Dear Grades 7 & 8 NAMS Students,

We are proud to bring the Anti-Defamation League’s peer training program to our school again this year. The program is called “A World of Difference,” and is open to both seventh and eighth grade students.  Ms. Blaney and Ms. Duchesneau will be the program leaders. This program will help us to continue to promote a safe and supportive school community where people of diverse backgrounds can come together to contribute to our core values and fulfill their responsibilities as caring members of our society.

Students selected for this program, who did not participate in the program last year, will participate in three 4.5 hour training sessions during the school day along with our program leaders, Ms. Blaney & Ms. Duchesneau. There will be a 4th training for all students in the program, new and returning students. These trainings will be led by the ADL New England Educational Team. We are still finalizing the dates of the training but should be able to share them soon.

After the ADL training sessions, students will continue to meet with Ms. Blaney and Ms. Duchesneau once per week in order to develop skills so they can  facilitate workshops for their peers that will provide participants with 1) the opportunity for inter-group dialogue 2) an increased understanding of the causes of prejudice; 3) a fuller appreciation of racial, ethnic, cultural, and other individual differences; and 4) conflict management skills to respond positively when confronted with bias-related behaviors such as bullying and harassment. Then, starting in the winter our peer leaders will be going into 6th grade classrooms to run student to student workshops.

Meetings will take place once per week for one class period of 50 minutes on Tuesdays during the Grade 7 RA1 period.  Please be aware the actual time slot of this class will change with the trimesters. This is a mandatory time commitment for the entire year, and students involved in the program are expected to take initiative in obtaining missed coursework from their teachers, whether they are in 7th or 8th grade.

Applications are due by Friday, September 20, 2019. All applications will then be reviewed and students will be made aware of who has been selected to participate in this program by Friday, September 27, 2019. The application is a Google Form that may be found here, on our website, and at the following address: https://forms.gle/mXCFdCDXDwo4v9RC7

Students will need to be logged into their North Andover email accounts in order to complete the survey. Students & Parents/Guardians will not be able to access the survey from email accounts other than North Andover student email accounts.

Paper applications are also available in the main office.  Please see Ms. Duchesneau in room F109 or Ms. Blaney in the Performing Arts Center with any questions.