Christmas Wishes Program

DHR has 110 foster children. This number is less than 2011 as 18 of those children whom you helped last year have now been adopted into their forever homes. While the State of Alabama provides assistance for necessary living expenses, foster parents invest a great deal of their own time and financial resources to insure that these abused and neglected children have as normal and stable a home environment as possible.

DHR hopes that you will be able to help again by contributing to our Christmas Wishes program. You can help provide Christmas gifts to these foster children in several different ways:
*Sponsor the wishes of a specific child or children
*Provide gift cards to popular stores--especially good for our teens - there are 60 teen foster children.
*Make a financial donation to the agency and we will shop for you.
*Copy this request and share it with your friends, family, church, or co-workers.

To sponsor a child, call 205-280-2000 or email the DHR director at marilyn.colson@dhr.alabama.gov.
To make a financial donation, make checks to the Chilton DHR Foster Children's Fund and mail them to
Chilton County Department of Human Resources
P.O. Box 1699
Clanton, AL 35046-1699

Or you may drop donations or gift cards off at our office on Airport Road next to the National Guard Armory. Donations will only be used for the needs of Chilton County foster children.

John Stossel Essay Contest

Enter John Stossel's "NO THEY CAN'T" ESSAY CONTEST
Sponsored by the Smith Family Foundation

225 CASH PRIZES for students, totaling $23,000!
Students can earn LOTS of great prizes by entering in Stossel in the Classroom's essay contest, for students aged 13-18! And we have super prizes for teachers, too!

ESSAY TOPIC: In John Stossel's TV special and book of the same name, "No They Can't," Stossel makes the case that free people and free markets do a better job of solving problems than government. Do you think he's right? Why or why not? Please
write a 500-1000 word essay on this topic, illustrating your position using a recent example of a problem private individuals solved where an attempted government solution failed OR a problem government solved where private individuals' attempts
had failed. You must include at least one reference to John Stossel's "No They Can't" book or TV special.

• 225 students will receive CASH PRIZES totaling $23,000.

• 1st and 2nd place students will also win an all-expense-paid trip to New York City for themselves, a chaperone, and the teachers who submitted their essays to see a live taping of STOSSEL.

• Teachers whose students receive at least an honorable mention will receive an autographed copy of one of John Stossel's best-selling books.

• Each teacher may submit an unlimited number of student essays (500-1000 words) on our web site between now and the Feb. 13th deadline.

FOR COMPLETE CONTEST RULES, PRIZE DETAILS, AND SUBMISSION INFO,
VISIT: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/essay_contest/

Midyear AHSGE Schedule

This is the schedule for the December Graduation Exam tests:
Biology - Monday - Dec. 3
Math - Tuesday - Dec. 4
Reading - Wednesday - Dec. 5
Language - Thursday - Dec. 6
Social Studies - Friday - Dec. 7

Testing will begin each day at 8:00 AM in the auditorium.

Scholarship Information Sources

Please check out this website, http://www.studentscholarships.org/. It is awesome! There are too many scholarships on this website for me to list here. Let me know if you find one to apply for on this website. I will give you a HIGH FIVE on my blog!

College Admissions

Seniors, it is very important that you complete college admission applications before December 1. I say that because there are so many available scholarships that will be taken by the students who apply early. December 1st is also the deadline for most large schools to accept freshman applications. Try to apply to at least 3 colleges or universities. Even if you only like a couple of colleges, don't limit yourself to possible opportunities! Ask your counselor for information about colleges or search the internet. Alabama is blessed with so many wonderful 2-year and 4-year colleges, many of which are within driving distance of Chilton County. Email me if you have any questions or come by my office.

Get Money for College!

The American Legion publishes Need a Lift which gives you scholarship and financial aid information at your fingertips! Go to www.legion.org/needalift. You will be surprised at the amount of information that you can get from this publication.

Social Work Program

The job market for students with a bachelor degree in Social Work is excellent due to the shortage of licensed social workers throughout the State of Alabama and the Nation. Beginning annual salaries for licensed undergraduate social workers range from $25,000-$30,000. Social workers may be employed in a variety of agencies such as child welfare and public health (both of which require licensed social workers), AIDS agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, mental health, and aging agencies. Any students interested in the helping professions should check out the website Be A Social Worker.org (http://www.beasocialworker.org/) to learn more about the profession of social work.

More information about the University of Montevallo social work program can be found on their website at http://www.montevallo.edu/bss/swk/ or on their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com//University-of-Montevallo-Social-Work-Program. Interested students may also call or email Laurel Hitchcock, Program Director and Assistant Professor of Social Work at 205-665-6180, lhitchcock@montevallo.edu.

Verbena High students may also see Mrs. Champion for brochures and handouts about the Social Work Program at the University of Montevallo.