By: Ainsley Hall
MARTINSBURG — Berkeley County Schools will present Middle School Matters, a series of talks on safety, throughout middle schools in the county during the month of October.
Each presentation will focus on safety and making good decisions when interacting with others. The series of presentations began Tuesday at Martinsburg South Middle School, and the Pupil Services Department is meeting with students to talk about how to keep themselves and others safe.
Last year, the Pupil Services Department put together a survey for the middle schools to learn more about the topics students need to hear about. It realized that though there were safety presentations dedicated to younger students, there were none for the middle school grades. To try to fix that, the department started planning new presentations that focused on more mature topics.
EPIC Adolescent Health Coordinator Leah Daniel, Pupil Services Coordinator Brent Garrett and Resource Officer Dean Olack were just a few of the people who helped put Tuesday’s presentation together. Each one of them covered a different part of the presentation, discussing important topics that students need to learn more about.
“They are at such a pivotal age,” Olack said. “They just left intermediate school, and some are getting ready to go into high school. They’re growing up, so it’s important to have these discussions now before they start getting exposed to these issues.”
During each Middle School Matters presentation, five different topics will be discussed. Those topics include Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds, Technology Overload, Personal Space, Threat Detection and See Something Say Something.
On Tuesday, Daniel talked about the first topic, which dealt with the dangers of vaping and how it can affect students. Garrett talked about technology and staying safe online. On the second day of presentations, Olack will talk about respecting others’ personal space, what to do in an emergency and remind students to talk to an adult if they see or hear something out of the ordinary.
After visiting Martinsburg South Middle School, they will move on to visit the other middle schools in Berkeley County.
“These kids are growing up faster than we did,” Olack said. “They have technology that we didn’t have when we were growing up and are being exposed to things like vapes at such a young age. We are trying to prepare them and encourage them to make better choices.”
Despite being exposed to vapes at a younger age, Daniel shared that most students are choosing not to participate. Most students seem to understand the dangers of vaping and how it can be addicting. However, with tobacco companies spending millions of dollars trying to get people to think vaping is completely safe, Daniel hopes to continue sharing the truth with students to protect them and prevent others from trying it.