Select students participate in PROS training

Duncan Middle School students are getting involved in the process of addressing student conflicts at school.

Seventh and eighth-grade students were selected to the Peer Resolution for Oklahoma Students (PROS) group. Those students underwent training to effectively do the job they were chosen for.

PROS is a group that has students working with the school counselors when a problem arises. These students help other students because sometimes it is easier for students to talk to other students instead of staff members.

The group focuses on minimizes negative feelings and how to take conflict and turn it into a collaboration.

Miley Shipman, a seventh-grader at DMS, was one of the students selected for PROS and went through the the training with the other seventh-grade students. The eighth-graders were trained the following day.

“(It was) really fun, and I learned a bunch of new things,” Shipman said. “It’s basically mini counselors that help kids with problems.”

In all, there are about 15 students from seventh grade and 15 from eighth grade who were selected for this group. The students were selected by Duncan middle School teachers who chose them because of their leadership skills.

Collins Budowski, seventh-grader, is also a member of PROS. Budowski said her experience through the training was good and fun.

“PROS teaches you how to mediate and counsel students,” she said.

The training was conducted by Andrew Aldridge, who is the state director of peer mediation at the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Aldridge also started out the school year by talking with teachers from across the school district to discuss his plans for the PROS program.

DMS first added PROS last year. This year, other schools in Duncan are adding the program.

 Shipman and Budowski said they like being a part of PROS because it gives them a chance to help others and to resolve problems effectively.