Community Education Program Reaches Entire School

Community Educator Claudia Martinez spent a busy spring semester teaching the entire student body at Metropolitan High School in the South Bronx. Both a daunting and exciting project, Claudia traveled to the South Bronx every Wednesday morning to teach a new group of young people about teen dating violence and the social construction of masculinity and its impact on relationship abuse. 

By the end of the school year, Claudia imparted awareness and skills to avoid unhealthy relationships to more than 250 youth in the school community. Students greeted her in the hallways and asked when she would return to their classrooms. Claudia will return to Metropolitan next year to teach a second round of workshops. By the summer of 2012, every student in the school will have attended a foundational workshop on teen dating violence in addition to a workshop on deconstructing gender.

Following the workshops, the school's guidance counselor said she saw a shift in the way that students spoke to each other about unhealthy relationships. She recognized students beginning to hold each other accountable for unhealthy behavior. Day One applauds Claudia's successes in transforming the social fabric of an entire school community, and we hope to replicate this model with other schools. Click here to request a workshop for your students today!