Floyd County Teen Maze: An Out-of-the-Ordinary & Extraordinary Day with High School Freshmen

Every day when I get home from work, I ask my children, who attend Darlington's ELA -8 division, how their day at school was. Most days their response is "good." But on the days when there is something out of the ordinary or extraordinary, we have an in-depth conversation about the events of their day.

Today, our ninth-graders experienced a day that was both out of the ordinary and extraordinary as they were invited by the Floyd County Commission on Child and Youth to attend their UR Choice UR Destiny Teen Maze at the Coosa Valley fairgrounds.

As our students got off the bus, there was a nervous quietness to the group. As they entered the fairgrounds, they were welcomed as guests to a homecoming party at a student’s house. There was loud music, bright lights and dancing. A voice came over the loud speakers and asked them, “Will you get in the car with someone who’s intoxicated?   Will you succumb to peer pressure? Will you have control over your choices or will your friends’ decisions impact your life?” They quickly learned how the actions of their peers could impact their lives.  

The Class of 2018 saw firsthand how they can learn to control their destiny. The purpose of the Teen Maze is "to challenge teens to graduate and obtain a career without getting blocked by the many obstacles faced in life like alcohol or drug charges, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.” The Maze did not give our students choices, but rather forced them to learn important details about the consequences of actions.
 
Our freshmen learn the hard way the consequences of texting and driving and not wearing seat belts. They saw ambulance workers pronounce a teenager dead at the scene of an accident. They wore goggles that made their vision impaired as they drove golf carts. They went to a friend’s visitation at a funeral home. They went before a judge and were sentenced to community service or spent time in jail. They went to the emergency room, doctor’s offices, parenting classes, adoption agencies and DFCS. They learned how to take care of a baby, apply for food stamps, and about peer pressure. Today, our students learned how important the decisions in their lives truly are.  

I have ridden a school bus with teenagers hundreds of time during my teaching career and I could write a book on the conversations that I have overheard. As we were driving back to campus today, the buses were buzzing with conversation. I heard one student proclaim, "I got syphilis. What did you get?" and then I listened to them discuss with their peers how it could be treated and prevented. It was by far the best student-led conversation I have ever heard on a school bus.
 
I hope that when your freshmen come home from school today or call you this week (if they are boarding students) that they have the opportunity to talk with you about their out-of-the-ordinary and extraordinary day.