PITTSBURGH \u2014 A program at Pittsburgh Public Schools is showing great success. The Safe Passage program equips students to be safety ambassadors, helping to de-escalate situations and prevent violence before it happens.<\/p>\n
The students are also trained to help other classmates who just need to talk to someone or a shoulder to cry on.<\/p>\n
WPXI talked to two of the Safe Passage ambassadors at Westinghouse during the last school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like Safe Passage gave me a bigger voice when it comes to trying to stop violence,\u201d said rising senior Ladarrius Carpenter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a safe place where students can talk freely and have their feelings heard,\u201d added rising sophomore Amia Mott.<\/p>\n
The Safe Passage program is in six Pittsburgh Public Schools: Westinghouse, Allderdice, Obama, U Prep, Perry and Brashear. Students get $200 a month to be ambassadors during the school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, by me being a safety ambassador, when fights happen, I know the kids. So, I\u2019m like, yeah, I know you\u2019re probably just mad because this, that, and it\u2019s OK. Let\u2019s just walk off. We can talk about it. You don\u2019t have to go straight to violence,\u201d Carpenter said.<\/p>\n
Markeya Lowry is the Safe Passage Coordinator at Westinghouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe teach them how to mediate new interventions and prevention work to bring those numbers down and make it a safer school,\u201d said Lowry.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the school year, Lowry\u2019s first priority is to make sure the Safe Passage ambassadors learn the four pillars of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe four pillars to detect and interrupt, treat high-risk individuals, change community norms and provide identities,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cOnce they master those pillars, then we can begin to provide the monitorship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, the ambassadors also can learn the tools they need in the classrooms and hallways.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes the situations between two students doesn\u2019t need the third party of an adult to lecture them. They just really need somebody to see eye to eye,\u201d Mott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy being a student, they don\u2019t feel as though you\u2019re kind of trying to force them or tell them, like, yeah, if you don\u2019t do this, you\u2019re gonna get in trouble,\u201d Carpenter added.<\/p>\n
Administrators at Westinghouse are proud of the way the students have taken to the Safe Passage program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we look at it from the disease model, that violence is a disease. And how do we combat disease? Safe Passage has come in and brought us tools to be able to address it with our students, with our staff, and really elevate the impact of students upon students,\u201d Westinghouse Principal Dr. Virginia Hill said.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the ambassadors handle the situations all on their own, but other times they lean on their mentors for advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get abreast of what\u2019s happening in the hallways or whatever and they come let us know. And then they let us know the steps that they thought about taking. And most times they\u2019re very reasonable, and we\u2019re able to allow them to go ahead and start the situation,\u201d said Westinghouse Assistant Principal Tenille Thomas.<\/p>\n
One result since Safe Passage started, attendance at Westinghouse is up 15%.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s made a huge difference in our school culture,\u201d Dr. Hill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made leadership cool again,\u201d Thomas added.<\/p>\n
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