Safe Student Ambassador puts skills to work





It’s been more than a month since approximately 100 Oak Park High and Medea Creek Middle school students and staff underwent training to learn techniques to help curb incidents of bullying and other hurtful behavior on campus.

The students are using their newly learned skills to help prevent the kind of behavior that has resulted in violence at some schools.

The effort is part of the Safe Student Ambassadors program being introduced to schools nationwide to help teens identify and stop abuse among their peers.

Those who are involved have found the program challenging, yet beneficial.

Although the training has provided students with useful tools, it will take time to develop the expertise needed to use what they’ve learned. On the other hand, both students and staff have discovered that they are more sensitive to harsh situations at school.

“I’ve noticed a change in the ambassadors, an increased awareness of what’s going on around them and even how they themselves act with their peers,” said Stewart McGugan, an Oak Park High counselor.

Some students chosen by teachers and administrators to serve as ambassadors have been seen by their fellow ambassadors behaving cruelly to others. It can be difficult to change old habits, said Michael Davis, a teacher at Oak Park High.

“It illustrates how subtle these changes are from the perspectives of the students. It’s going to take consistency and an ongoing, concerted effort to make changes in behavior and in the climate of the school,” Davis said.

So far the ambassadors are most comfortable with using the distraction techniques they’ve learned to prevent a situation from escalating, said Davis. They are also comfortable with redirecting and supporting a victim, he added.

“Having the guts to stand up to someone comes with time,” said Jay Greenlinger, Medea Creek dean.

Students are taking their new knowledge offcampus as well, using it outside of school hours, added Greenlinger, who received a call from the parent of two student ambassadors. The parent said her children had had some friends over and there had been some teasing. She observed her kids using their new skills to distract their friends from the teasing and defuse the situation.

Student ambassadors receive support through small “family” groups they are assigned to. Led by a trained staff member, the groups meet several times a month to continue training and share experiences.

One group of middle school ambassadors met during lunch on a recent school day with their group leader Elana Levine, Medea Creek band director, and Greenlinger.

The group of four boys and two girls talked about their observations. The students’ identities are kept anonymous for safety reasons.

The boys’ locker room was identified as a common site of verbal cruelty and bullying, the kids said.

“There’s a lot of chanting and making fun of people’s shapes and sizes and people pushing people into lockers,” one boy said. “One kid who’s rather large was being made fun of. I told him not to worry about it because if he’s happy with himself it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”

One girl described coming to the defense of a girl in class who was being ridiculed by others for her weight. Other students ridiculed the ambassador.

“You can even stand up for people who are standing up for others,” the girl told her fellow ambassadors during the meeting.

Other comments made by ambassadors during the meeting included the following:

“If you’re more self-conscious you make an easier target. The friends of the kids doing the teasing join in with them.”

“A lot of this is based on power. A lot of eighth-graders think they can do things. They push and bully sixth-graders a lot.”

“A kid in my grade was making fun of a sixth-grader. I told the sixth-grader to get out of there.”

“In class people will call this girl stupid. She’s taking it, but I noticed that it might actually be hurting her feelings.”

“I saw something yesterday. A kid who’s always picking on someone had it done back to him, and he got really mad.”

Levine urged the ambassadors not to retaliate, or “sink down” to the behavior of a bully. Levine herself has noticed students making fun of others and then saying “just kidding.”

“Every period I have at least one situation like that,” Levine said. “The earlier we start teaching them how to communicate in a positive way, the better off they’ll be.”


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