American teenagers, particularly young women, are in the midst of a mental health crisis as social media and smartphones are contributing to high levels of depression, loneliness, sadness, and even suicide in some cases. Rebecca Jones is the Child and Adolescent Services Director of the Mental health Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County. She describes the types of cases her office has encountered in county schools and successful strategies and remedies that are being employed.
Lorain County Community College continues to be a leader in Ohio and across the country in providing local high school students programs and activities geared to career planning and development. This extraordinary progress has taken place under the leadership of college president Dr. Marcia Ballinger. In this annual update for Dialogues, she discusses the highly successful “Bridges to Success” program where high school students earn college credits while attending LCCC classes in career exploration and life planning. She also explains the free, virtual “Fast Track” program which offers industry recognized credentials to adults in high demand employment areas.
Virginia Waratinsky, a veteran former teacher in Elyria schools is the Scholarship Chair for The Lorain County Retired Teachers Association (LCRTA). She announces new scholarships for qualified Lorain County students. Her exciting news is two special programs sponsored by the LCRTA. She outlines the efforts of her organization to support advancing the education of local students and offers insights to those who wish to seek these special aid opportunities. Their website is LORCORTA.org.
In this interview Kerri Broome provides details on the Lorain County Historical Society’s yearlong plans to highlight the county’s bicentennial. The county’s history began with the arrival of Heman Ely from Massachusetts after the Revolutionary war to establish the eventual county seat, Elyria. Details are given on many events and observances including driving and biking tours of historical locations.
| A longtime supporter of the Scholastic Games broadcasts, the Community Foundation of Lorain County has been connecting people who care with causes that matter for several decades. In this interview, the foundation’s Executive Director, Cindy Andrews, provides details on ways the foundation is working to improve the region’s quality of life, from invaluable assistance during the Covid pandemic to scholarships, community events and assistance to other nonprofit organizations. The name of the organization’s website sums up its mission: It’s peoplewhocare.org. |
BACK TO 2000: Elyria High Sets 20-Year Win Record
Back in 2000, Elyria High School set a record when it won five championships over the ten years the program had been broadcast. In the twenty years since then the record still stands, having been matched only once by Olmsted Falls High School, which won its fifth in 2018. In this, the 30th year of our competitions, we rebroadcast for the first time that fifth championship by Elyria in 2000. Though many of the academic questions might still be asked of high schoolers today, it may be of particular interest to hear round two, the “Current Events Round,” which actually begins with what was then a historic milestone. By the way, the competing team is from Amherst Marion L. Steele High, which had reached the championship for a third consecutive year, but sadly came in second all three times (to eventually win top honors in 2015). Over the years, 12 different high schools have won the Scholastic Games championship.
KERN
This, our second program on teen mental health, provides an update with the executive director of the Lorain county mental health board, Kathleen Kern. Did you know that 25% of teens in the United States suffer from some sort of depression? 
This is a serious problem for some teens, especially in this day of cyber space with the large amount of time teens are spending in front of video screens. Kern discusses the problem of teen depression in this informative interview, offering some helpful remedies to parents and students including a crisis text line and a web site which can immediately help students who are trying to combat depression.
Whitehead
The economic future of Lorain County involves expansion of job creation, preparation, access, and education. A consortium of local groups is formulating a plan to unify Lorain County’s communities in this effort. Brad Whitehead is the president of the Fund for Our Economic Future” who lead the first meeting in this effort and in this “Dialogues” program he talks about the importance of education development for the future of Lorain County.
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