Last week, more than 100 students at the Alaska Job Corps Center signed pledges against bullying and violence as part of National Youth Violence Prevention Week. As part of this special week, the Youth to Youth Partners for Peace (Y2Y P4P) group organized and implemented activities to raise awareness and prevent bullying and youth violence on Center and in their community.

The Y2Y group held booths on two days in the Center’s cafeteria where they provided information about the consequences of bullying and youth violence as well as the opportunity for Alaska Job Corps students to sign a personal pledge against bullying and violence. The Y2Y students also held the booths to increase the number of members involved in the anti-violence group so that more and more students on Center could meet weekly to talk about bullying and violence in their own personal lives, as well as how to prevent it among others.

“Bullying has affected me in my life,” said Alaska Job Corps Y2Y President Lucky Keodoungdy. “It’s important that we get the message out to our students and the community that bullying hurts people, and that we can stop bullying together to change the way we treat others.”

Another activity coordinated by the Y2Y students was an anti-bullying/anti-violence essay contest. The essays will be judged by the Y2Y group and the winning essay will be submitted to the local newspaper, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, for consideration as a student opinion piece.

Local concern about growing violence in the Mat-Su Valley has been increasing, and Y2Y students are very aware of the high level of substance abuse, domestic violence and suicide in the state of Alaska. The group is committed to combatting both the incidents of violence and its consequences through Center-wide discussion and opportunities for prevention.

“Through Alaska Job Corps groups like Y2Y, we are raising awareness of youth violence and bullying throughout our community,” said Alaska Job Corps Center Director Malyn Smith. “I am very proud of our Y2Y students for their constant efforts to increase the dialogue about youth violence and its consequences in Alaska.”

The Alaska Job Corps Center is a federally funded career training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and managed by Chugach Educational Services, Inc. The Center is committed to providing the highest quality programs for young adults by offering instructions in academics, trades and life skills through innovative methods that respond to the unique individual and group needs of today’s youth.

Story by Carin Meyer, Business Community Liaison. Photo credits: Carin Meyer.