PREPARING, EDUCATING, AND EMPOWERING TEEN MOTHERS

SIMPSON ACADEMY FOR YOUNG WOMEN NEWSLETTER

Volume 3 Issue 3

November/December 2014

New York Times Best-Selling Author, Simone

Elkeles Visits Simpson Academy!

THE BUTTERFLY SPOTLIGHT

Author Simone Elkeles encourages

students to tell their stories.

FEATURE STORY

THE SEVEN HABITS

OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
TEENS

THE LIGHTER SIDE

ABOUT US

BABY OF THE MONTH

Inside this issue:

THE BUTTERFLY SPOT- 2
LIGHT

FEATURE
SEVEN HABITS

Ms. Elkeles took time to autograph

books and take photos with students.

2
3

PARENTS CORNER

EDITORIAL

THE LIGHTER SIDE

ABOUT US
ODDS AND ENDS

The Butterfly Spotlight

This issues Butterfly spotlight
will be dedicated to all students, staff, administrators
and parents. Simpson Academy has something to celebrate, and wed like to celebrate ourselves. If not for the
hard work, dedication, and
commitment of every person
here, we would not have
achieved some pretty amazing things
these past few years. First off, lets
start with our award for growth in
attendance. We know it can be difficult to come to school every day but
our students have improved their
attendance for three consecutive
years. If you havent noticed the
banner as you walk into the building,
please have a look. This is so im-

portant, not only to you as students,

but to our entire school community.
Were proud of those of you who
make the effort and sometimes the
sacrifice to arrive at school on time,
every day. Throughout the city of Chicago, Simpson has been recognized
with this award. We think thats
something to shout about.

CELEBRATE, WE
HOPE YOU TAKE A
MOMENT TO
EXPRESS GRATITUDE.
EVEN IN THE

TOUGHEST OF
TIMES, WE HAVE TO
LOOK FOR THE
POSITIVES AND BE
GRATEFUL FOR
WHAT WE HAVE.

Page 2

that throughout the city, our

school, among others, has received the highest quality rating
possible given by Chicago Public
Schools. We owe one another a
huge thanks. No, really. Our students face outside challenges that
others might not, and yet we find
a way to shine, and stand out
among the hundreds of schools citywide. We are going to continue to
move forward and be strong. We will
continue our hard work, commitment
and dedication to achieving our educational and future goals. Congratulations to everyone at Simpson for these
achievements. Be Simpson Proud,
youve earned it.

Secondly, our school has now been

rated as a Level 1 school. This means

Feature Story: Thanksgiving Traditions

HOWEVER YOU
CHOOSE TO

by The Simpson Times Staff

By Tristan Carr

across an article saying some

families choose to serve vegetarian Thanksgiving dinners instead
of a stuffed turkey. Some people
eat vegetarian turkey, which is
made out of tofu. Others prefer
to eat squash, salads, or other
fruit and vegetable dishes. I also
learned that some families include breaking the turkey's wishbone as part of their celebration.
The wishbone is found attached
One tradition includes travelto the breast meat in the turkey's
ing to visit your family that
chest. After the meat has been
you havent seen in awhile.
removed and the wishbone has
One of the best things about
had a chance to become dry and
Thanksgiving is spending
brittle, two people each take one
time with family. Many peoend of the bone, make a wish,
ple live far from family
and pull. Whoever ends up with
members and travel long
the larger part of the bone gets
distances by car, train, or
their wish! Even the presidents
plane to be with their loved
of the United States have their
ones. Thanksgiving is the
own traditions they do on
busiest travel day of the year!
Thanksgiving. The President of
As I was researching differ- the United States receives a gift
ent tradition I than came
of a live turkey (along with an
Each year, Americans celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday on the fourth Thursday
of November. Most families
follow traditions begun on
the first Thanksgiving, but
many have their own traditions that they follow each
year. Here are some of the
common traditions associated
with "Turkey Day.

alternate in case something happens

to the official turkey). At a White
House ceremony, the president traditionally "pardons" the National
Thanksgiving Turkey and the alternate turkeys, allowing them to live
out the rest of their lives on a farm.
Some people give to the homeless on
Thanksgiving if they have the opportunity to help the less fortunate. After
that long day of eating and seeing
your family and friends you havent
seen in awhile many families watch
the New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade includes marching bands, floats, songs
and performances from Broadway
musicals, and giant helium-filled balloons! People may also enjoy televised football. However you choose
to celebrate, we hope you take a moment to express gratitude. Even in
the toughest of times, we have to look
for the positives and be grateful for
what we have.

Volume 3 Issue 3
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens Habit 1 - Be Proactive
Sean Covey
Are you more like a can of soda or a bottle of water? Reactive people make
choices based on impulse. They are like a can of soda pop. If life shakes
them up, the pressure builds, and they explode.
Proactive people make choices based on values. They think before they act.
They know they cant control what happens to them in life, but they can
control their response to what happens to them. Proactive people are like
water. Shake them up all you want, take the lid off, and they stay cool,
calm, and collected. No explosion.
You may be a cross between the soda pop and the bottled water. We all
have instances where we react or remain in control. You can usually tell the
difference between reactive and proactive people by what they say. When
you use reactive language, you give power to someone else willingly. You
no longer have power over your emotions or actions.
Proactive language gives you back control. You are free to choose who
controls what you do and say. (Its you!)
So, what is proactive behavior? Proactive behavior includes language such
as:
Im sorry. I didnt mean that.
Ill get right on that.
Im really not interested, but thanks!
Im sure we can think of another alternative.
I can.
Ill do it.
I can do better than that.
Lets look at all our options.
I choose to.
Theres gotta be a way.
Im not going to let your bad mood rub off on me.
But reactive behavior includes language such as:
Its your fault
If only.
Thats not fair.
I just cant decide.
Thats just the way I am.
Ill try to do it.
Theres nothing I can do.
I cant..
You ruined my day.
Avoid The Vicitimitis Virus
Habit 1 Be Proactive explains that reactive people can suffer from a contagious virus called victimitis. People infected with this disease believe that
everyone has it in for them and that the world owes them something. Instead of recognizing that their attitude is the problem, reactive people are
easily offended, blame others, get angry and say things they later regret,
whine and complain. By the way, this does not apply to major situations
such as being the victim of a crime, sexual assault, or being bullied.
An example of victimitis is feeling jilted in social situations, or feeling excluded, when really maybe you're the one not participation enough. Instead of
waiting for things to happen to you, enact the change youre hoping for.
It Pays to Be Proactive
Proactive people are not easily offended. They take responsibility for their
choices and actions. They think before they speak. They bounce back when
something bad happens to them. They always find a way to make it happen. They focus on the things they can do something about, and dont worry about the things they cant.
We Can Control Only One Thing
The fact is, you cant control everything that happens to you. However, you
can definitely control one thing: how you respond to what happens to you.
It doesnt do much good to worry about all the things you cant control.
Youll only feel even more out of control. When you focus on things you can
control, you experience real control and find inner peace.

from

Turn Setbacks Into Triumphs

When life puts roadblocks in your way, can you usually find a solution?
Be Proactive explains that every setback is an opportunity. Its a
chance for you to overcome and triumph.
Rise Above Abuse
One of the hardest setbacks is coping with abuse. If you have been
abused, you have to believe that you are not at fault. By becoming
more proactive, youll find yourself able to recover and keep living
your life. The key to rising above abuse is seeking help. Abuse thrives
on secrecy. By telling another person, you immediately ease the
weight of your burden, which can lead to healing and recovery. If you
have been abused, talk with someone today. Reach out to a trusted
friend or loved one. You can also take part in help sessions, visit a
professional therapist, or contact an abuse hotline. If youre friends
with someone who has been abused, take the time to listen and offer
help when that person reaches out to you. Above all, be sure to keep
confidential the information that he or she shares with you.
Become a Change Agent
Harmful habits such as abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. are
often passed down from parents to kids. As a result, dysfunctional
families keep repeating themselves. Be Proactive teaches that you can
break the cycle and reach your potential. When you are proactive,
you prevent bad or limiting habits from being passed on. You become
a change agent and pass on good habits to future generations
starting with yourself. You have the power within you to rise above
whatever may have been passed down to you.
Be Proactive encourages you to change your frame of mind from
reactive (making choices based on impulse) to proactive (making
choices based on values). As you strengthen your proactive muscles,
you are better able to take responsibility for your life and help and
influence others.
Just Push Pause
Sometimes life moves so fast that you instantly react to everything out
of sheer habit. If you can learn to hit your pause button, get control,
and think about how you want to respond, youll make smarter decisions. Be Proactive explains that while you are pausing, you can use
four human tools to help you decide what to do. These tools are:
Self-Awareness: I can step outside of my head and observe my
own thoughts and actions.
Conscience: I can listen to what my inner voice says to know
right from wrong.
Imagination: I can envision new possibilities and be creative.
Willpower: I have the power to choose and make decisions for
myself.
You either use or fail to use your four human tools every day of your
life. The more you use them, the stronger they become and the more
power you have to Be Proactive.
Baby Steps:
The next time someone flips you off, give them the peace sign
instead.
If you get into a fight with a parent or a friend, make amends and
be the first to apologize.
Leave yourself a messageon your phone or on a post-itthat
says, I will not let _________________ decide how Im going to
feel. Refer to it often.
At the next party, dont just sit and wait for excitement to find
you. Go find it. Walk up and introduce yourself to someone
new.
Identify something you know deep down you have no control
over that you are always worrying about. Decide now to drop it.

Page 3

Easy Recipes for Mommy and MeEasy Chocolate Cake

Parents Corner by Sierrah Sanchez

bond immediately. Parents,
on the other hand, may have
a mixture of feelings about
it. Some parents feel an intense attachment within the
first minutes or days after
their baby's birth. For others especially if the baby is
adopted or has been placed
Bonding is essential for a
in intensive care it may
baby. Studies of newborn
take a bit longer.
monkeys who were given
mannequin mothers at
birth showed that, even
when the mannequins
were made of soft material and provided formula
to the baby monkeys, the
babies were better socialized when they had live
mothers to interact with.
The baby monkeys with
mannequin mothers also
were more likely to suffer
from despair. Scientists
suspect that lack of bonding in human babies can
cause similar problems.
Bonding is the intense
attachment that develops
between parents and
their baby. It makes parents want to shower their
baby with love and affection and to protect and
nourish their little one.

Most infants are ready to

Page 4

Special Feature: Anna Quindlen on Motherhood

November 2, 2009
All my babies are gone now. I say this not in
sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction
in what I have today: three almost adults, two
taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have
learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me
in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell
vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke
and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel
and privacy, who want to keep their doors
closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go
to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move
food from plate to mouth all by themselves.
Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom
with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is
buried deep within each, barely discernible
except through the unreliable haze of the past.

BUT THE BIGGEST

MISTAKE I MADE
IS THE ONE THAT
MOST OF US

Everything in all the books I once pored over is

finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry
Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and earlychildhood education, all grown obsolete. Along
with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild
Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well
used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages
dust would rise like memories. What those
books taught me, finally, and what the women
on the playground taught me, and the wellmeaning relations what they taught me was
that they couldnt really teach me very much at
all.

Raising children is presented at first as a truefalse test, then becomes multiple choice, until
finally, far along, you realize that it is an endDOING THIS. I DID less essay. No one knows anything. One child
responds well to positive reinforcement, anothNOT LIVE IN THE
er can be managed only with a stern voice and
a timeout. One boy is toilet trained at 3, his
MOMENT
brother at 2. When my first child was born,
parents were told to put baby to bed on his
ENOUGH.
belly so that he would not choke on his own
spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies
were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a
new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must
learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research
will follow.

MAKE WHILE

I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr.

Brazeltons wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different
sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I
was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18month-old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there
something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was
he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to
China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk
just fine. He can walk, too.

Page 5

Every part of raising children is humbling, too.

Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all
been enshrined in the Remember-When-MomDid Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper
tantrums, the bad language mine, not theirs.
The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I

arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare

sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day
when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I
include that.) The time I ordered food at the
McDonalds drive-through speaker and then drove
away without picking it up from the window. (They
all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to
watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons.
What was I thinking?
But the biggest mistake I made is the one that
most of us make while doing this. I did not live in
the moment enough. This is particularly clear now
that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them
sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the
swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I
wish I could remember what we ate, and what we
talked about, and how they sounded, and how
they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had
not been in such a hurry to get on to the next
thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done
a little less.
Even today Im not sure what worked and what
didnt, what was me and what was simply life.
When they were very small, I suppose I thought
someday they would become who they were because of what Id done. Now I suspect they simply
grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them
be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often
tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over
the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up
with the three people I like best in the world, who
have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.
Thats what the books never told me. I was bound
and determined to learn from the experts. It just
took me a while to figure out who the experts
were.
Anna Quindlen is a Pulizer Prize-winning journalist
and bestselling author.

Editorial: Tattoos
Tattoos and body art have
been around forever, but
have become more mainstream popular in recent
years. I believe tattoos are
used to express art, sorrow,
love, happiness and they can
even convey a story or message.
Sometimes people who have
lost love ones get portraits of
their family members
tattooed on them. A tattoo
that is very common is a baby
portrait. Baby portraits are so
cute and adorable in my opinion, but I wonder what about
when the baby grow older. I

By Kamira Malone
have three tattoos but I
would be too afraid to get a
baby portrait tattooed on me.
Tattoos can range in any color
from black to blue to pink to
white. I believe the more colors the tattoo have is better.
Some tattoos can even be all
one color to represent something, for example an all pink
tattoo of a ribbon would represent breast cancer and all
blue one could represent
colon cancer. Tattoos seems
to be the trendiest amongst
teenagers, I know a lot of my
friends want tattoos TATTS
as we like to call them. But

Puzzle Pieces by Tamara Triplett

Page 6

they believe the pain will be

unbearable. Even though the
pain is not that bad, (well in
my opinion the pain is not to
terrible). And most people
dont know you can always
ask your tattoo artist to apply numbing cream so you
wont feel the pain.
That does not mean everyone should go out and get
tattoos, but if you do
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE
make sure your tattoo artist
is using a clean needle, make
sure you watch them open
up the pack of needles so
you wont have to worry

about your tattoo getting infected.

Getting a tattoo should be a well
-thought out decision, after all,
unless youre planning on expensive removal or cover-up, its
body art that you will wear for
the rest of your life.

Volume 3 Issue 3
The Lighter Side

By Sierrah Sanchez and

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you dont already have everything you desire,

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you dont know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when youre tired and weary
Because it means youve made a difference.
It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.
GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
Author Unknown

Page 7

Simpson Academy For Young Women

Preparing, Educating, and Empowering Teen Mothers
CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Simpson Academy for Young Women
1321 S. Paulina
Chicago, Illinois 60608
Phone: 773-534-7812
Fax: 773-534-7819

Quote of the Month:

Women need real moments of solitude and

self-reflection to balance out how much of
ourselves we give
away.

Our School
Simpson Academy for Young Women is a small, 6th-to-12th grade school located in the Illinois Medical District of Chicago. We educate pregnant and parenting teens. Simpson Academy is a Chicago Public Middle and High School, and has city-wide attendance boundaries.
Our Purpose
The mission of Simpson Academy is to empower young mothers, and to prepare them for success in
college, career, and life. Our school offers a competitive academic standards-based curriculum, as well
as parenting and life-skills education. We utilize advanced technology and tailor new programs to
guide our students toward success in a 21st century world.
Our Work
The vision of Simpson Academy for Young Women is to create a supportive environment for young
mothers while providing them with holistic educational experiences. Simpson Academy strives to provide
emotional, parental, and academic development with a personal touch in the small school environment.

Were on the Web! Visit

www.simpsonacademy.org
Like us on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/SAYWHS

~Barbara DeAngelis

Odds and Ends

Baby of the Month:

Send us your baby photos if youd like to see

your baby featured. You
can even send us ultrasound pictures! Photos
will be featured on a first
come, first-served basis.

Journalism Staff:

Send digital photos with

your name and babys
name to our journalism
advisor:

Cierra Jones, Kamira Malone, Ramona Mordican,

Tamara Triplett, Sierrah Sanchez, Sierra Washington,
Tristan Carr

Advisor: Ms. Tueros

A Special Thanks to:
Mrs. VelasquezPrincipal
Ms. AlmoreAssistant Principal

Gatueros@cps.edu
Damien Jeffrey Arroyo is the happy
baby boy of Saleyka Rodriguez.