Dedicated, delightful, fearless, exceptionally attractive readers, I apologize for the long silence – your Aim High communications guru spent December communicating via mail and email and then enjoyed a delightful winter break, but is glad to be back in the saddle here at the office and the blog. In case you needed another reason to encourage kids to stay in school, here’s some new data:  Dropping out of high school is bad for your health.   According to this article in Science Daily, new data from the Columbia School of Public Health indicates that high school dropouts lose 5.1 years of perfect health.  As a health concern, being a high school dropout is almost as risky as smoking (6.6 years) and more risky than being obese (4.2 years) or uninsured.  The riskiest circumstance:  poverty.  Americans in the bottom one-third of income earnings lose 8.2 years of perfect health. In 2010, Aim High’s resolution is to get more kids excited about learning – a factor that helps reduce dropouts and, ultimately, can allow young people to escape poverty through education.  At a time when the health of our nation is in the spotlight, I hope you too are resolved to support education and reduce poverty. Happy New Year, everyone!