Athletic director works on teaching, not preaching
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Westborough - "Don't do drugs." "Don't drink and drive." "Don't have unsafe sex." Teachers are constantly telling students not to take part in dangerous behaviors, but how often are these students being taught how to say no?

That's exactly what Westborough High School Athletic Director Roger Anderson is doing through the school's newly implemented wellness program. Students alternate between a traditional physical education program and a health and wellness program, where they learn the skills needed to make better choices.

"We're giving them the skills to get out of trouble and stay out of trouble," Anderson said.

Hundreds of hours of research and training, an additional staff person and input from parents, nurses, students, guidance counselors, teachers and administrators were all needed to create the program, which was developed over the course of last year following the discovery of some alarming trends among Westborough's High School students.

A student risk survey found that 25 percent of students, by their own admission, had ridden in a car driven by someone who had been drinking, 25 percent of them were currently using marijuana, and more than 40 percent of them had had an alcoholic drink themselves in the last 30 days.

Westborough High School Athletic Director Roger Anderson meets with students during Physical Education class Oct. 11.

Anderson said these alarming figures don't always mean that children want to take part in high-risk behaviors, but they sometimes don't have the skills to avoid them.

"We tell them not to do things, and we wonder why they don't listen," he said. "A lot of them just don't know how."

Now they are learning how through role play. Students are facing real-life high-risk situations in the safety of a controlled classroom.

They work together to talk their way out of high-pressure situations, vocalizing their feeling and concerns in a way that will be acceptable to peers.

Anderson said he works with the students on creating limits for themselves, and giving them the courage and the interpersonal skills needed to stand by those limits once the kids are faced with the highrisk situation alone.

Anderson said he believes one of the most important elements of the program is that classes have been limited to 12 to 15 students, so involvement is not optional.

"Kids that might hide in a class of 25 get the one-onone interaction in the smaller class," he said. "They get the support they need, and they get the training needed to make better decisions and live healthier lives."

Although all grade levels will have wellness in their schedules, the most intense involvement is with the freshmen. By getting students involved right when they enter the school, before many have gotten involved in high risk behaviors, Anderson said, the program has the best chance for success.

"At beginning of freshman year, 21 percent have had a drink in the last 30 days," he said. "That more than doubles by the end of the freshman year, and remains pretty steady after that. This is where those decisions are being made."

Anderson said he also placed special emphasis on the freshman class because it allows the teacher to really develop strong mentoring relationships with the students that will carry through their entire high school career.

In its first semester, Anderson said he already sees ways in which the program might be altered to address diff erent issues that the students are facing.

No matter what, he said, the program must always be flexible to adjust to whatever the students need it to be at that moment.

"If you do what you've always done, you're going to get the same results you've always gotten, and we are not okay with 25 percent of our kids getting into a car with someone who's been drinking, we are not okay with the amount of alcohol use by our kids," he said. "This is the new face of Phys Ed."