PHS Sports Sidelines

by Mack Oetting

It is March Madness, and the Bobcats are kicking it off with games on the 1st. The Bobcats start it off against a play-in team—either Monument Valley or Tintic—at Richfield at 1 p.m. The Cats' next two games will be at 7 p.m. at

Sevier Valley Center (SVC).

The Lady Cats start off their game on the 1st at SVC, and they play at 2:30 against Manila. The next game they have on the 2nd will be at 4:00, and it will be against Rich—the #1 team. The ladies have beaten the # 3 team promoting STEM activities in the community and in schools with monthly events like Toddler Tuesday and Wonder Wednesday. The STEM Center also hosts STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Nights. These nights are for local elementary students and their families to experience science-based activities and gain access to really valuable experiences and information

Nominations for the 2023 Southern Utah STEM Awards are now open. that can spark a new interest in them. During the 2021-2022 school year more than 4,100 community members attended the STEAM Nights. In the last year, the SUU STEM Center donated over $60,000 in grant funding to schools, teachers and STEM outreach projects. In addition, the SUU STEM Center Resource Library provided nearly 800 equipment loans to teachers and the community.

SUU students can get involved with the SUU STEM Center by volun-

Valley and played Piute real tough in Region. Their game has really improved as of late, so you never know.

The Bobcats really had a big turnout of fans at Region, so don’t miss the excitement of the State Championships.

The STEM Awards are held to publicly acknowledge and thank those who make STEM a priority in schools and the community. Several Southern Utah counties take part in the STEM Awards including Beaver, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington, and Wayne.

The 2023 STEM Awards Banquet will be held in the R. Haze Hunter Alumni Center at Southern Utah University on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 from 5:30-7:30pm. Tickets for the event are $20. Submit a nomination or purchase tickets via the SUU STEM Center website.

—Southern Utah University

Activities and Event Schedule 2023

MARCH

• The coalition will be trained to facilitate a QPR suicide prevention class for the community.

• Guiding Good Choices parenting class - March 8, 15, 22 & 29 and April 5

APRIL

• Resiliency Town Hall with Jennie Taylor, guest speaker - April 6th, 1:50 pm for students, 5:30 for parents

• Easter Egg Hunt dates and Family kits - time is TBD

MAY

• Community QPR training, suicide prevention training - TBD

JUNE

• Splash Pad open day - June 2nd at the City Park

• Southwest Youth Summit (Beaver) (youth training)

• Utah Youth Summit in Bryce Canyon (youth training)

JULY

• Scavenger Hunt - date and time is TBD

• CADCA mid-year youth training institute in Dallas TX (coalition member and youth training)

AUGUST

• Soap box derby, Family game night - August 19th

SEPTEMBER

• Community QPR training, suicide prevention training - TBD

OCTOBER

• Take Back Drug Day and Community Town Hall take back day - TBD

NOVEMBER

• Community QPR training, suicide prevention training - TBD

DECEMBER

• Ginger Bread family kits (Elementary Christmas play)

*Check Escalante Prevention Coalition's Facebook page for dates times and details on events and activities

Prevention Coalition: The goal is to bring people together from different sectors: organizations in the community, law enforcement, schools, businesses, people in local government, parents and students, so everyone is addressing the same issue, so we’re all working to address substance abuse and mental health issues together.

—Melissa Veater, Licensed Prevention Specialist and Prevention Supervisor for Garfield County

positive messaging (signage in the schools), reducing risk (training store clerks about selling alcohol), “Take Back” days that encourage citizens to remove unused prescription drugs from the home, and identifying virtually any change specific to a community’s environment that can decrease risk factors and improve protective factors.

“The goal is to bring people together from different sectors: organizations in the community, law enforcement, schools, businesses, people in local government, parents and students, so everyone is addressing the same issue, so we’re all working to address substance abuse and mental health issues together,” said Veater.

stool will remain very… wobbly.”

It may come as a surprise that Garfield County is a leader in prevention initiatives. Rural communities are often accustomed to being under-resourced, lacking in both funding and human capital for social wellness programs. Yet Garfield County has developed robust prevention programs, which serve as hyper-local community resources for addressing substance abuse and misuse, mental health issues, and suicide prevention.

The county’s first Prevention Coalition was started fifteen years ago in Panguitch with a Drug Free Communities grant— a federal program housed in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. More recently, additional DFC grants have been awarded to develop programs in Escalante and Bryce Valley.

“It’s such a rare occurrence for three small communities to get this kind of funding. It’s hard to get— you need to meet certain eligibility requirements,” said Melissa Veater, Licensed Prevention Specialist and Prevention Supervisor for Garfield County. “What we’ve been able to accomplish since receiving the Drug Free Communities grant has been recognized by the state of Utah for having great outcomes.”

Being an evidencebased program, baseline and repeated studies are conducted in communities through what is called the SHARP survey, which is administered to students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 in Utah public schools every other year. The most recent Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) Statewide survey was conducted in 2021.

“The SHARP survey identified specific problems in Panguitch and we have been addressing those, related to family bonding, specifically,” said Veater. Between 2009 and 2012 the survey revealed that Panguitch students’ feelings of having a strong family bond and “connecting with mom and dad” dropped from 90% to 60%.

“Family bonding is a protective factor for mental health. We wanted to address that. We did family nights, family ‘at-home’ kits which involve bonding activities in the home, and parenting classes.” In

2021, Panguitch students’ SHARP survey family bonding scores were back up to 92%, “and our underage drinking rates have dropped,” said Veater.

Programs are not the same county-wide, but rather are tailored to each specific community. Each coalition in Panguitch, Escalante and Bryce Valley draws up an action plan that is based on the SHARP survey data, and on Seven Strategies for Community Change, a research and evidence-based model. “If you want to create change in your community, you follow these steps,” said Veater.

This might include teaching skills to both kids and adults—life skills such as communication, praising healthy behaviors, reducing barriers to seeking mental health treatment services,

In this respect, the prevention model goes several dimensions beyond earlier drug use programs such as “Just Say No,” an advertising campaign prevalent in the 1980s and ‘90s related to the "War on Drugs" and championed by First Lady Nancy Reagan.

“Scare tactics don’t work,” said Heather Dunton, Prevention Specialist for the Escalante Prevention Coalition, describing how the prevention model is different from previous "War on Drugs" programs, and that the Strategic Prevention Framework is rooted in a five-step process of assessment, capacity, planning, implementation and evaluation.

As a prevention coordinator, Dunton partners with the city and the schools, and interacts with families to create a program that filters into kids’ daily activities at multiple levels. And this includes addressing identified risks. Dunton said that for Escalante, based on the SHARP survey data, “We know what substances to address. Underage drinking is a biggie, and tobacco use, including E cigarettes.”

Dunton teaches a fivesession parenting class, Guiding Good Choices, to help parents improve their communication skills and develop bonding strategies with their kids. “As parents, when our kiddos are going out, we say ‘stay out of trouble,’ but we’re not specifically saying the rules:

‘no drinking, no doing drugs, no vaping.’ We’re not being specific. We thought we were saying, ‘don’t be naughty,’ and that that’s good enough. In the child’s mind they think, ‘you didn’t say I couldn’t drink.’” Kids may think that if they drink but manage to stay out of trouble, that’s sticking to the rules. Another strategy Dunton discussed was providing opportunity and recognition for kids in the home. “It might be preparing a meal together. A parent might offer, ‘Do you want to make dinner for the family tonight? I’ll teach you.’” And the recognition could be as simple as "look who made dinner!" or offering a special treat for a job well done. Dunton also noted, “In families that eat together five or more times a week, the kids are 33% less likely to underage drink.”

Garfield County’s prevention coalitions also respond to specific community needs as they arise. Increasingly, law enforcement agencies are responding to calls and situations related to mental health crises, leading to a need for training in how to manage situations involving mental health needs. The Prevention Coalition responded by offering a two-day Mental Health First Aid class for Garfield County deputies, jailers and dispatchers.

QPR training (Question, Respond, Refer) suicide prevention training to address mental health crises for both adults and kids has become a core program, with trainings for QPR techniques offered to anyone interested in the communities. There is even a youth QPR training for students that is coordinated through the Prevention Coalition’s student "Hope Squad."

“Hopefully, we can just kind of break that stigma on mental health, that it’s OK to not be OK, and to reach out for help,” said Dunton.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. —Insider

Shane Brian: Shane Brian of Brian Farm Service will be the subject of the next "Classic Conversation" with the Entrada Institute tonight, March 2, at 7 p.m. at Robbers Roost in Torrey.

Shane Brian Cont'd from A1 an opportunity to find out more about Shane.

He was born in Rexburg, Idaho. His family suffered losses, as did many when the Teton Dam breached in 1976. Shane was 5 years old when the family moved to Loa, and it was then that Brian Farm Service was born. The business—and Shane’s role in it—has expanded over the years.

Brian currently serves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Wayne County Stake President. But what don’t you know about Shane? You will need to come to Robbers Roost to find out.

Gomes, vice president of the Entrada Institute, produces and moderates "Classic Conversations."

Before settling in Torrey, Gomes spent 25 years as an award-winning public broadcaster in Utah, Indiana, and Texas, so if you haven’t participated in any of the previous "Classic Conversations," you are in for a treat.

To register for this program, go to www.entradainstitute.org, click on “Attend an Event,” and fill out the brief form. You will find the latest Utah Department of Health guidelines for COVID there. Events are also livestreamed at Entrada Institute on Facebook.

—Entrada Institute