PLUS takes it to the students
On Sept. 19, 2013, Peninsula high schools PLUS program hosted their first ever forum. The forum took place during 3rd and 4th period in the College Career Center. Invitations were sent to a random selection of students by PLUS members and they all met to discuss issues that take place on campus and at home, such as bullying, stress social pressures.The goal is to allow students to advocate problems they feel are making an impact on their lives. By having a cross-section of students present, more and different opinions and voices can be heard.
“A lot of times the adults are running the programs on campus and adults are assuming the issues going on and the forums sort of eliminate all of that,” PLUS teacher and school safe counselor Christina Lopez said. “It’s not really about what us as the adults think, it’s about empowering kids to have a voice and wanting them to be heard about the issues.”
The forum began with activities and games so that students could warm up and get to know one another. Once students were more comfortable, PLUS members divided the students into groups of three and each group had discussions about what they believed were the biggest issues occurring in their lives. Participants then came together to discuss solutions to these problems and simple ways to make students’ lives easier. Students responded enthusiastically to the forums and seemed to really take it to heart.
“ I felt like the forum helped me get a better view of the school and how to handle peer pressure and bullying,” junior Nick Szendzial said. “It really opened my eyes to a lot of issues on this campus”.
The issues discussed will be used to create programs around school to help think of more solutions. PLUS facilitator and senior Zoe Council described the experience as something she believes will be effective and beneficial.
“They [the students] really enjoyed it, even though we talked about some serious things I think everyone had a lot of fun and it was interesting to meet new people,” an event facilitator and senior Zoe Council said.
Each month, a random selection of students will be invited for a forum and members will continue to use the discussions to better our school so expect to see some upcoming changes and programs PLUS will be applying.
