Peer Leaders Convene; Target Bullying

WILDWOOD – Nearly 500 Cape May County middle and high school students gathered at the Wildwoods Convention Center Nov. 16 for the 23rd Annual Peer Leadership Conference titled “Be Your Own Leader.” 
Keynote speaker Jeffrey Bucholtz, director of the San Diego, Calif.-based organization We End Violence, prompted students to look at their culture by examining the lyrics to popular songs, such as Maroon 5’s “Animal” which he said may equate love with addiction and promotes disrespect in a relationship.
“Is that what we want, our relationships to be like a heroin addiction? If we examine the lyrics carefully, that song is creepy,” Bucholtz said.
He began the session by asking students what the world would look like if people practiced respect all the time.
The students called out things like equality, compromise, caring and peace. Bucholtz added the words to a list on the left side of a whiteboard.
Bucholtz then asked for words to describe a world without respect, which he listed on the other side.
War, arguing, division and negativity the students shouted.
“We all want to live in a world like this, right?” Bucholtz said pointing to the left side of the board. “This is not our default condition. We have to choose it.”
The students took a quick online poll about bullying that showed 92 percent of people in the room had been bullied or knew someone who was bullied.
“We are seeing it happen or it is happening to us, and we aren’t doing anything about it. Why aren’t we fighting harder for the world on the left?” Bucholtz asked.
The Southwestern College instructor then gave students steps to change their world.
“You have to change the world as a team. Respect requires teamwork and connection. Change the words you use and connect to people. That’s how you build the world on the left,” said Bucholtz.
After his presentation, Bucholtz explained that he travels the world lecturing on relationships, bullying, pop culture, and violence prevention.
“A conference like this is very rare, maybe a handful around the country. This is how the world is going to become a better place. These kids are going to make the necessary changes to stop bullying and violence and the things that lead to addiction among other things. We need more of this,” he said.
After the keynote session, students broke into work sessions to better learn skills needed to deal with bullying such as looking within to be a leader, protecting LGBT students at school, how to stop the spread of rumors and how to interact with students with different abilities.
Natalia Wilber, Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition Coordinator said the conference addressed bullying because it is a risk factor in other areas.
“We see bullying as a big risk factor for substance abuse and think that equipping teens with safe ways to support one another is very important,” she said.
Miranda Macklin, an eighth-grade student in Lower Township, said the conference and Peer Leadership gave her skills to make the world a better place.
“The keynote speaker taught us to always help people and do the right thing. Peer leadership helps us get in touch with our community and lets us voice our opinion,” Macklin said.
Katie Faldetta, executive director of Cape Assist, the organization along with Community Coalition that hosted the event, said the conference has an impact on the students.
“We know this works because the student advisors tell us they see it working,” she said.
Anthony Inserra, a senior at Ocean City High School, has attended the conference since his freshman year. As a Peer Leader, he said he has been involved in writing letters to U.S. troops at Christmas, participating in various charity events and showing new students around the high school.
“The conference opens new opportunities to see how other schools handle the same issues we deal with. We share views on how to handle various situations.”
To contact Carl Price, email cprice@cmcherald.com.