TEXARKANA, Ark. - With the help of the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department, 25 Arkansas High School students received leadership education Monday that focused on being a positive influence on their younger fellow students.
This group gathered at the future Crossties Special Events Venue building on East Broad Street to participate in a weeklong Pride Academy Youth to Leadership training program, which started with a two-hour discussion on dealing with worries, fears and self-doubt.
During the session, Brittany Palermo, a local registered nurse who specializes in suicide prevention, asked the high school students, who ranged from age 16 to 18, to write down what are now their most pressing fears, worries and concerns. Several responded by citing college preparation and the fear of failing.
Palermo told the group that there are some college-bound students who actually believe that they are destined to fail, and consequently decide upfront that they shouldn't try too hard to graduate.
"For decades now, colleges have had counseling departments to allow for students to go and seek advice on aptitude, career field choices and courseloads," she said. "These are still available."
Along with pressures involving career decisions, Palermo added that colleges can also bring students the added responsibility of having to live on their own for the first time.
"When responsibility like this changes hands, you now have to start washing your own laundry for the first time, perhaps," she said.
Other students, she said, feel that the prospect of having to go to school for four more years - in addition to the years of public school they have already had - is a depression-causing burden, especially if they struggle to live up to parental expectations.
"There is also fear of losing your motivation in college and having to leave college and just becoming a bum," Palermo said. "But a bum doesn't need to stay a bum."
Still, for some students, the prospect of finishing college with a huge debt is daunting.
"I wasn't even supposed to actually finish high school, and I also had a fear of going broke in college. But, today, I now have two jobs and two kids," Palermo said.
One of the students said that when it comes to choosing an academic field in college to major in, it's best to have a Plan B waiting in the wings, should the Plan A not work out.
"Seventy-five percent of all Plan As don't work out, so always have a Plan B ready," he said. "As long as you don't give up, parents will be fine with that."
Palermo added that learning how to manage money is another huge task while in college, but she added that it has to be done.
"To me, being broke is a fear, but it's also a good motivator," she said.
Palermo went on to note that some students even cited peer pressure to have sex in college as an added fear - one that is well-founded when it comes to disease.
"You may not feel bad at first, but you can carry an STD a long time and never know it," she said. "Sexual peer pressure is sometimes treated as a way of life in college: If you sleep around, you're looked upon as a whore and, if you don't, you're looked upon as a prude."
Arkansas-side Police Sgt. Kristi Bennett said the Youth to Leadership Pride Program started about nine years when TAPD Police Chief Bob Harrison sought to start a community police program that would connect better with at-risk children.
The program will continue throughout this week.