Helen, Georgia Podcast

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Capstone Photo Project: Tubing on the Chattahoochee River

Georgia residents carry their tubes from Azalea Park down to the Chattahoochee River as they prepare to “Shoot the Hooch,” on Saturday, June 8, 2013. From Helen down to Columbus there are more than fifteen drop in locations to start your tubing trip down the river with most locations offering pick up service from your take out destination.

Out of state visitors attempt to acclimate to the cool water temperatures as they jump from the parks floating dock into their rafts on Saturday, June 8, 2013. Some groups attach themselves to each other, and their cooler, while others prefer to make the trip solo.  This group chose a longer route down the Chattahoochee and has about a three-hour float ahead of them.  

Students from Georgia State University enjoy the view of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area as they paddle by on Saturday, June 8, 2013. The friends fell behind from the remainder of their group and laughed as they shouted down the river to the other tubers. 

A group of college students from Roswell use tree branches to propel themselves off the riverbank on Saturday, June 8, 2013. These friends consider tubing down the Chattahoochee River to be a mandatory annual reunion during summer break from their various universities.

A father and son walk to return their equipment after their trip down the Chattahoochee on Saturday, June 8, 2013. They opted to use paddles to speed up their trip and brought along their fishing supplies for even more entertainment on the water. 

           

Public vs. Private: How Preschool is Affecting Your Child

MARIETTA, Ga.- It's 8:35 AM at the Center for Early Education in Marietta. The school's teachers stand and wait as cars file into the carpool line. After the cars have stopped, each teacher approaches a vehicle and greets both parent and child. The children are unloaded and hand delivered to their individual classrooms around the school where the lead teacher is waiting to greet them. By 8:55 all the little ones are in place and ready to start their day.

Nearby at West Georgia Children's Academy, a Georgia Pre-K center, a similar process is occurring. Children are being dropped off at the front of the school and teachers are escorting them from cars to the building. At 9:00 AM the school day begins.

From the outside looking in, both of these centers for education could be viewed equally. Both are combining childcare with curriculum and both seem to have structured environments for children to learn and grow. However once inside the school two very different scenes are playing out. For starters, the Georgia Pre-K center is free to its students as it is funded by the Georgia Lottery. Parents at this school pay nothing but a $30 weekly fee for hot lunches. The nearby private preschool charges between $100 to $300 per week according to the child’s age and hours of attendance.

The benefits of paying the cost of a private preschool in Georgia are present however. “Class size,” said Tiffany Strickland, who has taught both Georgia Pre-K and private preschool. “In Georgia Pre-K, the class ratio is 11:1 resulting in a maximum of 22 students in one class with one certified teacher and one paraprofessional. In private preschool settings the ratio varies but averages around 7:1.”

There simply is not enough room in the low cost Georgia Pre-K system. Because of the lack of room within the Georgia Pre-K system, parents are turning to private preschools. The problem there lies in whether or not children are attending a “preschool” or a “daycare” and getting the necessary foundation for kindergarten.

These days there are so many options for childcare that parents really have to research where their children are going for an education. In the battle of preschool versus daycare however, there are some who say it is all the same. “I think there are some benefits [to preschool] for some kids but I also think the phrase daycare has a negative connotation to many people. Call them childcare snobs,” said Barb Smith, a local preschool administrative assistant. “Basically though, if you’re paying for it, it’s a private school, whether it has the name preschool or daycare.”

If “preschool” and “daycare” are essentially the same thing, that leaves parents with two options: the Georgia Pre-K program or a private program. With Georgia being one of two states to offer the option of an essentially free pre-k program there must be a reason why parents are spending the money to send their children elsewhere.

“Being at a private preschool provides a more consistent classroom and school environment,” Strickland said. “It also provides an academic foundation that will prepare the students for the future. In my experience, the students who had a [preschool] curriculum developed such a great foundation for number, letter, color, and shape recognition. Having that foundation also prepares them in earlier literary development, as they begin to grasp phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.”

The growing popularity of a preschool education is apparent. Most three and four-year-olds go to preschool these days, a big switch from 1960, when just 10 percent of them did, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. The growth of preschools has been fostered by more mothers working and an acceptance of the benefits of early education. The downside? “The quality of preschools is highly variable, and overall quality is on the low side,” says Steve Barnett, director of NIEER.

The need for preschool is not just being recognized by teachers and parents. In President Obama’s State of the Union Address he proposed nationwide universal preschool similar to what Georgia and Illinois are already doing. "Let's make it a national priority to give every child access to a high-quality early education," Obama said.

Until this proposed “universal preschool” becomes a reality, it’s up to the parents to either provide a solid foundation for kindergarten, or find someone else who can. Whether a family requires childcare or not, parents should be considering preschool for other reasons. “There are negative connotations with the term “daycare” these days and people assume “preschool” is better but you have to know where you’re sending your child because every school is different and they can name their center whatever they want,” Smith said. “Some daycares do have curriculum and some are glorified babysitting, but that’s why it’s important to do your research and know what you’re paying for. 

8 Things You Need to Know About Your Teen Driver

1.    Teens are drinking and driving. Frequently.

One in five teen drivers involved in fatal crashes had some alcohol in their system in 2010, according to the Center for Disease Control. Eighty one percent of these drivers had a blood alcohol content higher than the legal limit for adults. According to CalculateMe.com, one of the most common traffic violations is the refusal of a breath test by a driver under 21 and is an automatic two points on your license in many states. The CDC notes that drinking and driving among teens in high school has gone down by 54 percent since 1991. Even so, high school teens drink and drive about 2.4 million times each month according to the CDC.

2. Graduated Drivers License programs can be beneficial to your teen.

Many states have instituted their own Graduated Drivers License or GDL program that involves stages or "classes" of a license. These license provisions include only driving with a licensed driver over the age of 21, only driving during certain daytime hours, and not having passengers in your car for the first six months of driving. "I don't think young drivers should have to jump through hoops to obtain their license, but I do think they need the experience this program offers," said Alex Booth, newly licensed teen driver.

3. Teens, especially male teens, are the most likely to be involved in fatal accidents.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens according to the CDC. In 2010, seven teens ages 16 to 19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. Similarly, the CDC report showed the motor vehicle deaths rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was almost two times that of their female counterparts.

4. The safest car for your teen might not be what you'd expect.

The Forbes list of safest cars for 2012 ranked the Audi A6 as the safest car to drive. The A6 ranks the highest because of the highly innovative technology within its safety features. The sedan includes blind spot monitoring, lane departure, collision warning/avoidance and night vision systems. This car was also an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2012 Top Safety Pick. The Forbes list also included the BMW 5 series, the Mercedes E Class, and multiple Infinity models.

5. Good things don't always come in small packages.

The Hyundai Elantra was listed as the most dangerous car on the road in 2011 according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Institute's rankings are not determined by crash tests and simulations but rather by real-world data and accident statistics. The Elantra earned its ranking by not having standard safety features such as ABS and traction control as well as suffering the most damage in multi-vehicle accidents. The remaining cars in the top five most dangerous in order were the Ford Ranger, Nissan Maxima, Mitsubishi Galant, and the Mitsubishi Eclipse.

6. School records and driving records are very much related.

Some states such as Georgia use driving privileges as a punishment for teens not going to school regularly. The Georgia Department of Driver Services is enacting harsher punishment for teen drivers both on and off the road. Students younger than 18 that have dropped out of school, have ten or more unexcused absences, or have missed ten consecutive days of school will have their license suspended.

7. They admit to using their phones while driving.

According to Allstate's Teen Driver Facts 56 percent of teens said they make and answer phone calls while driving and 13 percent of teens said they send and respond to text messages while driving. "I'll Facebook at red lights, call, text, whatever," said Sarah Booth, a 22-year-old Georgia driver and college student.

8. They are more than willing to practice to learn.

"I got my permit at fifteen and taking driver's education definitely prepared me for my test," said Bubba Green, a 20-year-old Georgia driver. "Between studying the book, learning the material in other ways, and practicing driving, I felt very prepared by the time I received my license," Green said. 

#CarterStrong

In December of 2011, Jamie Thomas and her boyfriend Carter Haines were two, very much in love, college freshmen. Haines had just entered Kennesaw State University that fall, Thomas was at Shorter on an academic and softball scholarship, and most weekends were spent driving to visit one another. During their first college Christmas break the couple went on a trip to Missouri with the Thomas family during which Carter had a seizure. By March of 2012, doctors knew for sure that Carter had an inoperable brain tumor. It was February of 2013 when the Haines family laid Carter to rest and his late girlfriend Jamie was left to grieve the loss of her boyfriend and best friend.

"I never really thought 'why me?' but instead thought 'why not me?'," Jamie Thomas said of her attitude when they found out about Carter's tumor. "The doctors told us people with a tumor like his typically have six months to live, and we were lucky to have more time than that."

It was September when Carter began to lose his memory which Thomas said made it easier to stay positive because it was almost as if he forgot he was sick. "We never once talked about what would happen if he didn't get better," Thomas said. "Now that I think about it, I kind of wish we would have, but I'm glad he never thought about it or had the chance to be afraid."

Thomas said that most days with Carter were very good, even after he got sick. She spent most days at his house and said as she laughed, "we ate a whole lot, the steroids made Carter hungry all the time."

"Carter never forgot who I was though, and we would spend a lot of time singing, especially after he lost his vision," Thomas said. "'You Are My Fire' by the Backstreet Boys was a personal favorite of ours because Carter remembered all the lyrics." Jamie said every now and then he would get stuck on repeating one thing, and most recently his phrase of choice was, "Marry me?." Thomas said in their minds, and to their families they were already married. The couple celebrated their two year anniversary with a big family dinner and exchanging of gifts before Carter passed, and Jamie cherishes the memory as well as the quilt she had made for him with photos of themselves stitched into it.

Carter Haines has had a clear impact on KSU and the community. "He always had a way of bringing people together," Thomas said. In April, months after his passing, the Kennesaw community came together to dedicate this year's Relay For Life and its Luminary Ceremony to Carter Haines.

"Carter joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity in the fall when he started school at Kennesaw, those guys barely knew me but were there to support us throughout everything and have since ran in countless races in Carter's honor and raised a lot of money for brain tumor research," Thomas said.

Moving forward, Jamie is excited to apply to KSU's nursing program, and hopes to someday work for the Aflac Center for Brain & Blood Disorders in Atlanta. "I spent a lot of time there with Carter while he was getting treatment, and the staff and environment were wonderful," Thomas said. "I hope to take part in helping people like they helped us."