YAH volunteers talk to younger peers about tough issues

• YAH volunteer presenters in Hudson’s annual Peer to Peer training

Volunteer presenters learn with each session they conduct in Youth Action Hudson’s annual Peer to Peer training. From left are volunteer trainers Elise Marie Malhoit, Shemaina Miller, Emily Iverson, Deven DuCharme and Kelsey Pierce. Photo by John Oman

Talk about it

The organization’s name may have changed, but ideas presented by teen volunteers from Youth Action Hudson remain the same.

Almost 50 Hudson High School students trained with YAH (formerly Community Action) to conduct their annual Peer to Peer training at Hudson schools. The training helps younger students understand the impact of things like bullying and teasing, including cyber bullying, and how to deal with these issues when they encounter them.

The high school students were divided into 10 teams and made presentations to 19 fifth-grade classes across the district. More than 450 youngsters participated in the trainings.

John Oman, program director for YAH, said, “The name of the topic covered was anti-bullying, but the gist of the presentations was to teach a positive way for students to treat each other.”

Prior to going to the schools, the teams spent five to 10 hours preparing their individual presentations.

Each presentation was evaluated by teachers. Oman said teacher comments included statements like: