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Struthers brings its PANDAs back for middle school students
STRUTHERS
The Struthers Middle School cafeteria can get a little noisy every other Tuesday after school as nearly 100 students gather for the Prevent and Neutralize Drug Abuse leader’s club.
Kids spend about a half-hour with team-building activities and another half-hour talking about serious issues that affect young teens.
The group, known as PANDA, re-launched for the first time in more than a decade at the middle school. Each meeting focuses on a different discussion topic: bullying, depression, violence, self-injury, peer pressure, alcohol or drugs.
Laura Bryer, a PANDA leader’s club coordinator, said Struthers, Austintown and Girard schools all received money from the governor’s Start Talking! grant to implement the PANDA leader’s club in their schools. Start Talking is a statewide initiative to reduce youth drug use.
She said the club is a program within Meridian Community Care, a local community-based, nonprofit organization that serves individuals and families struggling with addiction. Bryer said Struthers received $14,268 to maintain the club this school year.
Yvonne Wilson, the school district’s director of diversion and safety, said popularity of the group seems to be high among middle-school students. She said the number of students going to the meetings is impressive, considering fall is usually a time when students are preoccupied with sports.
Wilson said she already sees a few kids trickling into meetings each week. She said she expects more students to join the group gradually in winter months.
Bryer and Carla Patti, a PANDA leader’s club coordinator, lead the discussions with the kids each week. Bryer said she refuses to simply preach at the kids. She said she prefers to create activities to engage them.
“Preaching doesn’t do anything,” she said. “They would just zone out. But we do try to create activities that the kids can relate to and have fun with.”
Abigale Peterson, a seventh-grade student, joined the group at the beginning of the year because she thought it was a good way to make friends. At the meetings, she said she’s already met new people.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Abigale said. “You do new things each time. It’s not just the same old thing.”
Bryer said each school has a slightly different curriculum and activities, depending on what the kids want to talk about.
“One school might want to focus on bullying more and another wants to focus on peer-pressure diffusing skills more,” she said.
Bryer said there are 22 middle and high schools in Mahoning and Trumbull counties with PANDA leader’s clubs this year. She said she hopes to see the group expand beyond this year.