What Would You Do for Your Students?

Here's a great story about Olympic Elementary Principal Brett Ellingson, who was featured in the Centralia Chronicle. Ellingson honored a promise to his students and PTA: if they raised $10,000 to support extras at the school (field trips, etc.), he'd trade in his tie for a hoodie, jeans and tennis shoes and be a student for a day. The result was really a win-win. The school $11,500 in the two-week fund raising window, the paper reported. Ellingson also had a great day in the school classrooms, connecting with students and staff. (Better make that a win-win-win-win.)

This story got us thinking of another principal who made good on a promise. Last week, Lake Roosevelt High Principal Karl Miller surfaced at the AWSP Principals' Conference in Vancouver sporting a fresh mohawk, courtesy a school fundraising event. (It takes a brave person to wager a haircut with students!)

Gold stars to these two principals for keeping their word and being so committed to their students and schools.

This also got us wondering: what's the wackiest thing you've ever done to support a student fundraiser at your school?

Teens and Substance Abuse: A Snapshot

A new report published last week, "A Day in the Life of American Adolescents," details the self-reported habits of 12-17 year-olds in 2006. The report is the work of the Office of Applied Studies, which is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

On an average day in 2006, researchers found that:

• Nearly 1.2 million teenagers smoked cigarettes
  
• More than 630,000 drank
• Approximately 586,000 used marijuana

To put the numbers in perspective, the nationwide number of adolescents using cigarettes on an average day equals more students than are enrolled in Washington state's K-12 school system.

A short form of the report is also available here.