A-Team fights for truth
Sports reporter
The truth can sometimes hurt.
In the case of a group of Marion High School students, this time the truth feels pretty good.
A select number of students at MHS, along with director of Marion County Communities in Schools, Linda Ogden, have set out since the beginning of the school year to debunk negative myths and stereotypes about teens, particularly alcohol use.
Along with the help from a group called Actuality, the A-Team, as they call themselves, is proving a little hard work and knowledge can show a lot of positive results.
A-Team
Linda Ogden spends a significant amount of her time trying to better the community by helping students make the right decisions. Right now one of her main projects is helping with the A-Team. The group is comprised of 14 MHS students who are trying to set a good example for everyone in the community.
"They are standing up for the truth," Ogden said.
If the group seems to be under the radar a bit, it's because it is. The members have been meeting with Ogden and counselor Phoebe Janzen at least once a month since the fall, but aren't saying too much about what they talk about — for now.
In November the students wore sweatshirts that read 620 Represent, 2:3.
"Some students thought we were in a gang," Levi Carpenter said with a laugh.
The irony is they are anything but gang members, but the shirts even had some teachers wondering what they meant.
The team also had mini basketballs with the same inscription on them. Members tossed the balls into the crowd at a home basketball game Feb. 6 and had the fans buzzing.
They finally revealed that 620 Represent meant the students were representing the area code of Marion. The 2:3? Well, that is still to be determined.
Actuality
Before 620 or 2:3 were numbers that meant anything to Marion, Ogden was attending a conference in Washington, D.C. There she heard Scoot Crandall and Jim Champion speak. The two were part of a group called Actuality, and its main focus was exactly what Ogden centered her teaching on.
"I thought, we have got to do this," Ogden said.
So she spoke to the two about coming to Marion and talking to students, parents, and community leaders about the fact that teens in this town were, for the most part, good people.
"We were looking to spread an accurate message," Ogden said.
So Crandall and Champion met with various students who were already involved in school activities such as STUCO, Youth Court, and peer mediation. They then hand-picked 14 students to form the A-Team.
Crandall was impressed with Marion.
"It was a real breath of fresh air," he said. "We could tell the kids had a real pride in their school."
Junior Christie Coleman was glad to be one of the students chosen.
"It's a good way to show our peers how good Marion is," she said.
One of the first things the A-Team did was take a survey on high school alcohol use. The survey was put together by a research and development team at Colorado State University.
When the results of the anonymous survey came back, the team was surprised.
"We found out a lot of people exaggerate things they say," said Coleman.
The most startling fact was that two-thirds of MHS students do not drink. That is where 2:3 came into play.
Spreading the word
Ogden said the team was surprised at the numbers, but felt great about the results.
"They found out perceptions can be skewed," she said.
Brett Billings, a junior member of the A-Team, said its job is to now spread the word that drinking isn't something everyone does.
"We are trying to portray a positive image so it's cool," he said.
Some members pointed out the team is still new and using this year to make the program better in the future.
Right now there are members from each class in the group, and they plan to have just as many next year.
"We are trying to get four new freshmen in the fall," freshman group member Nick Klenda said.
Right now they are brainstorming new ways to promote what they have found to be true, such as a pep rally, pens with the 620 logo, or even flip flops that sport the logo as well.
But they would still like to be a little secretive about their messages at first, just to create a little buzz.
"So far only the middle schoolers know was 2:3 is," Klenda said.
Pretty soon, everyone in Marion will.
