An un-BELIZE-able 6 weeks

Take a look at our final week on initiative....This week at Maud Williams High School, Peter and Nicole focussed on gang violence and substance abuse. Gang violence is a fairly large issue in Belize and both the counsellor and students at Maud Williams HS had expressed an interest in learning more about this topic. We worked on decision making and encouraged students to consider the potential outcomes of dangerous activities and empower them to make smart choices. To end our time at this school on a positive note we also did a lesson on goal setting. We had students brainstorm personal, education, career and community goals. It was awesome to get all the students thinking about what they want to achieve in the future. We touched on the best way to achieve goals using strategies like time management, balancing work and play, as well as preparation. We hope this will help our students on their upcoming exams and wish them all the best! Our last day of teaching was spent playing a huge game of jeopardy which covered the main topics we discussed in our classes over the past three weeks. It was awesome to see the kids so excited to answer questions about important topics like HIV/AIDS, peer pressure, abuse and metal health. We are so sad to be leaving the wonderful community of staff and students at Maud Williams HS.It was a very fun and sad week for Samara and Siobhan as they wrapped up their final week at Sadie Vernon. They taught some awesome final lessons on HIV/AIDS, mental health, self-esteem and goal setting. Some of our activities this week included a compliment circle to increase self esteem and create some smiles, as well as a huge interactive and fun jeopardy game containing information on all of our lessons. In addition to jeopardy, we were asked to prepare a lesson for our students to test their knowledge in their life skills classes for the time we spent with them. We were so pleased with how much our kids retained and learned from us. Additionally, we finished our leadership sessions with some of our students this week, having them complete random acts of kindness for the community and their loved ones. Finally, Samara and Siobhan were invited to see the Form 4's graduation ceremony! It was amazing to see such proud students, parents and teachers celebrating the hard work of the Form 4 graduates. We were also featured in the year-end slideshow which was super exciting!! We are extremely sad to be leaving Sadie Vernon and we truly had an incredible experience. We want to thank all of our students for their continued participation and enthusiasm, as well as Mr. Jacobs for being so welcoming, supportive and encouraging each day. We will miss everyone very much and wish you the best in the future.This week at the YWCA the four of us taught lessons on HIV/AIDS, goal setting and mental health. As part of our goal setting lesson we discussed why it is important to set goals, reaching your goals, and what to do when faced with challenges. One of our favourite moments of this week was getting to see and hear about each of the girls goals. As part of our mental health lesson we did an activity called "warm fuzzies". Each of the students wrote something positive about their classmates. We then collected all of the "warm fuzzies" and and distributed them to the girls. Empowerment is a big focus at the YWCA and we thought this activity complimented that well. It is so important for everyone to feel important and recognize their strengths! We are going to miss this amazing group of young women so much.The four of us have had an amazingly positive experience as peer educators in Belize.We are so sad to be finished working with the staff, students and community in Belize. The staff at the schools have been so helpful and supportive of our role in the schools and community. We would like to extend a huge thank you to them for being so accommodating of us coming into their schools and letting us help out with health education. We will miss beautiful Belize very much!Nicole, Peter, Siobhan and Samara