Saint Peter Middle School sixth graders had the opportunity on Thursday (Jan. 15) to interact with members of Saint Peter High School’s Project for Teens (P4T) chapter to discuss the differences of being a ‘bystander’ and an ‘upstander’. The SPHS P4T chapter advisors are Dani Roehrkasse and Heidi Niemeyer.
A bystander is someone who witnesses a situation but does not intervene, while an upstander is someone who takes action to stop something harmful. The purpose of the sessions was to make the younger students aware of potentially harmful social situations as well as to provide them with strategies to deal with real-life situations in their own lives.
A large contingent of SPHS P4T students helped out with the morning and/or afternoon sessions in Mrs. Evans’ classroom at SPMS working with the younger students. They staged a variety of situational skits as well as one-on-one and small group conversations with the younger students on the ‘bystander vs. upstander” topic.
Project for Teens (P4T) encourages healthy and responsible decision-making by youth through peer-to-peer education. P4T covers various topics, such as face-to-face communication, healthy relationships, consent, kindness, and being an upstander. P4T seeks to foster a sense of connection between middle school and high school students and provide students with information and skills to prepare them for responding responsibly should they find themselves faced with an at-risk situation.
For more information on Project for Teens, please click HERE. : https://www.projectforteens.org/
Above and below are some photos of the SPHS Project for Teens meeting with sixth graders in Mr. Evans’ room to talk about the differences between being a bystander vs. an upstander.
