Tuscarawas County Council for Church and Community

People Serving People.

School Programs

The sixth grade program is a 5 day presentation that includes topics about abstaining from sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.  The objectives are to get students to understand the different lures, pitfalls, and traps of today's culture, the devastating consequences of saying yes to any of those things, to inform about normal puberty changes and to learn ways to say no to peer pressure. One of the active demonstrations presented is the egg demo.  On the first day 12 plastic eggs are handed out to 12 random students.  Inside each egg is an object that represents consequences of saying yes or no to sex before marriage, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.  The students take turns opening their egg and discussing what the object might represent; for example, one object might be a sports figure.  If you were to say yes to drugs, alcohol, sex or tobacco you may loose a possible sports scholarship.  The student could also interpret the figure as saying no and reaching that dream of a sport scholarship.

6th Grade

The seventh grade program is dedicated to providing an abstinence only approach to sexual activity until marriage, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.  Many students are often still embarrassed to discuss this topic at this age.  Therefore, the first day the program takes place is often the most quiet.  Nearly all seventh graders in Tuscarawas County receive a five day program based on several topics.  The first day we discuss the definition of abstinence and what it means to be a virgin.  The following two days encompass activities on dating, including social networking on internet sites.  There are many topics covered in this section, for example: peer pressure, how to say no, and setting boundaries.  We also use a story to help students connect to the issues about sexual activity that are not physical.  The discussion then turns to how sexual activity effects the entire person.  The fourth day of the program is strictly about sexually transmitted diseases.  Again, this is another fairly quiet day.  Many of the students I see are unaware of the number of STDs and how they spread.  This is a frightening day for them.  I assure them the effectiveness of abstinence is 100%; the majority of students calm down after this statement.   The last day of the program wraps up the entire discussion.  On this day we focus on the consequences of sexual activity by using a play-doh activity.  The three topics we always discuss are STDs, pregnancy, and emotional fall out.  Aside from these, students often bring up some very good points that may fall outside of the three categories.      

7th Grade

To build wholesome character in order to enable positive decision making.

To teach the social, psychological and health benefits of abstaining from sex.

This program serves every school district in the county.  A staff member also visits the detention center and alternative school.  The Character Formation programs serve approximately 11,000 students and 1,000 teachers annually.

MISSION

The high school program is a 1,3 or 5 day presentation that includes topics about abstaining from sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.  The objectives are to get students to understand the consequences, the physical as well as emotional effect of sex before marriage, signs and symptoms of some prevalent STDs, to encourage renewed virginity, to help students realize the responsibilities of being a teen parent and what the Ohio law says, to help them see the media/cultural influence and to empower them to be better role models.  The presenters include a teacher from T4C (three days), A-Team members (one day) and a teen mom and Grads teacher from Buckeye Career Center (one day) with the message of abstinence being the best choice for teens.

As a Sophomore, Junior or Senior a student can join the A-team.  This group was built to be a support system for the students who join and encouragement to others trying to make good decisions. 

High School

8th Grade

These students are often more knowledgeable on the subject of abstinence.  Some of them have already had "the talk" with their parents.  When asked, most students say they have never spoke with their parents about sexual activity.  I often suggest they use this program to initiate a conversation.  The eighth grade program is broken into five days. First, we define abstinence so every student has a firm grasp on the concept.  This age group has often heard some of the myths about sex and are very confused about what is true or false.  The kids watch a video and are asked to write down the myths about sex.  This often serves two purposes.  For one, students focus in on what information society offers on sex.  Secondly they start thinking about their own beliefs about sexual activity.  There is a slide show about sexually transmitted diseases  and their symptoms on the second day.  This is more in depth than previous years.  We offer students statistics for our state and in some cases our county.  These statistics are researched on both the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web sites.  Comments from this day often surprise me.  Many kids say they had no idea we had these diseases in Tuscarawas County.  Kids seem to really enjoy the third day.  With every class the discussion is slightly different.  This is the day we discuss media influences and how they have changed over the past 60 years.  We talk about their music and television.  They get to see advertisements from the fifties.  They then inspect some ads from the magazines today and try to figure out the product being advertised.  Many students have a hard time getting the answer correct!  The activity on the fourth day is a skit.  This shows the consequences of sexual activity versus abstinence.  Many of the eighth graders fear criticism from their peers.  It is often expressed during this activity.  So logically, the last day is about resisting sexual pressure.  They get a guideline to help them work through their beliefs and talk with their parents.  They get to try their hand at writing some comebacks to sexual pressure lines.