PAGE A-12
Summer STAR Times
friday, august 1, 2014
Dress for success
Continued from page A-11
a seventh-grader at Hinsdale,
plans to study cosmetology,
and Trinidy, a sixth grader at
Hinsdale, wants to be a K-9
officer and join the Army.
When asked to list their
achievements to date, these
students listed academics and
skills such as focus, conversation, perseverance and communication.
On July 22, Dave Koeblin,
director of human resources
at CUTCO, came to talk to the
class about certain traits needed to be a good employee. He
told the students, “You have
to know the big five qualities:
Be Honest, Be On-Time, No
Slacking, Focus on Your Job,
and Be Willing to Learn.” Mr.
Koeblin told the group that
the last quality was the one he
really wanted them to remember. He said, “The more you
know, the more valuable you
are later on.” Furthermore, he
told the students that the big
five qualities are likewise true
of home and school.
Fawn Whiteman, teacher
for Walk the Runway, said,
“Mr. Koeblin’s words tied in
perfectly with the major focus
of my class. Anything that can
apply to a job, like being on
time, dressing appropriately,
working hard and maintaining a proper attitude, can be
applied right now at home
and at school. Adopting these
habits of mind presently will
directly influence the kind of
employee they will become
in the future.” Additionally,
students have been encouraged to be true to self. Mrs.
Whiteman told her class, “You
can learn to dress properly for
the occasion and still remain
true to who you are.”
This STAR class has been
offered as a fun way to learn
about fashion etiquette for
the past five summers. As a
program closing event, the
students model career-appropriate attire to showcase what
they have learned about dressing for success. Students will
walk the runway during the
STAR 2014 performance on
today at 7 p.m. in the Olean
High School auditorium.
(Maria DeGiglio is a sixthgrader at Southern Tier Catholic
School.)
OLEAN TIMES HERALD
Students speak out on
effects of social networking
D
o you think people are using hard for youth to converse. “I think
technology too much? Some
it would be easier to talk to friends
people think technology is
outside of my phone,” said STAR
being used more than it needs to
student Mackenzi Adams. “When
be, and that this overuse
people only talk through
is negatively affecting the
electronics, it makes it more
lives of young people.
difficult to talk face-toface.”
Studies show that
American kids spend
Yet another problem
seven-and-a-half hours per
occurs when people are
day using electronics.
communicating face-to-face,
they excessively check their
According to Kaiser
phones. When this hapFamily Foundation, chilpens, it makes the person
dren ages eight to 18 spend
talking upset and annoyed
an average of 53 hours per
Azelyn
because the other person
week on social media sites.
Erdmann
is paying attention to his
Experts say students are
or her phone and not lisdeciding to spend more
tening. When asked how she feels
time on the Internet — especially
about people constantly looking at
on social media sites — instead
their phones, Makenzie Milligan, an
of studying. ProCon.org states,
eighth-grade student at Olean High
“Students who use social network
School, said, “I hate it because it
sites get 20 percent lower on test
could be really important, and they
scores.” This suggests that social
won’t listen.”
networking has the potential to be
An additional problem with
an unfavorable distraction when not
social networking is the danger
used in moderation.
of revealing private information.
Also, along with affecting study
Grace Ventura, a participant in
habits, social networking makes it
the STAR program, commented,
“People share information that
other people shouldn’t know.” On
social networking sites, personal
information is often asked for, and
many teens give it without thinking twice. By their nature, social
networking sites are highly public.
Giving out personal information is
extremely dangerous. Anyone can
see a user’s private information and
use it in harmful ways. Students
should think before they share their
information and be more conscientious on the Internet.
Social networking, while an
enjoyable outlet, sometimes results
in negative and potentially harmful
behavior. The use of social networking sites can cause distractions,
make it difficult to communicate
and can lead to a loss of privacy.
Young users of these sites need to
increase their awareness of these
downsides in order to avoid them.
(Azelyn Erdmann is a sixth-grader
at Hinsdale Central School.)