On March 23, 2023, 20 students from South Seneca High School were trained as peer leaders as part of the national Sources of Strength program.
Sources of Strength is a peer leadership program where peer leaders and adult advisors are trained to design and share Hope, Help, and Strength-based messages with other youth in the community. The program aims to prevent suicide, bullying, and substance use by promoting help seeking behaviors and developing relationships with trusted adults.
Trainees played games, created art, had a catered lunch from Luna Inspired Street Food, and discussed their strengths with each other and adult advisors. They used the Wheel of Strengths to brainstorm ways to bring this information back to their school-community to show other students that reliance on each other and our strengths will make us all stronger.
Peer leader Abby Sherry stated: “I am excited about this program for our school. I think this has some real opportunity to do some good!”
Another peer leader, Chloe Scott, added: “This is different from any other peer program we have had. I remember peer mediation in elementary school. The Sources of Strength training was fun, the food was fantastic, and I am really excited to be able to help out my school!”
Adult advisor Brooke Habberfield, stated during the group photo: “This is an important moment everyone - we are making history here at South Seneca!”
The peers leaders and adult advisors of the South Seneca Sources of Strength team are: Brooke Butler, Jacob Borst, Lucy Campbell, Mrs. Chalifoux, Ms. Copp, Ruth Dendis, AJ Denmark, Hannah Drexler, Joza Drexler, Doug Edmonds, Alysa Elder, Christian Everhart, Ms. Habberfield, Ms. Hallock, Mrs. Harter, Mrs. Kostolecki, Marigold McCabe-Angell, Brian Porter, Vyvynn Powell, Mr. Robertson, Mrs. Rundell, Chloe Scott, Abby Sherry, Luke Thompson, Hunter Travers, Mrs. Vogel, Audrey Ward, Nik Wheeler, and Carleigh Woodworth.
Congratulations to Senior, Sophie Wesselhoff, for being awarded a National Silver Medal for her photo, Provincetown Pier, at the National Scholastic Art Awards!
There were over 280,000 submissions at the national level of the awards, and less than 1% of submissions received a medal.
Sophie will be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology at the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences in the fall, where she will continue her artistic journey through her lens.
Take note!
A big congrats to Paul and Blake! #foreverfalcons
From the Ford Memorial Library:
Put it on your calendars!
Come check out the Career and Tech Open House tonight! They are so excited to introduce you to the world of hands on learning! They have Welding, Cosmetology, Digital Media, Animal Science and so much more! For more information, visit them at tstcte.org
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we conclude cast members Julia Rogers, Kara Siurano, and Director Tina Bauder.
Rogers said:
"I love everything about theatre and Letters to Daddy is no exception. This show takes us on a journey of self reflection. We get to think about things on purpose and learn to look at things from a different perspective. That is the key to learning kindness, for yourself and those around us."
Siurano said:
"When it comes to being in musicals, I love almost everything about it, the acting, singing and the community you build with the cast. Letters to Daddy is a really powerful show and has a lot of really important messages. It's a sad reality that bullying is a really big part of society and our schools. I think it's important to talk about it and this show is an excellent way to build the conversations. The more we talk about it the kinder I hope we can all be to each other."
Bauder said:
"As a public school teacher I spend a lot of time working with young people in an effort to try to end the trend of mean behaviors and bullying. I see and experience rude, mean and bullying behaviors from many angles over the course of any given day. Quite honestly, it is overwhelming at times. I believe the most important thing I can continue to do is to work diligently every day to build positive and healthy relationships with and between people so that everyone feels heard, connected and part of something bigger than just themselves. Healthy connections lead to happier lives. It is so important that we listen to our kids and help them work through relationship struggles, even when they act like they don’t want or need us involved. Letters to Daddy gives us a platform to talk about all of this and more."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage THIS Friday, March 17th, Saturday the 18th & Sunday 19th!
Here's our latest edition of the High School family newsletter!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wUPC_2oeEQvZoxdrq13bPk9cU6N5rBiYLlHemUVE0Aw/edit?usp=sharing
Here are our High School student and staff of the month. Congrats to Mia, Christian, and Rob! Well deserved! #foreverfalcons
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with Choreographer Chad Eastman and Vocal and Tech Director Jared Pratt.
Eastman said:
"I enjoy the art of creating. Some of my favorite theatrical moments have been in creating unusual props, bold make-up and set paint designs, and even just pulling the curtain. One of the things I like most about theatre is the ability to be free and just have fun. This show offers us the chance to have fun and still learn together. This is the kind of show that inspires young actors to grow and become strong activists for positive change."
Pratt said:
"Bullying is unavoidable until people can start to make the conscious choice to be kind to one another, always. Letters to Daddy has a strong message of positivity and is one that I try to live by."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with 6th grader Sophia Jennings and Junior Samantha Barkee.
Jennings said:
"I like how the show is about bullying because it's an important topic."
Barkee said:
"Bullying is not good of course and it doesn't affect my life that much but I know it can be a big problem for some people. Bystanders are hard to have an opinion on because most of the time you can't expect them to be the ones to do something about the bullying. But if they can they should do something to help the victim."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
Congrats to Seth and Ella! #foreverfalcons
Our first visit with RocDog was a success! Since the goal of their visits is to make people smile — we thought sharing them with you all would be a good idea.
The Friday vibes are strong with this one!
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with 6th grader Nadja Paparone and Staff member Nicole Nelson.
Paparone said:
"There should be less bullying in the world."
Nelson said:
"They are all realities and we all know someone who fits into at least one of the categories, but if we think about it and put in effort we can better recognize why and work to change it."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
RSVP by March 24 if you plan on joining!
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with 6th grader Jasmine Mandigo and 6th grader Julia Albro.
Mandigo said:
"It's not very nice and you should not do it."
Albro said:
"Bullying is a form of just needing more love in your life."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with 6th grader Emery Erickson and 7th grader Brook Jennings.
Erickson said:
"Being a victim of bullying is serious and is hard to to deal with. The bullies commonly have a struggle with power in their life which causes them to take out their anger and gain power. Bullying is a serious problem and the bystanders are usually the ones that see the bullying happening and are the ones who have the ability to report the bullying."
Jennings said:
"Bullies might have something going on at home that no one knows about but that doesn't mean they have to take it out on their peers, something they could do instead is talk to someone about whats happening."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
"Letters To Daddy" is a little musical that packs a powerful message — and one surrounding the impacts and ramifications of bullying and bully culture.
Our Falcon Players cast members all shared their thoughts on bullies, being bullied, and bystanders.
We will be sharing them day-by-day, leading up to the show. Today, we continue with 6th grader Broden Hazlak.
Braden said simply:
"All forms of bullying is bad."
The Falcon Players will perform their musical production on the South Seneca HS Auditorium stage March 17th, 18th & 19th!
