Family Awareness Network
of New Trier Township Schools
Building Confidence and Connections

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Upcoming presentations:

Bounce Bank! Childhood Resilience and the Positive Life

Suniya S. Luthar, PhD

Thursday, September 25, 2008 7:00 p.m.,
 New Trier High School, Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Road, Northfield

Dr. Luthar's pioneering research on children of affluent communities is the primary underpinning of The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine. Dr. Luthar will present her current findings on how stressors effect child development and how children can maximize potential and achieve competence over time. She is Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Director of Child & Family Research, the APT Foundation, New Haven.   More information on the lecture.  Flyer

Tal Ben-Shahar, author of "Happier"

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 7:30 p.m.,
 Central School, 620 Greenwood Ave, Glencoe, IL
Co-sponsored with the Glencoe PTO

Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer at Harvard University. He taught the most popular course at Harvard on "Positive Psychology" and the university's third most popular course on "The Psychology of Leadership"—with a total of more than 1,400 students.  More information on the lecture.  RSVP

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 Parent Education Consortium

PEC (Parent Education Consortium) prepares a consolidated calendar of programs in or near New Trier Township of interest to parents.  All of these programs are open to the general public, most without admission fees or reservations required. Current PEC Calendar. Upcoming PEC website for current information, searchable events, and ways for you to add presentations you hear about!

 

Of note (see the PEC calendar for complete information):

 

Township Alliance for Youth

For the last two years a group called TAFY -- the Township Alliance for Youth, a collaboration of local agencies and community groups has been working to reshape local programs and services to improve the lives of our community's youth.

They have conducted interviews with key decision makers, held focus groups with parents, teens, pre-teens, and leaders of service organizations, and held townhall meetings in each of the villages (Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Northfield).

At the beginning of June, a random sample of 5000 households were invited to complete an on-line survey as part of our Youth Needs Assessment. A similar survey was sent to sample of high school students at New Trier, and to all of the 6th/7th/8th graders. The survey marks the end of a year-long, comprehensive township assessment of youth needs, the first to be conducted in more than 20 years. The surveys are frank, and touch upon all of the topics that were raised in by adults and teens during the focus groups, interviews, and town hall meetings.

If you did NOT receive a letter inviting you to participate in the survey, please participate in a complementary survey.

To complete the survey, log on to http://tinyurl.com/5ek4da It should take about 20 minutes. To create a log-in ID, necessary to start the survey, use your 5-digit zip code followed by your four-digit birth year. (For example, if you live in zip code 60091 and were born 1965, you would enter your ID as 600911965.) Use a log-off ID of 999 to end the survey.

If you would like to know more about TAFY, please contact Ginny Anderson at 847-441-6191.

 

Wilmette Youth Commission

The Wilmette Youth Commission’s 2007 report on youth highlights a variety of topics related to the social and emotional needs of our youth. The report features information and recommendations on teens and alcohol, a topic of considerable interest.  The report include news of a local youth needs assessment project led by the New Trier Alliance for Youth (TAFY), and an update regarding the Red Flags program, an innovative new curriculum in our schools related to youth depression and mental health. 

The entire report is available at www.wilmette.com, the Village Hall and the library.  Bulk copies for area organizations are available by contacting youth@wilmette.com

 


 

FAN’s Board invites new participation in a variety of roles. If you are an interested parent or professional, who would like to contribute to or learn from a vital organization-- that is committed to educating and connecting parents -- we invite you to please contact Mary Raitt at Mmr1111@aol.com.  Planning has already begun and we await your contribution.

 

Parent Networks

Parents are encouraged to form and join new parent networks. Interested? Drop us a note.  A parent network is a small group of parents, of middle school and beyond, who gather for a discussion, facilitated by a local professional, about the joys and challenges of raising children in our communities. 

Volunteers make FAN go!

At every school in New Trier Township we have one or more liaisons - you can help FAN by being a liaison. You can join the FAN board and help in your area of interest and expertise. Want to know more about how you can help and the time required, and the benefits? Write or call Mary Raitt or Chuck Jameson.

Email updates from FAN

FAN has a email list which receives monthly reminders on our schedule and pointers to web resources of interest.

Add me to the FAN email list

Past Programs of Note

We have a report and copies of Dr. Stuart Twemlow's slides from his September 19. 2007 presentation titled Power Triangles: Bullies, Targets and Bystanders.

 

Pushed Too Far or Left Behind?  Child Development and Curriculum Planning in Grades K-12 with Linda Yonke, Ed.D., Superintendent, New Trier High School   Meeting Report

 

From Binge to Blackout Mother and Son Team, Chris and Toren Volkmann  Speaker Website:  www.bingetoblackout.com  Meeting Report

 

Alcohol and the Adolescent Brain Aaron White, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center. Speaker website: http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/  Meeting Report

 

Deborah Roffman, author of Sex and Sensibility, spoke on September 21, 2006. Here is more about Deborah Roffman including handouts and a meeting summary.

 

Ed Dunkelblau, PhD, Director of the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning spoke on Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child  January 25, 2006  Meeting notes, referenced works, weblinks

 

Dr. Michael Bradley spoke on More “Yes, Your Teen is Crazy”on April 19, 2006.  He has a website and a monthly emailed newsletter.

 

Information on Internet Safety and Children prepared by Charlene Entman, webmaster at New Trier High School.  Audio and Video


Erika's Lighthouse with resources, local events and support related to teen depression.

NT Kinetic Wellness Department homepage

Center for Disease Control - Youth Risk Survey (the survey that was administered at NT)

National Institute on Drug Abuse: information for parents and fact sheets

Department of Health and Human Services - www.health.org

LINKS - Northshore Youth Health Service


Need help now?  FAN does not provide emergency services, but recommends these services


FAN’s Mission Statement

Family Awareness Network of New Trier Township (FAN)  makes a positive difference in families' lives by building parents' confidence and helping them connect with other parents, their children, the schools and the community through effective educational programs, active parent networks and other practical parenting resources.

   Page updated 07/26/2008                               return to top