While a recent study ordered by Congress said students who took part in the programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not, a group of Tippecanoe Valley High School students believe they are changing how students view sex, drugs and bad behavior.
"The PEERS Project is a federally granted program that Tippecanoe Valley High School has had for five years," said PEERS coordinator Angie Swihart. "It's part of our health curriculum at our school. The kids actually apply to be in the project."According to information from The PEERS Project, provided by Swihart, "The PEERS Project, a peer-facilitated character education program ... partners with school districts and youth-serving organizations to serve both adolescents and their parents. According to an evaluation by Dr. Kenneth Ferraro, professor of sociology at Purdue University, PEERS has been effective in helping high school students become connected to school and feel close to other peers who are making good choices. The ultimate goal of PEERS' program is to identify and empower positive teenage role models so they reach their potential and influence peers to follow their example."
Students are chosen for PEERS based on their grades, character and values, Swihart said. They include athletes, drama students, band members and students from other well-regarded areas of the school. Forty-six students in grades nine through 12 are members of PEERS.
Thursday morning, the Peers were transported to Warsaw Community Church for recognition and pizza, followed by bowling.
Basically, Swihart said the students work on presentations written up by Eve Jackson through the central office. The high school students then go to the sixth- through eighth-grade classes and give the presentations on sexual abstinence, drugs and life choices. By the time a sixth-grader finishes eighth-grade, Swihart said they will have received nine different presentations by upperclassmen. All Peers are volunteers and memorize the presentations on their own time outside of the classroom.
Swihart said Jackson wrote the presentations when her own daughter was in high school. The presentations help students deal with peer pressure.
Three of the students spoke Thursday about their involvement in PEERS.
Senior Steph Hoover has been involved in PEERS for three years. She said she joined the group "mostly because I wanted to help the younger kids because high school is hard enough." She said she wanted to give them encouragement to make the right decisions.
When she was in middle school, Hoover said she liked it when PEERS came into her class and gave their presentations.
"The hard part is making sure you get what you want across to them," said Hoover. While the presentations are written more formally, she said the Peers will make them more casual and more of their own.
Asked how she knows the presentations are effective, she said she has had students come up to her and ask personal questions about what they should do in a specific situation.
Hoover said sexual abstinence before marriage is important because she's seen the damage sex can cause.
"There's a lot of emotional damage that I've seen in people," she said. She's worked with kids who have had sex and they tell her they feel drained. They feel used. "I don't want people to feel like that."
Premarital sex can ruin their future plans, Hoover said, and it causes extra burdens they don't need.
Third-year member junior Ryan Scherzer said he joined PEERS because of the way he was raised by his family and church. In middle school, he said he heard a lot about it and that also influenced him to jump in.
"When we get there, everyone knows what you are there for," said Scherzer. At first, the middle school students are shy, but they come around, he said.
The best experiences are when students just come up to him afterward.
In middle school, students hear rumors about what high school is like. And that includes rumors about sex.
"It doesn't happen as much as everyone thinks," Scherzer said. And knowing that takes the pressure off of the students to have sex, he said.
Students also may feel pressure to take drugs, but PEERS tries to educate students against drugs, too, he said.
"Drugs add a lot of stress in your life," Scherzer said. Self-respect is important, but drugs lower a person's self-respect, he said. While a person may think drugs will help them during the bad times, he said they ultimately will hurt you more.
"It's better to abstain from them. It hurts you more than helps you," Scherzer said.
Good peer pressure encouraged senior Adam Weaver to be involved in PEERS for the past two years.
"I first got involved in it because of my friends," Weaver said. "They encouraged me to do it because they knew I felt the same way."
Weaver said the best part of being involved in PEERS is "seeing the kids talking, pulling everything in, and changing their minds."
Besides sexual abstinence and drugs, PEERS also talks to students about avoiding bad character qualities and developing good qualities like compassion for others. If a person has good qualities, they will have healthy relationships in the future, Weaver said.
Regardless of what the national studies say, Weaver said PEERS is a good thing for students.
"It's a good way for their kids to learn about the cons of doing drugs, having sex or behaving badly, in a way that they will accept," Weaver said.
For more information on The PEERS project, visit online at www.peersproject.org or call the Indianapolis office at 317-592-4015.
