Make your own snow globe!

Snow globes are fun to have on display through the winter months no matter where you live. Even if you're in Arizona or New Mexico, you can still have your own little winter wonderland to enjoy. If you want to be creative, maybe you could even put mini cacti statues or a surf board in your globe to reflect your home town!

But before you think about the details, why don't you take a look around the house and see if you have the basic materials for this craft…

Welcome Mallory Weggemann!

Today, the Ask, Listen, Learn team is happy to announce our final addition to the Superstar Team in 2011. Please welcome Mallory Weggemann, US Paralympic Champion!

Mallory has been a swimmer since age 7, but in 2008, a routine epidural for back pain changed her life when she was paralyzed from the waist down. Yet Mallory's love for swimming did not falter. Three months later, Mallory was back in the pool, and she's been breaking National and World Records ever since!

Underage drinking hits a record low

From The Century Council blog:

Monitoring the Future survey is one of the leading annual studies of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Today, they announced their 2011 survey results, which showed marked decreases in almost all categories of underage drinking. The survey, a representative sample of students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade levels in the US, reported historic lows of alcohol consumption, indicating that the majority of high school students are not drinking.

Annual alcohol consumption among students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade has decreased at all three grade levels; statistically significantly decreases were recorded among 8th and 10th graders from 2010 to 2011 (down 2.4 and 2.3 percent, respectively) and down almost two percent (1.7) among high school seniors. The number of students who report being drunk in the past year declined over the past year among students in all three grade levels.

From 1991 to 2011 the proportion of students reporting past month consumption has declined nearly in half among 8th graders, by more than one third among 10th graders, and about one quarter among HS Seniors over the past 20 years. The lead researcher, Dr. Lloyd Johnson, attributed this decline to a decline in perceived availability of alcohol among 8th graders, proving that our efforts to reduce underage drinking sales and social hosting have been working!

Binge drinking is down 1.3% since last year among all three grade levels combined to a low of 13.6%. The decline in binge drinking has been greatest among younger teens - since 1991 binge drinking has declined 41% among 8th graders compared to 28% among 12th graders. This considerable decline in binge drinking among 12th graders indicates a cultural change among high school seniors - this drop in binge drinking is truly stunning.

Coming on the heels of declining drunk driving fatalities, this is but more fantastic news as we close out 2011. We'd like to thank all of our partners who have been instrumental in creating this decline. Your persistent advocacy for health and responsible alcohol consumption is what made this decline happen.

Thank you, Valley Middle School!

Yesterday morning, the Ask, Listen, Learn team presented what will probably be our last school event in 2011. We were at Valley Middle School in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

North Dakota is just the latest stop in our goal of bringing Ask, Listen, Learn to every state in the country. While North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute, we appreciate his support in getting us to Grand Forks.

Thankfully our own Dana Fudrich was more than able to run the event. Working with the staff and students of Valley Middle School, we had a fantastic time introducing the Ask, Listen, Learn program. We hope to make it back!

Thank you, Valley Middle School for your enthusiastic participation! Keep having fun and staying active, and remember to always say 'YES' to a healthy lifestyle and 'NO' to underage drinking!

Thank you, Phoenix!

Today, we teamed up with Attorney General Tom Horne in Phoenix, Arizona to present Ask, Listen, Learn to the enthusiastic students at Centennial Middle School.

We started off by showing a PSA General Horne starred in from earlier this year.

The PSA encouraged kids throughout Arizona to “say 'YES' to a healthy lifestyle and 'NO' to underage drinking.” After watching the PSA, Attorney General Horne spoke to the students about staying active and making good and healthy decisions.

We'd like to thank Attorney General Horne, Centennial Middle School and all of the students who participated. Centennial Middle School certainly knows how to “say 'YES' to a healthy lifestyle and 'NO' to underage drinking!”