St. Mary High School Tour-September 2016

​Talk Up Yout School Tour- September 28, 2016
St. Mary High School

Facilitated By Talk Up Yout & Emprezz Golding
Investors in Youth:  National Baking Company,  Cran-Wata & Stanley & Empress
 
The 2016 Talk Up Yout all island school tour started off with high energy at St. Mary High School. Decked in their Green and White uniforms, the young men and women of St. Mary High entered their school’s auditorium raging with excitement to let their voices be heard. The proceedings began with a round of big ups to their teachers, counselor and principal lead by Emprezz. The panel included students from different grades and of different genders; Ayahna Thomas Grade 7, Bradwell McLeod Grade 9, Abigale Bradley Grade 13 (Head Girl), Romane James Grade 11 and Drew Davis Grade 10. As their motto states with “Faith and Courage” the students spoke about the issues affecting them in their school and community and they sent personal messages to the person responsible for assisting with those issues.
 
Issues from the Panelists
 
Ayahna Thomas believes that “Peer Pressure” is one of the leading problems affecting our youth today and said that some of the brilliant students change who they are and lower themselves to fit in the popular groups. Students from the audience got involved and gave some interesting points on that matter saying children who are prevented by their parents to do certain things often hide and “smoke and go to parties”. The issue of peer pressure was enforced by another panelist Drew Davis. Drew started off by asking a very important question “Why do the brilliant people lower themselves to fit in the popular crowd?” and her answer was blunt and straightforward “Fear of acceptance and the need to belong” Some points leading from that issue were that the youth gravitate to negativity because it takes a lot more effort to do good and people on a whole like to do what is easier so the bad usually stands out more than the good.
Bradwell McLeod said “another major issue we face (not just youth) is financial crisis and his reason for this is that we don’t spend money wisely. Most parents rather spend their money on material things rather than investing in their children.”  Abigail Bradley believes that youth face major problems with Education. She believes that morals and values have declined because the educated persons who don’t have the money to further their education are not motivated to do so, especially when they see the less educated with money and links able to move forward, this causes a feeling of hopelessness. She also believes that the government should take more interest in investing in the education and talents of the youth despite their personal financial background.  One student from the audience highlighted that with better educational options and more opportunities to explore our talents, the country would have less unemployment issues and our economic problems would decrease. A Grade 7 student (male) sent a personal message to Mr. Ruel Reid stating the importance of free education on all levels. The next issue brought up by panelist Romane James was “Bullying”. He clearly stated that this may be verbal or physical. One student explained that he is a bully today because he was bullied in the past and he does this to protect himself from other bullies. Ashley Burnard of Grade 12 expressed that the best way to deal with bullies is to find someone to confide in and seek their help not to retaliate.
 
Other Issues
Some other issues brought up by Emprezz and the students in the audience were;

• Pressure from Parents- “Our parents don’t always understand us. School is not as easy as they think. They need to allow us to make our own mistakes and not pressure us based off the mistakes they made as youth. They need to stay low on criticism and high on motivation” Mikala Grade 12.
• Fear of young men leaving school- “We are not sure if we will get a job. Some young men don’t know how to adjust in society based on their exposure to negativity in their community. We need to be taught Money Management and Conflict Resolution. Some young men in my community impregnate the girls and run off because they are not responsible” Grade 13 Male Student.
• Murders- The question was asked “Why do people murder”? and the main answer was “because they do not know how to control their anger. Some solutions to the problem were offered: Think about your decisions before you act, find positive things to occupy your time, we need more father figures in the homes. (Both parents play a very important part in every child’s life).
• Rights of the youth- “We don’t know our rights because we are not exposed to them. We need time every day to sit and talk about our rights. We need to be heard more” members of the panel.
• Emprezz outlined that the youth need to play a bigger part in nation building by voting once they have reached the legal age to do so. The students we very vocal on their political views, some believe that neither of the dominant parties proves to be different from the other, one student said that he thinks the independent parties should do more to promote themselves so that citizens can know more about them. Some students will vote for the party that has been dominant in their community/family.

After a heartfelt motivational speech from a representative of “Cran Wata” The students had a chance to role play some common issues and with the help of their guidance counselor Dr. Karelle Hylton some great solutions were given. Together the students made a list of solutions to deal with anger.

• Do extra co-curricular activities or have fun.
• Stay away from people and take the anger out on objects instead.
• Find a hobby (writing, listening to music, reading).
• Watch a comedy or read a comic book
• Seek help
• Meditate or relax
• Count to ten and calm yourself
• Take deep breaths and relax

Kimberly Henry of Grade 13 told us why she is a national pride. “Even through my struggles I persevere and in the process build others, I cannot just do it just for myself alone. Despite my financial struggles I come to school every day and shine”.
The St. Mary High School Band entertained us with two beautiful items highlighting their competence with their voices and on different instruments.  Birthday girl Candice Clarke was the winner of the Cran Wata song competition. She was elated and stated that it was her best birthday after receiving her gift of $5000 and a Cran Wata gift bag. Despite all the fun and excitement, the panelists ended the program by putting together a list outlining what they think some of the rights of youth should be.
The youth should have a right to:

• Education
• Free speech
• A loving family
• Open new experiences
• Information
• Free will
• Be accepted
• Non-stigmatization
• Make/create their own path
• Be different/comfortable in their own skin.

Emprezz, feeling motivated by our youth urged them to research their rights and start exercising them. Our Investors National Baking Company and Cran Wata ensured the students were well refreshed after such an energetic forum.
Written by: Deondra Riley for Talk Up Yout.