The nationally recognized Safe School Ambassadors (SSA) Program has been recently introduced in the high school and middle school, providing an additional social-emotional learning (SEL) program for students to further positively maximize their daily school experience.

SSA is a student-centered model that educates diverse social leaders with skills to prevent and reduce bullying. SSA is considered the nation’s most effective student-led bullying prevention program.

Kindness… respect… dignity…self-responsibility

“As educators and administrators, our roles include helping to ensure our students respect the rights of others,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Christian Ranaudo. “SSA is now an additional tool in our toolbox. We have a responsibility to provide our students with important character education as part of our overall academic program. We know how critical it is for our students to understand, care about and act on core ethical values such as treating others with kindness, respect and dignity along with being responsible for their actions. Our new SSAs are now a part of this effort.”

SSA relies on the “inside-out” approach to improving school climate. Student bystanders see, hear and know things adults don’t, can intervene in ways adults can’t and are often on the scene of an incident before an adult. They are a critical and necessary resource for positively impacting the crisis of bullying in our schools.

School climate improvement

“We are excited for SSA,” said Middle School Principal Michael Larsen. “Staff and students recently attended a conference and were trained in the skills of non-violent communication techniques to help prevent and stop bullying, cyberbullying and harassment. We are extremely proud of our students and staff members who completed the training and have dedicated their time, effort and energy to further improve our school climate.”

SSA uses the power of the socially influential leaders of a school’s diverse cliques; the ones who shape the social norms that govern other students’ behavior. These leaders were identified by high school and middle school administrators and were selected based upon specific criteria, such as: a strong position and influence in their peer group, good communication skills and a history of standing up for friends.

The recruited students recently participated in interactive training with their adult program mentors. The training gave the SSAs the skills and tools to resolve conflicts, defuse incidents and support all students.

Building strong school leaders and peer relationships

SSAs will continue to meet with adult mentors after training is complete to provide time for strengthening skills, support data collection and analysis of their interventions and help sustain student and adult commitment to the program.

“This program is dedicated to building strong school leaders to help stop bullying and mistreatment,” added High School Guidance Counselor Christina Bruder, who runs the high school program with Erin Bradley, Julie-Anne Sullivan, and Bryana Sewell. “These leaders are trained to build strong relationships among their peers and foster a positive school climate. The Safe School Ambassadors Program has great success nationwide. We’re proud to be a part of it and thank our students who are joining us in this effort.”

High School Safe School Ambassadors

• Belaya Clavier
• Hannah Cohen
• Makayla Cormier
• Natalie Deoragh
• Sofia Dzierzek
• Joe Guadalupe
• Peter Horoshak Garciar
• Samantha Jack
• Makenzi Jashembowskii
• Emma Kostic
• Caleb Linares
• Wesley Marydyniak
• Emily Murphy
• Kayleigh Murphy
• Alisha Singh
• Dylan Williams
• James Wodzinski

Middle School Safe School Ambassadors

• Abby Anger
• Jerry Cao
• Brielle Carroll
• Evlina Conklin
• Dempsey Dupuy
• Lorencia Gangi
• Teagan Gray
• Logan Hugus
• Anthony Motta
• Laniyah Nelson
• Ava Revella
• Elenna Rodriguez
• Ava Semco
• Pete Westby
• Connor Williams