By Jake Swayze
Staff Writer
SPHS students planned, organized, and ran “What Teens Don’t Tell Their Parents,” a presentation about the difficulties high schoolers face, on Monday, April 27th. Participants read sections of student diaries and shared about personal experiences and interactions with their parents. The speakers emphasized the crushing pressure put on high schoolers and the value of communication and support in the relationship between parents and their teens.
“I was really impressed by how it took shape. It was just an idea to have a student lead forum and the content,” Principal Janet Anderson said. “They did a great job speaking from the heart, but also filling in important information with a lot of good background research.”
During the question and answer session one parent brought up the subject of peer pressure and drugs. Although most of the students said they had never been offered drugs, they shared the strategies their parents had used in talking to them about drugs and alcohol. Another parent asked the students whether they thought that they were representative of the overall SPHS population. Many of the student presenters thought they were an accurate representation, but others felt they did not cover the spectrum of students.
“This presentation was a great way to foster communication between students and their parents,” school counselor and parent Natasha Prime said after the event. “I do wish the presentation had a wider range of students who could talk about the issues that are unique to their lives, but it was a great event and first step.”
