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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-01-28, Page 22Page 22 Times -Advocate, January 28,1998 E P*N7HE 13A Watch for this page the last week of every month "Baby think it over" is a success According to statistics Canada, nearly 25 000 children are born to Canadian teens every year. Many teens' parents try tq educate them about the consequences of teen pregnancy , but unfortunately they have to learn for H remselves. A program called "Baby think it over", was designed to do this. The baby was designed by Rick Jurmain, a "rocket scientist", after he watched a program on TV about teen pregnancy that showed teens using eggs and sacks of flour to stimulate caring for a baby. Rick thought they were poor substitutes for real infants because they didn't cry or wake up the teens. His wife told him to build something that does, and he did. The program provides a reasonably realistic simulation of parenting. It is also used for teen pregnancy prevention. It's designed to help teens understand that babies' demands are unpredictable and must be met prompfy. Babies require a great deal of time and attention, and babies change a parent's life profoundly. Through this pro- gram, youth adults explore the physical; emotional, social and financial consequences of parenthood. South Huron District High School's family studies class was fortunate to be able to take part in this experience for the first time this fall. One doll costs around $400 therefore only one doll was purchased. 15 students took part this semester and 28 students will participate next semester. The doll Is actual baby size, 50cm long and 4kg in weight. The baby comes in both genders for the Caucasian, African- American, Asian and Hispanic ethnicities. The school provides everything they need; diaper bag tilted with things to make it realistic, infant carrier, and clothes. It teaches the money, time, and wort Involved in caring for an infant. The doll was picked up by a student after school and kept over night, and brought to Ms. Janke, the family studies teacher, the next moming. That process was used for all the students. M s. Janke said she would have wished for the baby to be kept for a longer period of time to make it realistic, but they only had one doll and a short period of time. It teaches the money, time, and work involved in caring for an infant. A letter was sent home for parents, with a consent form they had to sign saying they allow their teen to participate and will reimburse the family studies department for any damages. The students also signed a form saying they accept all responsibilities for the baby. The program works by the students getting a care key afached'to their wrist with a:non, transferable band, so the responsibilities stay with the parent. The care key is inserted in a battery operated control box in the infants back, when the baby cries. The baby cites at random, unpredictable times 24 hours a day. The care key must be held in place • -.for 5 to 35 minutes, representing the time it takes to care for an infant. 'A care.key is used instead of a bottle because. when a baby cries it doesn't always mean it's hungry. After the teens experience being a parent, the teacher removes the small box in the infant's back. The teacher pushes a button and three triangles will light up. The first triangle, green, shows the number of rough handling events. The -second triangle, yellow, shows the number of neglected events lasting longer than one minute. The third triangle, red, shows the total minutes of crying. If the number blinks while being displayed, the box was removed from the babies back for five minutes or more. The student's must complete a diary during their parenting and write about their experiences. After their care period they wrote a brief essay summarizing their experience. The student's that participated in this parenting experiences had many things to say. • "It makes you think twice about having a child in the near future. it was a great experience and the baby was very realistic in all ways" Christine Went " Baby think it over", is'a very good learning experi- .once. It helps teens to realize the responsibility ofcaringfor a baby...it took A LOT of time to care for." Cherisse Knip "I was glad to give the baby back in the morning, because it woke me up every 2-3 hours during the night! But it teaches you a lot about having to tend to a baby all the - time, evenwhen you're in the middle of something else" Julia Geiger "At home my dad said it was very realistic. He said he needed more time to prepare for it and adjust to it" Jen Taylor Judging from student responses, this program appears to be very educational. Many students hope this will continue in the future. Above, students participated In the "Parent for a Day" project. At left, Amanda Hodgert with her trial baby. Choose your courses wisely 13y Melanie Seip •Ms. Janke strongly suggests that students make wise ,decisions when • choosing courses..because changes will.hc hard to make later in the school t ) car. Before choosing your.courses: students may need to look into what courses they need for post secondary education. This is especially irnpor- -.tart for senior students. . • If any students or parents have any questions, please feel free to rnakc an appointment with a counsellor in the Student Services office. Christmas assembly . Becky Wuerth and Melanie Seip ' South Huron recently had their annual Christmas assembly. this. took place on Friday the 19th; it is a.tintc for skits. carolling, and fun. This event was to hid the students off to a safe Christmas and a Happy New Year. -'!'here was skits by the Teacher's. and Student's Coun 1. O.S.A.I.D had purchased candy to toss out to the students. 1t is alwaA fun to sec .Ihc Teacher's holiday spirits while they arc centre stage embarrassing thcritsclves! Thanks to ederyon{;who participated, it was a lot of fun! Curling news . ' On the weekend of January 24-25. one of South Huron's teams consist- ing of Skip Gerry Gcurts. Vice Laura Miller. Second Jayden Russell, Lcad Marilou !fern and Adrienne Urquhart competed in St. Thomas at the Regionals for the Joc Todd Sr. Junior Mixed. They had disappointing results as they finished with a record of 1 win and 2 losses. .They lost to Sydenham of Wallacehurg in the first game. defeated Stratford in the sec- ond game and then lost to Glendale of Si. Cathcrincs in the 'B' quatcrfinal. The team had trouble adjusting to the ice in St Thomas and wcrc outplayed .by teams that they should have beaten. Overall the tournament was a good experience for 11c team with all but one player tieing 16 years (if age or younger. - Geurts' team advanced to the Regional competition by winning die rune competition in Harriston on January •2-4. There they defeated Exeter 11 in the 'A' final. That team was skipped by Geoff Stasik with Vice Beth Anne Hent. Second Dave Shepton. and Lcad Briannc Webber. . Exeter also had a third team in the zone Competition which was skipped by Melanie Urquhart, with Vice Dennis Noakes. Second Jen Dchlock. Lead Cameron Eddy and Jeff Dchlock. All three teams played extremely well and should he proud of their results. FOR YOUR INFORMATION... • McDonald's Fun Night raises $47.00. The next Mcdonald's Fun Night will be held on Wednesday, January 28, 4-8pm. Please come out and support the - school. It is a nice way to celebrate the end of exams! • Congratulations to Mrs. Baker, she and her husband are now the proud parents of an 8lbs 2ozs. baby boy named Jonathan. Mrs. Baker is missed by teachers and students and we can't wait for her return in the new school year! •' Mrs. Clausens started her maternity leave as of January 23. All of the Teachers and Students wish her well and good luck when the little bundle of joy arrives! • The next Students Advisory Council (S.A.C) meeting will be held on Tuesday, Febuary 24, at 7pm in the Library. Everyone welcome! Marcy Swance is Student of the months for December/January • By _Melanie.Seip Marcy Swance is deccmhcr's/January's student of the month. The other nominees wcrc Mithoile Willis and Sandra Steele. congratulations to than for being nominated. Swance is the leader of the Student imapct group and was very busy the month of December: -"Marcy made us proud" said Mr. Macleod. "she .worked really hard and her efforts made a great contribution to the Huron County Christmas Bureau." Being the leader of the Student Impact group she got her group members involved with the Angel Tree. This was a tree that had tags with a chiids haute acrd age written on it. Willing student~ got. to pick a tag and huy an appropriate gift. This event -helped .bring in well over 200 gifts for needy children. Marcy ids() .-got volunteers to help sort and package the gifts aid canned goods raised by the students and the com- munity. this took place- at Caveri Presbyterian church. Marcy has worked hard for the school comma-. pity andel the Huron County Christmas Bureau and we "alt thank her for her hard .work and contribu- tions. The people who came out to watch. and especially Ms. Burrell for her t c, effort. assistance: hut . most of a ,her patience over the Iasi month. The show. was a great stiCCess! Student of the month nominees are from left to right, Sandra Steele, Michelle Willis and Marcy Swance • i • . Goodbye Mr. Gerth... As you all probally know, Mr. Gerth will be leaving South Huron at the endlof January. He will be taking over as. Principal at Central Huron. returning to a - school where he was vice principal for five years. Mr. Gerth says that he is a little disappointed with the timing of the change, because he wanted to finish things that he has started within our school. Debi Hontuth will be taking over at South Huron. Mr. Gerth feels confident that she will do a good job. The decision to make a transfer was not all Mr. Goth's idea. It came from the education centre. They felt that the students - would benefit from having a Principal that lives in their community. Debi Homuth. previous Principal in Goderich, lives in Exeter. When asked about the timing of the transfer, Mr. Gerth com- mented; "My only regret is that the students of South Hurondid not get to sec the softer side of me". Yet comments from -staff and stu- dents suggest that his 'soft side' often did shine through. Here's what people had to say about Mr. Je rib's departure: • "I hope -he has a good time in his new sehool'and that he enjoys it." Tanya Hammond (student)' "I think the move will he good, because he will he closer to his - . home. ' Marria Waring+(student) - "He can he really nice. but he can he strict." Darryl Reddin (student) "I think it is too had because there arc a lot of . nitiatives going on around the school that he started but cannot finish - Ms.,Gibhings (teacher) "i thought he was good for the school. He is fair and honest but can he strict when necessary." - Ms. Bishop (teacher) "He has been here only a couple of years and there have been a lot of positive changes--° particularly in the fundraising arca, and -the general tone of the school." - - Mr. Allen (Vice Principal) "I'm sad because I will miss his energy and administrative style. In the same respect, 1 am happy thai he will he closer to his home and family." Ms..Gilmar (secretarial staff) The staff and students of South Huron would like to wish Mr. " Gerth well at his new position and thank hint for the work he has done at our school. Good Luck' - = . Principal's Message... ' Mr. W. Gerth During the past few weeks the provincial gov- ernment has announced a series of reforms that will -impact secondary school students in • Ontario. These reforms are designed to align the education program of Ontario with that of the Majority of the other provinces in Canada. The - hulk of these reforms docs not affect the students who are presently in grade 8 -OAC hut will directly affect those students.who arc presently in - grade ::even. Students in this and earlier grades might find the following information of interest. . . I, At the grade nine & ten level there will he a return to the streaming of students. Students and their parents. will he asked to choose between. an Academic stream and an Applied stream 10 -core subjects such as Math. English and Science. Non-core subjects such as Physical education will continue to he destreamed. 2. Streaming for students'in grades -11 and 12 will reflect the post -secondary goals of the student: University. College. or Work. 3. To ensure that students do not get 'trapped' in a stream. transfer courses.will.hc created to allow a student to move from -one path to another.. - - 4. The number of compulsory credits has hcen increased from sixteen to eighteen. Students will require one leis English credit (they presently need five). one additional math credit. one addi tional credit in grade 11 or I2 Scicncc or Grade 9 -1 -2 -technology. - , and a Career/Civics course. - - 5. A further addition is that students• will he required to•cont- plctc 40 hours of community- involvement. prior to graduation. . 6. A teacher advisor system is to he developed for students as' . - they move through grades seven -11. To ensure quality and to pro- vide the time needed for remediation prior to ',graduation. all stu- dents will complete a literacy test prior to the end of grade ten . 7. Finally. prior learning assessment will allow students to receive a credit if they can demonstrate, through testing. that they meet a provincial standard. What is intcrestingabout these changes is the fact that the total number of credits required to graduate has not changed (30) nor.has the amount of time needed to gain a credit (1 1U hours). Under our present system it Ts pos.ihlc for a student to 'fast-track' and finish high school in four years if desired. At present, few choose to dti this hccausc the course load .is perceived to he -more than riurst stu- dents arc able to handle. Whether or not thc majority of students• will he able to complete what is being called a 'more rigorous high school curriculum' in four years instead of five, remains to he seen-. The new Avon -Maitland School District has been formed by the - amalgamation of thc Huron County Board of Education and the Perth County Board of Education: The transition appears to have ' been a smooth cmc although there are numerous -matters that remain to he worked out. -• Nevertheless. these matters will not havc-a profound impact'on- the daily functioning of South Huron. Classes will continue, buses will run, extra -curricular activities will he held, and students will . learn much in the same way as in the past. .For the most part, stu- dents and their families will not notice any change at their school. 1 want to take this opportunity to say farewell to twoj teachers . who, because of their long tenure at the school, have had a.pro- • found impact on South Huron: Peter Aunger, who will he retired by' the time that you read this. and Pat Rowe who will he retiring at the end of February. Both are highly dedicated teachers who have given much to literally thousands of students in their time in Exeter: They arc terrific people who will he missed al the school. We wish them the very best in what we hope will he a very long. a very • rewarding, and very healthy, retirement. Finally, 1 want to thank everyone involved with South Huron, students, staff, parents, and community volunteers, for thc amazing time that I have had at South Huron: This really is a great place. primarily because of the people who makc up the school commu- nity. i will miss the people who work and leant here very much.