<p>I am so impressed by all of you on this thread this week…spectrum kudos to you, but I do agree what a great teaching moment for this young man…and credit to him as well for owning up to it as well…</p>
<p>holliesue: hoping that the snow moves out early enough for you!!</p>
<p>LINYMOM: from someone who was far, far away for the Dec 26th blizzard, enjoy your time in FLA…</p>
<p>Daughter and I attended the Elon info session in NJ last night (she wanted to see her admissions rep to say hi!!); turned out that alot of new admits showed up so definitely productive…and, yes, they did show the famous tear jerking video again (thought they had removed it from their info sessions, but I guess not!!)</p>
<p>The only new info I gleaned from this was that it is getting much more difficult for kids from Mass, NJ, NY, MD to be accepted in the EA round…the demographics are just overwhelming…</p>
<p>re: weather: Does anyone else who grew up in the NY/NJ area feel like we are back in the 1960’s and 1970’s?? I just remember as a kid, it continuously snowing…</p>
<p>Kudoes to spectrum and all who have responded to Richie. I just posted over on his thread too, echoing other posters from this thread. I remember the second person that I encountered who used the term “jew him down” - my college roommate on my first day of college! My immediate response was “Don’t say that! Do you realize that you are offending people?” She quickly apologized, saying that she had never thought about that before. I think that we all need to prepare our kids for this type of thing before they go to college. </p>
<p>holliesue, best wishes to your dad! Be safe!</p>
<p>I just wanted to gently correct the person who thought that I was a doctor when I explained something about the meningitis vaccine. I am actually a nurse practitioner.</p>
<p>That being said, there a couple of other vaccines that may have been missed in this age group.
One is Hepatitis A, which is a series of two shots six months apart. It used to be recommended for foreign travel, certain parts of the country or certain populations (such as men who have sex with men). But it is now recommended for all kids and is generally given at age 1. Older kids should be caught up with it at any age. Hepatitis A can be spread through food, water, fecal-oral transfer which is usually inadvertent, or blood and body fluid exchange. There have been some significant foodborne outbreaks through restaurant chains (for example, through green onions which are particularly hard to clean).</p>
<p>Another is HPV, a series of three shots which is now recommended for both girls and boys. It prevents the two viruses that most commonly cause cervical cancer, and the two viruses that most commonly cause genital warts. A vaccine against cancer - how great! (Hepatitis B vaccine also prevents cancer, as the Hepatitis B virus can lead to cancer.) By immunizing boys, we prevent them from getting genital warts from those viruses, and we also prevent them from spreading the viruses that cause cervical cancer to girls.</p>
<p>And, we should make sure that they have a Tdap, which prevents tetanus, diptheria and pertussis. Many of them had a Td, just the tetanus and diptheria part, before vaccine manufacturers added the pertussis. Pertussis is commonly known as whooping cough, which can affect older teenagers and adults and which is very nasty and prolonged- but more importantly can cause death in infants. So, immunizing teenagers prevents them from getting it but also prevents them from giving it to infants when they become parents or are in contact with infants. If your teenager has already had Tdap, he or she (and you!) need to keep up with a Td every five to ten years. </p>
<p>And, it is now recommended that kids recieve a booster dose of MMR (which this age group should have had at age four or five) and also of Varicella (which is chickenpox, and many in this age group missed this booster as it was not recommended at the time.) It was found that the chickenpox virus was breaking through the vaccine when only one was administered - so now a second one is given. Some in this age group actually had the chickenpox disease - so they would not need the vaccine.</p>
<p>Rodney - I too was at Elon’s NJ info session last night! Was extremely impressed. My typically apathetic son walked away saying that the academics seemed “really cool.” I think the “engaged learning” concept was very appealing to him. I fear it will be a reach for him, but he will definitely apply. I felt like a B+ student would definitely be in their lower range. From our large NJ public school, we have only had a handful of students apply, but all of those accepted have clearly been A students. No one has attended from our high school yet.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom- ED at Elon would definitely something to think about. My S is not there yet. He doesn’t know what he wants! Loves to ski, so UVM or CU-Boulder sound good. Loves sports, so Syracuse or UConn sound good. Notice that I haven’t mentioned anything about academics! Last night was the first time I have heard a bit of maturity, when he was taken by the engaged learning approach. I hope to take him to visit in the Spring, and maybe that will sway him one way or another.</p>
<p>Yes RVM - My S is a junior. At the session last night, I believe they mentioned the April 9 was the Open House for juniors. Just looked on the Elon website, and it looks like that event is booked to capacity!</p>
<p>She is breathing on her own and able to move her arms. Really encouraging news.</p>
<p>But I also heard today that the ridiculous pseudo-church that protests at military funerals is planning to protest at the memorial service in Tucson tomorrow. This group is out of control!</p>
<p>And efforts underway to block their protest:</p>
<p>TUCSON, AZ – The Arizona state legislature’s plan to limit the ability of members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church to protest the funerals of victims of the mass shooting over the weekend is gathering overwhelming bipartisan support.</p>
<p>State legislators said that Arizona’s bill will be modeled after an Ohio bill that was upheld by federal courts.</p>
<p>The Westboro Baptist Church announced shortly after the mass shooting that killed six individuals and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) that they would picket the funerals of “however many are dead” including a nine-year-old girl. The group came to national prominence protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, claiming the deaths are God’s punishment for the country’s immoral attitude towards homosexuality.</p>
<p>Daniel Scarpinato, communications director for state House speaker Kirk Adams (R), told TPM that Adams “thinks it is extremely important that this pass today.”</p>
<p>Scarpitano said Adams finds the Westboro Baptist Church “disgusting” and is working hard behind the scenes in Phoenix today to get the anti-protest bill passed.</p>
<p>Well, so far Southwest won’t change my flight for free. I need to wait until the snow is coming down tomorrow and maybe they will make accommodations for Thursday flights. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>We had a great day - so exhausting having a good time!! Gym, tennis, hot tub, pool… I did manage some business calls though.</p>
<p>momjr: if you want to fly south on president’s weekend, don’t delay in making reservations! I made our flights for that week when southwest first posted those flights (cost more than this week, that’s for sure!). I’m coming down for part of that week with DS.</p>
<p>yabeyabe: have fun on your cruise! we love to cruise and we’ve always paid premium price on school vacations. can’t wait till we can do it off-season!</p>
<p>No college talk from me tonight. I’m in vacation mode (well partly). Have a good night!</p>
<p>RVM, how disgusting can WBC get! My fear is that these kinds of actions incite even more violence among the delusionary.
At least there is bipartisan support for this bill to limit protests at funerals.</p>
<p>LINYMOM, you’re lucky to be away from here. They just upped the estimate to 18 inches and school is already cancelled for tomorrow before a flake comes down. I’m seriously wondering whether D and I will make it out for our visit to MUOhio and Indiana on Thursday.</p>
<p>Enjoy LINYMOM and Yabe and anyone else who had the foresight to schedule a vacation now rather than college visits.</p>
<p>Not sure how many of you also read threads on the Parent Cafe - but there is a thread about Debbie Friedman, and paying3tuitions posted this link to the funeral service:</p>
<p>It’s about 2 hours in length - I just had a few minutes and watched a few snippets of it - particularly lovely, moving song at the end as the casket is carried out. If you are snowed in tomorrow and have some time - you may want to watch at least some of the service.</p>
<p>Wow…just checked in and read Richie’s apology…very impressed. You did a good thing in educating the misinformed/ignorant.</p>
<p>My CC and personal worlds have collided over the past couple of days. Was talking w/ some friends, and it turns out that The Race to Nowhere is playing at a local school tomorrow night, so I am going to go see it w/ them.</p>
<p>Then, I was talking w/ my sister yesterday, and she mentioned that she is reading The Blessing of a B-…I ordered it this afternoon. </p>
<p>If not for the community here, I wouldn’t know about those two things, and would not have payed as much attention to their mention here.</p>
<p>Unbelievably jealous here of LINYMOM and yabeyabe. Another day in Florida sounds delightful right about now, as I lay in wait for the blizzard. And a twelve day cruise!</p>
<p>I’m disgusted too by the Westboro Church. Where is the compassion? </p>
<p>I’d like to take a look at Ritchie’s apology. Can someone direct me to the thread? I’ll be honest, though, that I don’t think I’m ready to forgive him. maybe after I see what he says, I’ll feel differently but my inner cynic wonders if he’s just doing what’s expedient. I guess it’s a defense mechanism on my part.</p>
<p>How wonderful that you are stuck IN Florida instead of being stuck up here waiting to go to Florida! Not such a bad thing! :)</p>
<p>Yabe:</p>
<p>Enjoy your cruise. I went on 4 cruises in 5 years and now totally “cruised out”. However, they are lots of fun. We especially like the ones that are “port” heavy so we spend as much time as we can ashore…where ya goin’?! Great timing to escape the snow for awhile!</p>
<p>C43: Go to the search function and type in richie0777 and up will come his thread.</p>
<p>Mhc: Are you flying or driving? Flying could be a problem!</p>
<p>Umich: As I told RVM…I also want to read that book, but need to finish the two I’m in the middle of! Maybe I’ll order it too very soon…</p>