Students involved in the Positive Life Skills program at Chilton County High School are encouraged to speak their mind.

“When the kids come into the classroom, they know it is a time where they can share what is going on with them,” CCHS teacher Robin Parker said.

This is the second year for the program to be offered at the school. It is a joint venture with the SPAN Program of Chilton County; the county’s Juvenile Probation Office and District Court Judge Rhonda Hardesty; CCHS Principal Cynthia Stewart and Alabama Family Resource Center in Clanton.

The Positive Life Skills course allows the 196 ninth graders at CCHS to go through the program which encourages students to explore various topics such as bullying, anger, relationships or religion.

The program is also designed to give students information on how to lead positive lives, regardless of their backgrounds, and to avoid potholes such as behavioral problems and substance abuse.

“The kids are allowed to discuss openly any topic they would like to cover,” Parker said. “Most of the time when they come into the classroom, they decide the topic they want to cover. Everyone has a story to tell, and I think it is good for them to come in and share with others what is going on in their lives.”

On Thursday, director of the Alabama Family Resource Center Teal Dick, who is also instrumental in the Positive Life Skills program, led a discussion with Parker’s class of 24 students on the topic of anger.

“How many of you have ever been angry,” Dick asked the students with almost every student raising his or her hand.

Dick then asked students to name out words they associated with the word anger.

Students said “hate,” “frustration,” “the color red,” or “revenge” were all words they associated with the word anger.

“All of the words you just named out have a fairly negative meaning associated with them, but anger can sometimes be a positive thing,” Dick said. “Anger can sometimes motivate us or help us get focused or alert us to injustice. There is good stuff anger can do if we channel it right.”

Dick said his purpose for having open discussions with the students is to encourage them to start thinking on their own.

“These kids are at an age where their minds are starting to try and figure out what they think about certain things,” Dick said. “I deal with a lot of adults on a daily basis who have messed up in life, and a lot of them say they wish they would have talked about different things when they were in school. Well, now we have the opportunity to talk about these things with the kids.”

The class is offered three days a week during flex periods, which are non-academic class periods for students.

Parker said she hopes to organize a skit for her students to put together toward the end of the school year to cover topics discussed in the class.

“This is an excellent program,” Parker said. “So many of these students have a lot going on at home that can be hard to deal with sometimes. I am real with them and they know they can be real with me. They know when they come to this class they can pour out their issues and have someone to listen.”