“As a seasoned trainer, I can honestly say that I was amazed by the peer mediators at Carnegie Middle School,” says Karen DeVoogd, conflict resolution expert and trainer at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). “The students were a joy to work with because they approached this training seriously, and they truly want to make a difference on campus and help fellow students approach conflicts more peacefully.”
All students in the program demonstrated maturity, poise, curiosity, and determination to learn about the mediation process. WPDI and CSUDH trainers were very pleased by the students’ earnest desire to serve as peer mediators at Carnegie, and to help fellow students solve conflicts on campus in a more peaceful way. Many students even commented that learning about the peer mediation process and serving as a peer mediator helped with their overall character development.
My name is Denise, and I am going to tell you why peer mediation is the best! First of all, you have children/kids that are around your age and grade. So it won’t be awkward! The second reason is that everyone can go around and express themselves so that no one can be left out. It is also great because if we skip over someone, they can speak and tell their thoughts. These are my reasons why peer mediation rocks.
Denise G, 7th Grade Student and Peer Mediator at Carnegie Middle School
My name is Malofou. I am in 8th grade and I participated in the peer mediation program. When I first heard about the program, I was wondering to myself what’s this program about. After, when I was elected to join this program, I was very happy to join. I was so happy that I joined in because conflict happens to my friends. This program was worth my time because I had so much fun. I wish I had another 4 weeks to do more training.
Malofou, 8th Grade Student and Peer Mediator at Carnegie Middle School
The next steps as WPDI and CSUDH launch the program with Carnegie Middle School are for the trained mediators to engage in a marketing campaign on campus to make all students more aware of the benefits of peer mediation. Starting in January 2018, these students will also be ready to handle cases referred by their counselors to peer mediation. Students will go through the mediation process in the formalized fashion instructed to them during the training, and will be reporting the results of the mediation to their counselors as well as the school’s administrators. The trainers from WPDI and CSUDH will also be available on an as-needed basis to provide support and oversight to both the peer mediators and the school’s counselors as the peer mediation program is formalized on campus.
This peer mediation initiative is a part of the Domestic Harmonizer Program, which is being piloted at Carnegie Middle School. The goal of the peer mediation program is to empower students to peacefully resolve their own conflicts, reduce the incidents of fighting on campus, and lower the need for disciplinary measures by staff.
