By Blair Feller

Do you remember taking an attitudes and behavior survey last year? Most kids from 7th grade to 12th grade in Region 15took part in this survey in December 2010. In total, over 1,700 students took this survey. It asked us about our family, our friends, the school environment, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. Many students thought it was a waste of time to fill out a bunch of silly questions (but at least we missed class, right?). Even with all the mixed feelings around the survey, the results have been posted. And on October 6th, eighteen students from Pomperaug High School, five from Memorial Middle School, and four from Rochambeau Middle School spent the whole day discussing the data from the survey and what it means for our two little towns.

On the 6th of October, all of these students met Jennifer DeWitt, the woman in charge of the program in our towns. I was included among this small group of people. Ms. DeWitt is the Executive Director of Central Naugatuck Valley Regional Action Council. All day we talked about the strengths of today, and the assets that need some work. Assets are what we took that survey on. All of the questions that were asked on the survey had to deal with forty specific assets. Some of those forty assets are integrity, family support, positive outlook on future, and safety. These assets were further grouped into two categories: internal and external. From there, they became more specific. The external assets groups are support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations and constructive use of time. The internal assets are commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and positive identity. At the end of that day, all of students there decided that the biggest strength was positive view of personal future. This asset says that the young person is optimistic about his or her personal future. And seventy-eight percent of the students in our region who took this survey said that they do have this asset. Those who are in our school system believe they will have a bright future. We also decided that the number one asset that we need to work on is safety. Only fifty-eight percent of kids in our region feel safe at home, at school and in their neighborhood. Even though this number represents more than half of the region’s student population, we all agreed that this number should be one hundred percent. If you don’t feel safe at home, school, or in your community, then you really can’t function, or find yourself.

At the end of the day, Ms. DeWitt asked the panel to volunteer and present the data to the community on the following Thursday, October 13th at an event called “What Are the Kids Thinking?!”. Kristy Matasavage, Lauren Perry, Cassie Clemens, Jenna Jeche, Stephanie Alvey, and I all volunteered to be a part of the presentation on the 13th. Mr. Tim Duffy is the President of Vision Training Associates and was the main presenter. During the two-hour long presentation, we dissected, digested and presented the data to our community (check out channel 17 for the full demonstration!). We told others about the data that had been collected and shared with the community the student panel’s interpretation of it. Each student that was on the panel gave her opinions on each category, and Mr. Duffy explained the data thoroughly to those in the audience. Overall, it was a very successful night. If we continue spreading all of this new information, “this little town can be the first change in this whole country.”