Aroostook Teen Halo Award

By Rebecca Miller
    Have you seen the television advertising for the Aroostook Teen HALO Award on WAGM? Have you wondered what that means? Let me give you a little background.
    CADET in Caribou and The Link for Hope Coalition in Houlton are both community coalitions dedicated to reduce substance abuse in their areas through education, prevention and empowerment. They have joined the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention coalition because it seemed more sensible to be working together toward the same goal by combining our efforts and knowledge.
    Allison Heidorn is the asset manager of the ASAP coalition and has been trained by the Search Institute in the implementation and education of the 40-developmental assets. The 40-developmental assets are explained in the Search Institutes web page as “40 common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible, successful adults. Because of its basis in youth development, resiliency, and prevention research and its proven effectiveness, the Developmental Assets framework has become one of the most widely used approaches to positive youth development in the United States.”
    ASAP, Link for Hope, CADET, the Houlton and Caribou Rotary clubs and WAGM have joined forces to present positive media advertising featuring one of the Developmental Assets per month for each month in 2012. Not only will you see advertisements on WAGM-CBS and WAGM-FOX, but your local newspapers will have articles regarding the asset of the month and participating schools will be sending home helpful hints for parents. In the Houlton area, WHOU’s owner, Fred Grant, has offered the services of the radio station to get the message out.
    In an effort to recognize and award teenagers in Aroostook County who exhibit positive, healthy behavior, they are offering the Aroostook Teen HALO Award. HALO stands for Helping And Leading Others. Do you know a young person who has the ability to step out of their comfort zone and offer help to someone who needs it? Who has the leadership ability to make things happen? If so, please nominate them.
    There will be 12 Aroostook County teens (or group of teens) chosen to win this award. They will be recognized for their efforts in April at a dinner and award ceremony. You can print off the application at the WAGM website and also on WAGM’s Facebook page.
    Also, in October Judge Tommy Webb will be coming to Aroostook County to present his message “You Can Make a Difference” to interested schools. Currently Link for Hope is seeking funds to pay for Judge Webb’s travel, meals, lodging and presentation expenses. He has a powerful story of survival and empowers those who hear him to reach out to others.
    I encourage anyone who would like to get involved in making a difference in the lives of those around you to call Allison Heidron at 540-6772. Those in the southern Aroostook area are invited to attend the next Link for Hope meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28th at 6:30 at the Community Educations Center at Houlton Regional Hospital.
    Rebecca Miller is co-chairperson for the Link for Hope Coalition. She can be reached at 532-4294 or via e-mail at rebecca@aroostook.me.us.