Yonkers Principal Says Healthy Respect 'Helps Students to Think'

Abstinence for marriage is a realistic goal for young people that will have long-range positive effects on their lives, said Dr. Fred Hernandez, the Principal of Commerce Middle School in Yonkers. Dr. Hernandez has welcomed the Healthy Respect program into his school for the past four years. He recently spoke to Healthy Respect about the results he has seen, even among students with past behavioral problem.

"The most important thing about Healthy Respect is that students understand that 'no' is a choice," Dr. Hernandez said. "That means 'no' to sex outside of wedlock, 'no' to drinking, 'no' to smoking, 'no' to drugs. It's OK to say 'no.' You shouldn't allow the peer pressure to influence you."

"Healthy Respect gives students an opportunity in a structured, family-like environment to be with adults, ask questions, and get some understanding and information on the issues that they face," he said. "They are able to have the conversations about growth and development that apparently are not taking place at home."

He added, "At Commerce Middle School, it's having an impact on students. It really gets them to think. That helps with their academics as well. Once they start to feel good about themselves, you see a difference in their other classes as well."

Dr. Hernandez told a story about how involvement in the Healthy Respect program helped some students who had been suspended for breaking the school's code of conduct. Dr. Hernandez credits the Healthy Respect program for helping these students. Through the encouragement and guidance of the instructors, these students were able to talk about issues on their minds, receive positive feedback, and eventually improve their behavior and academic work.

"When they started participating in this program, I saw these students become more motivated, more engaged, exhibiting intelligence," he recalled. "And the self-confidence they gained there carried over into their other classes."

Dr. Hernandez also said that Healthy Respect is a good example of what educators call "intergenerational closure" - when a young person receives information and guidance from a knowledgeable and caring adult, and then is able to incorporate this new information into his or her own life.

"So many of our students don't have this in their homes or neighborhoods," he pointed out. "It's not like when we were growing up, when there was always an adult to go to for answers or advice. A lot of these students are getting all their information from other kids, without any adult supervision. But Healthy Respect takes that intergenerational model into the classroom, and allows the students to talk about the issues that really concern them under adult supervision."

One unexpected result of Healthy Respect over the past few years is that the students who are involved in the program are having a positive effect on the rest of the student body, Dr. Hernandez reported.

"Kids become empowered and they start talking to other kids. They become the teachers of what they learned," he said. "Even within the group that has not received the Healthy Respect program, there is a movement toward more healthy decisions. This is positive peer pressure."

The Healthy Respect peer educators who come from high school to talk to the middle school students were also effective, Dr. Hernandez said. "These are kids in their age range. They tell the kids that I can decide what my future can be."

Dr. Hernandez concluded by saying that he would recommend Healthy Respect to other principals. "Healthy Respect is a good program every school should have," he said. "Ideally, every school should have a Healthy Respect coordinator."