A panel of experts will have advice for students in Irondequoit tonight about how to handle issues teens often face, such as drugs and alcohol as prom and graduation season approaches.
Another topic at the community forum is how to safely use social media.
One of the panelists is Mike Johansson, senior lecturer in communications at RIT. He has heard that parents who host drinking parties for teens sometimes collect the phones of kids who are at the party, but that may not protect everyone.
"It only takes one kid in the neighborhood who's not invited to the party, or a neighbor who's upset by the noise, or people throwing up on their lawn, or parking on their lawn or whatever, to start sharing things on social media, and before you know it, word is out that there's a drinking party going on at a certain address."
Johansson says colleges and potential employers will do a Google search for students' names to get a sense of who they are, so it's important to clean up your online reputation. You can find a blog post on Johansson's recommendations at http://j.mp/teensmtips
"Are they showing any kind of maturity? Are they posting inappropriate things? Do they have a circle of friends who are posting inappropriate things? That can say a lot about a potential student," Johansson said. "I think the figure now is up to 87 percent of all employers say they do Google searches on students, so what is an employer finding when they search your name and school, perhaps? And of those, 98 percent plus expect to find you on a professional network like LinkedIn."
Tonight’s forum starts at 7 p.m. at the Irondequoit High School auditorium. Other panelists include Monroe County district attorney Sandra Doorely, Irondequoit town judge Joseph Genier, Officer Andrew Whitaker of the Irondequoit Police Department, and Dr. Taylor Starr, specialist in pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
