“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.” –Eleanor Roosevelt

On Friday, March 24, Wayne High School National Honor Society, Student Government, and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors presented an assembly to help students recognize and make good choices. Mrs. Stringham, National Honor Society and Anti-Bullying Advisor, shared information about the five step process for making good decisions and the four kinds of decisions people make.

The four levels of choices are:

1. No-Brainers (example: What color socks do I wear?)
2. Baby Risks (example: Should I be tardy for school?)
3. Possible Severe Consequences (example: Should I miss curfew?)
4. Possible Deadly Consequences (example: Should I try something really dangerous?)

The five step process includes the following:

1. Identify your choices.
2. What’s best for you now?
3. Consider others. It’s not only about me.
4. Consider your future. It’s not just about now.
5. Make a choice and go for it. (Remember, on choice levels 3 and 4, especially, you must be FULLY aware of the consequences involved.

The decision making process is a little muddy sometimes when you are a kid/student, and the process that was presented in the assembly is to help our students learn how to work through al of the tough decisions they face every day.

Makayla Brian, Student Body President; Landon Chappell, Student Body Vice President; Rebecca Oyler, National Honor Society President; and Dean Mathews, National Honor Society Member shared stories of other, former students who had made choices that affected not only their lives, but the lives of many others.

Mrs. Stringham had members of the faculty and the student body participates in an activity that showed how “snap decisions” are made. As the presenters shared the stories of decisions made by others, a group of twelve students worked together to get out of the “human pretzel.” This activity was to show how decisions affect others in your group, all the time!

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2015), “Pictures of the brain in action show that adolescents’ brains work differently than adults when they make decisions or solve problems. Their actions are guided more by the emotional and reactive amygdala and less by the thoughtful, logical frontal cortex. Research has also shown that exposure to drugs and alcohol during the teen years can change or delay these developments.” Based on the stage of their brain development, adolescents are more likely to:

• act on impulse
• misread or misinterpret social cues and emotions
• get into accidents of all kinds
• get involved in fights
• engage in dangerous or risky behavior

Adolescents are less likely to:

• think before they act
• pause to consider the consequences of their actions
• change their dangerous or inappropriate behaviors

Wayne High School faculty and administration are always looking for ways to involve students in activities that help create awareness and action. The assembly presented on March 24, while interesting and fun, involved a great deal of necessary information to help students be aware of how to make decisions and why the decisions they are making might not just affect them. The National Honor Society and the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, with help from Mrs. Stringham are trying to help students become aware of their actions, consequences, and the impact each person has on every one else. All of the students who participate in the activities that are set in motion by the two clubs are learning valuable life lessons. We’ve had a great year, and we are excited to see what the future brings!