An Awesome SMT with Aly and Lynn Raisman

Today we were on a whirlwind Satellite Media Tour with our Superstar Aly Raisman and her mom Lynn in the sunny City of Angels. We started the morning off at 3:15 a.m. to do satellite studio interviews with tons of outlets around the country. After that, we made stops at huge shows like Young Hollywood, Extra and Mario Lopez' show!

Our goal was for Aly and her mom to share how important it is for parents to join the conversation on underage drinking, especially during Alcohol Awareness Month. Aly knows that she wouldn't be where she is today if she had drank alcohol underage in high school. She had her own goals in gymnastics to keep her on track, but her parents also know how important it is to talk to their 4 kids about the dangers of underage drinking...

Dr. Wolf on how to #JointheConvo on underage drinking

Dr. Anthony Wolf is a member of The Century Council's Education Advisory Board and has practiced psychology for more than 25 years with children and adolescents in the Massachusetts area. He is a best-selling author of 2 books: Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall? A Guide to the New Teenager and I'd Listen to My Parents if They'd Just Shut Up.

Teens say that parents are the leading influence on their decision to not drink alcohol underage, but sometimes the conversation may be hard to start. Here is Dr. Wolf's advice on how to #JointheConvo and talk to your teens about underage drinking this month!

(Click more to see the vlog!)

DC Scores: Making students happier and healthier this April!

According to the Washington DC Department of Health, approximately one-fourth of all DC high school students begin drinking alcohol before the age of 13. Early alcohol use among DC high school students is associated with other risky behaviors, such as drinking and driving, marijuana use, sexual activity, and violence. As sobering as these statistics are, thanks to the Harvard Family Research Project's work, we also know that there is a direct correlation between youth participation in vetted Out of School Time programs and avoidance of these risky behaviors.

 In a city where only 25% of youth have access to any type of after-school enrichment programs, DC SCORES partners with The Century Council for an essential two-pronged attack on underage drinking.  Support from The Century Council was critical in our organization's recent growth to meet the need of children without after-school programs. We went from serving 800 students in the spring of 2011 to serving over 1,450 this past fall...

Kicking off Alcohol Awareness Month with Congressman Himes and West Rocks Middle School!

Today we kicked off Alcohol Awareness Month right in Norwalk Connecticut with one of our favorite Ask, Listen, Learn partners—Congressman Himes! Ask, Listen, Learn at West Rocks Middle School today was our first event of the month and set the tone for an awesome April! The kids loved meeting the Congressman and hearing about his own personal reasons to avoid the dangers of underage drinking.

We were all impressed to hear Congressman Himes was a certified EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) by the age of 16. Apart from loving to help people Congressman Himes was grateful to have served as an EMT since it showed him firsthand the dangers of underage drinking.  After responding to numerous medical emergencies involving underage drinking Congressman Himes was more convinced than ever that drinking underage was extremely dangerous and not worth the risk.

For Congressman Himes, having someone to talk to about the pressures of underage drinking is just as important as actually saying NO! Everyone will at some point be faced with peer pressure and staying strong and making smart choices is much easier when you have someone you trust and feel comfortable talking to about the pressures you face in middle school and high school..

A Successful Student is an Involved Student!

School Counselors take this saying seriously because we see what can happen when a student contributes to their school by being a part of a sports team, club or activity.  Involved students do better academically in their classes.  Involved students tend to contribute of their time and talents to school and community groups and get “outside of themselves” to “give of themselves” to others.  Involved students experience success by learning leadership skills and gaining connections to their school and classmates.  Involved students are less inclined to participate in negative behavior such as underage drinking or experimentation with drugs.

On the reverse, School Counselors notice what happens when students do not join school clubs and experience what it's like to make school contributions and feel connected.  Negative and illegal activities have an opportunity to fill that empty space.  School Counselors know that many students who struggle with drug and alcohol are not involved school clubs...

#JointheConvo with the Raisman family for Alcohol Awareness Month

During April for Alcohol Awareness Month, we encourage other parents to take the time to talk with their kids.  While the availability of alcohol to underage youth has continued to decline for over a decade, as has lifetime alcohol consumption, parents must continue the conversation to protect their kids.

How do we fit in a conversation about underage drinking? We've included an interview here on how we have talked with our kids about underage drinking and how the conversation has progressed from one kid to the next.  Talk with your kids about the dangers of underage drinking. You may not think they're paying attention, however, Parents (89%) and kids (83%) agree that PARENTS are the leading influence on kids' decisions not to drink alcohol.

We are like any other modern family out there. We deal with the same hustle and bustle of running a household and making sure all of our kids get their homework done, make it to sport practices, and work daily to set a foundation for success through positive modeling and encouragement.  We are proud of all of our kids and recognize the importance of taking time to talk with our kids about the tough conversations surrounding making healthy choices, including saying no to underage drinking...