Sports represent a positive influence in the lives of many students.

Physical activity, social bonding, strong role models, and high performance expectations all combine to promote physical, social, and emotional strength and well-being.

At the same time, research shows that student-athletes are at higher risk for using and abusing alcohol than their non-athlete peers.

Perhaps those same qualities within sports that promote health and well-being may lead student-athletes and even the adults around them to underestimate the vulnerability of a young athlete to alcohol’s harm.

First and foremost, youth athletes face the same risks associated with alcohol’s impact on the developing brain as other youth.

Athletic strength or prowess provides no immunity to alcohol’s ability to alter the brain chemically and, over time, structurally.

Young athletes who consume alcohol, however, also face a significant impact on the body’s ability to recover from training and therefore benefit from it.

A training regimen works because each workout session puts the body’s muscles under strain.

In the hours and days after that workout, the body recovers and adapts to better meet the challenge.

Each successive workout and subsequent recovery produces more adaptation — greater physical strength, speed, and skill.

But, if you hinder a body’s recovery from a workout, the body can’t adapt.

Finally, the strain of working out produces degeneration instead of adaptation.

The result is poor athletic performance and, ultimately, injury.

Muscle synthesis and repair is reduced, especially for fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, are increased, and testosterone, an essential hormone created during recovery, is reduced for up to four days.

That’s the science of it, but what does this really mean?

Research from the American Athletic Institute shows that one evening of heavy drinking can completely reverse up to 14 days of a young athlete’s training effect.

And, young athletes who drink are twice as likely to be injured as their non-drinking teammates.

So, underage drinking is not a winning formula for any student athlete. The consequences are evident on and off the playing field.

Angela Criswell, Coordinator of Alcohol Prevention Enhancement Site for Kentucky, amcriswell@bluegrass.org 859-225-3296.

TMC3 is an innovative program that allows qualified students to save both time and money by completing a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree in just three years.

The three-year degree is completed during the course of eight semesters.
Annual tuition and fees for the three-year program are $15,000.

The structure of TMC3 is year-round, with students taking 18 hours in the fall and spring semesters, and 12 hours in two summer terms.

To be considered for the program, students must have a 3.0 G.P.A. in their high school coursework and a 26 ACT composite score or 1190 SAT score.
TMC Vice President for Student Services Matthew Webster explained the new program.

“Students will receive the same well-rounded education as all other Thomas More students, including the individual attention that accompanies the College’s 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio,” he said.

Webster further explained that students who opt not to continue in the compressed track have the option of moving to the normal four-year track at any time during the program.

For more information, visit thomasmore.edu/tmc3 or contact the admissions office at admissions@thomasmore.edu or 859-344-3332.

Asbury College
One Macklem Dr., Wilmore
(859) 858-3511
www.asbury.edu
Accelerated format: night classes.
Bachelor degrees in Management and Ethics; Elementary Education; Leadership and Ministry.

Midway College
512 E. Stephens St., Midway
(859) 846-4421
www.midway.edu
Accelerated format: online, day, night or weekend classes.
Associate and Bachelor degrees in Nursing; Science; Business Administration; Computer Integration Systems.

Sullivan University
2355 Harrodsburg Rd., Lexington
(859) 276-4357
www.sullivan.edu
Accelerated format: online, day, night or weekend classes.
Certificates, Associate, Bachelor and Master degrees in Business Administration; Hospitality Management; Accounting; Education and more.

Spencerian College
1575 Winchester Rd., Lexington
(859) 223-9608
www.spencerian.edu
Accelerated format: day and night classes.
Certificates and diplomas in medical and technical fields.

Strayer University
220 Lexington Green Circle, Lexington
(859) 971-4400
www.strayer.edu
Format: online, day or night classes
Certificates, Associate, Bachelor and Master degrees in nine areas of concentration.

Thomas More College
333 Thomas More Parkway, Crestview Hills
(859) 341-4554
www.thomasmore.edu
Accelerated format: night classes
Associate, Bachelor and Master degrees in Business Administration.

Bellarmine University
2001 Newburg Rd., Louisville
(502) 272-8131
www.bellarmine.edu
Accelerated format: day and night classes
Second Bachelor degree program in Nursing; Health Science; and Medical Laboratory Science.

Oh, and add full-time MBA student as well.

That last part would not be possible if not for the Accelerated Degree Program at Midway College.

“When you’re a parent and working mom, time is of the essence,” she said. “Midway is so responsive, so accessible. It made everything possible for me.”

Coffman, 35, enrolled in her 17-member cohort in January of last year and will earn her MBA by November. She attends class just one night a week – Thursday at 6 p.m.

Although the Midway program is accessible, the work is demanding. More than once she felt overwhelmed. Thank goodness for her class-mates.

“When you feel like jumping off, they pull you back,” she said.

Her classmates are split along gender lines, range in age from 20 to 50-something, and are equally busy.

“I don’t know what I’d do without them,” Coffman said. “We’ve become very close. My daughter will be in the National American Miss Pageant, and three of my cohort members are her sponsors. We’re doing life together. We’ll have these relationships for the rest of our lives.”

The only one more supportive than her classmates is her husband, Randy, a 19-year Kroger employee who has picked up the slack at home.

“I couldn’t do any of this without him,” she said.

Central Baptist has picked up some of the financial slack with its tuition reimbursement program. Coffman is Director of Patient Access at the hospital with aspirations of promotion.

The Midway program is useful because Coffman’s capstone project links with her job.

“I’m working on researching effective communication between physicians and hospitals after healthcare reform,” she said.

Benefits abound for Coffman since she started the MBA program. She’s never been busier . . .  but Midway has smoothed out the process.

“I know the professors, and if I have a question or need help, I get an answer right away,” she said.

“It’s a small school, and everything is so easy. I can even park next to my classroom.

“Believe me, things like that make a difference.”

Next month every high school junior in the state of Kentucky will take the ACT Test.

For college-bound students this can test can produce a great deal of anxiety – and for good reason.

According to the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, most universities rank ACT/SAT test scores as the second most important factor in admitting students.

Only a student’s grade point average in college prep classes carries more weight in these decisions.

That’s why many students seek help preparing for the ACT and the SAT.

Larry Boss, owner of The Tutoring Club of Lexington, sees many of these students beginning in the fall of their junior year for a 16-hour preparatory class.

“We start them off with a mock test which highlights what they need to fix,” Boss said.

That allows The Tutoring Club staff to personalize a study program to cover those skills that trouble a student.

The ACT test covers three years worth of math concepts. That’s where most students struggle.

“We can use the prep course to refresh those math skills,” he said.

The course gives students a chance to experience the style of questions posed in the ACT or SAT tests.

Some of the test questions themselves are complex, but practice can help students improve their test taking skills.

In addition to preparing early for these standardized tests, Boss offers some other advice for college bound students:

• Focus on college success, not just college entry.
• Hone your study skills for college classes, not just for testing.
• Pay attention in class. You will need those math skills once you get to college.
• Remember that each class you take builds on the skills you learned the year before.
• Students need to take their classes seriously in middle school as well as high school in order to succeed.

Thanks in part to the state-of-the-art theater in its new building, the school curriculum now includes, drama, photography and all forms of art.

Sts. Peter and Paul is creating its own version of SCAPA — but without the auditions, Principal Cathy Cybriwsky said.

The school in grades 1-8 has an art and photography club, a kiln for making pottery and is a stop on the Gallery Hop, where students can display their artwork.

Research shows that involvement in the arts leads to academic improvement.

“There is incredible evidence that involving kids in arts can make them learn better,” Cybriwsky said.

This year middle-schoolers performed “Seussical the Musical,” doing all the stage and technical work.

Fourth and fifth graders will perform “The Wizard of Oz,” and the younger grades are planning a production of their own.

The next step is to make the entire curriculum more arts-inclusive, starting next year.

“For kids whose needs aren’t met in the traditional classroom, this gives them an opportunity to express themselves other than with pencil and paper,” Cybriwsky said.

But technology is just one part of the ever-changing process of becoming a school of the twenty-first century.

“Today’s kindergartners will be retiring in the year 2069,” Christ the King Principal Karen Thomas said.

“We have no idea what the world will look like then, yet we are charged with preparing our students for life in that world.

“This means giving them the ability to reinvent themselves. In order to succeed, they must not only be able to learn, but to unlearn, and then relearn.”
According to Thomas, four areas have been identified in this endeavor: The four “C’s.”

• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Creativity

In the past few years, Christ the King has implemented a series of programs and tools to address these areas.

For example, in the arts program there has been an increased emphasis on listening skills and enhanced writing.

Students use the Kodály method, which instructs through listening exercises, visual aids and movement.

The goal is to not just look to one type of class to learn one type of skill.

All classes incorporate the four “C’s,” no matter the subject, and technology ties it all together.

CKS has implemented a centralized, virtual computer system which allows limitless storage.

Programs and data can be easily added in minutes and hours, instead of days.

Through MAP testing and programs like Encore and Raising the Bar, strengths and weaknesses are identified more efficiently, so each student’s curriculum can be customized to his or her educational needs.

“When any of us thinks of education, we usually think of what we knew as kids,” Thomas said.

“Back then, you picked a career and geared your education toward that goal.

“But today’s students will grow up to perform many jobs and have multiple careers.

“Therefore, a twenty-first century school needs to be flexible, creative, challenging and complex.

“We have to address a rapidly changing world, filled with fantastic new problems as well as exciting new possibilities,” Thomas continued.

“The best we can do is teach them how to keep learning throughout their lives.

“With all the changes and challenges, the one constant is our faith.

“We will continue to provide a strong spiritual foundation that will carry on throughout their lifetimes.”

“Because all kids are naturally curious, I don’t believe in the word can’t,” said Kimberly Hudson, founder and owner of The Curious EDGE. “I want to help all kids succeed.”

That’s what happens every day at The Curious EDGE. Hudson holds a master’s in communication disorders and has 18 years experience as a speech therapist in a medical setting.

In addition, she is trained in the Orton-Gillingham method of treatment for dyslexia, one of the cornerstones of The Reading Room, which is located within The Curious EDGE.

Orton-Gillingham is a mulit-sensory approach that uses visual, audio, tactile and kinesthetic techniques to help build pathways for learning in the brain.

The National Institutes of Health found that 95% of even the poorest readers can learn from techniques used in Orton-Gillingham.
Routinely, students get caught up within two years of treatment.

The Reading Room’s staff of two speech therapists, one teacher and eight tutors sees more than 50 students twice a week at The Reading Room.

While working with these students, Hudson noticed that many were gifted in math and science.

So she brought the Club Scientific franchise to The Curious EDGE in 2009.

Summer science camps, birthday parties and field trips are offered as well.

After school clubs are open for grades K-5 and meet after school at area elementary schools where they serve as fund-raisers.

Kids work on science experiments and build robots at Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary, Cassidy, Meadowthorpe, Picadome and Stonewall Elementaries in Lexington, Southside in Versailles, St. Camillus in Corbin and at The Curious EDGE.

A shining moment for Hudson came when fourth- and fifth-graders were working on an experiment to program a robot with sensors.

During a field trip to Toyota, Hudson saw the same skills taught at The Curious EDGE being practiced by Toyota workers.

“That filled my love bucket,” she said.

Hudson hopes by getting kids interested in math and science, they will establish a life-long passion for learning.

“I want to channel curiosity and get kids excited about math and science,” she said.

“These children will be the leaders for our future.”

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Walking into the school, I took in the smell of fresh new paint, bright colorful classrooms, and the look of excited children dressed in blue uniforms.

A typical day at LUA began with students meeting in the auditorium – not only for announcements – but to make a morning supplication.

Classes were next on the agenda – while traditional classes were covered, Arabic, Quran, and Islamic studies were added.

During the school day, another “class” was also included – afternoon prayer.

Muslims are required to pray five times a day.

Out of the four years I attended LUA, being able to pray together was one of my favorite things.

One of the other highlights of being at LUA was that looking around all you could see were people who believed what you believed, who dressed how you dressed, who came from the same places as you did.

I started wearing the hijab (headscarf) at the age of 12.

Going to LUA and seeing all the other girls around me wearing it helped make my decision.

Starting at a younger age gave me the strength to handle being the only Muslim girl wearing hijab at my pubic high school.

Looking back, I realized how lucky I was to be surrounded with people that I could be completely myself.

Being at LUA was most beneficial during the month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from food and drink from sunrise to sunset.

In public school, I would get questions of why I wasn’t eating lunch that day.

At LUA, no one had to ask. School was even let out early, to help fit parents’ schedules during the month.

As with every school, there are positive and negatives traits about LUA.

LUA is a small school. In fourth grade, we had 12 students — more than half related to me.

Give or take a few, I was with this group up until seventh grade. Being with the same people for a long time caused conflicts and drama.

Each of us longed to meet new people.

As my eight grade year approached, I begged my parents for a chance to experience public school.

My dad was chairman of the board at LUA and wanted me to continue.

But I prevailed and attended Southern Middle School. I’m now a senior at Dunbar High and have enjoyed my high school experience in public school.

Reflecting back at my time at LUA, I really do appreciate it. I learned so much more about my faith, which led to making me an overall stronger person.

Even with the ups and downs, the friendships I made there and experiences I had were all worth it.