Savannah area Mediation Center honors students with 2024 Youth Awards ceremony

Confirm. Correct. Clarify.

These are the three key practices of active listening, which is a main component to resolve conflicts, according to Kabrina Bass. She is a conciliation specialist and the executive director of Midlands Mediation Center, who served as guest speaker at the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire’s Youth Peacemakers Recognition and Awards Ceremony on April 17 at Herschel V. Jenkins High School.

Fried chicken and fixings filled the bellies of student volunteers from the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) in acknowledgement of their commitment to guiding peer problem-solving efforts through the center’s youth programs. After the meal, the ceremony moved into the Jenkins auditorium for the speech by Bass and awards recognitions.

'There are careers out here for young people' in mediation

Bass’s main message to SCCPSS students was that conflict resolution skills can empower communities to navigate polarized times. She cited Martin Luther King’s speech of the beloved community, which was not a community “absent of conflict, but a community that learned how to embrace conflict together, to create solutions together and make a difference.” She also advised students and their parents that demand across industries for people with negotiation, mediation and evaluation skills is on the rise. “There are careers out here for our young people with these skills, where you can make a decent living doing this work,” she said.

Bass noted a number of industries beyond the legal field where people use conflict resolution skills. She talked about how facilitators, contract negotiators, evaluators and mediators help people manage disputes within the public and private sector, within school systems and the sports industry among countless other realms. She encouraged students to continue the work they started.

"Your future is bright, and your dreams are big and your destiny is even greater, so go and do the work and make this society better," she said to the students in attendance.

Chiquetta Thompson, director of youth education for the Mediation Center, led the recognitions portion of the evening. She started by highlighting the center’s partnerships with SCCPSS and the Chatham County Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) through the center’s youth programs. In 2023, those programs trained 240+ student peer mediators, over 70 Youth Restorative Court student volunteers and 50+ student volunteer Positive Peer Influencers (who are part of the center’s newest program).

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Positive Peer Influencers pilot program addresses youth drug use

During Wednesday night’s ceremony, CNT Director Michael Sarhatt commended students in the Positive Peer Influencers program for their work as mentors to students in middle schools. The program was recently piloted by Jenkins High School students who trained to present to middle school students the dangers of drug use, particularly fentanyl. On March 19, the Jenkins students put their training in action with a class of Myers Middle School students.

Olivia Jones (a Jenkins sophomore) and Lebron Jackson (a Jenkins freshman) led the presentation that included role play scenarios that showcased tactics to counter peer pressure. Mediation Center Executive Director Jill Cardenas said the program focuses on “skill-building through three refusal strategies: using an excuse; the cold shoulder; and assertive refusal.”

Drug use is prevalent in the program’s content because it is an issue among youth in Chatham County. SCCPSS Public Information Manager Sheila Blanco recently shared that “40 incidents of drug use were reported in the first semester of this school year.”

The Coastal Health District’s Opioid Public Health Analyst Jessica Simon also shared data from the organization’s Drug Surveillance Unit (DSU) on overdose discharges among adolescents in Chatham County and throughout the state. That data, sourced from Georgia emergency department visit discharge reporting, showed an increase in “all drugs” related to adolescent overdoses in Chatham County, which grew from 85 in 2019 to 107 in 2022.

Of the 107, fewer than five were attributed to fentanyl. However, Simon cautioned that the number of fentanyl overdoses was likely undercounted. According to a DSU statement, "there was no diagnosis code specifically for fentanyl overdose until 2021."

Additional data Simon shared from DSU indicated that, statewide, in 2023, 75% of the 53 overdose deaths among adolescents in Georgia involved fentanyl. One adolescent death in Chatham County in 2023 has been record so far. She said that since the 2023 death data “is still considered preliminary, this metric may change as deaths continue to be certified.”

Sarhatt ended his comments at Wednesday night's event by thanking the student peer influencers for their volunteer work. “These kids have really passed on a message to the middle schoolers that's life and death.”

And the awards went to…

Wednesday evening included recognition of all schools involved in the Mediation Center’s Youth Court, Peer Mediation and Positive Peer Influencers programs. The center’s representatives also took time to hand out specific awards to notable individuals and schools.

Here is a list of the recipients:

Platinum Award (most mediations facilitated by a School Peer Mediation Program) - Herschel V. Jenkins High School

Peer Mediation Marketing Awards - Charles Ellis Montessori & Windsor Forest High School

Peer Mediation Student Engagement Award - Mariana Mejia

Youth Court Distinctive Volunteer Award - Ah'Niyah Hendley

Youth Court Restorative Justice Award - Kenya Middleton

Youth Court Benevolent Award (adult volunteer) - Faria Polite (teacher from Jenkins High School)

Triple Triumph Awards (for volunteering in all three youth programs) - Kiana Griffin & LeBron Jackson

2024 Peacemaker Medallion Design Winner  - Seiease Anderson

2024 Positive Peer Influencer Logo Design Winner  - Jaxson Brown

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah area Mediation Center honors students with 2024 Youth Awards