The Peabody Education Foundation (PEF), as part of its ongoing Mental Wellness Initiative, will sponsor a training program for seventh graders at the Higgins Middle School designed to enhance relationship-building, leadership, and life skills.
From May 2-5, all seventh–grade students will participate in a program conducted by Core Trainings, a company that specializes in offering students opportunities for success through the power of positive relationships, sound character, and confident displays of leadership.
Higgins School Principal Todd Bucey said he is excited to work with Core Trainings, which has been providing peer mentoring and professional development programs for the district since 2009.
“They do work all across the country and we have always had a great relationship with them and love the work they do,” Bucey said. “We thought that we needed to focus on the social relationship piece, which is Core Trainings’ main focus. That was the area that suffered the most during the school’s shutdown so we feel that we needed to work on relationships and developing the communication skills so they can work and interact well with their peers.”
Bucey said the program will include small in-house workshop groups every day led by Core Trainings’ Deb and Trevor Hult, who will also spend extensive time observing students in the classroom, the cafeteria during lunch, and other places to gain an understanding of what it’s like to be a seventh grader.
“Neither they nor we have approached it this way, in small breakout groups that we think will be more effective and more fun than being in a whole grade assembly with 450 students. It’s a first for them and for us, and we are really excited about it,” said Bucey.
The customized workshops are interactive, and include group discussions and hands-on learning. The workshops will focus on learning about the importance of social and emotional intelligence and how it affects relationships. They will emphasize the value of building meaningful and intentional relationships with peers, classmates, teammates, staff, and community.
The program includes activities that stress the importance of empathy, adapting to the needs of others, and becoming socially aware of the value of others.
“This valuable new program will help our seventh graders understand the importance of building strong and effective relationships,” said Mayor and School Committee Chair Edward A. Bettencourt Jr.
Bucey said Core Trainings believes that establishing meaningful relationships determines a person’s effectiveness as a leader. It aims to provide a strong foundation to enhance relationships, leadership, and life skills. It also seeks to provide a better understanding and development of social–emotional intelligence.
Bucey said the school would like to bring the program back next year for eighth graders and, if all goes well, eventually make the program an annual event.
The Mental Wellness Initiative is sponsored by the PEF, Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, North Shore Bank, the JB Thomas-Lahey Foundation, and the GraVoc Charitable Foundation. PEF launched the initiative several years ago to benefit students, teachers, and parents by providing reading materials, motivational speakers, and other resources to help Peabody address mental health issues that consistently challenge the city’s schools and have escalated during the past few years due to COVID-19.
“We are grateful to the Peabody Education Foundation for their ongoing commitment to our students and for making this and so many other programs possible,” said Bettencourt.
Anyone interested in contributing to this initiative can do so by visiting https://www.peabodyedfoundation.org/contribute/. More information regarding the Mental Wellness Initiative can be found on PEF’s website, https://peabodyedfoundation.org/programs/mental-wellness-initiative/.
For more information, please contact PEF President and Chairman David Gravel at 978-538-9055, Ext. 114.
