This week, over 50 Central High School students participated in a presentation and interactive discussion titled “Healthy Choices, Healthy Lives” with the Sheboygan County Human Trafficking Task Force.

Central High Health and Physical Education teacher Ben Steen explained how the presentation fit into his curriculum. “In the past two weeks, my health class had been looking at relationships and their impact on our day-to-day life. In this unit, students evaluated how they viewed relationships. We also discussed our own points of view on topics such as communication, love languages, trust, boundaries, and dating.”

Students participated in two different sessions. One was a presentation and discussion about physical and cyber safety topics. The second session was an interactive activity and open dialogue between students and members of the task force which asked students to consider their own opinions on a variety of questions related to healthy relationships.

“Being able to end our unit with this experience was a great way for students to connect classroom work with real-world experiences,” said Mr. Steen. “The more we as educators can create opportunities for students to connect their education to real-world applications, the more genuine the learning is for students.”

The students engaged in thoughtful discussions with each other and the presenters on real issues impacting teenagers today. The presenters provided resources and suggestions to guide students through how to handle different scenarios that they, or a friend, may encounter.

“It was a good experience. It followed what we had learned in class,” says Simone Jackson, a Central High School student. “I felt like this opportunity and experience was helpful because students were able to practice sharing their ideas and opinions even if they were different. People were able to feel heard. I felt like the content was important for us to have meaningful and real conversations with people our age.”

January was proclaimed ‘Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month’ by the Mayor of Sheboygan. Central High School Principal Lisa Finney is a member of the Sheboygan County Human Trafficking Task Force and helped facilitate the sessions.

The event was held at the Sheboygan Visitor Center.