Teenangels.org - Official Blog

Monday, October 30, 2006

from one of our teenangels on doing her first presentation (to 900 kids!!!) on cyberbullying. I really love the teens! :-)

Dear Ms. Aftab,

At first I was extremely nervous. I read over my lines (in the role play) millions of times thinking I would freeze on stage. Though, my anxiousness subsided eventually and I was able to calm down with the help of the Teenangles support group that came along.
Walking into the school was a new experience in its self. There were tons of middle-schoolers grouped in circles around the building. Workshops were going on everywhere I turned and a significantly large presentation happening in the auditorium. The women who were heading the day’s events kept coming over to us and thanked us for coming. This made me feel important and very proud.
When our time finally arrived to present our cyberbulling slideshows the nerves were eliminated. Instead of stage fright I was filled with excitement and awe at the 900 some odd people that faced me. The first part of the PowerPoint went smoothly. The only technical difficulties we encountered came during “The Game Boy Ploy”; my part!!! Not to worry, my partner and I read through our parts clearly and enthusiastically; even better than I had imagined! I was astonished that we pulled through so well.
We received a huge applause and a big thanks from the school. The day, the presentation, the entirety of the experience was one that I am glad I was able to be a part of and one that will be hard to forget.

Gianna
New Rochelle Ch.1

Monday, October 23, 2006

Communication and Education Key to Keeping Kids Safe Online - Government Technology

Teenangels received rave reviews for their presentation.Communication and Education Key to Keeping Kids Safe Online - Government Technology

Wisconsin State Journal - wisconsin teenangels in action on PBS

Wisconsin State Journal

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Students urged to follow safety rules while online

Students urged to follow safety rules while online

Post from one of our Holmdel teenangels after her first presentation as a teenangel

When I stepped foot in Howell Middle School, I basically knew I'd be
>talking a bit about things like how to keep kids like ourselves safe on
>the internet as well as how to deal with internet bullying and the
>Teenangels program. It was my first time being part of a formal
>presentation where the audience was more than just my friends and peers
>listening, so I wasn't even expecting kids to really pay attention to
>me or even care about what I had to say. I can definitely say that I
>was shocked at the high participation level of the kids when I did my
>part of the presentation and got them to guess certain statistics and
>let me know what they thought about it. The response gave me this
>remarkable sense - and made us Teenangels realize that we were making
>some sort of a positive difference! Although it was obvious that some
>kids just can't be bothered with caring about anything, I could tell
>that others were certainly affected by some of the stories we brought
>up. I would truly consider it an accomplishment if even one kid made
>changes to be safer online after listening to us speak. At the end of
>the presentation, three girls came up to us and asked us some questions
>and were even surprised to know that most of us had pages up on social
>networking websites like Myspace and Facebook. I think it made them
>realize that we weren't telling them not to do it, but to be safe while navigating them. Bringing that reality to them made them think of us more as role models, rather than teen police!
>Overall, I loved the whole experience and having the opportunity to
>share what we knew with other younger teens who will benefit from it.
>I'm really looking forward to continuing my work as a Teenangel.
>

MercuryNews.com | 10/19/2006 | Summit tackles Internet sexual predators

MercuryNews.com | 10/19/2006 | Summit tackles Internet sexual predators