Bullying and ADHD or Blindness Program
Eddy Franklin, Clare Sanchez, Brenda Dubrowski, Anna Perry and Renaldo Rodriguez
Eddy Franklin
Eddy is 10 years old and lives in Woodburn with his mother Erin, his father Howard and his older brother David, who has autism. Eddy appears in the Kids on the Block Program on Bullies and School Safety. Eddy likes to play baseball and write mystery stories.
Eddy is a mature and thoughtful child who has a few close friends at his school, Woodburn Elementary. Recently, however, Eddy has begun having problems with a boy at school who has been taunting him, pushing him around, taking his lunch money and waiting for him ater school, either to humiliate him or beat him up. Eddy has been very upset about this, but has not talked to anyone, yet. He is ashamed and embarrassed and doesn’t believe that anyone can help him. He also feels somewhat guilty because when his friend, Jason, was having similar problems, Eddy didn’t do anything to help him out. In fact, much of his guilt comes from the fact that, when Jason was beign bullied, Eddy was secretly relieved that it was happening to Jason rather than to himself.
Through Eddy, children learn that it’s common for the target of a bully to feel afraid, confused, and embarrassed about the victimization.
Clare Sanchez
Clare is 14 and knows Eddy from the youth center where she volunteers. When Eddy finally tells Clare what has been going on at school, she is very concerned about the situation. Clare had experienced a similar situation when she was in the fifth grade and a group of girls was harassing her. She understands, first hand, how it feels to be bullied and to dread going to school. Through Clare, audiences learn about social bullying. When Clare was in the fifth grade and it was happening to her, she didn’t know what to do but knew she had to do something. In the Kids on the Block Program on Bullies and School Safety, she serves as a confidante to Eddy and offers him advice based on the research she has conducted about the subject
Clare also serves as a mentor to Eddy and Melody as they work on a school safety project. Clare draws upon her own experience, having worked on a school safety plan at her school, Woodburn Jr. High, the year before. Clare likes being involved in activities that can help people in her community.
Clare also appears in The Kids on the Block Program on prejudice. . Her family is Hispanic (or Latino) and she lives with her parents, her 15 year old brother John, and her younger brother, Mary. Clare usually has an optimistic and sensible attitude toward adversity and is an effective problem solver.
Brenda Dubrowski
Eleven year old Brenda Dubrowski recently went through a difficult time when her parents were divorced.
Brenda’s father, Brian, now lives across town. Brenda lives with her mother, Debbie, and sees her father on Wednesday nights and every other weekend.
Brenda is a well adjusted and lively young lady who sometimes lets her enthusiasm get the best of her. She loves to be the center of attention and enjoys singing (even if it isn’t on key). Brenda also appears in the KOBOK programs on Obesity and Divorce.
Anna Perry
Anna’s parents were very excited when Anna came into their lives. They had been trying for two years to adopt a baby when they began working with an international adoption agency. When Anna was three months old, she came from an adoption agency in South Korea to the United States and began her new life as a member of the Perry family. As a toddler, Anna was into everything. Later, it became apparent that there was more to Anna’s behavior than just a lot of extra energy.
At the beginning of second grade, Anna’s teacher, Mr. Lombardi, noticed Anna’s problems right away. He called her parents in for a conference to discuss the challenges Anna was having. After the meeting, the Perrys decided to take Anna to their pediatrician for some tests. After several tests, including a medical examination, observations of Anna at home and in the classroom, and behavior assessment, Anna was diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The evaluation team felt that medication would be appropriate for Anna. Her parents were hesitant about this but after doing a lot of research and speaking extensively with the doctor, they agreed to try it. As Anna now says, “My medication is just like a pair of eyeglasses—it helps me focus on my work!”
Anna is now 11 and is in the 5th grade. She is continually learning new ways to cope with her difference, ADHD. Anna and her family meet at the Mental Health Center with other families dealing with ADHD. They discuss challenges and solutions, giving one another a support system.
Anna has many friends and enjoys swimming and running. One day she hopes to be a triathlete. Anna is featured in The Kids on the Block Program on Children’s Mental Health.
h2.Renaldo Rodriguez
Renaldo is 11 years old, and his blindness is the resultof a premature birth. Renaldo wears glasses to help him see the outline of very large shapes and shadows. He also carries a white cane which is useful for getting around in unfamiliar places. He learned how to use it at mobility school.
Renaldo has likes and dislikes , like any other 11 year old. He loves sports, especially baseball, and beting his brother Josue at checkers. He dislikes when people treat him differently just because he can’t see. He has a great sense of humor and a healthy positive attitude.
Prejudice Program
Clare Sanchez, Joanne Spinoza, Jason Robinson, Nguyen Huy Nam, Mark Riley, Melody James and Mandy Puccini
Joanne Spinoza
Joanne Spinoza, 14 years old, is the only child of divorced parents. Involved in a variety of activities, including soccer, cheerleading, the school newspaper, and working at Dynamo Video, a video store, Joanne loves to be a part of the action. She is often home by herself after school since her mom, Lena, works full-time as a real estate agent. Joanne and her mom live next door to the Franklins.
Joanne’s positive outlook on life is highlighted by her challenging early childhood. Joanne is an abuse survivor. She has received counseling and is a positive example of life after abuse. As her mom is unable to reinforce her positive self image, Joanne still struggles with issues of self esteem. Functioning as a role model for children whose self esteem is so low that they might be enticed to join a gang, Joanne is working on feeling better about herself. She ultimately demonstrates that young people can develop positive self-esteem within a negative home or community environment.
Joanne can be quite naive at times, and her interest in gossip and popular opinion tends to provide Joanne with misinformation about a variety of issues. However, through her openness and her attempts to “do the right thing,” Joanne is representative of children who are searching for the right choice and are willing to learn as they grow.
Joanne is featured in The Kids on the Block of Knoxville programs on AIDS and Prejudice.
Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson is the 11 year old son of Reverend Robinson. He has strong values and his family is very important to him. He admires his dad, and hopes to be like him someday. He is a very understanding boy, and tries to be supportive of his friends.
Nguyen Huy Nam
Nam Nguyen is an 11 year old boy whose family moved from Vietnam to the United States before Nam was born. He is Vietnamese-American and although his proper Vietnamese name is Nguyen Huy Nam (pronounced N-win Wee Nom), “Nam” is his first name and Nguyen is his last name.
The Nguyens had been planning to leave Vietnam for many years. Mrs. Nguyen was expecting their third child, Nam, when Mr. Nguyen announced that enough money had been saved to make the move possible. They gathered their belongings, said goodbye to their relatives, and embarked on a “new life” in the United States. Life was not particularly easy for the Nguyens when they first arrived; however, with the aid of the immigration assistance program and ESL (English as a second language) classes, they were able to adjust to this new life.
Over the years, more members of Nam’s extended family have come to the United States. His aunt and uncle live nearby in the city with their children. Recently, Nam’s grandparents have come to live with Nam and his family. Nam’s parents have made it a priority to raise Nam and his two older sisters, Lahn (18) and Yen (13), and his baby sister, Mai (age 3), with as many Vietnamese traditions as possible.
As a child of immigrant parents, Nam often feels torn between the two cultures with which he identifies. His family maintains strong ties with their Vietnamese culture, and Nam often feels that he must be American at school and Vietnamese at home. Since Nam’s friends have shown an interest in learning more about his Vietnamese heritage, Nam’s sense of pride in that heritage has become more evident. Through Nam, children learn that cultural “differences” need not create barriers between people. Instead, by sharing and celebrating the differences in each of us, we come to a greater understanding of others and ourselves.
Nam also appears in the program about diabetes.
h2.Mark Riley
Mark Riley is an 11 year old boy who has cerebral palsy, a developmental disability that affects the ability to control movement. The muscles in Mark’s mouth, hands, and legs are affected. Mark’s problems with muscle tone make him unable to walk. This doesn’t stop Mark, though! He uses his “cruiser” or wheelchair to get around and loves the freedom it gives him.
In addition to muscle stiffness, the kind of cerebral palsy Mark has can cause seizures. That’s why he wears a helmet. During a seizure, he might fall out of his chair and hit his head. Mark says, “I wear this helmet to protect my great brains!”
For Mark, one of the hardest parts of having cerebral palsy is talking, because the muscles in his mouth and throat are stiff. His words come out slowly and sound slurred, and it is sometimes hard for people to understand what he is saying. Mark is working with a speech-language pathologist, Ms. Johnson, who helps him learn how to better control his muscles so he can swallow more easily and is able to speak more clearly.
Mark works with an occupational therapist, Tricia, who comes to his classroom two days a week. Since the muscles in Mark’s hands are stiff, Tricia helps him with basic hand skills like grasping and holding objects. She taught him how to write using a large pencil with a special grip, but his favorite way to write is to use a computer. With Tricia he works on classroom skills and learns strategies to help him with everyday tasks.
Mark also works with a physical therapist, Roger, who helps Mark by developing exercises to improve coordination and balance. He gives Mark exercises to do at home to help loosen, strengthen and prevent further stiffness of muscles. These exercises involve stretching and positioning arm and leg muscles.
Mark and his family recently moved to a new neighborhood. Mark has an identical twin brother, Michael, who does not have a disability and a little sister, Suzette. They’ve been making lots of new friends at their school. Mark is now in the fifth grade and is included in all activities. The subjects he likes the best are history, math and lunch! He is also a reporter for the school newspaper, The Woodburn Gazette, and he loves to write stories, especially sports articles. One of Mark’s favorite things about his new school is that it’s close to his house and he can “cruise” to school instead of taking the bus.
Mark has a great sense of humor and is very outgoing! He has a positive, optimistic outlook. He likes to try new things and approaches new challenges with a courageous attitude. As Mark says, “I’m a regular kid and I like it when people treat me like one.”
Mark is one of the original KOB characters and is featured in The Kids on the Block program on cerebral palsy.
h2.Mandy Puccini
Mandy Puccini is 12 years old and has been deaf since the age of two. As a toddler, she’d contracted meningitis which damaged the nerves in her ears. Mandy wears hearing aids and is able to pick up some loud sounds through them, like thunder.
When Mandy was little, her family lived near a school for the deaf. Starting in preschool, Mandy attended classes with other deaf kids and she and her parents started learning sign language. Because Mandy has some hearing, she also began working with a speech therapist to learn how to lipread and speak.
When Mandy moved to a new city, her family lived too far away from the deaf school for Mandy to continue attending, so she has an interpreter attend her public school with her. The interpreter attends all of her classes, translating ASL into spoken English and spoken English into ASL, and she also tutors Mandy in reading and English. Mandy is teaching her classmates and teacher some sign language, too.
Mandy is used to reminding people to look at her when they talk and not to mumble or speak too quickly. She is very independent and is quick to tell people that just because she’s deaf, doesn’t mean she can’t do the things hearing kids can do. Her favorite phrase is, “Deaf people can do everything except hear!”
Obesity/Diabetes
Zach Jones, Rev. Raymond Robinson, Jason Robinson, Brenda Dubrowski
Christine Kontos, Nguyen Huy Nam
Zach Jones
Zach is eleven, and lives in Woodburn with his parents and his older brother. Zach is overweight and being positive about himself does not always come easily. Although he is liked by his peers, he sometimes loses sight of this when he focuses negatively on his self image. He likes to hang out with friends and enjoys reading books, watching movies and playing computer games.
Zach is the only person in his family who is overweight, and sometimes it is difficult for him to watch his 14 year old brother be able to eat and do anything without it affecting his weight. Zach refers to himself as “not a sports kind of guy” but he is starting to realize that physical activity can be attained through many methods – not just team sports.
Through his interactions with Reverend Robinson, Zach is realizing that all bodies are different and that the most important thing is to make healthy choices. Making small changes in eating and activity habits and attitude can lead to very positive results.
Reverend Raymond Robinson
Reverend Robinson is Jason’s father and a mentor to a number of young people in Woodburn. He has always been involved with youth organizations and is a leader at the community center.
As a child, Reverend Robinson struggled with weight and he is candid in sharing how that struggle followed him into adulthood. When his doctor expressed concern about his health and weight, Reverend Robinson decided to make some changes in his lifestyle. His first efforts didn’t work, as he was trying to change too many things at once. He remained comit6ted to becoming healthier, however, and decided to incorporate one small change at a time. This course of action has been instrumental in his quest for better health.
Reverend Robinson has started to pass his knowledge on to the kids at the community youth center. He realizes the importance of healthy habits and how it is much better to instill these practices in young children. Having made the choice to improve his health, he serves as a positive role-model, a trusted confidante and an active part of both his son’s and his son’s friend’s lives.
Christine Kontos
Christine is 11 years old and has a large family. In addition to her mother and father, Christine has three older brothers, Ari, Peter and Marc, one older sister, Daphne, and two younger sisters, Mary and Iantha. Christine’s mother and grandparents own a restaurant, The Olive Branch, where all the children in the Kontos family get a chance to help. Christine’s grandparents are from Greece and still keep Greek traditions alive within the Kontos family.
When Christine was six years old, there were days when she felt very strange. She was often very thirsty and was always having to go to the bathroom. When Christine began losing weight, her parents took her to the doctor. That’s when they found out she had diabetes. Christine is the only one of her brothers and sisters who has Type 1 diabetes, also called insulin dependent diabetes, which means Christine must put insulin into her own body herself. This involves using a syringe (a hospital needle) to give herself insulin two times a day. At first, Christine’s parents gave her the insulin shots. Now that she is older, Christine does her own injections and controls her own diet. She rarely eats anything sweet without planning for it.
When Christine grows up, she would like to be a professional ballet dancer or an architect, like her father. She knows that diabetes won’t keep her from doing the same things anyone else can do, especially when she plans ahead and follows her doctor’s advice.
Gift of Life Program
Alex Landry, Melody James, Mike Riley
Alex Landry
Alex Landry is an eleven year old boy who has received the gift of a new heart through a heart transplant operation. Alex had a progressive condition called cardiomyopathy. Doctors informed the Landry family that a heart transplant was the only hope for Alex’s recovery. Alex believes that waiting for a donor heart was the hardest part. Friends and family wondered why an artificial heart could not be used. Alex and his parents explained that artificial hearts are rarely used due to their lack of long term success. Alex also dispelled the fear some of his friends had that a heart transplant would change who he was. “I told my friends that a heart is just a muscle,” Alex says, “My transplant means I got a new MUSCLE, not a new personality!” Alex appears in The Kids on the Block program on Organ Donation and Transplant.
Melody James
Melody James is an eleven year old girl who lives with her parents, three older brothers and one younger brother.
Through Melody audiences of adults and children learn that organ donation is a decision any adult or child may make, that an actual operation takes place to take the organs with care and dignity, that doctors do all they can to save the potential donor, that every major religion supports organ donation, and like Darryll, a donor can have a regular funeral with an open casket. Melody demonstrates that the sorrow felt by family members at the tragic and untimely death of a loved one is eased to some extent by The Gift of Life.
Mike Riley
Mike Riley is an eleven year old boy who is a friend and classmate of Melody James and who meets Alex Landry for the first time at Camp Woody Ridge. Mike is a curious, yet sensitive boy who is very interested in the aspect of organ transplantation and organ donation. Mike represents the hearts and minds of the children and adults in the audience who have a number of questions about these issues but who are uncertain about asking them and are unclear on how a question of this sort might be asked.
h3.Divorce
Brenda Dubrowski and Melody James
(character descriptions provided previously)
HIV/AIDS
Natalie Gregg, Joanne Spinoza
Natalie Gregg
Natalie Gregg is 25 years old. Six months ago she found out that she has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Her diagnosis was especially difficult for her to accept in that Natalie contracted HIV for her husband, Raymond.
“Before we got married, Raymond went through a pretty hard time. He lost two jobs, couldn’t find work, couldn’t pay his bills. He was feeling pretty awful about himself and started using drugs to try to numb all those bad feelings,” Natalie recalls. Although she didn’t know it at the time, Ray was injecting cocaine into his veins. At some point when Ray was injecting drugs he shared a needle with someone who had HIV.
Neither Natalie or Raymond knew their HIV status until Natalie became sick. Natalie says, “It seemed like I had a horrible cold that just wouldn’t go away. When I finally went to the doctor I learned I had bacterial pneumonia. Then my doctor asked lots of questions. When he asked about drug use, I told him about Ray. When my doctor suggested an HIV antibody test, I was really scared. When the results came back positive, I was absolutely devastated.”
Natalie and Raymond have worked together to come to terms with how HIV and AIDS affects their lives. When Raymond has periods of guilt, Natalie reminds him that this wasn’t something either of them chose on purpose. With Natalie’s encouragement, Ray has joined a speakers bureau so he can share their story with young people. By educating others, Natalie and Raymond hope to make something positive come of their experience. “When I start feeling down or depressed,” says Natalie, “I remind myself that I have a life and I’m going to concentrate on living it.”
For Natalie, living life means continuing to work at her job as a paralegal in a law firm. Natalie chose to tell her boss and close co-workers about her condition, believing the only way people can overcome their fear is by being around people living with AIDS. Like her husband, Natalie plans to continue talking to people about AIDS. She states, “I never thought my life would be touched by AIDS. Now that it has been, I want to do all I can to help others avoid contracting HIV.”