It’s Not Just the What, It’s the How
As an educator, parent, friend, coworker, or human being, we sometimes feel like we need to have all…
Author: Molly Pistrang, Youth Education Specialist
Voices of PAVE
Written by Molly Pistrang (REACH’s Youth Education Specialist) with Nicole Jacobs Marques, Joe Zeitouny, Carmen Serrato, Anna Kraffmiller, Lila Campbell, Xavier Quintanilla Our Youth Education work primarily takes place in schools. On March 12, the unexpected last day of school for the year in Waltham, I was at Waltham High School. That morning, I co-facilitated a training on trauma for an anatomy and physiology class alongside…
Moving Beyond Awareness During Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
Clearly, TDV is happening. This school year, we’ve noticed an increase in the number of disclosures from students Often this isn’t because more abuse is happening, but because young people now have the words for what they’re experiencing or have experienced, or because they feel like now they have a space where they can share their story. These disclosures tend to happen at the end of…
Playing like a girl: Thoughts on the World Cup
Among other things, I’m known around the REACH office for liking and playing soccer. I have more than once coordinated a World Cup watch party during lunch hour(s) in our training room and I often talk about the weekly Wednesday night games I play with my coed soccer team. I began playing when I was a young child. When I was a little girl, my dad…
How we apply PAVE to our lives: a reflection by the PAVE Peer Leaders, Officers
Each year, the PAVE Peer Leaders at Waltham High School choose Officers who meet an additional time each week to plan and prepare for club meetings and to develop additional facilitation and curriculum planning skills. This year there were three Officers- Rachel Cosgrove, Dylan Garcia-Vasser, and Krystal Lwanga. All three will graduate next week, so we spent some time reflecting on some questions at our last…
What is consent, really? (Hint: It’s way more than just about sex)
“We’re going to be talking about consent? (giggles). You mean sex? (giggles).” When students say that, I respond with “consent is not just about sex. That’s just one part of it.” When adults question me, I say something like “consent is not just a one-time conversation about sex. It is a transferable skill that requires practice, introspection, and application throughout our whole span of human interaction….
Enacting Empathy
When I am in the classroom and ask students “what would you do, or who would you turn to, if you or someone you knew needed help?” a common response I hear is “tell a trusted adult.” Sometimes students may be referring to me, but most often they are not. I spend one day, two days, maybe a couple of weeks with these students. Most often…
Embodying Knowledge During Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
There’s a show that the PAVE (Peers Against ViolencE) Peer Leaders (a violence prevention club at Waltham High School) have told me about called “What Would YOU Do?” The premise is that actors act out a scenario and a hidden camera films people to see how they respond. Scenarios could include someone saying a discriminatory comment to a passerby, someone stealing an item from a store, or…
PAVE Peer Leader Summer Training 2018
Written by PAVE Peer Leaders and Molly Pistrang “I had lots of fun! I can’t wait for the upcoming school year!” If you can believe it, a teenager said that while at REACH this summer. But why the enthusiasm about returning to school? Well, that teen is a member of the PAVE Peer Leaders, a student club at Waltham High School (WHS), and we had just finished their summer…
PAVE Peer Leaders: A Year in Review
It’s June. It’s hot. It’s hard to believe that the school year is over – my first full school year as Youth Education Specialist for REACH and as an adviser for Peers Against ViolencE (PAVE), a peer leadership club at Waltham High School (WHS). I started with PAVE on my first day at REACH, joining a club that was founded by a former REACH Youth Education Specialist and school adjustment counselor…
