Tardiness and poor attendance. A lack of communication between school staff and students. Stereotypes that stop teenagers from ever getting to know one other.
These are some of the problems high school students across Southern Arizona have highlighted this year, and as participants in the program Youth Empowered for Success they are working to find solutions.
Students from 25 Southern Arizona high schools participating in the program gathered Saturday at Flowing Wells High School to share their solutions midway through the school year.
Although an education initiative, Youth Empowered for Success is a product of six behavioral health agencies; most notably, the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, which provides funding and oversight.
Its purpose is to provide opportunities for students to connect with their schools while improving them.
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"If kids stay connected in their schools, good things happen in their lives," said Bill Burnett, prevention manager for the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona.
This is the third year of the initiative, and the program has grown from about 13 Southern Arizona schools to 25.
Many of the students, although from different schools, met this summer during a Teen Institute held at the University of Arizona.
It was there they learned to identify problems in their schools and develop plans to address them. Saturday was the first time the students reunited, and each school had a display of the projects they were developing.
Students at Patagonia Union High School, in Santa Cruz County, sought to improve the look, feel and attitude of the school by painting the football stadium and improving other parts of the campus. The project included teachers, parents and students.
Meanwhile, students at Desert View High School are trying to improve attendance and reduce tardiness by providing incentives for perfect attendance.
Those who were absence-free last semester were able to attend assemblies featuring breakdancing and Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that is popular among youth.
The incentives have had moderate success so far, but for Jaca Garcia, a 17-year-old senior at Desert View, creating the programs have caused him to look at his school differently.
"Before I was really only worried about myself, but based on how the school does it reflects on you," he said.
That shift in perspective is one of the primary goals of the program, organizers said.
"All of these kids have been chosen because they show a natural ability to improve or change conditions on their high school campuses," said Diana Jimenez-Young, project manager for Youth Empowered for Success.
For Diane Arnold and Victoria Moreno, seniors at Sahuarita High School, that has meant working to break down stereotypes that can stop students from getting to know one another.
One of their projects, for which the students have received a $900 grant, is to create T-shirts that shed some insight into the students wearing them. While the front of the T-shirt will list the stereotype with the question ''Am I only?'' the back side will list a number of other attributes.
"We all stereotype each other before we meet each other," said Arnold, 18.
"You are going to state your stereotype on the front of your shirt," said Moreno, 18. "But on the back side it will list all the things you really are."
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