News
Another Successful Too Good for Drugs Jr. Gasparilla Distance Classic
The Mendez Foundation was thrilled to once again sponsor the Publix Too Good for Drugs Jr. Gasparilla Distance Classic held annually in Tampa, Florida. Held prior to the nationally-recognized Gasparilla Distance Classic, the event brings children of all ages together to take part in a day of activities and exercise that promote healthy, happy behaviors. Ranging in distances from 30 yards to one mile, children aged 2-10 took to the track at Thomas Jefferson High School. Our prevention specialists in Tampa make it a point to join in on the fun every year and cheer on the children as they make a dash for the finish line. Our friends Carmen and Wagner, the mascots for the Too Good for Drugs elementary school programs, also had the opportunity to drop by and root on the participants and assist with arts and crafts. This annual event is a wonderful way to remind children the importance of learning how positive behaviors and healthy choices can give them the tools they need to know that they are Too Good for Drugs. We looking forward to taking part in next year’s event and hope you can join us in Tampa in 2018!
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The Power of Teachers to Address the Opioid Epidemic
According to the Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, Health, prescription drug misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation. In response, schools and community organizations are taking a proactive approach to help children and teens lead healthy and productive lives and stay substance-free. As Josh Cornfield of the Associated Press reports in Schools Reach Beyond 'Just Say No' On Opioid Dangers, many teachers are now addressing this topic with students as young as kindergarten. Linda Richter, Director of Policy Research and Analysis for the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, recommends that schools rely on rigorously evaluated and proven prevention programs, like the Mendez Foundation's Too Good for Drugs. The evidence-based Too Good for Drugs program is designed to empower students grades K-12 with the skills they need to make healthy choices, build positive friendships, resist negative peer pressure, and ultimately avoid drug use. More specifically, lessons on understanding the negative health effects related to prescription drug misuse are available in the following grades: Too Good for Drugs Grade 4 Too Good for Drugs Grade 6 Too Good for Drugs Grade 7 Too Good for Drugs Grade 8 Too Good for Drugs High School To learn more about Too Good for Drugs, and how you can prevent substance misuse, click here.
Read moreThe Countdown to Red Ribbon Week Begins!
Can you feel the excitement in the air? Red Ribbon Week is almost here! During October 23rd - 31st, schools and communities across the country will celebrate living a substance-free lifestyle. Here are some fun ideas for making the most of Red Ribbon Week in your schools and communities! Monday: Goal for It! Talk to your students about how substance-use interferes with reaching their goals. Students can name a short-term goal they’d like to reach by the end of the week. Display the Goal Setting Poster in your classroom to help your students track their progress. Tuesday: Brain Science! Talk with students about the negative effects of substance-use on the developing brain and body and how they can protect their bodies as they grow. Hold a short essay writing contest for students to choose and research one negative effect of substance-use on the brain or body. Wednesday: Bring it Home! Parents and caregiver influence is essential to helping students stay substance-free. Home Workouts provide great opportunities for students to share with their parents what they are learning about substance-free living. Choose one from your Too Good toolkit to send home with students or design your own. Thursday: Around Town! Students who live substance-free are positive role models in their communities. Red Ribbon Week is a great time to encourage students to volunteer in their communities and help others see how passionate they are about making healthy decisions. Friday: Happy, Healthy, and Strong! A big part of being a good friend is being a positive influence. Students can sign a cutout handprint to put on the classroom door in a pledge to a substance-free lifestyle that will illustrate pro-social bonding. Looking for more? Check out Celebrating Healthy Choices! This one-week activity set for Grades K-5 introduces the fundamentals of social-emotional skills while building school connectedness. Kits include everything you need to organize your school-wide events: plans and scripts for opening and closing assemblies, fully scripted fun and engaging activities, and so much more! However you choose to celebrate, here’s wishing you a fun and inspiring week! Let the countdown begin!
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Introducing Too Good for Drugs High School Revised
A look at any reputable study on current alcohol and drug use among youth will bring no surprise; substance use is still prevalent among teens. As children enter their teen years, they face increasingly complex challenges and influences. According to a survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 60 percent of high school students, at both public and private schools, reported drug-infected campuses. Such statistics make prevention efforts more relevant than ever. This week, individuals from across the nation will convene in Washington D.C. for CADCA’s 26th Annual National Leadership Forum and SAMHSA’s 12th Annual Prevention Day. Coalition leaders, prevention specialists, public health professionals, parents, and youth will join together to address the essential part prevention plays in keeping our youth substance-free. And on this auspicious occasion, we announce with excitement our latest prevention effort: the forthcoming release of our revised Too Good for Drugs High School curriculum. The revised curriculum builds social emotional competency through fun and age appropriate lessons that foster self-awareness and social awareness. With the help of educators, counselors, and prevention specialists, our evidence-based curriculum equips teens with the skills they need to resist negative influence that may lead to substance use, as well as prepares them for academic success that will carry over into their college and professional careers. Sign up today to receive program updates and news!
Read moreThe Benefits of Responsible Decision Making
"The time is always right to do what is right."- Martin Luther King Jr. As children grow, they face ever evolving challenges that require them to make increasingly complex decisions. For a kindergartner, this might be deciding to share a toy. For a senior in high school, this could be recognizing negative peer influence and incorporating that knowledge into their decision making. Learning to consider the positive and negative consequences of a decision is essential at any of these stages, and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) identifies responsible decision making as one of the five pillars of social emotional learning. CASEL states that decision-making skills can help children negotiate the following: Ethical Standards: By being challenged to make decisions, children evaluate and develop ethical standards that influence character building. Social Norms: Decision-making skills that incorporate positive social norms as an influence help children navigate the difficulties of adolescence and resist peer pressure and peer influence. Consequences: Children with strong decision-making skills can evaluate potential consequences of actions in order to determine what choice is the best option. By developing responsible decision-making skills early on, children are prepared to face the real world challenges that will impact the course of their lives. And with those responsible decision-making skills in place, children are equipped to lead happy and prosperous lives.
Read moreVolunteerism Encourages Social Emotional Learning
The Holiday season is a time to be grateful for the many blessings we have in our lives. It is also a time we can help make the lives of others better. A report on National Public Radio states one in five families with children will go without enough food during the holiday season. Families, schools, and communities have an opportunity to address these needs by volunteering locally and by donating toys, food, and other goods. Children who volunteer become more aware of their own lives in relation to the lives of others. Volunteering also offers children the opportunity to develop and apply key social emotional skills. Social Awareness: Children exposed to and aware of the diverse backgrounds of others learn how to interact with others with respect, empathy, and open-mindedness. Responsible Decision-Making: Volunteering teaches children to make respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions in situations they may not have otherwise encountered. Relationship Skills: By listening to and interacting with the experiences of others, children learn to communicate clearly, listen actively, and respond to the needs of others. Social emotional skills are essential for academic, personal, and professional success. Through volunteering, children have the opportunity to better the lives of those around them and to develop skills that will lead them to lifelong success. All of us at the Mendez Foundation wish you a safe and happy holiday season!
Read moreBuilding School Connectedness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advocate school connectedness as an essential ingredient to buffer youth against engaging in risky behaviors such as tobacco, alcohol, and drug use or aggressive and violent behavior. Students who feel connected to their schools stake a claim in their learning and are therefore more likely to make healthy choices and stay on a path toward academic success. Schools, families, and communities must work together to create a caring and supportive environment for students. Adult Support: Parent engagement encourages positive student behavior and academic success. Schools can engage families to take part in their child’s education through interactive take-home activities or newsletters. Belonging to a Positive Peer Group: Students with strong social emotional skills are better equipped for positive peer bonding. Students are faced with the challenge of selecting their friends, and strong decision-making skills will help them choose positive peer groups. Commitment to Education: Students who have an active interest in their education are more persistent in succeeding academically. Participatory learning enhances students’ commitment to their education by keeping them interested and engaged. School Environment: A caring and supportive school environment fosters student learning. Students who feel they are valued are more comfortable and therefore more willing to take healthy risks as they try and learn. Students who are actively connected with their schools develop positive behaviors that reinforce their decisions to avoid risky behaviors and to set positive short and long term goals. Strong social emotional skills, coupled with a supportive school climate and caring adult involvement, foster in students the resiliency they need to meet the challenges they face in childhood, adolescence, and beyond into adulthood.
Read moreNational Prevention Week
Wagner was so excited to participate in SAMHSA’s “I Choose” Project for National Prevention Week! As we wrap up a week of spreading messages for prevention, we at the Mendez Foundation reflect on our origins, and we thought it would be fun to share with you a little of our history. Doing good work for the health and well-being of our children is nothing new for the Mendez Foundation. For more than thirty-five years, we've been developing and implementing prevention education programs K-12 that teach kids they are too good for drugs and violence. Our evidence-based, skill-building programs make a positive impact on the lives of students, teachers, parents, and community leaders nationwide. Charles E. Mendez established the C. E. Mendez Foundation in 1964 to support local charitable organizations serving underprivileged children and their families living in the Tampa Bay area. Following his death in 1967, Charles E. Mendez’s legacy and the Mendez Foundation were carried on by his family. In 1975, Charles E. Mendez, Jr., now President of the Foundation, grew concerned with the alarming growth of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use by young people. He refocused the Foundation's efforts to develop and deliver prevention education programs to address these substance abuse problems. To that end, our own Prevention Specialists have been positive role models delivering Too Good for Drugs in Hillsborough County Public Schools since 1980. The Foundation's programs would be developed with this philosophy in mind: providing children age-appropriate, factual information about the negative health effects of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, combined with development of critical decision making and goal setting skills, delivered by professional educators who are positive role models, will result in better decision-making by our children. We also put our community stakeholder hats on when we put together fun, free family events like the Too Good for Drugs Walk and Kidfest and the I am Too Good for Drugs Junior Gasparilla Distance Classic events in Tampa. Summertime in Tampa bridges the school years with the Summer Parks program in the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Centers. Our social emotional learning skills-based prevention programs soon gained national recognition, and our curricula are currently used by over 3,500 school districts, community agencies, and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. As prevention educators, we have a professional commitment to the careful development, rigorous testing, and on-going refinement of our programs. As an organization, we have a time honored commitment to ready children for success in school and in their future careers. It's our purpose and our passion.
Read moreMarijuana Use Linked to Lower IQ
Last week we looked at the effects of alcohol on the developing teenage brain, and marijuana use is just as detrimental. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) recently released a study that researched the long term effects of marijuana use. The results included MRI scans that observed physical changes in the brain and reveal chronic marijuana use can actually lower the IQ by five points. This is particularly the case when use begins at an early age. Because the human brain continues developing into the mid-twenties, regular exposure to toxic substances can hinder its healthy maturation. It is essential, then, that we talk to children at an early age about the potential damage of the use of this substance. According to a CNN report, Dr. Susan Weiss, associate director of Scientific Affairs at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says the PNAS study “showed that the orbitofrontal cortex, an area involved in reward, decision making and motivation, was smaller in heavy users.” Teens engaging in marijuana use risk interfering with their ability to function at peak capacity and are therefore robbed of meeting their fullest potential. With recent trends of increasing legal access to marijuana, it is timelier than ever that we talk to children and teens about the effects of the drug’s use on the brain and body. In the eyes of the teenager, the evolving legal status implies a green light to use. However, just because something is legal does not mean it is necessarily safe. Informing teens of the negative consequences of substance use, as well as equipping them with the skills they need to make responsible decisions, can keep them healthy and substance-free.
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