Page 8 The Advocate News (Wilton-Durant, Iowa) Thursday, June 21, 2012

OpiniOn

Survey yields interesting results

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fter reading our monthly school board coverage from Durant this week (see page 1), one very important part of that meeting that may have been easily overlooked by readers is the fact that the district took part in a very interesting survey involving students in grades 5-12. It was implemented as part of the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) and was given mainly by the duo of Maria Brown and Kara ODonnell. Brown, a reading specialist for the Durant Community School District, has been working at Durant for 17 years and says she loves data work. ODonnell, a second year K-6 guidance counselor at Durant Elementary School, said that results of the survey will provide her with a guideline of what to emphasize, beginning next year, with her students. The survey consisted of 54 questions covering a wide array of topics, including safety, respect, belief in scholastic ability, drug and alcohol use, free time use, etc. As a lover of data myself, I asked Brown and ODonnell if they would meet with me to talk a bit about the survey. Some interesting stats to note: * 76.3 percent say they will pursue a twoor four-year college degree. * 92.5 percent say they somewhat or strongly feel safe at school. * 70.3 percent participate in sports, dance or cheerleading. * 52.4 percent spend less than an hour per night on homework. * 81.8 percent spend 1-3 hours per night watching TV. more. Those were just some of the numbers * 71.7 percent spend up to three hours per that stuck out to me, both encouraging and night on either Facebook, playing video games discouraging. or playing computer games. Its interesting that 36.9 percent have rid* 79 percent have cellphones. den in a car with a driver that had three or * 74.9 percent support online learning. more drinks. Yet only 39.5 percent say they * 65.2 percent say there have drank alcohol. Hard are at least two or more to explain but remember, adults within the school this involved grades 5-12 system they could talk to and only 51.6 percent of if they had a problem. those surveyed were in * 63.7 percent always high school. If it were given wear a seat belt when ridto just high school students, ing in a car with someone that latter number would be By Derek Sawvell else. higher in my opinion. * 36.9 percent have ridden in a car with In fact, many of these numbers may look a driver that has had three or more alcoholic drastically different if the survey was adminisbeverages. tered to just high school kids or vice versa. * 55.6 percent have never been bullied at Im a bit worried that nearly one in four have school. felt sad or hopeless for more than two weeks * 24.8 percent have felt sad or hopeless and that it has affected their daily routines. almost every day for two weeks in the past Speaking of saddened, Im saddened that one in year. So much so that it interrupted them from 10 have contemplated and/or planned suicide. doing every day activities. We need to make sure we have open lines of * 11.5 percent have seriously considered communication with our youth, to help them suicide and 9.2 percent have made a plan about with the ups and downs of adolescent life. how to attempt suicide. Im happy that it seems like steroid use, and * 77.5 percent have never tried smoking. most other drug use for that matter, seems to * 93.9 percent do not use chewing to- be nonexistent. bacco. The survey also shows us what we already * 39.5 percent have had a drink of alco- knew. Our children are living in a technologihol. cal world hence the fact that eight out of * 75.5 percent have not had a drink of 10 have a cellphone and seven of 10 spend alcohol in the past 30 days. up to three hours a night on a computer for * 12.4 percent have tried marijuana. games or Facebook, or play video games for * 97.4 percent have never used steroids. that amount of time. Thats a lot to take in and there are plenty Oh how I long for the days of kids playing outside! When I was young, my biggest punishment would have been no going outside. Today, it seems its no computer or video game time. Students were also asked to rate their abilities in writing, reading, math and technology. it may be the most visible sign to others that Most felt pretty good about their abilities, with we are people of God and not lazy about our math being perhaps the most scary to students. faith. ODonnell said those questions are ones that The ad encouraged Christians to gather and the school board should familiarize themselves walk together weather permitting. I certainly with and that overall, she was happy with the wish that phrase had been left out. Might not results. this lead to the further criticism that we are We are doing what were supposed to be all, after all, just fair-weather Christians? It doing. Were moving in the right direction, reminded me of the young man who wrote to said ODonnell. Its what our kids are sayhis beloved girlfriend: Darling, I love you SO ing. This is their voice and their chance to let much, I am passionately devoted to you and us know what to do differently and how to always will be, I cannot stand the hours and help them. Its a good marketing tool for the minutes we are apart! I would cross any ocean, school. climb any mountain, face any danger, just to see your face. I MUST see you!! Ill take the bus to our usual meeting on Thursday if its not raining I understand, I hope, what was in the heart Editor: of whomever placed the ad. Encourage the Recently I had an unusual and heartwarmfaithful, let our faith be known. God bless ing experience regarding the Wilton Public them. But I believe, and have always taught Library, when I asked for a very old book the folks Ive served in ministry, that our every through interlibrary loan. My husband and act in day-to-day life declares whether or not I became curious about the famous hymn we are serious Christians, and serious about writer, Charles Gabriel, who was born in 1856 showing his love lavishly among those with in Wilton, after we saw the name Susannah whom we walk, not on one special occasion, Gabriel on a tombstone in a local cemetery. but in every step of life. Beyond getting toWe wondered if she was related to Charles. gether for a sunny afternoon walk, much more I searched online, with no success, for inimportant are the moments that we spend with formation about his parents. He is mentioned someone suffering, someone dying, someone in Wikipedia but no parents are included, and who is hurting from a broken relationship, a the census records were inconclusive. I learned child who has just failed a test, or someone that Gabriel had written an autobiography, whose life is broken by sin. Mostly, that hapSixty Years of Gospel Song, so I looked pens (in my experience) outside the walls of online for that. I could find only one copy, in a church building. It happens where we live. a library in Virginia, but local library director Yes, if were ashamed of Christ, he is Sharon Bowers found two in her search before ashamed of us at that moment before the Fashe sent out my request for an interlibrary ther. The ad suggested we must not be timid loan. about our faith and convictions in public or the In the meantime I learned his parents names work place (and, I would add, in our schools). from a bound dissertation about Gabriel in I couldnt agree more. We are called to let our local library, so my main question was our faith show; not to impress others, not to answered but I had become even more interbring accolades or attention to ourselves, but ested in the composer. I couldnt believe my to glorify the Father. Jesus said, Let your ears when I got word that the very old book, light so shine before men that they may see actually a fragile 28-page pamphlet sent from your good works, and glorify your Father in the State Library of Virginia, had arrived for heaven. checkout. I was amazed only two known Amen. So be it. books in the United States, and someone Fr. John Spencer trusted an unknown woman in Wilton, Iowa, St. Davids Church to take good care of it. Durant Interlibrary loan is just one of the many

Case in Point

Ad 'triggered several questions'

Editor: An ad appeared several times recently in the Advocate News, published anonymously by someone (or a group) who expressed concern that Christians need to stop hiding their faith behind church walls. The post asked Christians in Durant and Wilton to gather on their respective 5th Streets at a certain day and hour to walk together. I dont doubt the sincerity of the concern expressed and I hope God will bless the heart of whomever placed the ads. But it triggered several questions in my mind. It may certainly be true that some folks who declare themselves Christians try to hide that fact. Id suggest though that they try to hide the fact not just on Sundays behind church walls, but every hour of the week, wherever they are. As to hiding behind church walls, I find it hard to understand how anyone would imagine that would work, or was even possible. After all, the Lord has assured us he does not live in buildings made by human hands, but lives personally in the lives and hearts of his people wherever they are. The very act of walking into a church building (Sunday or any other time) might, it could be argued, be an act of refusing to hide ones faith. Unless its a non-believer going for a visit out of curiosity, or someone just going in to fix the furnace, our very act of entering the place where Gods people gather to worship seems to be a very public act of declaring faith. Ive had experience with that. I remember several years ago, when I served a church located in a small shopping plaza, walking into the building early one Sunday carrying my Bible and vestment bag. A man drove by me slowly, headed I think to the gas station. Ill never forget the angry and accusing scowl on his face as he passed close by me. The church was well marked with very large signs. He knew where I was going. My simple act of getting out of my car and walking in the door of the place was a declaration to the world that I was going to worship God. So Im not at all convinced that gathering as The Church in a church building is in any way an attempt to hide our faith or love for Christ. To the contrary,

We know our kids feel safe at school I think thats a good thing, said Brown. The survey was given in April and the numbers were compiled in May and early June prior to being presented to the board at the June 12 meeting. Many of the questions came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the kind of thing we should be doing within our schools. Who better to tell us what is going on than our students? I applaud the work done by the district and hope it continues. Brown said shed like to see the survey continue so that data can be compared year-to-year. I concur. *** Summer helpWith area county fairs right around the corner, the need to find local help from a summer intern has quickly crept upon us here at the AN. After consideration, weve decided to turn to 2011 WHS grad Kim Sloan for assistance. Sloan worked on the Beaver Tale for two years while at WHS and received the Quad-City Times award for journalism her senior year. She is currently enrolled at Muscatine Community College, where she is editor of the Calumet, MCCs student newspaper. She just finished her freshman year at MCC and received Kim Sloan some of the most prestigious awards the college has to offer. She was given the Robert Kaufmann award (named in honor of Rep. Jeff Kaufmanns brother, who was killed years ago in a car accident) for the 2011-2012 most outstanding freshman. She was also named MCCs student of the year. To be eligible, she was one of nine students to be named Student of the Month at MCC during the school year and was selected for the award from that pool of students. She also works for the library on MCCs campus and has done some freelance work for the Muscatine Journal. She is honing her journalism skills both as a writer and photographer and Im delighted to give her an opportunity to contribute to our local, hometown coverage here at the AN this summer. Youll see she contributed some photos from the Route 6 meeting last week (page 2) and youll be seeing her name again in coming weeks.

Heartwarming experience at the library

services that our library offers. The summer reading program is underway, with close to 200 youngsters and 101 adults participating. Incredibly, everything is always free. What a wonderful institution! Libraries serve us, but they also need our help. There is a volunteer program in place at the Wilton library, and trained volunteers lend their talents in many ways that contribute to the librarys mission. At the present time, the library has a serious need for public use computers. Although it may seem like everyone has a computer and access to the Internet at home, that isnt true. There are many patrons who use the library computers as their sole Internet access, but only five computers are functional. The librarys support group, Friends of the Wilton Public Library, has sponsored an auction every year for almost two decades; this years fund raiser is set for Oct. 13. The auction proceeds, through the years, have been used to improve our local library and help the library stay up to date, an important goal. Im confident that funds raised will help the library meet its need for new computers, so please plan to attend. Everyone benefits when a community is generous. Our beautiful new community center and wonderful library are proof of that. Stop by the library this week; you may be surprised what is available. Connie Brown Wilton