy a spectacular resort setting.  Additionally, for the first time, adults attending conference this year will be eligible for Professional Development Points!

 

There is still time to book your spot at the 2010 SADD National Conference!  The registration deadline has been extended until May 14.  Visit sadd.org for all the latest details and to register.

In the Spotlight this month are the SADD chapters of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

While a number of states have statewide SADD conferences, there are many places where SADD chapters come together on a regional basis. This can be within a city, across a county, or around a larger region. These conferences, usually organized by a nonprofit or government agency, are an excellent way for SADD chapters to network with others in the area, receive training, and feel connected to a larger organization.

In Lehigh Valley, the Lehigh Valley Health Network hosts an annual conference for local SADD chapters, which are supported by Katie Mello, a staffer at the Valley Youth House, a nonprofit organization that offers youth prevention education, among other programs.

This year, the SADD chapters involved in the conference prepared videos on the subject of distracted and other dangerous driving (you can view the videos here). The conference had an "American Idol" theme, as the judges - including a local TV anchor - critiqued the videos as they were presented. The SADD chapters also talked about how they used social media to get their message out, exchanging ideas for how to do this most effectively. Then it was time to vote - the audience voted for their favorite videos using a handheld device they each were given.

 

Catasauqua High School SADD took home first prize and are pictured above with their trophy (and their advisor, Jean Susko).  Lehigh Valley Health Network Trauma Prevention Coordinator Bill McQuilken reports that the conference was a huge success, with creative videos, significant media attention, and a wonderful exchange of ideas.

Congratulations to all these Lehigh Valley SADD chapters for addressing the issue of distracted driving in a compelling and creative way! If there is not a regional SADD conference in your area, why not reach out to local hospitals, prevention agencies, or others to see if this is a possibility?

If you'd like to see YOUR chapter featured in the Spotlight, be sure to let us know what you're doing! Send news and pictures to Chris Egan, SADD's Director of Field Services, at cegan@sadd.org or the mailing address at the bottom of this newsletter.

 

 

Get the popular SADD Chapter Manual now.  It's your complete guide to chapter success and is now on sale for the reduced price of $50.00, plus shipping.  Chapter officers and advisors find this a great resource, filled with tools that can easily be put into action today or in planning for the new school year in the fall.

 

Inside you'll find exciting chapter activities, prevention information and resources, useful tips for working with media and legislators, and detailed facts and statistics about important issues. 

This offer is good only until our manual supply runs out!  To order, visit saddstore.org or call 1-800-394-0090.