Kids These Days • spring 2012 •

Babies on Track premiere events a success

Spirit of Youth Celebration page 2

NYO Games page 3

Healy Dancers at Disney page 5

Leaders in LKSD page 5

Families and friends in communities throughout Alaska recently gathered in support of our young-est citizens.

More than 160 premiere events took place in 80 communities to share Babies on Track, a DVD with companion board books that celebrate early learning and foster parent interactions with their children. In addition to watching the video, events consisted of various activities including: • Distributing free board books to families with children under two,• Group readings for the children,• Modeling fun, brain-building activities for kids,• Helping parents write postcards to their legisla- tors about the importance of early learning.

While a majority of these events took place Feb. 25 - March 4, the Lower Yukon and Lake and Pen-insula areas continued premiere events through the end of March.

www.babiesontrackalaska.org www.bestbeginningsalaska.org

Early Learning Downloadable Handouts

The following handouts will help you get the most out of your board books, with some extra tips on building your child’s communication skills:

What You Can Do with a Wordless Book Targets for Kindergarten: Talk with Your Child Read with Your Child

Kids These Days • spring 2012 •

K T

D •

2

On March 24th over 300 individuals came to the Anchorage Marriott in support of young Alaskans who received the Spirit of Youth award. The mission of Spirit of Youth is to promote, create and recognize youth involvement in their communities. Nominations are reviewed monthly and become story leads that are sent to media outlets throughout the year. This year, Spirit of Youth received 140 nomina-tions for outstanding students from communities across the state.

The nomination process culminates in a celebratory dinner honoring the 22 individuals and groups who ultimately receive the top honors in these 11 respective award categories -- Lifesaver and Prevention, Media and Technology, Service to Children, Science and Environ-ment, Fine Arts, Cultural Pursuits, Service to Peers, Service to Com-munity, and Overcoming Challenges.

See the complete list of award winners at spiritofyouth.org.

Spirit of Youth Celebrates Caring Studentswww.spiritofyouth.org

Beginning in March, ParentFurther.com, Search Institute’s parenting resource, is offering free, monthly, expert-guided webinars.

The webinars are designed to accommodate busy parents who want to learn how to raise successful kids and organizations that want to engage parents with positive parenting tips and resources.

Experts, who range from professors to authors to youth-serving profes-sionals, will address current hot topics in parenting, such as bullying and body image.

Search to Offer Free Webinars for Parentswww.search-institute.org

Tune in to the webinars at:www.parentfurther.com

2012 Spirit of Youth Award winners hail from 16 communities around Alaska.

Maligiaq Johnsen Padilla with wife

Elizabeth Hensley andtheir little girl Aqattaqattended the Awards

Banquet.

Isabel Yamat (left) and Michaela and

Olivia Brown (Olivia not pictured) received Faith-based Service Awards, a catagory

sponsored by AASB.photo credit: Mntboy Media

photo credit: Mntboy Media

Over 300 family members, friends, and supporters from youth organizations and the

public attended the inspiring event.

Kids These Days • spring 2012 •

K T

D • 3

The Alaska state finals for Poetry Out Loud took place March 27 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center. Ten high

school students from around the state competed. The com-petition, presented in partnership with the National Endow-ment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through

memorization, recitation, and competition.

Congratulations to all 10 finalists (listed at right). Aryeh Lax of Anchorage was named the winner and took home $200.

He also won a $500 stipend for his school library and will compete at the national finals in Washington DC this May.

Encourage student participation and learn more about Poetry Out Loud here.

Ten Students Participate in Poetry Out Loud State Finals

The 2012 NYO Games, formerly known as Na-tive Youth Olympics, will take place April 27-29 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage.

The NYO Games bring hundreds of Alaska students from across the state (grades 7 through 12) together for friendly competition and to celebrate traditional Alaska Native activities. The event is a tribute to traditional values and survival skills, sportsmanship, physical health and athletics.

More than 500 athletes will compete in various activities such as the wrist carry, the high kick, seal hop, kneel jump, and others. In addition to showcasing their athletic gifts, the games are an opportunity for the youth to build self-esteem, teamwork and collaborative skills, and inter-act with students from all around Alaska.

Admission is free. Come out and support Alaska youth!

2012 NYO Games Coming to Anchorage April 27-29www.citci.org/nyogamesalaska

The 10 Alaska State Finalists

Jessica Andersen, Unalaska City School, UnalaskaReilly Clarke, Lathrop High School, Fairbanks

Katie Jones, Thunder Mountain High School, JuneauJesse Klejka, Bethel Regional High School, BethelAryeh Lax, Steller Secondary School, Anchorage

Chaya Pike, Sitka High School, SitkaDarien Southall, Frank A. Degnan High School, Unalakleet

Brittni Tully-Dapcevich, Revilla Alternative High School, KetchikanRuby Walden, Tok School, Tok

Whitney Winders, Colony High School, Wasilla

Two-foot high kick

Blanket Toss

Wrist Carry

2012 NYO Games

Schedule of Events

Follow NYO on Facebook, Twitter, and

YouTube

Kids These Days • spring 2012 •

K T

D •

4

Week of 4/16: Autism - Alaska resources available to those with autism and their caregivers, what exactly is autism? Therapy animals and autism; a mom in Haines explains the unique way in which she explains her son’s autism to his kindergarten classmates.

Week of 4/23: Laughter and Humor - Every parent knows that maintaining a good sense of humor is impor-tant when raising children. So how can we all insert more laughter (the best medicine!) into our everyday lives and learn to laugh more as a family?

Week of 4/30: Making the Transition to College - It’s a big time of every college-bound teens’ life - leaving home and heading off to university - and at this point most fami-lies will have been working very hard to launch that kid out into the world. How are parents and teens adjusting to this big change?

Upcoming Shows on Kids These Days Radiowww.kidsthesedays.org

kidsthesedays.org

At the KTD website you can browse and listen to previous shows, post comments or ques-

tions and find services for families.

Contact the KTD team to suggest show ideas, subscribe to the podcast and read one of eight entertaining and informative blogs.

Thirteen year old Keefer Brown, a seventh-grader at Teeland Middle School in Wasilla, raised $3,500 to rehabilitate sick and injured seals at the

Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward by selling candles he made and decorated.

Teressa Baldwin, an 18 year old senior at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, started a non-profit organization for student councils focused on

suicide prevention efforts.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States’ largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer

community service.

Two Alaska Students Win National Spirit Awards

In addition to catching the show at the radio stations listed to the right, you can visit the show archive at

kidsthesedays.org.

For more information on the Alaska State Honorees and distinguished finalists, visit:

www.spirit.prudential.com.

KTD blogs

The other distinguished finalists for the Alaska awards are Regan Fitzgerald (Anchorage) and

Courtney Stroh (Kenai).

Kids These Days • spring 2012 •

K T

D • 5

Zabrina Byfuglien saw a palm tree for the first time. Kyle Lundgren and Megan Shreeve wiggled their toes on a sandy California beach for the first time.

Along with 13 other teens, those members of Motion Sensors Dance Troupe rode in a stretch Hummer limousine to Santa Monica Pier, where they watched street performers, rode a roller coaster and ate churros.

And that was the jet lag recuperation day. The reason for the trip? Dance Excellence 2012, an international dance convention in Los Angeles. Only one group is invited from each state and from 35 countries.

Both Sen. Mark Begich and Gov. Sean Parnell congratulated the troupe in letters this week.

Motion Sensors Dance Troupe represented Alaska at this international gathering of dancers. They performed at Disney’s California Adventure Park. (photo at right)

Meanwhile, they are dancing every day, taking classes from famous dancers and choreographers. Continue reading this story at the News-Miner website.

Healy’s Motion Sensors Dance Troupe storms California - By Kris Capps, for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

AASB’s Jenni Lefing and Claire Richardson visited the Lower Kuskokwim School District in February to facilitate a two-day student leadership training in Bethel. Twenty-three LKSD high school students from six communitiies attended. Workshop topics included Leader-ship, Communication, Decision Making, School Climate and Connectedness, and Action Planning.

As part of the training, students took a tour of KYUK radio where they met key staff, recorded station ids, and were interviewed by Sophie Evan in Yup’ik and English.

Each student returned home with plans for site-specific projects they will carry out before the end of this school

year. Projects included reducing tardiness, showing respect to others, and educating students about the

importance of a good school environment.

Listen to the student interviews in Yup’ik and Englishthat took place at KYUK radio

Students Learn Leadership and Keep Yup’ik Language Alive in LKSD

Produced by:The Association of Alaska School Boards’ Alaska Initiative for Community Engagement1111 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99801(907) 463-1660 Fax: (907) 586-2995E-mail: aasb@aasb.orgWeb: www.alaskaice.org

The content of this newsletter was developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, this content does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of

Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal government.