Mercy Students Attend SADD Conference

Members of Mercy High School’s SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Chapter recently attended a leadership conference organized by the Middlesex County Substance Abuse Action Council.  Nine Mercy students, along with faculty moderator Mrs. Sanchita Maitra, participated in the “Leading with Assets” regional conference, where they came together with students from other schools to learn more about their responsibilities as student leaders and brainstorm better ways to help other teens recognize that they can be successful in the world.

The all-day conference featured keynote presenter Jim Conway, senior trainer at Search Institute, who spoke about the essential developmental assets for youth.  He urged the students in attendance to “start a community-wide initiative, creating organizational and community change on behalf of youth.”

Upon their return to Mercy, the SADD representatives who attended the conference shared the information they learned with other student members of their chapter and discussed ways to share the message they heard with the Mercy community.  The Mercy SADD Chapter, one of the largest organizations in the school, is part of the national SADD organization and holds monthly meetings where members listen and interact with guest speakers, watch and discuss videos which address destructive decisions of young people, and design ways to get the SADD message across to their peers.