Kayla Jones Archives - Stafford Technical Center

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.

Public Safety Student Attends Advanced Training at the Vermont Police Academy

Kayla Jones, a senior in her second year in the Stafford Technical Center Public Safety Services Program, has begun a series of three courses in Animal Cruelty Investigation at the Vermont Police Academy as part of her studies. Kayla, who is a Tinmouth resident, who will be graduating from Mill River Union High School in June, has had a long interest in the law enforcement field, especially as it relates to animals- becoming a canine handler, an animal cruelty investigator, and/or an animal control officer.

Through the Public Safety Services Program’s ongoing partnership with the Vermont Police Academy, Kayla was allowed to attend Animal Cruelty Investigation Levels I, II, and III. These courses are usually only offered to veteran police officers as in-service training. The Vermont Police Academy provides many services for the Public Safety Services Program- academy staff members who provide outstanding instruction to the class, the ropes course for team building, and guidance and direction for the program through the academy’s Executive Director, RJ Elrick, who acts as a program advisory committee member. The Public Safety Program’s students assist the Vermont Police Academy by acting as enactors in scenario-based training and as assistants as part of an intern process.

The Animal Cruelty Investigation Courses deal with all aspects of these offenses. Animal hoarding violations, which have recently been widely reported in Vermont, involve people who have large numbers of animals, sometimes including farm animals, and then fail to adequately take care of their animals. Cruelty cases may also involve fighting, like cockfighting and dog fighting, which may become more common as we become more ethnically and culturally diverse. People who intentionally hurt household pets sometimes do this as part of a pattern of domestic violence; others, particularly children, who intentionally injure animals, are often demonstrating behaviors that indicate future anti-social behaviors. Almost all serial killers started by torturing animals.

Kayla’s interest in making a difference in the lives of animals is deep-seated. She will be doing a series of internships with local enforcement agencies as part of her second year in the Public Safety Services Program.

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.

Stafford SADD Members Instruct Peers on Improper Cell Phone Usage

The Stafford Technical Center Public Safety Services class was asked to make a presentation to the entire school at the Student of the Marking Period Assembly. The students decided to accept the challenge and, under the direction of Erika Stocker, who was the Project Director, came up with the topic of improper cell phone usage. The group then worked to flesh out subtopics, and each student developed a subtopic that he or she would be responsible for. The subtopics were then amalgamated into a cohesive presentation.

The subtopics included all facets involving improperly using a cell phone and texting. Kayla Jones, a junior from Mill River, dealt with the issue of the rude and annoying behaviors that people by carrying on loud or disgusting cell phone conversations in public places. She found stories of how widespread the problem is- that stars of Broadway musicals have been known to stop in the middle of a song to tell a theatergoer to get off the phone. Justin Cram, a senior from Otter Valley, and Jon Schaff, a senior from Fair Haven dealt with the ringtone issue- all those weird and annoying ringtones that often drive people crazy. They also discovered that ringtones are a $500 million a year business, and that some of the 10 second ringtones that people download carry with them a contract of up to two years and a monthly rate of up to $15.99.

Using cell phones to cheat was covered by Dan Ball of Rutland High School. He found that cell phones offer many new technologies to facilitate cheating, including web browsing for answers, texting the answers to a friend, and a host of other methods. Dan did find, however, that while cell phones did make cheating easier, they don’t make honest students cheaters. Nate Hance, a junior from Mill River, addressed the issues of misdirecting your text messages or phone calls to other parties, and how embarrassing that can be. He found two really pertinent stories, one involving Lily Allen, who he describes as England’s Paris Hilton, who took topless photos of herself and sent them to a guy with the same name as her boyfriend. The other involves a hapless Syracuse, NY drug dealer whose text message with details of his upcoming large drug deal went accidentally to a police officer’s phone.

A very important cell phone issue to teens is something called sexting- the sending of sexually explicit text messages to others or sending naked or partially undressed photos of oneself to peers. This portion was written, researched and presented by Joanna Lilly of Poultney High School and Erika Stocker of Mill River; they discovered that as many as 40% of teen girls may be involved. They also found out that in about 1 out of 6 cases, after a breakup, usually one initiated by the girl, the former boyfriend widely distributes the photos. Cody Hesse of Otter Valley Union High School investigated the use of cell phones while driving, a topic which is being looked at by state legislatures everywhere in the country. Cody found research that stated that the practice of driving while texting is so dangerous that it is statistically more dangerous than driving while drunk.

Cantlin Eaton, a junior from Mill River, addressed the issues of using one’s cell phones in an emergency situation. While sometimes cell phones could be useful in avoiding a disaster, they can jam up the airwaves, so that emergency responders can not use theirs. Additionally, a new problem that is starting to become known is the use of cell phone cameras to take photos of accident victims or fire scenes, which are then bulk forwarded. Besides being a gross violation of the victim’s privacy, this sets in motion the possibility that someone will be notified of their loved one’s death by getting a grisly photo forwarded to them.

The last issue that was dealt with was that of bullying by cell phone, which was researched by Ashley Barnes, a junior from Rutland High School. This problem has many different aspects- from just sending hurtful messages, to starting rumors (in one case a middle school girl was rumored to be carrying SARS; the school population avoided her), to taking unflattering photos of other students without their knowledge in the bathroom or shower. This behavior not only is detrimental to the school, it is also illegal.

Following the Stafford Technical Center Student of the Marking Period Assembly, the group was asked to do a presentation to the West Rutland High School, which they did as members of Students Against Destructive Decisions. The SADD members also presented this program to about 350 7^th and 8^th graders and their teachers in two presentations at Rutland Middle School.

Students establish Highway Safety Partnership with Pittsford’s Maclure Library

The Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program (VTLSP) Chapters from Stafford Technical Center and Proctor High School recently established a partnership with the Maclure Library in Pittsford. VTLSP, an organization of high school students from around the state, wanted to bring increased awareness to the dangers of excessive speeding on Vermont roadways. One startling statistic is that 36% of all fatal motorcycle crashes are speed related, and young males are the most likely to be involved in a fatal speed related crash.

VTLSP created a slogan, “Slow Down, Stick Around”, which would be printed on ribbons with an attached card explaining the risks of speeding. These ribbons were originally to be distributed at highway rest areas and visitor centers. However, VTLSP wanted to expand their venues to include auto body and repair shops, local chambers of commerce, and car dealers. It was also suggested that these ribbons would make excellent bookmarks so public libraries were added as a distribution point.

Those students involved in delivering the ribbons and cards to Bonnie Stewart, Librarian at the Maclure Library were Kayla Jones and Vicky Stone of Stafford Technical Center and Alyssa Zsido of Proctor High School.They were accompanied by their advisors, John D’Esposito (Stafford) and Claire Molner (Proctor).

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.