[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 41 (Thursday, March 4, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1117-S1118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           VERMONT STATE OF THE UNION ESSAY CONTEST FINALISTS

 Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask to have printed in the 
Record some of the finalists' essays written by Vermont High School 
students as part of the 11th annual ``State of the Union'' essay 
contest conducted by my office.
  The material follows:

                               Finalists


                EH KA LUU, WINOOSKI HIGH SCHOOL, SENIOR

       ``Don't hold a guy's hand; you'll get pregnant,'' my mom 
     informed me as I sat on the toilet, looking at the well 
     wrapped square. I engraved those words in my mind. My whole 
     6th grade year, I avoided the hands of the opposite gender, 
     by keeping my hands in the pocket of my hoodie due to my moms 
     version of sex education. Yet, in seventh grade I had Health 
     class, where curiosity got the best of me.
       ``Mrs- where do babies come from?'' I looked up and back 
     down, she smiled and explained everything to me, this was 
     where things started to make sense. I realized that I've been 
     lied to by my own mother. I had questions. ``Why do some 
     parents avoid such topic?'' and ``why do schools not teach 
     proper sex education?'' In this essay, I'm going to address 
     the need for parents to educate their kids. Schools teaching 
     students about sex and being welcoming to every gender.
       I think Sexual education should be taught at a very early 
     age. Most kids start to get sexually actively around middle 
     school. In my research on ``Sex Positive Families'', I found 
     that most parents think that if they talk to their kids about 
     such a topic, their kids will wanna do it. However, this 
     proves to be incorrect as most of the time, kids will 
     consider the options and pause on their sexual activity. 
     Parents need to start normalizing sex and understand that its 
     an act that will be committed, one day. If youth are given 
     the accurate information they will better protect themselves. 
     In my research kids who understand the consequences of being 
     sexually active. Better protect themselves by using birth 
     control methods and using condoms so they don't contract 
     sexually transmitted infections (STI).
       In a quiet room filled with my fellow seniors, I broke the 
     silence with a question. ``Where did you guys learn about 
     sex?'' It was revealed that most had obtained the information 
     by either using sources like google or from their peers, but 
     we have school to teach us right? In high school, it is 
     expected that you learn about these topics but in this 
     generation, kids are starting to explore at a much younger 
     age, the earliest being the start of middle school.
       Not all states are required to teach sex education in a 
     structure way. Some states, such as Alabama and Arizona, 
     don't even teach the subject at all. They preach abstinence 
     to their students and tell them to wait till marriage to have 
     intercourses. Schools should teach safe sex and ways on how 
     to prevent STIs. Schools should talk about different types of 
     birth control that are available. It's also important to 
     include information for students with different sexuality. In 
     a video by Above the Noise, ``Sex education in America: The 
     good, The bad, and The ugly'', high school students shared 
     their thoughts on the current Sex Education. One student 
     talked about how it doesn't include people in the LGBTQIA+ 
     community. School needs to provide to students that have 
     different sexuality, they shound teach sex between non 
     heterosexual people as well. It's very important to help kids 
     understand safety no matter their sexual orientation.
       The topic of sex should be normalized and talked more about 
     to people at a very young age. To help kids understand the 
     changes in their body and explore their sexuality. Parents 
     should have conversations about sex and the human body to 
     their kids. School should include people with different 
     sexuality. If we do these things, teenager would have the 
     knowledge and ability to protect themselves and weigh their 
     options when it come to safe sex.


              KADA ORLOW, BURLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, FRESHMAN

       My sister and I were very little when my mom became our 
     only parent. She was all by herself, with no ``safety net'', 
     as she calls it. We were left with nothing but each other. 
     She struggled with lack of money, food scarcity, and 
     sometimes there were issues with places to live. As I grew 
     older, I began to see the struggles that not only my mom, but 
     many other families face when trying to raise a family and 
     dig themselves out of a hole. I've listened to my mom explain 
     to me many times, how impossible it is for one person to 
     raise a family, to have to be in two places at once, while 
     trying to get us off to daycare or school, and to try and 
     hold down a regular job (no longer a career as she may have 
     had long before), and to just keep going no matter what, 
     because you can't stop. Stopping or resting is never an 
     option. Some of the issues that my mom recently was asked to 
     speak about at a press conference have to do with exactly 
     that. My mom spoke for, and represented those people, that 
     typically are not heard; the single parents and the sole 
     parents. She offered solutions that would help make things 
     easier, better for others, if only they could be put into 
     practice everyone would benefit. Now, it is my turn to speak 
     up for an issue I believe needs to be addressed in our 
     society.
       The system itself for single mothers is like quicksand, it 
     doesn't matter how hard you try, you just get exhausted. You 
     will never get out of it, but you just keep pushing. My mom 
     resigned her promotion and went back to working part-time so 
     that she and her family could survive. This shows that 
     parents are forced to practically choose between

[[Page S1118]]

     providing for their children, and being with them. With no 
     other options, parents are prevented from raising their 
     children, just so they don't lose the benefits for their 
     kids. Even when single parents work, the wages are not enough 
     to support a family. Working full-time for $10 an hour is 
     only about $19,000 a year. This fact explains many single 
     parents' realities that are never ending. Minimum wage jobs 
     do not pay enough to support a family. However, single 
     parents can prevail. My mom shared that ``The single moms I 
     know are some of the most mentally-strong people I've ever 
     met, and no matter what, they prevail.'' This piece of 
     evidence shows that there is no option to give up, you have 
     to keep pushing no matter what the circumstance is. In the 
     end, there really is no way of getting out of this 
     everlasting loophole, unless you are thrown a lifeline.
       Technology provides many of the answers to these problems. 
     The solutions are there, they would benefit not only single 
     parents, but eventually in the long run, it would benefit 
     everyone. An online database and one-stop shop: housing, 
     services, food, healthcare. Just one simple example of a 
     solution that can be extremely beneficial because it can be 
     used for different things and in different ways. All the 
     government assistance programs being in one, easy to access 
     place would make it simpler for single parents to get the 
     support they need, and that tax dollars are paying for. 
     Technology could help in other ways as well. Imagine you are 
     a single mom,there is no one else at home to leave your other 
     child(ren) with, while you rush the sick one to the emergency 
     room. --If you could use an app like pingmd.com app, all you 
     would have to do is ``ping'' your doctor directly, share 
     photos, and list out the symptoms. This would save time 
     before scheduling an appointment and visiting a doctor (time 
     the parents are usually at work), and take some of the 
     expenses out of visiting a doctor. There are new solutions 
     being made everyday in order to make life for single 
     parent's easier, this being one of them. Parent's that 
     don't have enough time in the day to record everything 
     that their child is doing, ex: soccer games, 
     presentations, first day of school experiences, etc. This 
     is now being solved with a page called Kidlee. This is 
     another example that will help not only single parents 
     right now, but even parents that just don't have time for 
     it.
       These solutions are only the beginning, if only they were 
     acted upon, single parents could get the assistance they 
     need.


       ELLA PARTLOW, MISSISQUOI VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL, JUNIOR

       At such a significant time in their lives for personal 
     development, teenagers are one of the most vulnerable age 
     groups when it comes to mental health. According to the 
     National Institute of Medicine, twenty-five percent of 
     Americans experience at least one depressive episode prior to 
     adulthood. More concerning, however, is that the World Health 
     Organization found that many such conditions are ignored; an 
     estimated fifteen percent of teenagers' mental health 
     conditions go ``underdiagnosed and undertreated''. This 
     elucidates that adolescent mental health is not often made a 
     priority. The mental health of American teenagers needs to be 
     taken more seriously.
       When teenage mental health is neglected, it becomes an even 
     more pressing issue. Reflecting the detrimental effects of a 
     poor mental health care system, the rates of self harm and 
     suicide in America have increased in recent years. The 
     General Hospital of Psychiatry says that in the past two 
     decades emergency room visits in America for self inflicted 
     harm in all age groups have increased; albeit, these visits 
     were most common among ages fifteen to nineteen. 
     Additionally, data from the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention explains that there was a thirty percent increase 
     in suicides from years 2000 to 2016. This illuminates that 
     ignoring the mental health of America's youth puts their 
     safety and lives in jeopardy.
       In order to solve this problem, it is vital that funding 
     for mental health education programs and support services are 
     increased. The Journal of Adolescent Health identifies 
     ``insurance restrictions, poor funding, and low priorities 
     for resources'' as the ``key obstacles'' preventing teenagers 
     from seeking necessary help. A widespread lack of education 
     regarding mental health also contributes to this problem, 
     says The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology. 
     A step towards prioritizing teenage mental health, increased 
     funding and education would result in teenagers feeling 
     supported and having better access to mental health services.
       Furthermore, better funding and education will allow for 
     the improvement of on campus mental health service. First, it 
     is necessary that the presence of these services on school 
     campuses are increased. In a report from the National 
     Research Council and Institute of Medicine, adolescents were 
     more likely to receive mental health services when on site 
     services were easily available. Second, diversity, identified 
     by the report as a key component to effective on campus 
     mental health services, should be considered; a more diverse 
     group of health care professionals leads to lower dropout 
     rates in mental health programs, and misdiagnosis of mental 
     illness decreased when there were fewer cultural differences 
     between provider and patient. Ameliorating on campus services 
     by increasing and diversifying them will encourage teenagers 
     to seek help and normalize doing so, creating an atmosphere 
     where youth can comfortably discuss their mental health 
     without fear of being treated as insignificant.
       Moreover, improving the funding, education, and available 
     services surrounding teen mental health will allow us to make 
     this issue a larger priority in America. In doing this, we 
     take care of our youth and improve their quality of 
     life.

                          ____________________