Teens' School Questions Answered

This week school bells will be ringing in many area districts. That means anxious students fretting about their wardrobes, school dances, social issues and homework.

To help ease some of their worries, we asked Angela Brace, a counselor specializing in issues dealing with children and adolescents at Kent's Counseling for Wellness, to answer inquiries from local students.

The questions are from members of the Beacon Journal's Teen Group, a team of 12- to 19-year-olds who are helping us define and tell stories affecting teens.

The following queries are from those entering middle school, high school and college:

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-By Kim Hone-McMahan, Beacon Journal staff writer

Back to school: Stressing Over a New School?

Does “back to school” mean a new school to one of your teens or preteens? This is a stress for everyone, not just your teen.

Depending on how many of your teens friends are going to advance to the same school, or how social your teen is, makes the world of difference on how they will get on.

The stress of a new school can be major, but it’s not something that cannot be dealt with. First...

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-By: Richard Hills, examiner.com

Methadone: The latest teen threat

The last thing 15-year-old Austin Riley Jones told his mother was “good night” and that he loved her.

“I love you, too, Bubba,” Cathy Bandoni told her son, who had spent the day cleaning to raise $20 to take his girlfriend to the movies and then had dinner with his parents.

But the next morning, Jan. 18, Austin did not wake up. Bandoni and her husband, Davy Jones, discovered their only son died in his sleep of a methadone overdose.

Austin’s parents have teamed up with local anti-drug coalition members to warn the public about the dangers of methadone — a prescription painkiller that authorities say is cheap, accessible and increasingly has been causing fatal overdoses.

Local drug abuse task force officials will be meeting Monday to discuss ideas for a public anti-methadone abuse campaign that will also extend throughout the school district. They are hoping it will be as successful as the recent anti-methamphetamine efforts in Washoe County that authorities say contributed to a decline in its use.

Bandoni and Jones learned that the two tiny methadone pills their 6-foot, 200-pound son took after a party the night before created a deadly combination with his routine depression medication.

Washoe County Medical Examiner Dr. Ellen Clark ruled Austin’s death accidental and found that he died of acute combined methadone and fluoxetine intoxication. He had a prescription for the latter drug. Clark described him in her autopsy report as a “naive user,” meaning that deadly dose likely was his first time trying it.

“Our son died on two methadone tablets,” Bandoni said. “He didn’t know what he was getting himself into. This is just so shocking. I never thought in a million years this would happen to us.”

“It wasn’t a handful of pills he took, he took two and was just experimenting,” said Jones, who memorialized his son by having a tattoo of his face etched into his arm. “It’s insane. There is no forgiveness to this drug. It’s deadly. Austin had the whole world in front of him.”

Sgt. Mac Venzon, who heads the regional Street Enforcement Team, which targets drug and prostitution activity, said more local youths are experimenting with prescription drugs in general and believe they are safer than drugs purchased on the street.

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-By Jaclyn O'Malley

Teens will face driving test, extra restrictions in September

A new state law that goes into effect Sept. 1 will require all new drivers younger than age of 21 to pass the state driving exam, reinstating a policy the state ended in 1995.

If teens are issued their learner’s permit by Aug. 31, they don’t have to take the driving test.

The law, H.B. 339, also requires students enrolled in a driver’s ed course to have 20 more hours of behind-the-wheel practice before being issued a license. This means 34 hours of driving practice instead of 14 to pass the course.

In addition, the law will extend the restrictions on provisional licenses, which are issued to teens who have held a learner’s permit for six months, from six months to one year. Restrictions include banning teens from driving with more than one passenger younger than age 21 or from driving between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. except for work, school-related activities or emergency situations.

Edith Galan, 16, of Waco High School, does not have her license yet. She said she had not decided whether she would take driver’s ed or simply take the driving test.

“I don’t know what to think of that, if it’s a good or bad thing (to have to take the driving test),” Edith said.

State officials think the changes will improve teens’ safety on the road. The number of fatal car crashes in which teenagers were the drivers decreased by 32.9 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to a new study released by the Texas Transportation Institute, part of the Texas A&M University System.

-By Regina Dennis Tribune-Herald staff writer

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A Teacher's View of Cell Phones at School

I originally posted this as a comment in a parenting diary, but with back-to-school just around the corner, I thought it might contain a few useful considerations for a broader audience.

First off, I’m not only a teacher, but also a Mom with a 13 yo son. He "has" a cell phone, albeit it is an AT&T Go Phone without email, txt msging, or camera, and it lives in the kitchen cupboard, and it only gets handed out on an as-needed basis (e.g. He’s away from home in FL, on a band trip).

Why have we as parents decided to be so restrictive with this modern-day, wonderful piece of technology?

If you are going back and forth about whether to give or not to give a cell phone to your child as part of their back-to-school accouterments, I’ve provided a list of some things to consider or at least be aware of.

-by: BKAMR, www.dailykos.com

Anorexic Teen's Tragic Death

Jessica MacMillan seemed to have everything to live for but she hid a dark secret.

Beautiful, with a bright future, the 19-year-old psychology student from West Pennant Hills had many friends and had just begun dating her first boyfriend.

But for seven years, she had been battling anorexia nervosa.

After she took her own life on June 13, Jessica's family decided they did not want her death to be in vain.

They have organized a walkathon on Saturday to raise money and awareness for an eating disorder charity, the Butterfly Foundation.

Jessica was diagnosed with the illness when she was 12, after having problems adjusting to the transition from primary to high school, her mother Jo said.

"Jessica's always been tiny - people used to say to her, `You're so lucky', because she could eat two Quarter Pounders and never put on any weight," Mrs Macmillan said.

"She felt the only way she was going to be accepted was by keeping thin."

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Stories like Jessica's happen more often than we'd like to think. Teens struggle with all kinds of self-esteem issues that can eventually take over and even end their lives. Recognizing signs early and knowing treatment options can be of help if your teen happens to struggle with an eating disorder.

The Problems Teenagers Face

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is one of the most difficult periods in a teenager’s life.

The problems teenagers face today are daunting indeed. While peer pressure and cliques have been negative influences for decades, there are some new elements which are frightening, both for teens and parents.

When you put it all together, it is hard to know how to manage and help overcome these challenging problems teenagers face in the modern world.

Here we take a look, point by point, at six major elements and how to help teens get through this stressful, dangerous period.

-www.moreinformationon.com