There’s a photo of my daughter, Rachel, and her friend, Sadie, receiving an award from Governor Baldacci. They are both freshman in college, but the award goes for something they did two years earlier while juniors in high school.
They were both “Peer leaders” in their school. As such, they often counseled young girls who thought they were pregnant, were worried and didn’t’ know what to do. Since their school was rural, Rachel and Sadie realized that few of the students had access to condoms, or family planning. They knew it would not be an easy venture, but they decided to get condoms available in their school. They spent months doing research and visiting with family planning representatives. They brought their request with all their findings to the superintendent. He said they would need to give a presentation to the school board and the public.
On the evening of the hearing, the two girls stood behind the podium. The high school gymnasium was packed full. The last row of bleachers held an intimidating crowd of people from the church down the road. They had many banners and were quite vocal. To the right of the girls sat the 12 members of the school board, the principal and the superintendent.
Rachel began to talk. She was nervous, she mispronounced a few words, her cheeks were flushed, her voice quivered ever so slightly; but she continued. Her job tonight was to convince the public and the school board to allow the distribution of condoms. She told the audience that when she became a peer leader, the most discussed issue was sex and pregnancy. The teen pregnancy rate was high for such a small school. She told how she and her friend Sadie realized that having access to condoms was important. They certainly weren’t condoning having sex, but it was happening already and they wanted to alleviate the problems of teen pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases. As she spoke, the catcalls and harassment from the church crowd in the back row got louder. Rachel continued, finding her strength and sounding self-assured. Finally, she was finished with her part of the presentation and Sadie did hers. Next, Rachel invited the public to come forward and speak. She moderated as members of the audience came down and talked for five minute each. The meeting went on for hours, and she stood her ground.
In the end, the school board voted to allow having condoms available, but stipulated that they be dispensed once a week by a representative of Family Planning came who was also available to counsel students.
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And were they to be dispensed one at a time too? Like one per week?
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Aw, I suppose I should honor the school board for more or less doing the right thing, showing some courage or character. But school boards don't usually impress me.
Which leads me to: you are using 'character' here in a way I didn't really intend, as a synonym for guts and grit. I thought the 162 writer would simply focus on a person, but you've described a scene that by implication reveals a personality. The teacher in me is a bit surprised at first, but it seems an unusual and good approach, so no complaints from me.
Thank you, As a total aside: I needed to hear that someone in academia is not impressed with academia.
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