Pubdate: Sun, 12 Aug 2012
Source: Watertown TAB & Press (MA)
Copyright: 2012 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5230

WATERTOWN STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN YOUTH LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE

In July, three Watertown Youth Coalition peer leaders had an
opportunity to participate in the National Youth Leadership Initiative
in Nashville, Tenn.

The NYLI is part of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's
Mid-Year Training Institute and equips young people with skills that
allow them to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to substance abuse
issues in their communities.

Michelle Gallego, Jadzia Lee and Bryanna Dowcett, Watertown High
School seniors, and Sara Berkowitz, WYC peer leadership advisor,
represented the Watertown Youth Coalition, a community coalition
committed to promoting healthy and positive lifestyles among youth.
The funding for this conference was provided by the Grant to Reduce
Alcohol Abuse, a collaboration between Watertown Public Schools and
Wayside Youth and Family Support Network's Multi-Service Center.

Throughout the four-day conference, participants learned the
foundations of prevention work, identified important leadership
qualities and began looking closely at issues in their communities
from a youth perspective.

When asked to describe her experience, Lee said, "It was enriching.
Not only did we learn many different tactics and steps for prevention
but we also met other coalitions from around the country."

These three Watertown youth were among 400 students who are similarly
committed to creating change in their community. Meeting other teens
was the highlight for Watertown participants as they had many
opportunities to work and socialize with their peers. Gallego even
decided to perform during the "open mic night," saying, "Everyone was
so supportive; it just felt really comfortable to be up there."
Berkowitz was impressed with the content of the conference as well as
the emphasis on community building among participants.

Through a number of creative activities, youth and adult advisors at
NYLI were tasked with identifying problems in their home community,
recognizing potential causes and brainstorming ways to solve the
problem. Some of the many community problems identified were underage
alcohol use, marijuana use, bullying/violence and tobacco use. As each
community is unique, participants were encouraged to think about the
makeup of their hometown when identifying strategies to address these
issues.

The WYC peer leaders worked together to create a plan for youth in
Watertown. They decided to focus on underage alcohol, recognizing that
one problem in Watertown is that students drink because they believe
it's what teens are supposed to do in order to have fun. This
perception is also shown in the 2012 Youth Risk Behavior Survey
results, which report that Watertown High School students believe that
more than half of students drank alcohol in the past 30 days, while
only 35 percent actually do. WYC peer leaders realized that in order
to change the thinking that underage drinking is the norm, it is
necessary to provide information about negative effects of underage
alcohol use but also to provide resources for fun, substance-free 
activities.

The NYLI program helped the WYC peer leaders get excited about the
potential to change the perception around underage alcohol use. They
returned to Watertown, empowered and excited to engage other students
in this work.
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MAP posted-by: Matt