Lynn Imperato is familiar with Safe School Ambassadors from her years in Washingtonville. The new high school principal believes that being part of the program is a life-changing experience.
The program has been growing in Cornwall. This fall the number of ambassadors increased, as a few dozen students went through a two-day training session in the library.
At the end of the first day, they tried some role playing. They re-created scenes where someone was bullied and then showed how they would defuse the situation. It was hard to do in front of an audience of teenagers. Before long, most of the performers were laughing.
But the lessons took. A week later, we interviewed two new ambassadors and two who were veterans of the program. They agreed with their principal. The experience had changed their lives.
It hadn’t been obvious in the role-playing. But during the two-day program they had seen a lot of themselves. There had been times when they had picked on other students without realizing it.
Wesley Jean-Pierre was quick to acknowledge it during the interview. “I didn’t know it at the time,” he said. “I didn’t think I was making someone uncomfortable. Now, even if I’m joking, I think to myself, ‘Just don’t go there.’”
And if someone else goes there, what is an ambassador supposed to do? “We’re not cops,” Wesley explained — although as a member of the football team, he might be large enough to be an enforcer. The ambassadors use four strategies.
One is called “putting up a put down.” It’s a matter of paying a compliment to offset a negative action or comment. Other techniques are “distraction,” “support” or “getting someone to think.”
The ambassadors got their assignment, because they were influential within their peer groups. They’re not expected to affect the entire student body — just the people they see every day.
“It’s not easy,” Gina Castelonia says. She’s been in the program for four years. “You have to have courage to put yourself out there,” she admits.
But she has some positive things to say about her school. After watching videos and being paired with ambassadors from another school, she believes that Cornwall is better than most places. “It’s easier here than elsewhere,” she says of the ambassador’s job.
The other students had good things to say about the program. Maggie McCabe, a newcomer, liked the videos that showed how words and actions affect people. And Meghan MacLeod was glad that she was selected a few years ago. “This is something great to be a part of,” she acknowledged. “I would recommend it to freshmen.”
