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From the Executive Director
Hello Everyone,
With summer in full swing, we at the Safe Community Coalition (SCC) are enjoying the different pace that comes with this season. Whether taking advantage of long weekends or extended vacations away, we hope you take time to reconnect with family, friends and neighbors.
Thanks to so many of you who volunteered your time and donated funds in support of our programs for youth and families. We ended our busy 2010-2011 season with wonderful opportunities to interact, inform and involve our community. We look forward to seeing you this fall and working with you during the 2011-2012 school year.
Sincerely,
Nyka Feldman
Great Falls Festival
The SCC joined over 30 local businesses and civic organizations at the 1st Annual Great Falls Spring Festival. It was a great opportunity for the SCC to interact with families and businesses. Our thanks go to our Youth Advisory Council (YAC) volunteers, Rosie Mahoney, Olivia Sisson and Skye Toor, who helped staff the booth and talked with festival-goers about the SCC's programs, YAC members' work with the Middle School Forum, and how members of the community could get involved.
Spring Community Meeting
We had a very productive Community Meeting on May 2. The first order of business was to approve SCC's amended By-Laws and to take a vote on the proposed slate of new Board of Directors. The Officers and members of the Board of Directors for 2011-2012 are as follows:
Debbie Witchey, President
Mimi Weisberg, 1st Vice President David Crystal, Director
Jacky Longwell, 2nd Vice President Ellen Nasanow, Director
Ann Landrum, Treasurer Susan Nolan, Director
Natalie Sturm, Recording Secretary Diane Pechstein, Director
Jennifer Salopek, Corresponding Secretary Melissa Sporn, Director
We greatly appreciated having an opportunity to both talk about and receive great feedback on SCC programs, activities and events. Several participants shared important program information from the other organizations of which they are members and suggestions for topics to address in the 2011-2012 school year. This allowed for an exchange of "what was happening around town" that provided a warm and communal atmosphere.
Project Sticker Shock
Nearly thirty students and adults fanned out across the McLean-Great Falls community on Saturday, May 7 as part of Project Sticker Shock. Project Sticker Shock is a Virginia Alcohol and Control Board campaign designed to prevent people of legal drinking age from purchasing alcohol and illegally providing it to minors. The project brought together many community partners including: youth, concerned adults, community leaders, law enforcement and many members of the business community.
Teams of adults and youth visited local CVS/Pharmacy, Giant and Safeway stores in Great Falls and McLean, VA, to place stickers on packaged beer and wine products warning purchasers about the penalties involved in providing alcohol to minors. Other area restaurants, cafés, barber shops, hardware stores, and other retailers posted educational flyers. The response in the community was very positive.
The SCC would like to thank everyone who participated in this activity. Our ability reach out, affect change and promote safety relies on everyone working together. To quote Fairfax County Officer Thomas Harrington, "What everyone did today started a chain reaction that just may have saved someone's life."
HAZE: The Perils of the College Drinking Culture
On May 17, nearly 200 college-bound Fairfax County students and their parents attended a program that dealt with binge drinking on college campuses. "The Perils of the College Drinking Culture" program was presented by the Unified Prevention Coalition (UPC) of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and its Countywide Initiative to Reduce Underage Drinking (CIRUD), in collaboration with the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD), Langley High School's PTSA/Family Network Committee and the SCC. It was shown in Langley High School's auditorium and was the kick-off to a multiple site effort to have the presentation delivered throughout Fairfax County. The program featured a screening and panel discussion on the award-winning documentary, Haze, designed for parents and their college-bound teens, and for anyone concerned about underage and binge drinking on college campuses.
Parents were encouraged to attend with their adolescent children. Featured speakers and panelists included: Raymond Morrogh, Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County; William Hauda, M.D., emergency physician, Inova Fairfax Hospital; Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer and Captain Bruce Ferguson, Commander, Youth Services Division; and, Jeff Levy, father of a student who died following drinking at a college party.
Responding to "Race to Nowhere: The College Admissions Process"
On Tuesday, May 17, the McLean High School community welcomed Don Fraser, the Director of Education and Training for the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), who addressed a group of 150 parents, administrators, teachers and students about the college admissions process. The evening, sponsored by the MHS PTSA and the SCC, was a response to the concerns raised by the film, "The Race to Nowhere" about our society's emphasis on achievement of all kinds and its impact regarding stress on young people.
Mr. Fraser first outlined some of the national trends in college admissions, dispelling some of the myths around the topic. He concluded his most informative and reassuring talk by challenging the students and parents to work hard to look at all of the college options and stressing the quality and reputation of the education at schools throughout public and private schools in the McLean and Langley pyramids. He urged the audience to "own" the college application process and to embrace the exciting higher education choices available all over the country.
McLean Day and Prescription Medicine Drop Off Activity
Thanks to everyone for volunteering at the SCC Booth at the main fairgrounds and at the Prescription Medicine Drop Off Activity at the McLean Community Center. Both were a great success! Thanks to YAC members Eric Lemkuhler, Saniya Suri, Jamie Nucho, Nana Kawbena-Abrefah and Mary-Kate McCleary for not only sharing their Middle School Forum experiences with visitors to the Booth, but, also putting hundreds of tattoos on every little girl and boy that would hold still long enough! With current and former Board members and their kids heading up each of the shifts, totebags were handed out by the hundreds. A special thank you goes to SCC member Elwood Howerton for joining us to anchor the day's festivities. By the end of the day, we had successfully communicated with thousands of members of our community.
While most of the day's excitement was at Lewinsville Park, over at the McLean Community Center, people in the community began dropping off unused and expired medications as early as 9:30 am. Special thanks to Medicine Chest Pharmacy of McLean owner Ed Danoff and his family for their yeoman's efforts in staffing the first SCC Prescription Medication Drop Off Activity. In the end the 95-gallon container was 1/3 of the way full and weighed in at 85 pounds of expired and unused medicines. The SCC's "two-site Saturday" was a huge success and we look forward to doing it again in 2012.
Sports Panel Discussion
On Thursday, June 2 at McLean High School, the McLean High School (MHS) Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), the McLean High School Athletic Boosters and the SCC presented a panel discussion on "Success and the Student Athlete" moderated by USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan.
Ms. Brennan, who has covered 14 consecutive Olympics as a reporter, outlined the benefits and the costs of our culture's emphasis on sports achievement and cited several well-known athletes who typify the positive and the negative outcomes of athletic accomplishment. She then introduced the panel:
- Chuck Katis, Langley High School Student and Swimmer
- Jacki Kleger, McLean High School Student and Varsity Lacrosse Player
- Frank Kolencik, VP at 1st Portfolio Lending, McLean Youth Football and Langley High School JV Coach and Parent
- Kitty Phillips, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Personal Fitness Trainer at Starting Block Fitness
- William Curran, Fairfax County Public School Director of Student Activities and Athletics
The students on the panel shared their experiences as high school athletes and described the value of being active, being a part of a team, being forced to focus on their studies by their sports schedules and being taught at an early age that losing can itself be a learning experience. The question and answer session with the audience was engaging and tackled subjects including avoiding specializing in sports that could lead to injuries and burnout, emphasizing the physiological and emotional benefits of sports for many young people, and encouraging parents to promote age- and developmental-appropriate activities for their children. Finally, we learned that the community needs to help young people integrate all of the challenges that come with sports: not always winning, scheduling pressures, and playing time.
Looking Ahead
New Home - The SCC will be moving into office space this summer! Through a generous donation from Frank Witchey, owner of McLean Pool & Spa, we will be moving onto the 2nd floor of their building in downtown McLean. The address is 6818 Tennyson Drive. Once we're in, we'll let everyone know our office hours and start having meetings there in the fall.
In closing, we at the SCC want to thank you for a productive and rewarding year. Soon fall will be upon us and its accelerated pace will gear up with a new school year. We look forward to sharing with you an updated website, new opportunities to volunteer and to work together with and for our community through the SCC. Thank you and have a safe and wonderful summer!
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