Clarke Central High School’s Peer Leadership Class poses for a group photo with Georgia Superior Court Judge Lisa Lott, who spoke to the class, in Room 261 on Sept. 22. CCHS freshman Sadie Miller has enjoyed the class and hopes to build better relationships with her classmates. “My happily ever after in this class would be to come out knowing each and every person on a deeper level, (have) a stronger bond with everybody, (know) more about their lives and just come out with new friends,” Miller said. Photo by Aza Khan
A new academic elective is being offered to the CCHS student body for the 2022-23 school year with a focus on leadership, peer support and problem solving.
Clarke Central High School is offering a new academic elective to students during the 2022-23 school year – a peer leadership course that focuses on student-led discussions, problem solving and student leadership.
The class was proposed to the administrative team by CCHS fine arts department teacher Leslie Sokal-Berg in 2021, and aims towards the control of restorative practices at CCHS.
“It’s a very fluid classroom because we’re building airplanes in the air,” Sokal-Berg said. “You know, we haven’t had (this) program here (before) and so I’m relying on the students a lot (for it) to work. It’s a very collaborative class in that the kids and I decide what it is that we want to do (and) what we think is important.”
“I really liked the things that we were doing in the class. We were helping out the school, learning about our community and learning how to be better leaders.”
— Sadie Miller,
freshman
However, not all CCHS students are eligible to take the course this year, as it is only offered to freshmen.
Clarke Central High School fine arts department teacher Leslie Sokal-Berg sits on steps near the CCHS courtyard on Sept. 22. Sokal-Berg’s Peer Leadership class is aimed towards the control of restorative practices at CCHS, so the class has held many of their own restorative circles this school year. “I feel like it’s very important for all of the students in the class to be okay with being uncomfortable and vulnerable, so we’ve spent a lot of time during class doing circles, like we do (in) Advisement,” Sokal Berg said. Photo by Aza Khan
“We started the program using freshmen simply because at Clarke Middle School they already have this kind of leadership program, so we thought that it would be smart to go ahead and start with this group, and then each year add in more freshmen (to the existing members),” Sokal-Berg said. “It’s going to take four years for this to really kind of come into fruition (where students will be) able to really take over all of these restorative practices that we have going on at Clarke Central.”
Freshman Sadie Miller, who participated in the program at CMS, decided to take the high school class because she enjoyed her previous experience.
“I really liked the things that we were doing in the class. We were helping out the school, learning about our community and learning how to be better leaders,” Miller said. “We did a lot (in that class), but I just wanted to enhance my skills and do more of that kind of thing (in high school).”
A Google Map shows all three schools in the Clarke County School District that currently have a peer leadership program with a blue pin denoting each site. Cedar Shoals High School social studies department teacher Montu Miller has taught the Peer Leadership class at CSHS for two years and wants to continue to grow its reach. “One of my hopes is that we can build this bridge between Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals’ peer leadership programs so we can possibly go on field trips together, do workshops together (and) even sometimes (look) in each other’s class,” Miller said. “I just hope we really build this bridge so we can have (Cedar’s) leaders and Central’s leaders kind of meet and and just make this whole atmosphere in Athens, Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central better.” Graphic by Miles Lawrence
A peer leadership course is not only offered at CMS, but there’s also a class taught at Cedar Shoals High School by social studies department teacher Montu Miller. One of Montu’s goals for his program is to change the Athens community, which is something he would like to accomplish in partnership with Sokal-Berg’s new program.
Clarke Central High School freshman Mariah Buron listens to Georgia Superior Court Judge Lisa Lott talk with the CCHS Peer Leadership class in Room 261 on Sept. 22. CCHS fine arts department teacher Leslie Sokal-Berg has incorporated many guest speakers into the class schedule this year. “We’ve got the athletic director from (the University of Georgia) coming in to talk to us, (Athens-Clarke County) Mayor Kelly Gertz is going to come talk to us, Judge Lisa Lott, she’s (in) the Supreme Court of Ga., she’s going to come speak with us, (as well as CCHS Principal) Dr. (Swade) Huff,” Sokal-Berg said. “I think it’s better sometimes to hear from people who are actually in these leadership positions than just talking about it into air.” Photo by Aza Khan
“One of my hopes is that we can build this bridge between Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals’ peer leadership programs so we can possibly go on field trips together, do workshops together (and) even sometimes (look) in each other’s class,” Montu said. “I just hope we really build this bridge so we can have (Cedar’s) leaders and Central’s leaders meet and and just make this whole atmosphere in Athens, Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central better.”
Like Montu, Sokal-Berg wants to prompt change through her program, and feels the best way to do that is having students facilitate all of the restorative practices at CCHS instead of faculty and administrators.
“I feel like students should be running all restorative circles, like fights (in our school). I want to change our community,” Sokal-Berg said. “I don’t think you can ever completely eradicate violence, but I feel like if people understood not only other people’s emotions but their own emotions better, there would be a lot less conflict and so that’s my happily ever after.”
