Happy Holidays!

First of all, we deeply appreciate your votes and outstanding comments on behalf of MindOH! in the Fast 50 Reader's Challenge. While it was very exciting to be selected as a finalist, your kind words are an even greater reward. In addition to being a finalist in the Fast 50 competition, the end of the year brings exciting events for MindOH! and the MindOH! Foundation.

The MindOH! Foundation Web site has officially launched at www.mindohfoundation.org. We invite you to check it out and email your feedback to info@mindohfoundation.org. We are grateful to Media Art Studio and Nickerson Design for donating time and expertise to create the site. On the home page, you'll find links to our first two Foundation programs: Thinking it Through and the Character's Cool Contest.

The Thinking it Through worksheets provide parents, caregivers and administrators an excellent springboard to create meaningful conversation with youth about the events surrounding the September 11^th attacks and the ongoing war on terrorism. These tools present young people with an opportunity to think through the emotions that they may be experiencing, including fear, anger, racial slurs and bullying.

Encourage all of the middle school students you know to sign up now for the Character's Cool Contest at www.mindohfoundation.org/contest. Participants have the opportunity to win great prizes: a new computer for their school with a one-year license to MindOH!'s Middle School Series, Project Wisdom's character education series, a personal MP3 player or a Nintendo Gamecube, cash prizes of up to $500 and more! Email contests@mindohfoundation.org if you would like to participate as a sponsor and make a donation to provide additional prizes.

MindOH! would also like to welcome the newest members of its Advisory Committee:

·         Jeff Amerson is the principal of Garden Oaks Elementary in the Houston Independent School District. He has taught grades 6 through 12 and has worked as an elementary school administrator.

·         Darryl Crawford has been in the mortgage business for the past five years and is currently the president and CEO of AMC Mortgage. Prior to that he worked as a financial advisor for New York Life and an Asset General Manager for Servico, Inc.

·         Cheryl Gholar, Ph.D., is a Community and Economic Development Educator with University of Illinois Extension. Cheryl has more than 20 years of experience with the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher, counselor, guidance coordinator, and administrator. Recognized for her expertise in the field of Character Education, Cheryl assisted in developing the K-12 Character Education Curriculum for the Chicago Public Schools.

·         Pat O'Brien has been an educator for more than 30 years and is currently a special education teacher for Inglewood Junior High School in Redmond, Washington. Pat served as Inglewood's special education department chair until 2001, which provided her the opportunity to design and implement a nationally recognized inclusion model and peer-tutoring program.

·         Hally Beth Walker Poindexter is Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Rice University in Houston. Her professional service spans fifty years. She has authored or co-authored four books, several book chapters and over fifty professional articles.

·         Ernestine G. Riggs, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Loyola University Chicago, teaching undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of reading, writing, research, character education, classroom management and critical thinking skills. She is also a Senior Program Consultant for the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL).

·         Nicole Robinson is the Director of Program Development for The Telecom Opportunity Institute (TTOI), responsible for the development and administration of TTOI's programmatic efforts nationwide to increase educational and career opportunities in the technology and telecommunications industry for at-risk youth, ethnic minorities and women in underserved communities .

·         Matthew Snapp, Ph.D. has been a psychologist in private practice for 20 years. His experience includes working as a school psychologist at the Regional Child Study Service in Price, Utah, and as the director of the department of student development for the Austin Independent School District overseeing all psychological, counseling and social work services.

For more complete bios on the MindOH! Advisory Committee members, please visit http://www.mindoh.com/docs/Advisory_Committee.pdf.

We hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday season. We are truly grateful for your continued support.

Best wishes!

The MindOH! team