Barren County Middle School's Youth Service Center serves the psychological, emotional, and social needs of students. The overall mission of the YSC is to "reduce the barriers to learning."

The YSC provides services ranging from individual counseling to Junior Guard, which is its most popular program. Junior Guard helps students who are "falling through the cracks" work on maturity and camaraderie, and it has helped decrease discipline problems and increase attendance. In the words of Principal Michelle Pedigo, "We have seen a major reduction in disciplinary problems as the participants' self-esteem has soared. The participants finally feel an integral part of the school." Students visit the local armory twice a month, where they work with adult guardsmen who develop mentoring relationships with the students. Students participate in activities with guardsmen and have opportunities to demonstrate their talents and strengths in a non-academic setting. Junior Guard has been so successful that it is one of the school's most requested programs by both parents and students.

The YSC also facilitates a drug and alcohol awareness program, serves as a liaison to social services for families with financial difficulties, brings students to and from doctor's appointments, sets up support groups when student need arises, supervises and maintains the peer mediation program, and coordinates a teen pregnancy awareness program called Baby, Think it Over. This program uses 20 "baby simulators" that are computer programmed to behave like babies who cry and need to be picked up and fed at regular intervals. Students are required to take home their "babies" for a weekend during their two years at BCMS. The school is investing (at a cost of $200 each) in purchasing more because of the positive results and feedback. Most kids return the baby simulator with a newfound respect for themselves and their parents.

Dev. Responsiveness BACK

Dev. Responsiveness NEXT

Schools to Watch Home | Our Criteria | Visit Our Schools | Links | Tell a Friend | Talk to Us | National Forum