Today and yesterday I've recieved Peer Mediation Training, and I left with a certification, which states that I can help around my school with mediating my peers. This means that I, along with others involved in the P.A.L.S. (Peer Assistance Leadership Service) association, are able to help others around our high school with their problems. I'm very excited that I learned the skills I learned in just a brief 2 days (15 hours, rather), which include an enhancement of social skills, maturity, and so many other things. We even watched a video about physical fighting in schools, which was extremely shocking seeing the statistics. By the end of the 15 minute video, we'd found out that during that span, there's someone being harrassed, abused, raped, and even murdered. The video is supposed to show us that the things in the video, including physical confrontations, will be lessened by us doing Mediations, which is a great thing: making a change. Being a P.A.L. is much more than mediating though. We all even get to go to the elementary/middle schools to spend time with a buddy at each school, where we'll get to know them, and talk to them. PALS is just a class that are offered to juniors & seniors. It's an elective, and you have to be passing all of your classes to be in it, along with other expectations as well. The other rules include that you stay drug/alcohol free, have no tardies/unverified absenses, maintain a role model image, & help others at school who need you. It's a great service that looks great on college applications, and you leave learning many other things that help you in life. The mediators that taught us our skills had even said that what we've learned during our two days is what college students are learning in one semester. It's fairly cool to know that we're "among the elite" (as many of us have been, repeatedly, told), and that we know skills that other criminal justice agencies have their employees doing. It's funny to find out that you have a skill that an adult has, especially when it took them over twice as long. It's a powerful & enlightening feeling too! :]
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