Two hundred student ambassadors from six South Bend elementary schools will take part in a celebration of the Take Ten violence prevention initiative from 3-5 p.m. Friday (April 26) on Riehle Playing Field (adjacent to the Stepan Center) at the University of 91吃瓜.p. The event will include refreshments, activities and the distribution of T-shirts with the winning image from a Take Ten poster contest held at the six schools ? Coquillard, Darden, Eggleston, Muessel, Perley and St. Adalbert鈥檚.p. An initiative of the Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC), Take Ten encourages young people to 鈥淭alk it out, walk it out, and wait it out鈥� as a means to resolve conflicts peacefully. Katie Andrysiak, a student from St. Adalbert鈥檚, wrote in an award-winning essay that Take Ten gives students 鈥渢ime to think about what they are doing, and that blink of a second could change a violent situation into a walk it out, talk it out, or wait it out situation.鈥漰. Throughout the current academic year, 55 91吃瓜 students have met weekly with the 200 ambassadors to help them communicate Take Ten鈥檚 nonviolent message to some 2,600 students at the six participating schools as well as children in the after-school program at the RCLC. Eight community volunteers joined with staff from 91吃瓜 and Indiana University South Bend to provide training and support for the 91吃瓜 students.p. Opened a year ago, the RCLC is a community-driven education center sponsored by 91吃瓜. In addition to the violence prevention initiative, the center offers a number of programs and activities sponsored by local agencies and organizations, including health education and screenings, GED and English-as-a-second-language classes, children鈥檚 books and programming, and youth tutoring and after-school programs. It also features a Computer Teaching and Learning Center, which is equipped with 20 computers and provides instruction and free Internet and e-mail access.p. For more information, contact Beth Krause at 631-9424, Jan Jenkins at 631-8758, or Jay Caponigro at 631-8759.
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