Talk Up School Tour with Emprezz. First Stop Tivoli High School.

At 12:05 in the afternoon, on Friday, September 13, 2013 the TALK UP YOUT team led by Emprezz Golding  and accompanied by representatives from the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network, UNICEF, the National Centre for Youth Development and powered by National Baking Company and Purewater began the journey to the Tivoli Gardens High School for the first stop on the TALK UP YOUT School Tour. The day’s activities began with a panel discussion

moderated by Emprezz with panellists Steppa, Agent Sasco, a teacher at Tivoli Gardens High
    
School Mr Felton Robinson and five students who represented forms 1 to 5. The beautiful

students of Tivoli Gardens High School welcomed the chance to talk up and raised several

issues without any prompting. The panel discussion spanned an array of issues such as

Gun Violence, Bleaching, Sexual, Physical and Verbal Abuse and Rape, Emotional Pain, Peer

Pressure, Neglect, Juvenile Delinquency, Bullying, Depression, Sex, Teenage Pregnancy, the

distribution of condoms in schools and the negative influences of the media.

The students on the panel spoke confidently and openly of the issues affecting their

communities and Jamaica at large and were able to identify not only the causes of some of

these issues but also possible solutions. Students in the audience were encouraged to highlight

their issues and to comment on the various topics discussed as the afternoon progressed

and some of the more charismatic students gave examples of some of the issues by pointing

out students who were guilty of bullying or bleaching. Emprezz interacted with the students

throughout the discussion reminding them that they are beautiful, strong, intelligent and

confident students who have a voice that must be heard. This led to one student in particular

relating to all present his experience with bleaching and his subsequent termination of the

practice because as he put it “Mi nuh know why mi do it” and another, speaking up quite

emphatically about her opinion of older men who prey on the naivety and materialism of young

Emprezz asked thought-provoking questions which highlighted not only the issues faced

by youths in Jamaica, but also the mental effects that these issues have on students. She

demonstrated correlations between the history of Jamaica and the ills that affect the present

day society. Steppa, known extensively for his creative poems on the TALK UP YOUT show,

spoke of his experiences with juvenile delinquents and encouraged the students to never give

up because they always have a choice. Agent Sasco’s parting message was a call for students

and youths on a whole to take responsibility for themselves and their actions and to exercise

caution in their everyday lives so that they never place themselves in vulnerable positions. The

teacher on the panel reminded students to always remember that their futures are determined

by every choice they make. The students were also given help stickers with important

information on where to get help or advice after which they were treated to performances by

Steppa and Agent Sasco.

The issues highlighted by the students at Tivoli Gardens High School are important to the

Jamaican Society, as we can never truly ameliorate the conditions affecting the nation’s

children until we know what these problems are, and how the youths are affected by them.

Talk Up Yout recognizes the necessity of engaging the young minds of the country in stimulating

and uplifting dialogue thus the Talk Up Yout school tour will visit one school in each parish over

the course of the next 3 months. Webisodes of these visits will be available on social media.

Students at Hopewell High in Hanover, get ready to TALK UP when the Talk Up Yout School Tour comes to you.

Written by Kristeena Monteith

Talk Up Yout School Tour Journalist.

---