8 minute read
ONE AMAZING KID
1 NE amazing kid
Leah Warr, a student at Glen Oaks Magnet High, was awarded a $1,000 prize as part of the Forcepoint and Girls with Impact venture competition. Girls with Impact operates the nation’s only live, online business and leadership program, providing classes led by trained business coaches. Students move from venture ideas to business plans and pitches. The competition was open to all program graduates, awarding the top venture that addresses an issue facing consumers or businesses in the cyber world. Leah’s winning idea is Metro Underpass, a global transit app that securely monitors train locations and times. The inspiration for the app came from her sister who wanted a better way to navigate the train system. “She talked to me about having a website that shows the arrival and leaving times of all types of trains. I asked her if we could work together to get her ideas out. I told her that she could design the website, and I could design an app for it,” says Leah. Leah was excited to join Girls with Impact because she knew the program would help build her business skills. While she is the CEO of Metro Underpass, she also runs a boutique with her cousins, Classy Mini Boutique. They sell backpacks, purses, hats, jewelry, makeup palettes, lip gloss, and lashes. Leah is quite the businesswoman, however, she does enjoy taking some time for herself. She enjoys science class, watching Jumanji, and listening to Chris Brown. She is also a senior Girl Scout with Troop 10995, and she is truly one amazing kid. ■
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OUTSTANDING YOUTH IN PHILANTHROPY
St. Amant Middle School student, Anna Jusselin, was awarded the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. This award recognizes service by an individual ages 10-23 who demonstrates outstanding commitment to the community through direct financial support, development of charitable programs, volunteering, and leadership in philanthropy. Anna has been helping others since she was four years old. When she was four, Anna began selling pink lemonade and cupcakes to donate the funds to cancer research. Later, she expanded her fundraising pursuits into also selling breast cancer awareness t-shirts. Over the years, Anna has raised over $21,000 to donate to those in need.
St. Michael the Archangel High School’s 32nd annual Warrior Golf Classic was recently held at Greystone Country Club. This event was in the format of three-man scramble and helped to raise funds to help support Warrior athletic teams, clubs, and extracurricular programs. The teams, sponsors, volunteers, and players are always an integral part of the success of the entire Warrior Family. The day of play included golf, lunch, door prizes, and fun giveaways, all ending with an award ceremony. The first place overall team included Cole Permenter, Justin LeBlanc, and Brad Schaeffer. Nathan Robert was awarded Closest to the Pin. R.J. Perault was awarded the Longest Drive, and Dean Schmitt won first place in the Putting Contest. Denham Springs High School (DSHS) bustled with competition during the Red Stick Rumble Robotics Competition. The hum of giant robots were mixed with the clamor of cheers and instructions being yelled out to drivers who were manipulating the robots’ moves. In the competition, called Infinite Recharge, student drivers remotely controlled their “bot,” while competing in a variety of competitions. This year’s competition featured students from schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. The winners of this year’s competition, part of an alliance of three robots, were Team Fusion from Gulfport, Team Prometheus from Mandeville, and Denham Venom #2 from DSHS. The Denham Venom #1 team was named runner-up.
ST. MICHAEL’S WARRIOR GOLF CLASSIC RED STICK RUMBLE ROBOTICS COMPETITION
DUNHAM SCHOOL SUPERHEROES SAVE THE DAY
Young superheroes and their families recently converged on The Dunham School’s gym for Lower School Innovation Night with activities focused on all things STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics). Tiger superheroes tackled a variety of challenges using their super skills–solving puzzles, using their super force to move iron filings with magnets, conquering the impossible obstacle course, and constructing superhero masks and cuffs. “At Dunham, we are preparing students for their futures. Our Innovation Lab allows them to create, design, collaborate and problem solve,” says Nikole Blanchard, Director of Innovation and Technology. “Innovation Night helps Lower School families gain insight into the learning that takes place in our Innovation Lab.”
LDOE LAUNCHES BE ENGAGED® INITIATIVE
PRAISE AND ADORATION NIGHT
The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has announced the launch of BE ENGAGED®, an initiative focused on encouraging parents, families and communities to work together to transform student outcomes. The initiative is powered through an innovative technology app, PimsPoints. The app rewards parents with PimsPoints for engaging with their child’s education. Parents can earn points by participating in activities such as an open house or a parent-teacher conference. The app will also send notifications of opportunities to be engaged at their student’s school as well as general information about student learning. Parents can exchange their PimsPoints for digital rewards and coupons provided by local businesses.
St. John Primary and St. Theresa Middle’s seventh annual Praise and Adoration Night was a huge success. Students from St. John Primary, St. Theresa Middle, and surrounding area schools all came together and had a great time dancing and enjoying musical performances by Cooper Ray and his band. However, the highlight of the evening was spending time in Adoration with Jesus while being surrounded by other disciples of Christ from the community. As a part of the evening, there were exciting door prizes for everyone to have a chance to win, including a movie basket that was donated to the event by Neighbors Federal Credit Union. The event will return once again next school year.
Toxic Metals
PODCAST
in Baby Food
WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO
BY MALIA JACOBSON
Pediatricians have long recommended simple, fresh staples like bananas and peas as healthy options for baby’s first solid foods–the less processing, the better. Those recommendations took on added importance when a new government report revealed neurotoxins like lead and arsenic in well-known packaged foods for babies.
The report, called Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury, was released in February 2021 by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Committee on Oversight and Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives. In it, the subcommittee reported that high levels of toxic metals were found in popular products made by seven of the most recognizable baby food brands in the U.S., including Nurture (maker of HappyBABY and Happy Family Organics), Beech-Nut, Hain (maker of Earth’s Best Organic), Gerber, Walmart, Campbell, and Sprout Organics Foods.
Within two weeks of the subcommittee’s report, the FDA released a response that emphasized regulations in place to protect consumers from harmful toxins in foods. The report reminds us that even with regulations in place, it’s easy to unknowingly purchase potentially harmful products, says Sheela Sathyanarayana, MD, MPH, a principal investigator in the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, and an adjunct associate professor in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.
Rigorous testing of food products may not adequately protect consumers, either. Aside from FDA-imposed regulations, many companies conduct their own tests for unsafe toxins, says Dr. Sathyanarayana. “The report showed that many of these companies had their
own internal tests for toxins, and that they were having trouble meeting their own internal standards.”
The news is particularly troubling because toxic metals can negatively impact brain development during an important stage in a child’s growth. Research links lead exposure in early childhood to developmental delays and decreased intelligence. Because lead and other metals are environmental toxins present in everything from soil to paint to lead-glazed ceramics, and because pound per pound, children take in more food, water, and air than adults, young children can accumulate more lead than adults with similar levels of exposure.
“Parents are very concerned,” says Dr. Sathyanarayana. “They saw this on the news and are coming in and asking questions, so we’ve been aware of this and talking to families about it.”
WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO
Toxic metals are hard to avoid, because they’re part of our environment, notes Dr. Sathyanarayana. “For something like arsenic, you can avoid rice cereal, but arsenic is naturally occurring and unfortunately, it’s not easy to get out of the food supply.”
However, there are a few things consumers can do. Avoiding processed foods and opting for foods with fewer ingredients and less packaging can help reduce the risk of consuming toxic metals. The more points of contact for processing, the more likely a food is contaminated, says Dr. Sathyanarayana. “If you look at an ingredient list and it’s just carrots and water, that’s less processing than something with a longer ingredient list.”
Offering babies and toddlers a broad selection of foods and not relying on one food too heavily has always been healthy habits for families, and that’s still true, she notes. “Eating a variety of foods and not feeding any food every single day are some of the things I talk about with families, and those were the things we talked about before this report.”
Families concerned about exposure to lead or other toxins can talk to their pediatrician about testing; however, infants are usually tested for lead at their nine-month well-child appointment, and tests for other toxins are available. “Families can talk to their doctor or contact the University of Washington Pediatric Environmental Health Unit about testing. It’s a free service,” says Dr. Sathyanarayana. However, she is adamant about reminding families that avoiding all toxic metals just isn’t possible. “There’s no way to get to zero risk and you can’t avoid everything,” Dr. Sathyanarayana says. “So, we talk about ways to reduce exposure.” ■
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