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January 2016 Serving Alamo and Diablo Teen Esteem: Engaging the Empowering Effects Historic Icons of the San Ramon Valley By Beverly Lane of Self-Respect By Jody Morgan Teen Esteem was established in 1994 to equip adolescents and their parents with tools essential to making intelligent, well-informed, and often courageous choices when confronted with the plethora of pressures that can make being or raising a teenager intensely stressful. By encouraging each student to recognize his or her unique qualities as admirable attributes, Teen Esteem effectively builds a platform of self-respect and respect for others from which young adults, pre-teens, and even elementary school students can evaluate enticements to engage in harmful behaviors. Committed to addressing the lures proffered and the distress potentially produced by each emerging trend, the non-profit is able to provide accurate and timely information to give every individual with
Calling buildings “icons” may be a stretch, but in the case of five buildings in the Museum’s new Historic Icons of the Valley exhibit, the word fits. Featured are the Danville Hotel, San Ramon Store, Tassajara Grammar School, Southern Pacific Depot, and Diablo Country Club’s Red Horse Tavern.
Danville Hotel
A Danville Hotel has been significant from the beginnings of American settlement. When Henry Harris opened the boarding house in 1858, other stores were established to serve the rural population. Harris became postmaster of the first Danville post office in his hotel in 1860. The building became Danville Hotel what all these early post offices were: the center of town, a place where people gathered ostensibly to get their mail and actually to catch up on their world. When this first hotel burned down in 1873, it was quite a loss. The post office shifted to one or another of the general stores along Front Street for the next decades.
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Dedicated Teen Esteem Volunteers like Adam, Tim, and Jill have presented tools for making informed and beneficial choices to over 150,000 local students.
whom they connect a better chance to maximize personal potential and avoid making damaging decisions. Emphasis on academic achievement and success in competitive sports begins taking its toll on children as early as pre-school. Lacking belief in their own talents or feeling excluded by their peers causes youngsters to give up on life. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for children aged 10-14. Depression is diagnosed in 1 in 20 children aged 9-17. Prescription drug abuse (with 47% of teens reporting their knowledge of ease of access to these substances) is an escalating problem. But simple recitation of horrifying statistics is not the approach that has won Teen Esteem the praise of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. One education professional writes: “The presentation was exactly what I hoped for: honest and realistic, but with hope and practical help for parents. I liked that it wasn’t just a ‘shock’ value presentation, but gave parents tools of how to talk to their students, and things they could actually do.” Students find Teen Esteem’s message reassuring. Here are a few of their comments. “You guys inspired me to respect myself.” “I know I am not permanently damaged by my past.” “I really got the chance to hear that I deserved a fresh start, and that I had better chances.” “It was a moment when I considered myself for once to be happy with myself.” How does Teen Esteem translate the discouraging message inherent in delivering a discourse dependent on unadulterated facts into an insightful and
Local Postal Customer
Diablo View Rotary - A Club for a New Generation By Fran Miller
Pass by Walnut Creek’s Buon Vino on Locust St. on a Tuesday night, and you will likely see a happy group enjoying the tasting room’s varied products. But this isn’t just a random group, and this isn’t just a wine tasting event.
From 5:30 to 6:30pm each Tuesday, the Diablo View Rotary Club of Walnut Creek meets at this location to socialize, plan their volunteer projects, and yes, to enjoy a little wine. Self-dubbed as the ‘Happy Hour Club,’ Diablo View Rotary, established Volume XVI - Number 1 in 2008, is the newest of the area’s 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 See Teen continued on page 15 many Rotary Clubs. Their leadership strives to move beyond the traditional Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 Fax (925) 406-0547 old-school perception of Rotary as PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher a male-dominated organization and PAID Editor@yourmonthlypaper.com caters to a diverse younger crowd, Permit 263 Sharon Burke ~ Writer mostly those in their mid 20’s to late The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do Alamo CA 40’s. “But we welcome anyone young not necessarily reflect that of Alamo Today. Alamo Today is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising ECRWSS
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herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.