College Prep 101

(First, I want to welcome new subscribers who attended the college transition seminar in Clay, New York on November 18. I enjoyed our time together and I hope I was able to start a conversation about these issues that will continue. Thank you for having me!)

Go! magazine is published by the South Baptist agency North American Mission Board. I recently came across their website. It has many helpful articles for young people concerning life and faith. They have an entire section dedicated to helping Christian students thrive during the college and university years.

I have recently updated the articles section of the CTI website to include their “College Prep 101” collection of articles. You can get there by clicking here.

And there are even more articles to consider here.

Half of Us Website

While I disagree with some of its conclusions, I fully agree with this website’s intent: to bring awareness to the seriousness of depression among college students. The website called “half of us” is a reference to the statistic that nearly half of all college students feel so depressed at some point that they have trouble functioning. From the first page of the site:

“The pain is real. Remember that the next time someone tells you to ‘snap out of it’ or ‘quit feeling sorry for yourself.’ More college students struggle with depression, anxiety and other issues than you'd think. Nearly half have felt so depressed that it was difficult to function. Through Half of Us, learn about the warning signs, find help on your campus, and connect with students across the country. Half of Us is way too many to be dealing with this alone.”

The website is promoted by MTVU and ULifeLine. It features helpful information about depression and other issues related to college students' mental and physical health.

You can visit the website here.

Federal Money Approved for College Age Abstinence Programs

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is allowing federally funded abstinence-education dollars to reach a population that includes those of college age. It sounds like a good idea. For example, from the press release:

“Not only do people in this age group have the highest STD rates, but they also have the highest non-marital pregnancy rates.”

“More than one out of three college students have already had six or more sexual partners. This greatly increases their risk for contracting a sexually transmitted infection.”

“Forty-three percent of college age women report having been pregnant at some time.”

“More than forty percent of sexually active college age women contract human papillomavirus (HPV) within a few years time. This virus causes virtually all cervical cancer.”

“One-third of all cases of chlamydia, which can cause infertility, occur among this age group.”

“One in five college women have been forced to have sex.”

The statistics come from the Medical Institute for Sexual Health.

You can read the entire press release here.