Central Michigan Life

Students and CMU’s Leadership Institute are teaming up to talk to high school students about teen violence awareness.

CMU Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates (SAPA) members, Volunteer Center advocates and leadership facilitators from the Leadership Institute will present programs to about 430 students at Farwell High School.

The presentations are a part of Teen Summit 2006, a program designed to educate youths about teen violence.

Volunteers will teach high schoolers how to deal with real-life situations they may encounter in their adult lives.

“The summit is a way that we can educate students on a variety of topics consisting of teen health and other issues in order to raise awareness,” said Phyllis Hall, Farwell High School principal.

SAPA Adviser Stephen Thompson will give the summit’s opening keynote address, in which he will discuss the reality of teen aggression in U.S. society.

“It is important because it is something that affects them; their generation is the one that can make the positive change,” said Thompson, a physical education and sport faculty member.

For the fourth consecutive Teen Summit, five SAPA members will perform an abbreviated version of “No Zebras, No Excuses.”

The language and intensity of the show is the same as the performance presented to incoming CMU freshman during Welcome Weekend.

SAPA will then coordinate different sessions to discuss issues raised in the show that are important for high school students to understand.

“Sexual aggression is an issue with everybody, and it has to be addressed,” Thompson said.

The Volunteer Center will present the “David Garcia Project,” a program which will send the high schoolers through simulation activities to experience what it is like to live with a disability.

“As developing citizens who are thinking of life past high school, it is important they understand they will be living and working with people with disabilities the rest of their lives,” said Shawna Ross, CMU Volunteer Center coordinator.

This is the first time VC has presented the David Garcia Project for the Teen Summit.

Dan Gaken, coordinator of leadership development for the Leadership Institute, will take four undergraduate leadership facilitators to host three one-hour sessions at the summit.

The sessions will focus on how leadership is something Farwell students can incorporate into their lives and will help them discover what type of leaders they are.

The Leadership Institute visits 15-25 schools a semester. This is its first trip to Farwell High School.

“Teachers and faculty at high schools love it and often ask us back. They observe the focus on leadership and improved community focus,” Gaken said. “The program is very well received.”

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