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Students learn value of keeping their cool

By Frank DeFrank, Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Macomb Daily photo by David Dalton

Tony Bucko, left, a Ford High School 11th-grader, and Josh Johnson of Chippewa Valley, also an 11th-grader, act out a confrontation in a skit Thursday as part of an anti-violence rally.

With impending war, terrorism and a struggling economy commanding our attention, it's pretty easy for youth violence to slip out of the consciousness of the nation.

That would be a mistake, say those who work to combat the problem.

"Violence in any public space is always an issue," said Patti Steele, school health coordinator for the Macomb Intermediate School District.

That's why Steele was among those who welcomed students from around Macomb County on Thursday for the fifth Helen Gough Youth Peace Rally, sponsored by the Macomb County Youth Violence Prevention Council. The Boys and Girls Club in Shelby Township was host.

"Columbine didn't invent school violence," Steele said. "Common sense and research tells us to find ways for (teen-agers) to change the culture (of violence) in society."

The rally began in 1998 in response to increasing school violence across the nation and grew in importance following the April 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado.

The idea is to bring kids together from across Macomb County to discuss youth violence and ways to combat it. Students who attend the rally then, hopefully, take the lessons they learn back to their peers.

"We're the future," said Connie Koch, an Anchor Bay High School senior. "We're the ones who can stop the violence before it starts."

If the anti-violence messages taken back to schools resolve just one conflict, then the rally will have served its purpose, added Katie LaBelle, another Anchor Bay senior.

Youth violence -- at least public attention to it -- reached its zenith in the aftermath of Columbine. But the same issues that gave rise to that tragedy -- intolerance, isolation and conflict, for example -- still exist.

And the tools to combat them must continue to be cultivated, said Anne Cook, a teacher and peer mediation adviser at Fraser High School.

"If you walk down the hall of any school ... you see little conflicts here and there," Cook said. "We have 1,450 students in our school, and there are times when they're all in the halls at the same time.

"That's a lot of time for something to happen."

Peer mediation -- as its name implies -- encourages students to get involved to help resolve minor conflicts before they become major problems.

And the concept works, Cook said.

"It's encouraging, it's inspiring," she said. "Kids don't want (school to be) a battleground. They want to be comfortable."

The rally, resurrected after a 1-year hiatus, always features a theme. This year's theme, "Act on It, and Get Involved," featured students performing improvisation and mime with anti-violence messages.

Lou Fazzini, director of a youth theater group called All the World's a Stage and members of his group, helped get across messages like coping when times get tough for kids.

"When you get to be 55 (years old), you can say, 'Hey, it doesn't bother me,'" said Fazzini, a former probation officer. "But it's hard when you're 15, 16 or 17 years old."

The rally is named in honor of Helen Gough, former social worker and community activist who started the program. Gough died about two years ago.

©The Macomb Daily 2003