VolunteerLEON's Featured Story - December 2005

Article published Dec 9, 2005
By TaMaryn Waters, DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Can't we all just get along?, Leon program helps students increase peace

Conflict is like the common cold virus - everyone experiences it at some point.
But the trick to taming conflict is learning how to manage its symptoms when they surface.

With the help of VolunteerLEON and a national initiative, Help Increase the Peace Program, middle- and high-school students can learn how to communicate through avenues of non-violence. The program is also open to adults who work, or volunteer, with teenagers. The peace model is rooted in a non-profit Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee, said Vicki Mariner, one of the program facilitators in Tallahassee. It was created in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1991 to improve inmate and staff relations in prisons. Since then, it has been adapted to help resolve conflict in other settings.
"This has the potential to be really monumental," said Amanda Phillips, a coordinator at VolunteerLEON. "It'll empower young people as leaders and give them the tools to be respectable citizens," she added.

During an upcoming two-day session, organizers will incorporate interactive games, open dialogue and role reversals to get participants to better understand their beliefs and respect the beliefs of others, particularly if their opinions clash. Akin Ritchie, the 17-year-old president of the Youth Corps Program at VolunteerLEON, will help lead the sessions. Akin and his mother, Louise Ritchie, spent a week in Washington, D.C., this summer learning how to lead such sessions. The five-day workshop attracted ethnically and economically diverse participants. Louise Ritchie, a program consultant at Florida A&M University, said attendees will learn the importance of sharing feelings without being violent. "You learn how to talk to someone without being inflammatory and abusive," she said.

Patrice Lyons, a 17-year-old senior at Rickards High School, is looking forward to the session. She's been to other conflict resolution seminars and is looking forward to helping others get the most out of the experience. "The program is designed to encourage everyone to help," Patrice said. Shy first-timers will quickly learn they can't just observe. Akin said his goal is make sure "everybody is heard." His mother said as a child, Akin used to bury his face behind her legs when someone tried to talk to him. The Leon High School senior has conquered his shyness and now wants to help others come out of their shells.
"HIPP is really about relaxing and getting used to talking to people about themselves and being comfortable with each other," Akin said. "Everybody can learn something from everybody."

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