National Volunteer Week, which takes place April 15-21, 2007, began in 1974 when President Nixon signed an executive order establishing the week as an annual celebration of volunteering. Since then, every U.S. President has signed a proclamation promoting National Volunteer Week.

This volunteer spirit of helping others has been critical to the success of Champaign County Extension programs. Each year we have hundreds of volunteers who give of their time to further our educational programs. Thank you.

"Camping with the Stars" is the theme for the annual State Homemakers' Camp scheduled for July 21-24, 2007 at 4-H Memorial Camp in Monticello, Illinois. Homemakers from around the state are invited to participate in crafts, square dancing, boating, swimming, skits, fashion shows and nine great meals.

"State Homemaker's Camp traditionally draws over 200 campers each year," says Curt Sinclair, 4-H Camp Manager. "Volunteers coordinate a full schedule of crafts and activities within the beautiful setting of the University of Illinois Robert Allerton Park".

Cost for the entire camp including lodging, program, and all meals is only $100 per person. Contact 4-H Memorial Camp, 499 Old Timber Road, Monticello, IL 61856, (217) 762-2741 for more information and registration materials. "Don't miss this opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of a great group of ladies." adds Sinclair.

The Impact of High School Sports on the Values and Ethics of High School Athletes

According to a national study conducted by Josephson Institute, the values of young athletes are dramatically impacted by their sports experience. Unfortunately, it's often for the worse.

Michael Josephson, president of the nonprofit Josephson Institute and founder of the national program CHARACTER COUNTS!, said the report contains both good and bad news for parents and school administrators.

"The good news is, the majority of high school athletes trust and admire their coaches and are learning positive life skills and good values from them. They are less cynical about ethical issues and less likely to steal than their classmates.

"The bad news is, many coaches - particularly in boys' basketball, baseball, and football - are teaching kids how to cheat and cut corners."

The study found that both male and female high school athletes are more likely to cheat in school than the general high school population. In addition, far too many are willing to cheat in sports and engage in other dishonest, deceptive, and dangerous practices without regard for rules or traditional notions of fair play and sportsmanship.

"There is reason to worry that the sports fields of America are becoming the training grounds for the next generation of corporate and political villains and thieves," Josephson said.

Some of the study`s more dramatic findings include:

Gender Differences. There are dramatic differences in the attitudes and behaviors of male and female high school athletes. On virtually every question, girls express a deeper commitment to honesty and fair play than boys. They are also much less likely to endorse cheating or other questionable practices in the pursuit of victory.

Sports Differences. Boys who play baseball, football, and basketball are considerably more likely to cheat on the field and in school and to engage in conduct involving deliberate injury, intimidation, and rule-breaking than boys involved in other sports.

• Generally, boys participating in swimming, track, cross country, gymnastics, or tennis are markedly less likely to cheat or engage in bad sportsmanship than their male counterparts in other sports.
• Girls involved in basketball and softball were more likely to engage in illegal or unsportsmanlike conduct than girls involved in other sports.

Theft. High school athletes are less likely than non-athletes to engage in theft. Nevertheless, more than one in four male athletes (27%) admit stealing from a store in the past 12 months compared with 32% of boys not involved in sports. The highest rate of theft reported is from male gymnasts (36%), football players (33%), and male basketball players (32%). One in five female athletes (20%) have engaged in theft compared to 23% for all high school girls.

Cheating. High school students involved in sports cheat in school at a higher rate than non-athletes. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of boys and girls participating in sports say they cheated on an exam in the past year compared to 60% of the general population (based on a 2006 Josephson Institute survey of 35,000 students).

Whether this enhanced propensity to cheat is due to values that put winning over honesty, to pressures to stay eligible, or to difficulties managing their time given the high demands of sports, the fact remains that for most kids, sports promotes, rather than discourages, cheating.

Reprinted from CC! Sports e-Newsletter: Special Edition with permission of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. © 2006 www.charactercounts.org To view the entire report from the Josephson Institute, log on to: http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/sports_survey/2006/ The JOSEPHSON INSTITUTE is a nonprofit national organization that develops ethics and character-education programs for schools, corporations, policing agencies, the armed forces, and government agencies.

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/lgien/

University of Illinois Extension's Local Government Information & Education Network (LGIEN) is excited to announce the launch of its new website. The LGIEN website offers a variety of programs, tools, and resources available to Illinois local government officials. It also lists the upcoming educational opportunities for county officials to earn Certified County Official hours.

On behalf of the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), we cordially invite you to attend ExplorACES 2007. The event, created specifically for high school and community college students, their parents and friends, will take place from 9 AM to 3 PM on Friday, March 9, and from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, March 10, at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The third annual ExplorACES is designed to showcase the success and opportunities of the college. Through hands-on, interactive exhibits, students and professors from across our college will demonstrate what we have accomplished as we progress in our fields of study.

ExplorACES will provide a unique opportunity for prospective students to find out about life in the College of ACES. Whether it be through learning about a student's academic project, attending a mini-lecture by a professor, or touring the labs and buildings of the campus, visitors will experience life in the College of ACES first-hand. The event will exhibit the broad range of possibilities the College of ACES has to offer, and the people that make ACES the place to be! Included in this packet is information about the opportunities at ExplorACES. For further information about the event, please visit the ExplorACES website. We are confident that you will enjoy the various exhibits here at ExplorACES, and possibly even discover a field you did not even know existed.

Do you ever worry about how to talk to someone about their driving? Or perhaps you are concerned about how much longer you can safely keep driving. Decisions about driving as a person grows older or faces a disability can be a concern, both to the driver and family members.

Most older adults are safe drivers. Studies show that people over 65 years of age have a lower rate of accidents than drivers ages 16-25. However, age-related changes may contribute to problems with driving for some people.

Common changes include the following:

• Reflexes and coordination become slower.
• Perception declines in most older people and they don't hear or see as well as they used to.
• Recovery from glare takes longer. For example, it takes longer to return to normal vision when temporarily blinded by headlights.
• Processing of information slows. This can be important in complex driving situations.
• The tendency to tire easily increases. Older drivers are more likely to become fatigued when driving long distances.
• Medications can affect skill and judgment for drivers of any age.
• Strokes are also a common cause of cognitive, perceptual and physical impairment that can make a person an unsafe driver.
• Cognitive impairment from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia is associated with increased risk of accidents.

Studies show that many older drivers voluntarily restrict their driving habits or stop driving when they feel they are no longer a safe driver. If you are concerned about yourself or another's driving, some indicators to watch for are:

• Difficulty following instructions or directions
• Confuses or presses together on the brake and accelerator pedals
• Receives increasing number of warnings or citations
• Has accidents, near misses or fender benders
• Gets lost in familiar places
• Fails to obey signs and traffic signals
• Difficulty seeing pedestrians, objects and other vehicles
• Increasingly nervous when driving
• Becomes flustered in traffic or by aggressive drivers
• Drives significantly slower than the posted speed or average speed of traffic
• Falls asleep or gets drowsy
• Ignores other drivers or road hazards
• Does not react to emergency situations.

When any of these signs appear, it is time to assess the situation. Don't wait for an accident. Driving is more than just a means of transportation. It symbolizes independence and the ability to control your own life. It is a link to friends, social events and activities. Because of all the things driving may represent, it can be difficult to give up the keys. But when driving is no longer safe, it is time to make that difficult decision.

March

5 Marketing Club 7 p.m.

8 Drainage Law telenet, 1:30 p.m.

9-10 EXPLORE ACES OPEN HOUSE

12 Unit Council, 7 p.m.

12 WILL AM580 Spring Outlook, Parkland

15 Leader's Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

21 4-H Photography Basics Workshop, 6 p.m.

26 Youth Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.

April

1 4-H General Projects Enrollment Deadline

2 Marketing Club 7 p.m.

3 Options Strategies, 6:30 p.m.

9 Unit Council, 7:00 p.m.

9 4-H Dog Obedience Orientation, 6:30 p.m.

16 4-H Knitting Basics Workshop, 7p.m.

17 Diseases of Herbacous Perennials telenet, 1 p.m.

19 Diseases of Herbacous Perennials telenet (repeat), 7 p.m.

23 4-H Public Presentation Contest

24 Livestock Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.

26 Horse Comittee, 7 p.m.

28 4-H Bowling, 11 a.m., Arrowhead Lanes

May

1 Herbs telenet, 1 p.m.

3 Herbs telenet (repeat), 7 p.m.

5 4-H Photography Workshop 9 a.m.

14 4-H Knitting Basics Workshop II, 7p.m.

15 Tropicals in the Garden telenet, 1 p.m.

1 7 Tropicals in the Garden telenet (repeat), 7 p.m.

22 Youth Committee, 7 p.m.