What's Happening

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | October 23, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

ETR has now hosted four Kirby Summits. These convenings bring together a small group of brilliant people with a shared commitment to promoting adolescent health and well being.

The key to the Summit’s uniqueness? While each one of the invited participants brings impressive expertise, as a group they come from different disciplines and perspectives.

By Clint Bruess, EdD, CHES, and Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD, MSW | October 16, 2018
Dean Emeritus, University of Alabama at Birmingham (CB) and Sexuality Educator, Trainer and Consultant, Elizabeth Schroeder Consulting (ES)

We’ve just finished writing a new edition of our book on sexuality education, which has been in print for almost 40 years. That’s a long time! A lot of people ask us, “What’s changed in sex ed over so many years?” The easy answer is, a lot has changed—and yet an astonishing amount has stayed the same. 

By Jody Gan, MPH, CHES | October 4, 2018
Instructor, Department of Health Studies, American University

Three years ago, I became the first health educator to join a volunteer brigade providing medical and public health services to Honduras. For two decades, the Organization for Community Health Outreach (OCHO), based in Baltimore, Maryland, has sent a 40-person medical team to Atima, in the province of Santa Barbara. This is a mountain community of about 16,000 people in one of the most underserved and remote areas of the country.

By Jamie Barnett, MBA, CISSP | October 3, 2018
Parent Volunteer, Palo Alto Parents 4 Sex Ed

October is #LetsTalkMonth. This campaign is dedicated to frank conversations between young people and the adults they trust about sexual health. Thousands of parents, educators, administrators, social workers and students across the nation are joining in.

By Jamie Barnett, MBA, CISSP | October 2, 2018
Parent Volunteer, Palo Alto Parents 4 Sex Ed

October is #LetsTalkMonth. I’ll be tackling some great topics with my kids—healthy relationships, equity, inclusion, ethics, domestic abuse, technology. We’ll also be talking about #MeToo. (Full disclosure: I have these talks with my kids pretty much all year long.)

By John Henry Ledwith | September 19, 2018
National Sales Manager, ETR

Hello, September! Like many of you, I am part of a team that has been getting local classrooms ready for the new school year. The hum and clatter and movement of all of that effort has left me thinking a lot about teamwork this week.

By John Shields, PhD, MSW | September 17, 2018
Senior Research Scientist and Director, K12T9 Initiative, ETR

We need the #MeToo movement. Widespread attention to sexual and gender-based harassment is long overdue. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected in some meaningful way by this national conversation.

Here at ETR, we celebrate this opportunity for education, enlightenment and change. 

By Suzanne Schrag | August 31, 2018
Editor/Product Manager, ETR

Jared is 11 years old and on his way to school. He usually stops at the bodega to buy a candy bar for a snack. But today is different. This week he is learning in school about increasing your heart rate through physical activity to stay healthy. Instead of stopping at the bodega, he runs around his block three times. He shows up to school a little sweaty but excited and energized.

By John Henry Ledwith | August 21, 2018
National Sales Manager, ETR

I heard a story last night that’s had me thinking about inspiration. I was at a performance of the John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band. The amazing Herb Pedersen told us about how he came to write one of the finest and most popular bluegrass songs ever, “Wait a Minute.”

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | August 7, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

Fifth grade. My girlfriends and I are on the climbing gym. We stay on the low bars and carefully tuck our skirts under us so the boys won’t look up our dresses. When we really want to bust free and climb up to the top, my friend Cyndi—one tough girl, I’ll tell you—runs foot patrol around the base. No boys allowed near the gym!

By Jenna | July 13, 2018
Transitioning to 6th Grade

Editor’s note: I had an opportunity to talk with the daughter of a friend about some of her recent school health education experiences. Here are some of her comments.

I just graduated from 5th grade. I’m excited about what’s coming next—I’m going into middle school next year!

By Ryan Watson, PhD | June 18, 2018
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut

To come out, or not to come out? That is a very real question constantly facing LGBTQ youth, as well as a fair number of young adults, across their entire lifespan. As a researcher, one of my interests is the choices queer youth and adults make about being out. Who do they come out to? How does this affect their health and well-being?

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | May 8, 2018
Senior Editor, ETR

LGBTQ students have plenty of reasons to feel like they don’t “fit” in a lot of schools. They are likely to experience pervasive harassment and discrimination, which may be delivered by peers, educators or administrators. Most attend classes that make no reference to their relationships, LGBTQ contributions to society, or the history of the gay and transgender rights movements.

ETR's Health Equity Framework gives us a way to examine issues such as these and be more focused and intentional about the steps we take to address them.

By Debra C. Harris, PhD, MST | April 26, 2018
Senior Instructor, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health & Adjunct Instructor, Graduate School of Education

Come take a ride with me. We’ll climb into an old BMW and drive on up from Red Lodge, Montana, to the Beartooth Pass (elevation 10,947 feet). Our chauffeur will be Dr. Bill Kane, which is why we’ll be stopping along the way to look at the beautiful fall colors, listen to the birds, hear the wind, and maybe spot some deer. Bill needed to do these things. He was that kind of person.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 12, 2018
Director, Professional Learning Systems, ETR

Worried about social media’s influence on youth? A lot of people are.

In the first part of this blog post, I talked about some of the reasons we worry. Here are 6 recommendations that can guide parents and those who work with youth in supporting healthy use of these new tools.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 5, 2018
Senior Research Associate, ETR

From a fairly young age, today’s kids are growing up with all kinds of social media. Parents and professionals struggle to keep up with the latest trends and protect children from possible harm. As a media researcher and a parent, I'm also working to stay abreast of the latest technology and how it impacts children and adolescents.

But rather than looking at every new app as a focus of research, I'm interested in the larger issues related to social media use—things like why and how we use social media.

By Karen Stradford Boyce, LCSW, & Madeline Travers, MPH | March 27, 2018
Consultant (KSB) & New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (MT)

LGBTQ youth face distinct health risks compared with their non-LGBTQ peers. In the last few years, the call to address the sexual health needs of LGBTQ youth has rung loud from both programs and research. At the same time, a rollback of LGBTQ-focused initiatives and programs at the federal level has created an unprecedented need for support for the LGBTQ community and its youth.

By Suzanne Schrag | March 22, 2018
Editor/Project Manager, ETR

Here’s a different take on a familiar saying: Those who can, do. Those who really can, teach! And those who teach health know the value of teaching advocacy skills.

Giving students practice in advocacy is a great way to build engagement, review key concepts and personalize what they’ve been learning about healthy behaviors. Advocacy also helps communities hear vital information about health-related issues from critical stakeholders—young people themselves!