On Thursday, October 23rd, Stephen Wallace led a F.O.C.U.S. (Forming Opportunities for Collaboration, Understanding, and Service) Forum on providing quality youth mentoring. Stephen shared original Teens Today research on mentoring from his new book Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex – What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling. Also speaking was a Northeastern University sophomore currently volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters. To inquire about hosting Stephen at your college or university, please visit the web page for the SADD Speaker Series.
In his remarks, Stephen talked about some of the documented benefits realized by young people with “natural” mentors, including higher sense of self, participation in positive risk-taking activities (such as trying out for a sports team or volunteering for community service), and avoidance of underage drinking, other drug use, and early sexual behavior. He also noted gains for kids with “formal” – or matched mentors – including enhanced school performance, better relationships with parents and peers, and decreased incidents of violence.
In addition to SADD’s research, Stephen cited the work of Harvard’s Robert Putnam centering on building social capital and the research of Tufts University professor Richard Lerner, whose new book, The Good Teen, highlights the many positive attributes of today’s adolescents and the contributions they make to society.
Stephen pointed to the burgeoning number of college students involved in community service and service learning programs, drew from his own mentoring experience as a student at Susquehanna University and Bucknell University, and concluded with a “call to action” for even more students to commit themselves to mentoring local youth.
During the question and answer period, Stephen said that research suggests there may be “back door” benefits for mentors related to their own growth and development and the choices they make regarding personal behavior, including underage and high-risk, or binge, drinking.
SADD’s 2008-2009 national Student of the Year, Stephen Winkler, a freshman at Emmanuel College (and a Big Brother volunteer himself), attended the event.
For more information about the event, click here …
Succession offers “user’s guide” to small and family owned businesses through the stages of planning, employment. and ownership policies, shareholder meetings, family health emergencies, business planning, and alignment/engagement of employees. Covering both the positives and potential pitfalls inherent in the planning and implementation process, Succession represents a realistic roadmap to one of the more difficult periods of business ownership.
Stephen’s new book, IMPACT – An Introduction to Counseling, Mentoring, and Youth Development, offers insightful commentary on the important role of mentors in the lives of children and teens. While it specifically addresses camp counselors, it is equally relevant for all key youth influencers, including parents, teachers, and coaches. …
This is an important time in teenagers’ lives — when they will develop driving habits that can be good and bad. Parents need to take an active role in helping teens develop safe driving behaviors because teenagers are involved in more car accidents than any other age group. …
The Parents League Review is an annual literary journal with articles on parenting and education.
Child and Youth Development features eighteen articles that have been carefully selected from past editions of Camping Magazine, including Rites of Passage: Camp Pays Off in Youth Development, Happiness, Health, and Safety,” written by SADD Chairman and CEO Stephen Wallace. The contributing writers are recognized as authoritative voices in the field of child and youth development. Produced in cooperation with the American Camp Association. …
This new book gives high school students the inside scoop on figuring out who they are and where they want to go by offering teens the kind of comprehensive, down-to-earth advice they need and want. …
LOVE THAT BOY is a uniquely personal story about the causes and costs of outsized parental expectations. What we want for our children—popularity, normalcy, achievement, genius—and what they truly need—grit, empathy, character—are explored by National Journal’s Ron Fournier, who weaves his extraordinary journey to acceptance around the latest research on childhood development and stories of other loving-but-struggling parents. 
Reality Gap paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities. …