HEARD IN RYE Bringing Prominent Speakers on Key Topics to Rye Jeffrey Marx Season of Life: A Football Star, A Boy, A Journey to Manhood Jeffrey Marx was the youngest-ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1986. Many more awards, four books and countless newspaper and magazine articles later, attest to the importance of his message. An inspirational speaker, he’s making a powerful difference to those who hear him. In his presentation, Mr. Marx focuses on the major themes of building healthy relationships, building community, and building leaders. He inspires audiences with a whole new definition of what it really ought to mean to be a successful man or woman in this world. He offers the power of a personal journey focused on such concepts as empathy, integrity, inclusion, justice, and living a life of service to others. Comments on Mr. Marx’s presentation include this from Sports Illustrated: "Jeffrey Marx has used the most violent of American games to show how men and boys should dare not be afraid to look for love. I was tremendously touched;” and from USA Today, "In a warm, passionate story, Jeffrey Marx finds a boyhood hero who ends up leading him on a fascinating personal journey. This is a book that every father and son will enjoy." Carl Lewis, Olympic champion, said of Mr. Marx’s work: "Season of Life should be required reading for every high school student in America and every parent as well;” and CBS Sports stated, "This book will grab your heart. It captures the essence of what sports can be and should be in the development of young athletes." In addition to his writing, Marx is co-founder and director of the Wendy Marx Foundation for Organ Donor Awareness named for his sister, a liver transplant recipient who parlayed her own health challenges into an important message of hope for others. Monday, September 17, 7:30 PM Rye High School Performing Arts Center Lloyd Thacker Confidence Counts: Clearing the Path to College College decisions can be as stressful for parents as they are for students. Lloyd Thacker, renowned expert on colleges, admissions and an informed approach to the process, has taken the crucial step to constructive action in dealing with the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the whole topic. A college admission and college counseling professional for 28 years, Mr. Thacker went on to edit and publish the book College Unranked, Ending the College Admissions Frenzy, and establish a non-profit organization, The Education Conversancy (www.educationconservancy.org), working to align admission practices with educational principles. He advocates “Studenthood” and deplores the pernicious effects of commercially-driven admission practices. Currently, he’s orchestrating nationwide reform efforts among college presidents, trustees, foundations, admission deans, students, parents, and high schools to this end. A review of College Unnranked said that is the “most important effort yet to yank back the college application/admission process from the grasp of college rankings, commercial guidebooks, and expensive private consultants and to restore it where it belongs: in the hands of students and their parents.” In his presentation, “Confidence Counts, Clearing the Path to Collegehood,” Mr. Thacker will show us how to: tune out commercial interference; understand the changing landscape of college admissions; take control of the application process; embrace “studenthood”; learn why education is what matters; and love our students enough to allow them to demonstrate independence. Lloyd Thacker’s writings and work through the Educational Conservancy have been featured in such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and Money Magazine, and on CNN, CBS Evening News, and NPR. Mr. Thacker, who serves as Executive Director of The Education Conservancy, lives in Portland, Oregon. Wednesday, October 24, 7:30 PM Blind Brook High School Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten? Panel Discussion Is your child ready for Kindergarten? What does he or she need to know to flourish in school? How have academic expectations changed and when, if ever, should a child be held back, or moved ahead? You are your child’s first and most important teacher and know your child better than anyone else, but you still have concerns about his or her preparedness for entering the next level of learning and socialization. Heard in Rye has gathered a panel of experts on early childhood, readiness expectations and realities, and the next step from home and pre-school to Kindergarten. On the panel is Dr. Paul Donahue, consulting school psychologist for Rye Presbyterian Nursery School and Rye Methodist nursery school and author of the new book “Parenting Without Fear: Letting Go of Worry and Focusing on What Really Matters”. Also on the panel, Elly Short, Kindergarten teacher at Osborn School; and nursery school teachers Mary Archer of Christ’s Church Nursery School in Rye and Susanne McHugh of Rye Methodist Nursery School, all specialists in the expectations and realities of young children in the school setting, beginning with the basic philosophy that readiness is a combination of age, individual growth, and experience for most children.. The panelists, moderated by newsletter editor and former PTO President, Margot Willoughby, will talk about child development, your involvement in the process, and such specifics as concept and physical development, language, and social and emotional growth. Other topics include such thinking skill components of growth as number concept and language development, and the basics of health and safety understanding that children should master as they develop. This presentation is essential for any parent of a pre-school age child. Come with your questions. Wednesday, November 7, 7:30pm Rye Middle School Multipurpose Room Mike Nerney Welcome To The Adolescent Brain Whether we worry out loud or keep quietly to ourselves, parents have cause for concern regarding teen behavior, especially substance use and abuse. National, state and local indicators show that, alarmingly, rates of substance use and abuse are rising among teens. During Mr. Nerney's Heard in Rye presentation, parents, teachers, students and other concerned community members will: * learn about the scope of the problem nationally, statewide and within our own community * explore the underlying reasons for the increase in substance abuse among teens * put new information into a framework that makes sense * discuss new drug trends and concurrent high risk behaviors * explore possible prevention strategies We also will hear some of the terms used by adolescents to describe substance use, (do you know what a Clambake is? or what Glass, Liquid X, Roboshots, Candy Flip, Wets, or Rolls refer to, for example? or Green Fairy, Toad Venom, Dimitri, Dr. Bob, or Mini Thins?) and learn to identify patterns in adolescent behaviors. Mr. Nerney will talk about how the focus of adolescents is on the short-term, preventing them from perceiving long-term consequences of drug use as a deterrent. Michael Nerney is a consultant in substance abuse prevention and education, with over twenty-five years experience in the field. As the former Director of the Training Institute of Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc., Mr. Nerney's responsibilities included the management of a statewide training system that delivered more than 450 training programs to substance abuse treatment and prevention professionals annually. He is an internationally known lecturer, and has served as consultant to a number of federal and state agencies. He has been a consultant for two major television networks, and recently appeared on the ABC program, '20/20'. Wednesday November 28, 7:30pm Rye High School Performing Arts Center Dr. Mel Levine Ready or Not, Here Life Comes More than ever, young adults are struggling with career and life decisions that can sometimes seem overwhelming. Some return home to live with their parents, or find themselves in unsatisfying jobs, or lack a sense of direction in their lives. They suffer from what Dr. Mel Levine calls "work-life unreadiness," which prevents them from making the transition to full adulthood and which can cause considerable anguish. In his Heard in Rye presentation, Dr. Levine will examine why many young people seem to stall before beginning their adult lives and shows how they can get back on track. Parents and schools can better prepare children for a successful launch into adulthood, says Dr. Levine, by giving young people the skills they will need to thrive in the adult world. He recommends that parents balance their inclination to support their children with decisions that will offer them greater independence. He will talk about how we can foster these processes in children aged eleven to twenty, although some implications can be incorporated into the teaching and rearing of even younger children. Dr. Mel Levine is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School and the founder of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit institute for the understanding of differences in learning. He serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of this Institute with financier, Charles Schwab. He is the author of numerous books and articles. Throughout his career Dr. Levine has been actively involved in the design and validation of new diagnostic procedures and training programs that integrate neurological, behavioral, developmental, and health findings in children with learning difficulties. In 2005 he was named by Scholastic Press as the Most Admired Person in Education. Thursday, January 17, 2008; 7:30pm Rye Country Day School Performing Arts Center *********************************************************** Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. Total Nutrition Nutritionist, Joy Bauer, provides counseling to both adults and children dealing with a variety of nutritional concerns, including weight management, diabetes, eating disorders, cardiac rehabilitation, sports nutrition, food allergies, gastrointestinal disorders, pregnancy, lactation and menopause. In addition, she is the author of several books, including her most recent book and New York Times No. 1 best seller, Joy Bauer’s Food Cures, described as “a unique book as close to a nutrition consultation as possible without an in-person visit”. The Today Show Nutrition Expert, Ms. Bauer has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Prevention, Harpers Bazaar, Vogue, Marie Claire, US Weekly, Glamour, Redbook, Men's Fitness, Allure, Real Simple, Parenting, Parents, American Baby, Teen People, Family Circle, Biography, and Seventeen. In addition, she is the nutritionist for the New York City Ballet, is a contributing editor and monthly columnist to Self magazine, and has teamed up with Yahoo.com as Yahoo’s nutrition & weight loss expert where she provides the latest nutrition, health, food and diet-related information to millions of online subscribers. Ms. Bauer believes that food is the oldest medicine, capable of reversing some disease processes, preventing others, and allowing us to feel better and live longer. In her Heard in Rye presentation, she will share great nutrition tips for all our family members as well as ways to ensure better nutrition for everyone in our household within the busy schedules we have that often see us treating nutrition and good health as something we will get to when we have time Tuesday, February 5, 2008; 7:30pm Rye Neck Middle/High School Dining Hall *********************************************************** Laura Sessions Stepp Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both Laura Sessions Stepp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, has written for 15 years about the lives, legends and culture of children and youth. Her most recent book and presentation for Heard in Rye, Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both, provide an inside perspective on the “hookup,” which has become the “primary currency of social interaction” between the sexes in high schools and colleges. This shift to a no-strings-attached sex act that allows participants “the freedom to unhook” at any time is not only of concern, but also has a broad cultural impact, Ms. Stepp says. She will explore the fallout, and potential long-range consequences for women and men, and share a valuable conversation guide for parents and teens. Ms. Stepp has been a resident scholar at the National Academy of Sciences and is a former adjunct professor at George Washington University. She currently sits on the board of the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, and has received multiple research grants and awards. She has been an invited speaker at the White House Conference on Raising Responsible Teenagers, and been interviewed on NBC's Today Show, CNN, NPR, ABC News Nightline, and Fox News Geraldo Rivera, among other venues. Her articles and interviews have appeared in numerous publications other than the Post including The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, Parents, Redbook, Neiman Reports (Harvard University), Maclean’s of Canada, Glamour, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Independent School Journal. Ms. Stepp is also the author of a critically acclaimed book about middle school children entitled Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence. Thursday, March 6, 2008; 7:30 PM Rye Middle School Multipurpose Room