New school year means clubs are starting up again and recruiting new people. “Mentors in Violence Prevention” is one of those clubs, and their goal is to create a safer place for the students of West. To do this, the mentors will go to different freshmen classes around West and talk to them about lessons on how they can prevent bullying, harassment, and other violence in our school. Ms. Kelly currently runs MVP and has recruited lots of new members for this year. The mentors had training at the beginning of the year to learn how to properly do the lessons and interact with the students.
“We went through our first lesson, and also did a mock lesson and pretended we were actually doing it to the kids to become more prepared,” sophomore Kerstan Truong said.
Speaking in front of people that you don’t know can be difficult, especially when speaking about sensitive topics. The training that the mentors did got them to be more comfortable when they actually go into the classrooms.
“They will go into the classrooms and do introductions and icebreakers and talk about the topics. The first couple are creating the norms for what we expect while we do these lessons, and then they will talk about leadership, possibly gender norms, and other things,” Ms. Kelly said.
MVP is a great way to help students learn how to stand up for themselves and others especially as freshmen who might not be as confident. The mentors also help them figure out ways to make our school feel safer and a more positive environment.
“From my perspective it is about changing or creating a culture of safety at West,” Kelly said.
Not only does MVP benefit the freshmen, but it also helps the mentors get better at their social skills and public speaking.
“I like getting to know the classroom I’m assigned to and meeting the great people in there! It’s also fun watching them grow throughout the school year,” senior Sophie Dothager said.
MVP is overall a beneficial club for the students at West, and provides help with topics the students might struggle with. Some kids might not know how to handle certain situations like bullying, whether they are the student being bullied or a bystander. MVP teaches those kids that they have the power to fix any situation by standing up for someone or even just notifying an adult. The mentors plan to start up their lessons again during term 2, and they are ready to get into the classrooms and start making West a better place.
