|
|
Teens Help Peers Avoid Pitfalls through Health Rocks! A
Teens Help Peers Avoid Pitfalls through Health Rocks!
By
Laura Skillman
 PADUCAH,
Ky., (Nov. 15, 2006) – Stress. Peer pressure. Drugs. These are
pitfalls children must navigate as they move through life. In
Paducah, a group of teens are helping younger students develop
skills to successfully navigate through these perils thanks to
“Health Rocks!”
The 10-week program is administered by the McCracken County 4-H
program and funded by a grant from Mississippi State University.
Danielle Rudolph, 4-H youth development agent for the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service in McCracken County,
and several teens from Paducah Tilghman High School attended a
national training on the “Health Rocks!” program this summer.
The younger students are taught communication, empathy,
teamwork, disease prevention, self-responsibility, critical
thinking, planning, organizing, problem solving, stress
management, concern for others, healthy lifestyle choices and
self-esteem, Rudolph said. It also is advantageous for the
teens.
“The teens gain leadership skills and also serve as mentors
while learning the information. It gives them a chance to be in
charge of a program, to plan and to contact local leaders as
they line up speakers,” she said.
Kentucky statistics show a high number of children are affected
by drugs. That’s why Rudolph said she wants to expand the
program in the coming years.
“I want it in every elementary school and middle school in the
city,” Rudolph said. “And I want to get my co-workers onboard so
we can also offer it in the county.”
Ronald Pullen is the volunteer adult mentor for the program at
Cooper Whiteside Elementary School. The program is also offered
at Paducah Middle School.
“I think this is a great program for a number of reasons,” he
said. ”The teen involvement is a great opportunity for them to
come out and to reach back to the community and they get some
experience with working with these younger students. The younger
students respond because they are closer to their age. They are
always asking when the teens are coming.”
Olivia Burr, guidance counselor and social worker at Cooper
Whiteside Elementary, was the co-author of the grant proposal.
Burr said the program provides much of the same information that
they used to receive through programs funded by a juvenile
justice grant that they did not receive this year.
“We are trying to replace those programs and this was an ideal
program for our students because they live in a high risk
environment,” she said. “I think being with the older students
also gives them a model of what they can be. By placing them
with students that are already in the high school, already
successful, it gives them a model of success.”
Almost all children are at risk if they do not have enough
support, Burr noted. She uses 4-H as well as other programs in
the community to help provide that support.
Thirteen teens work in teams to teach the program. Brent
Buchanan, Tyler Carner and Ali Watson made up the team teaching
a recent stress management session.
Buchanan said he likes kids and the program is positive.
“I’m not sure that I’d ever want to get into education, but it
gave me some pretty practical skills,” he said. “We’ve had some
real positive feedback from the kids. It makes you feel good
when you are doing something for them.”
Watson said she really likes the idea behind the program –
teaching about why drugs and alcohol are bad and why they should
avoid them.
“I really didn’t know they would know as much as they do and how
a lot of them are affected by it,” she said.
Carner, whose mother is a teacher, said he never realized what
she experienced until participating in the program.
“When they start to learn, it makes you feel good that you
actually taught them something and they got something out of
it,” he said. |
Contact: Danielle Rudolph, 270-554-9520 |
|
The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
Questions/Comments,
e-mail the
webmaster
Copyright © 2001-2006 University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture,
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
News Home
Other Headlines This Week
More
News
RSS Now Available
for those
using news aggregation programs
College News
|
