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Peer Mediators At Washington MS Aim To Reduce Conflict Among Students

Washington Middle School students and teachers work together during a peer mediation training in November.

Student leaders at Washington Middle School are stepping up to make a difference for their classmates.

A cross section of Washington students from grades 5 through 8 were selected by their teachers to aid in the school’s approach to conflict resolution as “peer mediators.” The mediators act as neutral facilitators in a voluntary communication process to help resolve conflict between students.

According to Washington principal Melissa Emerson, the school adopted a peer mediation program to support recent work the building has done on restorative practices.

“We have found when students are actively involved in solving their own problems they are more likely to not repeat the same behavior,” she said. “We have been working a lot on repairing relationships. Whether it is a student-to-student or student-to-staff relationship that needs to be repaired, either can be a time consuming process.”

Enter “Peaceful Schools,” a Syracuse-based organization of educators who work to reduce youth violence. The organization conducted several days of training with the selected students and several Washington teachers and staff.

“Mediation creates a climate that cares about the conflict students are having and makes it clear that we’re going to work with a student to resolve that conflict,” said Peaceful Schools’ president and CEO, Dr. Lura Lunkenheimer. “A student can request to sit down with one other person and have a neutral facilitator walk them through this structured process so that they can decide what would work for them.”

The training engaged Washington students in activities, role play and skill rehearsal to prepare them to successfully mediate disputes between other students.

“I feel like this really helped me with my public speaking,” said 8th grader Olivia Sandberg. “I don’t always feel the most confident when I speak in front of people, but this helped me with that and it was really nice to be able to meet everyone.”

“(Mediation) allows people the chance to tell their own story instead of being accused of stuff,” said seventh grader Colton Miller. “It gives them the chance to solve their own problems and be in agreement with someone who helps themselves and doesn’t get them punished.”

Eighth grader Amari Wright feels like mediation could really make a difference in the lives of students at Washington.

“Mediation is something that will help the community and help me in the future,” he said. “It opens doorways for other kids with troubled pasts and troubled times right now to have some friendships.”

“I feel like this is a good thing for people in school and at home because the kids in school who are having problems, it can ripple out to the whole school, and then at home it can ripple out to the whole household or go outside the neighborhood,” added fifth grader Elin Isaacson. “It’s just good to have some kids helping kids because I feel like kids sometimes listen to kids more than they listen to adults.”

The games really left a mark on the students — and emphasized the importance of this role they’ll play in their peers’ lives.

“There was a game where we had to throw a ball to each other and we had to remember who had thrown the ball and who was throwing the ball to the other person,” Sandberg said. “That helped us know how hard it is to gather thoughts and stay focused.”

“There was this game where one person was dressed up in tissue paper and I feel like that could help with someone’s patience and attention span,” added Isaacson. “It can also help with imagination and also when kids are having trouble at home and they just need a way to have fun.”

Students will spend the next few weeks educating the building about mediation and working together to create a dedicated space in the building for mediations to be conducted. The school has identified two advisors who are going to coordinate the program, schedule the mediations and support the student mediators as they put their new skills into practice.

“It’s really nice to be able to help the school and help people solve their problems,” Miller said. “This could be a really helpful thing for our school.”

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