Hance Archives - Stafford Technical Center

Preschoolers Learn Wreath Making

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Pictured: L-R: Brittany Hance (Stafford Human Services Program), Stafford Pre-Schooler Kaitlyn Sharp, Ariel Martin (Stafford Human Services Program), Stafford Pre-Schooler Gabrielle Couture, and Emily Humiston (Stafford Forestry & Natural Resources Program)

Students in Stafford Technical Center’s Forestry& Natural Resources and Human Services Programs work with the Stafford pre-schoolers in the art of wreath making. Each pre-schooler takes home their own handcrafted wreath. This is an annual event which takes place in the Stafford Technical Center’s on campus greenhouse.

Students Present on “Sexting”

Jo Lilly Presentation

Picture: Jo Lilly, Stafford Public Safety Services Student presents on “sexting”

Seven students from Stafford Technical Center’s SADD Chapter, all of whom are involved in the Public Safety Services Program, recently presented a workshop of the topic of “Sexting” to about 50 teens and adults at the Governor’s Youth Leadership Conference in Burlington. The students were Kayla Stewart, a junior from West Rutland High School, Geoffrey McDonald, a senior from Otter Valley Union High School, Cierra Phelps, a junior at Mill River Union High School, Erika Stocker, Kayla Jones, and Nate Hance, seniors at Mill River Union High School, Jo Lilly, a senior at Poultney High School, and Ashley Barnes, a senior at Rutland High School.

Sexting is a relatively new phenomenon which involves sending sexually explicit or provocative messages, cartoons, or photos of naked or seminude people by cell phone or computer. Sexting is much more common than people think, especially more common than the parents of teens think. About half of all teens report having been “sexted”, and about thirty percent of all teens report that they have sent sexting messages. The percentage of males involved in sending seems to be roughly twice that of the rates of females. Of the girls who sent photos of themselves, about half reported that they were pressured by their boyfriends to do so. Interestingly enough, about one of six boyfriends whose girlfriends sent nude photos of themselves mass e-mail the photos to others following a breakup of the relationship. It is presumed that this happens more often following the girlfriend dumping the boyfriend than the other way around.

Sexting can be a form of bullying, also. In a case from Japan, an obese male middle school student was humiliated after a fellow student took naked pictures of the obese student in the shower during gym class, without the student’s knowledge, and then sent the photos out to a large number of schoolmates. In a case from Ohio, a girl committed suicide after months of harassment from fellow students who had been sent naked photos of the girl by her ex-boyfriend after they broke up.

Sexting can also result in a number of criminal charges being brought against the sender or receiver of the photos, particularly if one of them is a minor. The charges may include pornography or child pornography or a host of other charges. A number of these charges may result in one’s becoming a registered sex offender, also; there are cases where 18 year olds with photos from their sixteen year old girlfriends have become required to register as sex offenders.

Hopefully, by raising awareness of teens in Vermont of the dangers in sexting, fewer teens will become victims.

Teens Do Traffic Survey

Students from Stafford Technical Center’s SADD Chapter and Rutland High School’s GMTI Program recently did a traffic safety survey at the entrance to the schools in the morning for about two and a half hours. The students, Christopher Crout, a senior at Stafford Technical Center from Rutland High School, Nate Hance, a senior at Stafford Technical Center from Mill River Union High School, Jackie Fitz-Gerald, a senior at Stafford Technical Center from Chittenden, Kayla Stewart, a Stafford Technical Center junior from West Rutland HS, and Joey Trevino, a freshman member of Rutland High School’s GMTI program, looked at 558 vehicles that morning. Overall, 87.1% of the operators or occupants were observed wearing their safety belts. There were, however significant differences among the sexes and depending where the person was seated in the level of compliance.

The students had decided also to monitor operators to see if they were “distracted driving”, as there has been a lot of research that says how dangerous this practice is. For example, texting while driving is supposed to be 2.5 times as dangerous as driving drunk. The students were amazed to find a driver who was eating a bowl of ramen noodles while driving, and another who had a bowl of cereal that she was eating. The students also observed at least 25 more drivers who were either speaking on the cell phone, texting while driving, or eating or drinking while driving. The real numbers would be higher, as some people apparently hid their phones or food when they saw the reflective vests the students were wearing. The students were appalled at the speeds that some people came flying into the schools with.

stbeltsurvey The drivers were the most responsible group as far as wearing safety belts was concerned, with an overall compliance rate of 92%. Men were properly restrained in 83.2% of those surveyed, and with 89% of male operators belted. Women had a better overall rate of 89.5% in compliance, but an even better 94.9% rate of female operators. Front seat passengers also showed the same higher rate of compliance among women than men, with an 87.5% to 83.6% advantage to females. Men did show an advantage over females in the rear seat category; both had horrible rates of compliance, but the females were worse, with only a 45% rate of compliance; the male rate was a 63.3% compliance rate. One of the reasons that the rear seats had such bad compliance rates was that there were a few vans with up to 5 unrestrained passengers in the two back seats.

The spring safety belt survey will focus again on distracted drivers and encouraging increasing safety belt usage among teens.

Pictured in photo are two students from Public Safety Services: Foreground: Nate Hance (Mill River Union High School and Chris Crout (RHS)

SADD Chapter wins Two Awards

Recently, the Stafford Technical Center SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Chapter was recognized with two awards, one from the Vermont State SADD Organization, and one from the national SADD organization. The first award, was given to the chapter at the Vermont SADD spring meeting, recognized the Stafford Chapter’s collaboration with three local SADD chapters from Proctor High School, Fair Haven Union High School, and black River High School, as well as the partnership with Rutland County START, a law enforcement collaborative aimed at reducing underage drinking, and Rutland Area Prevention Coalition, the county’s community anti-drug coalition.

Stafford’s chapter was also lauded for the variety of programs that it has undertaken which are designed to promote healthy lifestyles and responsible highway usage, as well as those designed to reduce destructive behaviors among teens such as underage drinking and drugging, and dangerous internet use. The chapter’s efforts to make the community aware of their actions were also noted.

The June issue of the SADDvocate, the national SADD monthly newsletter, has chosen the Stafford Chapter as this month’s spotlight chapter. There are about 10,000 SADD chapters in the United States, so to be chosen to be a chapter worthy of being a model for other chapters is quite an honor. The national magazine highlighted a variety of the chapter’s programs designed to positively impact the community, and the fact that this chapter was the recipient of a 2009 Vermont Governor’s Award for Outstanding Community Service.

The Stafford Technical Center SADD Chapter has been in existence for four years. The 2008-2009 members are: Kayla Jones, Cantlin Eaton, Erika Stocker, Angelica Towsley, and Nate Hance from Mill River Union High School, Vicky Stone, Cody Hesse, Cody Taylor, and Justin Cram from Otter Valley Union High School, Ashley Barnes, Ashley Haas, and Dan Ball from Rutland High School, Joanna Lilly from Poultney High School, and Jon Schaff from Fair Haven Union High School.

Public Safety Services Program masters Haz-Mat Certifications

Eight, first year students in the Public Safety Services Program at Stafford Technical Center recently became certified at the awareness level in the area of hazardous materials. Chief Robert Schlacter of the Rutland City Fire Department was the instructor of record.

The Public Safety Services Program serves individuals who may be involved in emergency services-fire, police, rescue, and other related occupations such as corrections, courts, and dispatching. Those first responders are at the most risk of to be involved in a hazardous materials incident involving a truck crash, train delrailment, and spill or explosion in an industrial facility.

There tens of thousands of potentially hazardous materials that first responders may encounter. Some may be flammable, corrosive, radioactive, explosive, cause burns or are infectious. A number of these materials are classified as dangerous, and have more than one risk associated with it.

The students who demonstrated their mastery of this course and received national certification were:

Ashley Barnes and Daniel Ball-RHS, Jo Lilly-Poultney, Cody Hesse and Justin Cram-Otter Valley, Cantlin Eaton, Kayla Jones, and Nate Hance-Mill River. Cantlin Eaton scored 100% on this difficult examination.

Teen Alchohol Awareness at the Prom Fashion Show

Recently, students had the opportunity to learn about alcohol awareness while attending the first ever “Prom Fair” sponsored by WZRT-FM (Z-97). Over 200 teens attended this event which was held at the Rutland Holiday Inn. In addition to a live fashion show featuring the latest in formal wear, there was also an information booth staffed by Stafford Technical Center SADD Chapter and officers from the Rutland County START (Stop Teen Alchohol Risk Team). Not only were students able to collect information on corsages and limosines, but also alchohol education information. The officers and SADD members were available to answer questions, and provided demonstrations involving the “fatal vision goggles”. These goggles are prismatic glasses that distort the viewer’s vision so they begin to act as though they were intoxicated.

The Rutland County START officers present at the event were Trooper Steve Coote of the Vermont State Police and Cpl. Jeff Stephenson of the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department. The SADD students who participated were Jo Lilly and Krista Brayton from Poultney High School, Nate Hance and Erika Stocker from Mill River Union High School, and Ashley Haas of Rutland High School.

Partnerships like these which exist between law enforcement and community members and youth do help to lessen the incidence of underage drinking in our country.