Program puts students in leadership roles

Published on October 29th, 2009

By SUZANNA CALDWELL

The concept is simple. Take the young adults other young people look up to in the community and teach them to lead.

But while simple in concept, the Youth Leaders program that began last year in the Northwest Arctic School District is far from simple.

The program takes high-schoolers from villages and communities across the district and teaches them to take charge in the community.

"We went out and said 'You are the elders, take care of your people,' " school district counselor Michelle Woods said.

Woods started the program in the Lower Yukon School District in 2000. She had been asked to start a peer mentor program where students would be taught how to deal with conflict in a "western" way, Woods said.

She and other program coordinators thought that idea was a nonstarter. So instead, they molded the program around the idea that the students involved are the "elders" of their school.

"We tell them, outside of the high school, elders dictate how the village responds. They are the elders in their school," Woods said.

The program was then designed for the students to take a leadership role in their schools. They work with teachers to address behavioral problems with younger students, confront issues students are facing and do community outreach.

"They try to be the positive influence, the positive light," Woods said.

The program is unconventional, according to Woods, in that they are looking for the nontraditional idea of what a leader is.

Instead of picking students who have natural leadership qualities, or are "good" kids, Woods said that they poll students on who they look up to. Sometimes the students picked fall outside the classic definition of "studious."

"What we see happening is adults go, 'Why that guy? He's a pothead, he's a slacker,' " Woods said.

But once they get in the program, usually their behavior changes for the better.

"Once they start to see themselves in that leadership role, they knock those behaviors off," she said.

In the Lower Yukon School District an emphasis was put on suicide prevention. The program uses the Gatekeeper model that trains people to intervene when people are showing signs of suicide. The Youth Leaders learn to identify signs and how to respond when people need help.

The program had significant success in the Lower Yukon School District. In 2000, the program had 35 "interventions" where suicide was prevented and averaged seven to nine suicides a year. In 2006, they had 175 interventions and no suicides.

Woods is hoping to replicate that success in the Northwest Arctic. Last year was the first year of the program, where 55 students from schools across the district participated. She said that they do not have the intervention figures from last year.

Woods said that within villages there were things going on that were counterproductive for dealing with suicide. She said that the elders would hold gatherings in the schools and tell students that committing suicide was not respectful and that they were going to hell for killing themselves.

Because of that, students would have secondary trauma.

"Now they (the students) are thinking the elders are mad at us for something we didn't do, and our friends are in hell," Woods said.

The Youth Leaders program made it easier for students to address the trauma they were facing. Now students can turn to the Youth Leaders, instead of teachers and staff who may intimidate them, to talk about the problems they have, easily and confidentially.

The Youth Leaders also take it upon themselves to address other problems in their community. Kate Jones, a junior from Buckland, said some kids are drinking perfume. She and other Youth Leaders have created posters addressing the issue and are working with students to make sure they understand the severity of their actions.

It also has helped Jones, who wants to go to school to be a teacher, build self-confidence.

"I'm coming out of my shell more and taking my job seriously," Jones said.

Woods only has a three-year grant for the program in the Northwest Arctic School District. She believes that even if they do not receive additional funding, the program will continue. Not just because of the work of the students, but because the community realizes it is important.

"There are so many people on board," Woods said. "I'm not worried."