Bullying, smoking, and drinking alcohol are among the darker choices in a child’s life, but it isn’t always easy to get youth to talk seriously about them, said Lori Nelson, a social worker at the high school.

Friday, March 01, 2002

Bullying, smoking, and drinking alcohol are among the darker choices in a child’s life, but it isn’t always easy to get youth to talk seriously about them, said Lori Nelson, a social worker at the high school. A group of students at Albert Lea High School are aware of that and are trying to do something about it.

The group is called T.I.D.E. – Teens Involved in Drug Education – and they have been trying to make a difference at the high school and in the community since last spring. Now they can do more using a program called Improv.

What they do is dependent on audience involvement and what happens will rarely be the same from presentation to presentation, Nelson said.

Nelson had been at a workshop, where she had seen a group from another school present a sample of the work they do in their community and decided it would be worth trying here. After several months of recruiting and organizing, the Albert Lea TIDE/Improv group is ready for action.

The youth from TIDE/Improv present &uot;scenes&uot; that last anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, said Nelson. One of the school’s social workers acts as a moderator. At the end of the scene the characters freeze and the moderator involves the audience in the scene, asking them to tell what they saw and what they think they might have done in the same situation. When prompted by the moderator, individual characters unfreeze and answer questions for awhile, and then talk some more outside of character.

&uot;Basically we bring up subjects kids don’t always want to talk about and get them to talk about it,&uot; said Laura Jackson, a 10th grader.

&uot;We can help make a difference in the community,&uot; said Mat Estes, a ninth grader.

&uot;It feels good to be able to help people learn about the situation. When we act, the audience has to participate, too,&uot; said Krystal Garcia, an 11th grader in the group.

Students joined the group for both serious and not-so-serious reasons.

&uot;At first I just liked the t-shirt, but as I got into it more, I found I liked being able to help people think about their lives and their choices,&uot; said Nick Garcia, an 11th grader and one of the older members of the group.

Whatever their reasons for joining, the youth involved take their responsibilities seriously.

One of the basic messages is to treat each other with kindness, said Garcia.

The actors get something out of it, too. Estes said the group helped him build friendships with older students, of whom he had previously been afraid. And Jackson has built up confidence in her ability to speak in front of groups.

Most of the funding for TIDE comes from the state’s settlement with the tobacco companies, but over the summer the group did some additional fundraising. This January, six of the students attended a workshop on Improv -&160;improvisational presentations – along with Nelson.

The scenes they create, and the discussion questions asked by the moderator, are adjusted to fit the age of the youth in the group they are presenting to – from elementary to high school.

Their next presentation is at First Lutheran Church on March 6. They have also presented at Lakeview Elementary School and already have requests from a number of other groups.