The Sachem East Peer Educators are student leaders who take a course that empowers them to be agents for change. It is through Peer Education that students learn about many important issues facing people in the community and the world. Students are then empowered to create and execute activities, assemblies, and programs that help bring these issues to light for their peers. These students run Project SPECTRUM through their class. SPECTRUM stands for Sachem Promotes Equity Cooperation Tolerance Respect Unity & Mediation.
Three years ago two Peer Educators, Kelsey Borcina and Christina Romeo, brought the Operation Beautiful movement to the attention of the Peer Education Teacher/Project SPECTRUM Coordinator, Erin Regan-Gearns. Operation Beautiful has become a national movement to help young people feel better about themselves and essentially call out the narrow definition of beauty and perfection society projects onto our young people, thereby making them feel inadequate or even develop eating disorders.
The students began by placing post-it notes in the restrooms with motivation and inspirational messages for the students. In the last two years, the Peer Ed version of Operation Beautiful has grown tremendously. This year it was planned to coincide with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week and the messages we sent to the student body were expanded to include information about eating disorders in both males and females, how the media projects unrealistic images of beauty and “ideal” body types, and general messages of positivity surrounding academics, ending “fat talk,” embracing differences, and the important message of “you are never alone.”
The Peer Educators create hundreds of post-it notes decorated with messages that range from “It gets better” to “Be yourself, everyone else is taken” and other messages of reassurance. Last year a huge banner was hung in the bathroom that said “Mirror mirror on the wall, does what you see matter at all?” This year’s said “If you can’t see something beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror, look a little closer.”
This quote is from Shane Koyczan’s To This Day video, a favorite of Peer Educators. Pictures of our Operation Beautiful campaign this year went viral with more than 40,000 people on Twitter re-tweeting or favorite the pictures of what we did.
They don’t know how many other people passed along or pictures but that fact that we got the message of positivity, acceptance, and self-love to so many people is a great feeling. All over the internet people commented “I wish my school did this.” As a follow-up to the Operation Beautiful campaign, the Peer Educators set up an interactive “Peer Education Station” to survey students about their feelings on body image.
The evolution of Operation Beautiful at East is just one example of the fantastic things the East Peer Educators have accomplished. The goal of taking Peer Education is to learn how to work with others and use your time and talents to make a positive influence in the lives of our students.
All of the activities they run are created by the Peer Educators and Mrs. Gearns and build upon the foundations created by previous years of Peer Educators. For example, they run several days each year devoted to breaking down barriers between students, looking beyond labels, and treating others with respect.
Peer Educators spend hours upon hours planning and preparing for Challenge Day and one the day begins, it is an entirely student run event in which Peer Educators lead group discussions, activities, and break-out sessions on any number of topics. The day is impactful because it is student run. Challenge Day is often referred to as a life changing and eye opening event, by both the students in attendance and the Peer Educators who learn by creating and facilitating the event.
Mrs. Gearns often says that she is the luckiest teacher in the district because she gets to work with such committed students and give them the platform to positively impact the lives of others.
What they’re saying … student’s speak about Peer Education
- “Peer Ed is so much more than just a class that helps around the school. Peer Ed is a community that opens people eyes to important subjects. We all come from different homes and families. Nobody really knows what a student is faced with when they go home. This program teaches us to love and accept ourselves for who we are.” – Brianna Dougherty
- “I am so incredibly proud to be able to call myself a two-year Peer Educator and a Challenge Day leader. The ability to change and impact other student’s lives by just being kind is amazing. The impact Challenge Day has will leave a long lasting legacy even after my class of Peer Educators has long left East.” – Jordan Pamlanye
- “Operation Beautiful was really amazing…thinking about how the Peer Educators spent the time to do all of this shows how much they really care about the people in the school.” – Gabriela Zafiropoulos
- “Operation Beautiful was an amazing event because it helped students and teachers realize that we are all unique and beautiful.” – Alexandra Jacoby
- “The most important thing about Peer Ed is making East a better place and leaving a legacy. We want the next group of Peer Educators to continue to promote the ideals of SPECTRUM.” – Ali Zito
