Tag: school

Gay, lesbian, bisexual teens at higher risk for suicide

“Sexual minority teens might have been at increased risk because they experienced verbal harassment, physical bullying or felt unsafe at school.”

Interviews with nearly 16,000 teens across the nation suggest that gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) teens are more than three times likely to consider suicide than their heterosexual peers. In fact, the study reveals, one in four had attempted suicide in the previous year.

About 11% of the participants described themselves as LGBQ.

“We must recognize LGBQ teen suicide is a national public health crisis and bring extraordinary resources to bear to address the crisis,” senior study author John Ayers, a researcher at San Diego State University told Reuters.

Read the entire story. You can also read the abstract or purchase the study itself at the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA).

Exposing Richmond schoolkids to butternut squash

Butternut squash is on the school menu, and the kids love it!

Channel 10’s latest “exposé” is how local schools are “forcing” students to try healthy foods…and they’re loving them!

According to Barbara Morse Silva’s story, Richmond Elementary School’s Local Food Ambassador Program is trying to get kids to try new foods.

“We started the buzz a couple of days ago,” Principal Sharon Martin told Morse. “We’ve been doing morning announcements for the last couple of days getting the children ready, giving them some background knowledge about what butternut squash is. How it’s grown.”

The program is a partnership between food service provider Aramark, the Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition and Farm Fresh RI.

“We asked them to help us today because we want to know if it tastes good,” said Patricia Roth, a program associate with Farm Fresh RI. “We say, you know, we need to let the farmers know if they should keep growing it.”

So, the kids did just that, with some of them giving the samples the sniff test first, while others dove right in.

“It’s yummy,” said one of the students.

“It was awesome,” said another.

Visit Channel 10’s website for the whole story, the newscast, and a recipe for orange glazed butternut squash with dried cranberries.