As YES! LEADers begin the second half of the school year, YES! LEADS activities have also begun to ramp up.
In December, YES! LEADers from Tioga Central High School presented to sixth graders at Tioga Central Middle School in a presentation on drugs and alcohol. You can find Tioga Central's YES! LEADS group profile video by clicking here, or check out pictures from their presentation at our Gallery.
Next week, YES! LEADS groups from other schools will begin their presentations and community outreach. Bainbridge-Guilford High School will be presenting to each grade at Greenlawn Elementary School, and the following week, Windsor High School's YES! LEADers will present at both Bell and Weeks Elementary School.
As the new group in YES! LEADS this year, Afton High School's YES! LEADers are also planning their first ever presentations to the 2nd, 4th and 6th graders at Afton Elementary School, and are hosting their first movie night on March 8th featuring "Wreck It Ralph".
For community outreach, Seton Catholic High School will be holding a campaign on Tuesday, February 5th on texting while driving. In addition, there are a bunch of Free Family Movie Nights being hosted over the next month. On February 8th, the YES! LEADers at Union-Endicott High School and Jennie F. Snapp Middle School are teaming up to show "The Incredibles", and on March 1st, Maine-Endwell, Bainbridge-Guilford High School and Chenango Valley High School will all host their movie nights.
As always, you can stay-up-date on all upcoming YES! LEADS events by checking out the YES! Events Calendar at www.YesSafeChoices.org.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Thursday, December 20, 2012
YES! Wraps Up Fall YES! Launch Trainings
On Tuesday, we at YES! wrapped up the last of our in-school, YES! Launch trainings, finishing with our newest YES! LEADS group from Afton High School. YES! staff visited each of our 16 YES! LEADS groups to engage the YES! LEADers in several hours of training.
The YES! Launch training program teaches YES! LEADers how to be role models for younger students through different team activities and educational sessions. This year's activities included a bunch of all new activities including the Tubular Transfer, Cup Stackers, Paper Tower and Strongest Structure activities. These activities focused on developing communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills by working in small groups.
New YES! LEADers also had a special session where they learned about how to prepare for their presentations at the elementary schools later this year.
The YES! Launch training program teaches YES! LEADers how to be role models for younger students through different team activities and educational sessions. This year's activities included a bunch of all new activities including the Tubular Transfer, Cup Stackers, Paper Tower and Strongest Structure activities. These activities focused on developing communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills by working in small groups.
New YES! LEADers also had a special session where they learned about how to prepare for their presentations at the elementary schools later this year.
These trained YES! LEADers will use their leadership skills to develop resistance skills in elementary school children through interactive activities and age appropriate entertainment. By being drug and alcohol free role models, they'll pass these positive messages along to younger students.
For more pictures of these YES! LEADers participating in these fun activities, visit our Gallery at www.YesSafeChoices.org, or check out our photo album on Facebook by clicking here.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
YES! Launch Trainings Kick Off in Four Schools
Following the incredibly successful YES! Ignites in October and a slight weather delay, YES! LEADers have begun an additional day of training at each of their individual schools.
Called "YES! Launch" this training is designed to be a more personal training that takes place at each school where YES! LEADers break into small groups and do a variety of fun team building, communication and problem solving activities. The purpose of these activities is to ultimately get the students to be familiar with one another, in addition to boosting their interpersonal relationships before they start working on their presentations later in the year.
New YES! LEADers for the 2012-2013 school year get an extra session during YES! Launch that focuses on presentations. Since all new YES! LEADers have no experience with presenting on YES! LEADS, they'll attend a 45 minute session that walks them through preparing for a presentation from Start to Finish so that they'll be comfortable and confident when they get up in front of the elementary students in their districts.
So far this year, four YES! LEADS groups have taken part in YES! Launch. The YES! LEADers from Tioga Central High School, Vestal High School, Chenango Valley High School and R.T. Stank Middle School have seen the new activities for this year, with Windsor High School, Norwich High School, Susquehanna Valley High School and Windsor Middle School finishing out the month of November.
The YES! Launch trainings are a lot of fun and provide YES! LEADers with a perfect opportunity to grow as a group.
To check out pictures from each group's YES! Launch trainings, be sure to check out each groups' photos in our Gallery or visit our Facebook page.
Called "YES! Launch" this training is designed to be a more personal training that takes place at each school where YES! LEADers break into small groups and do a variety of fun team building, communication and problem solving activities. The purpose of these activities is to ultimately get the students to be familiar with one another, in addition to boosting their interpersonal relationships before they start working on their presentations later in the year.
New YES! LEADers for the 2012-2013 school year get an extra session during YES! Launch that focuses on presentations. Since all new YES! LEADers have no experience with presenting on YES! LEADS, they'll attend a 45 minute session that walks them through preparing for a presentation from Start to Finish so that they'll be comfortable and confident when they get up in front of the elementary students in their districts.
So far this year, four YES! LEADS groups have taken part in YES! Launch. The YES! LEADers from Tioga Central High School, Vestal High School, Chenango Valley High School and R.T. Stank Middle School have seen the new activities for this year, with Windsor High School, Norwich High School, Susquehanna Valley High School and Windsor Middle School finishing out the month of November.
The YES! Launch trainings are a lot of fun and provide YES! LEADers with a perfect opportunity to grow as a group.
To check out pictures from each group's YES! Launch trainings, be sure to check out each groups' photos in our Gallery or visit our Facebook page.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Celebrating Red Ribbon Week at YES! LEADS Schools
Each year during the last week of October, schools and organizations around the country join in the Red Ribbon Week campaign, the nation's largest drug prevention effort. This year, Red Ribbon Week was celebrated from October 23rd-31st featuring the theme "The Best ME Is Drug Free!".
Red Ribbon Week offers the opportunity for schools and communities to take a stand together against drug use and show their commitment to drug prevention efforts.
At YES! Safe Choices for Kids, we kicked off our annual Red Ribbon Week Poster Contest for YES! LEADS elementary schools across Broome, Tioga and Chenango counties, looking for artwork featuring this year's Red Ribbon Week theme as well a few themes we came up with on our own. We've already received some artwork, and look forward to seeing what other classes have come up with.
Other schools celebrated Red Ribbon Week in their own way. Vestal High School launched a district-wide Red Ribbon Week celebration, giving red ribbons out to every student to show their dedication.
R.T. Stank Middle School held a week long campaign featuring various fun themed days, culminating in red shirt day and a Fun Night on Friday.
Seton Catholic High Schoolers visited middle school classrooms to talk with students about drug prevention efforts.
Bainbridge-Guilford High School YES! LEADers visited classrooms to help students with their poster for the Red Ribbon Week Poster Contest.
Red Ribbon Week continues to be successful in our YES! LEADS schools, as well as across the community and the country.
For more information on Red Ribbon Week, visit www.imdrugfree.com.
Red Ribbon Week offers the opportunity for schools and communities to take a stand together against drug use and show their commitment to drug prevention efforts.
At YES! Safe Choices for Kids, we kicked off our annual Red Ribbon Week Poster Contest for YES! LEADS elementary schools across Broome, Tioga and Chenango counties, looking for artwork featuring this year's Red Ribbon Week theme as well a few themes we came up with on our own. We've already received some artwork, and look forward to seeing what other classes have come up with.
Other schools celebrated Red Ribbon Week in their own way. Vestal High School launched a district-wide Red Ribbon Week celebration, giving red ribbons out to every student to show their dedication.
R.T. Stank Middle School held a week long campaign featuring various fun themed days, culminating in red shirt day and a Fun Night on Friday.
Seton Catholic High Schoolers visited middle school classrooms to talk with students about drug prevention efforts.
Bainbridge-Guilford High School YES! LEADers visited classrooms to help students with their poster for the Red Ribbon Week Poster Contest.
Red Ribbon Week continues to be successful in our YES! LEADS schools, as well as across the community and the country.
For more information on Red Ribbon Week, visit www.imdrugfree.com.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Return of YES! Ignites Is A Huge Success!
After a three year hiatus, YES! Safe Choices for Kids brought back their YES! Ignites training on October 23rd.
Almost 500 students from Broome, Tioga and Chenango counties showed up for a day of fun, leadership training and life skills development in a day long training at the Binghamton Riverwalk.
This year's keynote speaker, Mike Hall from Charleston, North Carolina, spoke with the YES! LEADers in attendance about the importance of living the life that was given to them and not merely admiring other people's lives.
Throughout the day, students attended various workshops including local drug trends, activities that teach, bullying, stress and conflict and a social media awareness seminar offered by different local organizations including Lourdes Hospital, the Broome County Sheriff's Department and OLWEUS. These workshops were designed to give YES! LEADers the skills they need to both enforce their safe decision making and help them with their presentations.
It was a very fun day for everyone in attendance, and YES! was happy to bring it back again.
YES! has been even happier to allow Mike Hall to stay through the week and present to schools throughout the three counties, bringing his message to over 2000 other students.
To check out pictures from the return of YES! Ignites, visit our Facebook page, or click here.
Almost 500 students from Broome, Tioga and Chenango counties showed up for a day of fun, leadership training and life skills development in a day long training at the Binghamton Riverwalk.
This year's keynote speaker, Mike Hall from Charleston, North Carolina, spoke with the YES! LEADers in attendance about the importance of living the life that was given to them and not merely admiring other people's lives.
Throughout the day, students attended various workshops including local drug trends, activities that teach, bullying, stress and conflict and a social media awareness seminar offered by different local organizations including Lourdes Hospital, the Broome County Sheriff's Department and OLWEUS. These workshops were designed to give YES! LEADers the skills they need to both enforce their safe decision making and help them with their presentations.
It was a very fun day for everyone in attendance, and YES! was happy to bring it back again.
YES! has been even happier to allow Mike Hall to stay through the week and present to schools throughout the three counties, bringing his message to over 2000 other students.
To check out pictures from the return of YES! Ignites, visit our Facebook page, or click here.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
October is National Bullying Prevention Month
The End of Bullying Begins with Me: that’s the message during PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Month in October.
Started in 2006 as a week-long event, the Pacer Organization has turned the month of October into National Bullying Prevention Month, in the hopes of preventing bullying in school districts and communities.
As part of Bullying Prevention Month, the organization STOMP Out Bullying created Blue Shirt Day. On the first Monday of October, students and staff internationally are encouraged to wear blue shirts to create a sea of blue of across the world. This sea will demonstrate that there are people who stand against bullying.
Now in it's fourth year, Blue Shirt Day is practiced in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Israel, Germany, Portugal and Korea and took place on Monday, October 1st this year. We encouraged our YES! LEADers to show their stand against bullying by wearing blue shirts yesterday and hope that the message was heard across the world that people are willing to stand against bullying.
For more information on Bullying Prevention Month, including resources, handouts and details on getting more involved, visit The PACER Organizations website at http://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm.
Started in 2006 as a week-long event, the Pacer Organization has turned the month of October into National Bullying Prevention Month, in the hopes of preventing bullying in school districts and communities.
As part of Bullying Prevention Month, the organization STOMP Out Bullying created Blue Shirt Day. On the first Monday of October, students and staff internationally are encouraged to wear blue shirts to create a sea of blue of across the world. This sea will demonstrate that there are people who stand against bullying.
Now in it's fourth year, Blue Shirt Day is practiced in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Israel, Germany, Portugal and Korea and took place on Monday, October 1st this year. We encouraged our YES! LEADers to show their stand against bullying by wearing blue shirts yesterday and hope that the message was heard across the world that people are willing to stand against bullying.
For more information on Bullying Prevention Month, including resources, handouts and details on getting more involved, visit The PACER Organizations website at http://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Libous, Lourdes, YES! Celebrate Local LEADers
Senator Tom Libous, Lourdes President/CEO David Patak and YES! Safe Choices for Kids were joined by local parents, teachers and school administrators to honor more than 540 Broome, Tioga and Chenango YES! LEADers at the YES! LEADers Change Lives Recognition Reception.
YES! LEADers are middle and high school students who, after a day of hands-on training, present to local elementary school students about the dangers of substance abuse, the importance of self-esteem and its role in making healthy choices as they grow up.
“Our YES! LEADers serve our community every day by volunteering countless hoursfor their peers and for younger students,” said Senator Libous. “Their dedication to a drug-free lifestyle serves as an inspiration to the lives they’ve touched.”
Senator Libous and David Patak also announced the winners of the Jill Kavanagh Memorial YES! LEADS Scholarships. Ryan Porter, a Bainbridge-Guilford High School senior, received a $1,500 scholarship. Brittni Green, a Susquehanna Valley High School senior, received a $750 scholarship. Eric Zwierlein, a Tioga Central High School senior, received a $250 scholarship. These three students were chosen based upon their contributions to their school’s YES! LEADS program and commitment to a substance-free lifestyle.
Jill Kavanagh, the former Director of the Broome Drug Awareness Center, co-founded the original YESCAP program with Senator Libous in 1989 and sadly passed away shortly after her retirement in 2005.
“Ryan, Brittni and Eric have dedicated their time, effort and energy to helping our younger students understand you don’t need to drink, do drugs or bully in order to fit in and have fun,” said David Patak.
YES! Safe Choices for Kids, a partnership between Senator Libous and Lourdes Hospital, is now in its 23rd year. Since 1989, more than 8,500 YES! LEADers have helped teach more than 100,000 elementary school students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. This year’s LEADers, representing 14 school districts, presented to over 6,000 elementary school students.
To check out pictures from this year's YES! LEADers Change Lives Reception, visit the photo gallery at www.YesSafeChoices.org.
YES! LEADers are middle and high school students who, after a day of hands-on training, present to local elementary school students about the dangers of substance abuse, the importance of self-esteem and its role in making healthy choices as they grow up.
“Our YES! LEADers serve our community every day by volunteering countless hoursfor their peers and for younger students,” said Senator Libous. “Their dedication to a drug-free lifestyle serves as an inspiration to the lives they’ve touched.”
Senator Libous and David Patak also announced the winners of the Jill Kavanagh Memorial YES! LEADS Scholarships. Ryan Porter, a Bainbridge-Guilford High School senior, received a $1,500 scholarship. Brittni Green, a Susquehanna Valley High School senior, received a $750 scholarship. Eric Zwierlein, a Tioga Central High School senior, received a $250 scholarship. These three students were chosen based upon their contributions to their school’s YES! LEADS program and commitment to a substance-free lifestyle.
Jill Kavanagh, the former Director of the Broome Drug Awareness Center, co-founded the original YESCAP program with Senator Libous in 1989 and sadly passed away shortly after her retirement in 2005.
“Ryan, Brittni and Eric have dedicated their time, effort and energy to helping our younger students understand you don’t need to drink, do drugs or bully in order to fit in and have fun,” said David Patak.
YES! Safe Choices for Kids, a partnership between Senator Libous and Lourdes Hospital, is now in its 23rd year. Since 1989, more than 8,500 YES! LEADers have helped teach more than 100,000 elementary school students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. This year’s LEADers, representing 14 school districts, presented to over 6,000 elementary school students.
To check out pictures from this year's YES! LEADers Change Lives Reception, visit the photo gallery at www.YesSafeChoices.org.
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