Jefferson-Morgan students get new perspective during PULSE retreat
When the buses carrying 45 Jefferson-Morgan Senior High School students pulled up to the Jackson’s Mill Center for Lifelong Learning on a chilly November morning, the students from different grade levels and life experiences knew little of what they faced over the next three days. They didn’t know they would become a family.
The students, along with 12 facilitators, attended a retreat for the People Using Leadership Skills Effectively (PULSE) program at Jackson’s Mill, located just outside Weston, W.Va.
J-M Superintendent Dr. Charles Rembold and another person developed the program more than a decade ago, and it has been used in school districts and programs with adults throughout the country, but last month was the first time students from Rembold’s school district participated in the retreat.
From skeptics to believers
Amidst the hustle and bustle of young men and women moving into their home away from home for the next few days, Rembold is busy inside the assembly hall making sure that all of the necessary pieces to begin the retreat are in order.
“When the children are here, we work,” he says, while making quick scans around the room to be sure that the facility is ready for the listening, the sharing, the laughter and the tears that the next three days will bring.
Once the students are settled, they make their way into the hall, and immediately the eyes start to roll and the questions begin. As Rembold explains the PULSE program and why these students were chosen, the level of enthusiasm begins to wane.
But it doesn’t take long for the energy level to return.
After some brief introductions and a scavenger hunt to learn more about everyone on the retreat, the group gets to work on several projects.
The first, a personal style awareness, gives everyone a chance to identify with one of three distinct animals and describe why they joined that group. Meanwhile, people in other groups take their turn describing stereotypes and misconceptions of the two groups that they did not join.
The lesson from the early exercise, and the message that is reinforced throughout the retreat, is that students should never judge other students based on appearance or interests. According to Rembold, one of the goals of the retreat is to help the group respect people’s differences and learn more about themselves through the process.
Afterward, the large group breaks into smaller clusters for a quiet, personal exercise to privately discuss some of the ways they could improve themselves as individuals and ways to improve their school.
Emotions surface
While the first day is relatively calm, the second day brings a rollercoaster of emotions from the first activity of the morning. Facilitator Scot Moore tells the story of Michael, a young man similar in age to the students on retreat, who was balancing his schoolwork with an athletic career and a tough home life.
“His mother worked all day and his parents were separated, but he was stretched in all directions,” Moore tells the group. “He had an English paper to write, a little sister to take care of and a mother who was an alcoholic. His world was crashing in around him.”
Moore walks inside a circle where all the students are seated, telling the story of the teen trying to get a paper done and dropping pieces of paper in the circle. The story concludes on a day when the teen’s sister is home from school and his mother is passed out in her bedroom, and as Michael comes home from school, he sees his house on fire and his mother outside the home.
His mother has forgotten that her sister was home sick that morning, and her shock after the fire turns to terror and sadness as they both realize their sister was killed in the blaze.
“Michael blames himself and his mother blames him for what happened,” Moore says.
After Moore finishes the story, Rembold leads a lengthy discussion that quickly turns emotional. He asks the students about who could have helped Michael at any point before the fire that killed his sister. He asks what the group members could do in their daily classes to help someone that may be in need of counseling or just a shoulder to cry on.
Many in the group have lost loved ones or have experienced their parents’ separation or divorce. As the youths begin sharing stories, facilitators rally around the students, who can relate to someone else’s experience or are in the midst of telling a story that few in the room may have heard.
One girl tells of the years that have passed since her mother died of cancer. Another talks about her parents’ bitter divorce and the anger she holds toward her father’s new girlfriend. A teen-age girl talks about how she ran away from home after her parents separated.
Rembold tells the group that the pieces of paper that Moore placed on the floor as he told his story symbolize Michael’s life, and while a group of four works to assemble the pieces, he asks everyone assembled to look around the room. He asks them to realize that while they may see a person in the hallway that looks like he or she has it all together, that person may be dealing with serious issues at home and could be as close to unraveling as Michael.
The exercise ends with small group discussions and more anger, hugs, tears and support as people continue to share stories about their lives. Meanwhile, facilitators tell stories and also listen and offer words of comfort and advice to each individual and the group as a whole.
Later that day, after the emotions of the morning have passed, the entire group braces the chilly fall afternoon to tackle a ropes course and other activities that stress teamwork and decision making.
At each site, the groups are faced with choices and must work together to solve the problem posed to them and to encourage each other to accomplish the task. Each group is given different projects, but the last event is a task for the entire group to complete.
The wooden 10-foot wall requires cooperation of the group at the base and the two people at the top to ensure that each person who wishes to ascend it does so safely. The wall combines all of the elements that the group has learned and accomplished in the first two days and will show how well the students work together.
While working together at the ropes course, the group later learns about how to deal with conflict and the positive and negative aspects of it. During an activity before breaking for the evening, the groups are forced to make decisions about people they want to take on a fictitious camp and have to argue their points with members of other groups, in an attempt to come at a consensus.
Agents of change
Day three is filled with sadness and celebration, as the graduation ceremony nears and the entire group of facilitators and students prepares to head back to Jefferson-Morgan.
Before leaving, though, several of the facilitators take the time to share personal thoughts about the retreat and the participants.
“When we started, there was a lot of individualness and people didn’t want to support each other,” said Tom Katruska, high school principal. “When you think about where we started and where we are today, it’s tremendous.”
Katruska said the students who attended the retreat are agents of change who will use what they learned to help themselves and other students who may be going through rough times at home, at school or both.
Kim Behm, school nurse, said the students represented the district well and made her proud to know them. While the retreat was a new experience, she said the time with the students made it worthwhile.
“I’ve seen a different side of a lot of people on this retreat,” she said.
Each student received a diploma and a T-shirt, and all became official members of the J-M PULSE Club, which elected officers and formed committees to work to make positive changes at the school and in the lives of the high school students. The club also will work to develop a peer counseling system in the spring semester to start building a support network for students.
In the end, said Linda McCracken, facilitator and director of the 21st Century Community Learning Center for Greene County, the students learn more about themselves as people and more about their classmates. They also are more willing to take on leadership roles within the school and other activities.
“PULSE gives them the skills they are going to need, and they realize that people have different likes and dislikes,” she said. “As leaders, they need to be aware of that and the need to work with people.”
She said the students from Jeff-Morgan from the get-go were helpful and not afraid to share their thoughts and feelings throughout the three days. But while she felt the retreat was effective, she said the challenge comes in the weeks after the retreat, and she encouraged the group to keep the relationships they formed.
“You have some challenges to face, but keep these friendships and take things one step at a time,” she said.
McCracken and all the facilitators said the students exceeded their expectations for the retreat, and the experience left them confident that more positive change will occur at the school district.
“You need to carry on and not slide back and let the club keep growing,” she said. “When people are faced with tough choices and decisions, they need support of people like you.”
Students in three other Greene County school districts will attend PULSE retreats similar to Jeff-Morgan’s this academic year.
Funding for the retreats comes from a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. McCracken administers the program.