To bring some positive news to parents, Partners in Community (PIC) is working to highlight some of the work students have done during this year.

PIC is a student group that works to combat youth substance abuse and promote a healthy lifestyle for students. The group has students in both The Morgan School and Jared Eliot Middle School. When the COVID-19 virus caused schools to cancel last month, that obviously disrupted things for the group.

“Everything screeched to a halt. The majority of what we do is person to person,” said PIC Director Kelley Edwards.

Forced to come up with new ways to stay engaged, the group decided to highlight a PIC member every day on its Facebook page in order to show the community who is in the group. The group has about 80 students in The Morgan School, and Edwards said the daily profile highlight positive experiences the kids have had in the group and what kinds of activities they are involved in.

Edwards says she likes the campaign because it combats some of the negative information, like statistics on student behavior, that the group sometimes shares to inform parents.

“I think the kids who get in trouble or who make a mistake get talked about, but the kids who are involved in the community don’t necessarily,” said Edwards.

Beyond the social media profiles, Edwards said that the students have shown initiative by holding video and TikTok contests to connect with some of the younger students in the program.

“The creativity is so inspiring. The teenagers really know so much more about technology than I do,” said Edwards, who noted that she allows the kids to explore that creative itch by suggesting programs for PIC to use.

Every two years, Clinton students are anonymously surveyed to keep track of substance use trends in town. Right now, Edwards said the group is working to see if there is a creative and informative way the group can release the full results. One possibility the group is exploring is hosting a webinar on substance use in Clinton, though more information needs to be gathered.

“These kids really understand some complex social health models,” said Edwards.

For more information, visit clintonpic.org.