By TR Robertson
The monthly Youth Enrichment Services (YES) meeting, held at the Pine Avenue Community Center, was treated to a presentation from three members of Sage Creek High Schools Peer Assistance Listeners (PALs) program. The Peer Assistance Listeners are a group of Juniors and Seniors from the high school who have participated in extensive and ongoing training in dealing with helping students in a variety of ways. This group will meet with students one on one who fill out referral forms. The PALs members will listen to the students as a sounding board, talk them through problems they may have or if the situation calls for it, bring in a school counselor when a problem may be beyond what they are trained to manage.
The seven members of this years PALs group takes part in training sessions on how to approach students, listening skills and how to respond to a variety of situations that may arise. The current plan is to increase the number of students involved in PALs, at Sage Creek, to fourteen. They have assisted fifty-one students this year who have filled out referral forms to meet with one of the PALs members. Information about the program is on their website, on posters around campus, on business cards each member keeps with them, on bookmarks,
teachers and in school offices. When asked why they choose to be in PALs, the most frequent response was they wanted to help others and make a difference as well as have a positive impact on their school. Go to https://sagecreek-cusd-ca.schoolloop.com/PALS.
The Mission Statement for YES is “To be instrumental in creating a positive environment and safety net for young people in Carlsbad and the surrounding community to flourish and grow by collaborating with agencies and organizations that help young people thrive and resist negative influences. Each meeting the various representatives from a variety of groups and organizations, both state and federal as well as private, are allowed time to speak specifically about what they participate in, programs they offer and specific projects on the horizon. Groups in attendance spoke about community service opportunities for students, volunteer programs offered, clean-up projects and summer camp programs available.
Go to www.carlsbadusd.k12.ca.us/yes for more information. Two projects YES will be sponsoring are on May 3rd for parents and families at the Senior Center in Carlsbad, a program on dealing with illegal substances and their students and on May 24th, an ebike safety program.
