Each year since 1998, the freshman class goes through a workshop (currently organized by Ms. Pastore and Mr. Federick) called “Empowerment”.  Dictionary.com defines the verb ‘empower’ as “to enable or permit”. And that is exactly what the program is meant to do- to enable the students of CCHS to become the change they want to see in their school.  So now that we now what empowerment means, let’s discover what it specifically means to our school.  And to do that, we look to Ms. Fatima- the meat and potatoes of the Cheektowaga Central empowerment program.

The program is not about her, or her experiences, though, as she tells the freshman right away: “today is so special… because its all about you. Your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your experiences. Wanting to do better, and being better.” She says the biggest goal of the program is to “encourage students to be reflective”- more specifically, about the way they experience school and how they talk to each other. Talking to each other might just be the biggest challenge of the day. Although the topics varied (friendship, bullying, racism, ethnicity, adoption, etc.), it is not the depth of the topics that has many students tongue tied. When asked what the most significant difference is between the program now, and when it began, Ms. Fatima replied that students are not used to talking to each other face to face. Modes of communication are increasingly based on technology, as anyone can see by the popularity of texting and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  She states that face to face communication is extremely important because at the college level, 24% of a grade is based on participation.

Senior and student facilitator Miranda Jaworski felt the open discussion definitely helped the students: “[We] talked about how they felt about bullying and segregation, and if we could change and how we could change. I think the kids got an impact from it.” Freshmen Allison Nestico, Shannon Hammond, and Kelly Suketerski, agree. “people were more honest and open,” said Nestico. Also, Kelly felt it was better being able to talk to fellow high school students about the issues.

Some highlights of the program were the small groups talks and presentation, and several other activities led by Ms. Fatima. Also of note was a student video made by Hannah Petri, Brandon Day, Sam Spearman, Nari Ngyen, and Ashley Gennamore (all student facilitators as well). The video took anonymous exerts out of essays the students wrote about their daily feelings about school, as well as featured a few students who volunteered to speak on camera.

Overall, Ms. Pastore felt the program went well. After all, she says, the program is “not going to make the school perfect,” but to give the students a “place they felt heard” and to then “keep the conversation going”. There of course will always be some freshman who will find the program lame or pointless, but its benefits will definitely catch up to them. From bettering the school by bettering yourself, to college preparation, the Empowerment workshops here at CCHS is opening up new doors all around.