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Youngstown students make their voices heard
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
They changed the dress code at the Chaney Campus, instituted peer mediation at Choffin Career and Technical Center and rallied for more student involvement at East High School.
They’re the Quaglia Teams at the respective schools, and all talked about their accomplishments and how they got there Wednesday at the Quaglia Leadership Summit at Chaney.
The Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations, a Maine-based group, has been working in the city schools for three years. One of the aims of the program is to give students a voice with the idea it will lead to improved performance. Quaglia’s Julie Hellerstein led the summit.
“We got the dress code changed at our school,” said Johnea Butler, a Chaney sophomore. “We worked on it all year.”
The students presented their proposal to the school board and at Tuesday’s board meeting, Superintendent Connie Hathorn announced the school’s dress code will be changed next year.
The students told board members that as a specialty school, a dress code that didn’t require uniforms would allow them to express themselves and their creativity.
“It’s basically the same as a regular dress-down day,” explained senior Mikayla Moore of the changed dress code. Students were being disciplined with in-school suspension because of dress-code violations.
“It was taking so much learning time from the students,” freshman Tamron Lewis said.
Choffin seniors Edelle Payne and Audrey Torres said their school’s team initiated a peer-mediation program. When students hear about a problem brewing among their classmates that could lead to a fight, they bring it to the Q Team for resolution.
“Most of the time, it came to be a misunderstanding,” Audrey said.
This was the first year for Choffin’s Q Team.
East’s Q-Team is composed of all seniors, and that’s one of the things team members want to change.
“It should be more than just seniors,” said Reggie Allen.
Team member Gabrielle Cofield said she talked to students from the other classes, encouraging them to participate on the team next year.
“I try to encourage everyone to get involved in school because it’s your school,” she said.