SALINEVILLE – Southern Local School District officials are seeking input in a campaign to help youth recognize that “YOU Matter Here.”

Kristy Sampson, district federal programs coordinator, is organizing a brainstorming session at Southern Local Jr./Sr. High School on Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. in the media center, school and community members will look for ways to help support children. This is a rescheduled meeting date; the initial session in January and was canceled due to weather. The campaign is in partnership with the Columbiana County Educational Service Center and PAX Program Manager Melissa Galbreath will be presenting. Sampson said the project stems from a developmental asset survey of junior and senior high school students ages 12-18 which was conducted by the CCESC. The developmental assets are building blocks for young people to be healthy, caring, and responsible citizens who contribute to their communities as productive adults.

The surveys are completed every few years to determine which assets students have developed and which ones still require support. The recent data indicated three main pillars, or categories: a sense of belonging and self-identity; parental presence and power; and community involvement as areas of needed support. The campaign will hopefully raise awareness and positivity. The meeting will aid with implementation at Southern Local.

“It’s an initial planning meeting with some staff and community input,” Sampson said. “The CCESC works with school districts to issue the developmental assets survey, and they identified three main pillars that kids in Columbiana County tend to need support in within their communities, family, and schools. They developed the ‘YOU Matter Here’ slogan to put together all of these pieces. Melissa Galbreath will present at the meeting in February to review the county and Southern Local data and then we’ll look at trends and identify what assets need support in our school and community.”

Sampson said Galbreath presented during a previous superintendents’ meeting and Southern leaders shared the information at an administrative team meeting to initiate the planning process.

“We identified that there was not a third space for the kids to hang out and develop positive assets outside of school or home and how we could create a positive, safe spaces to help them build developmental skills,” she added, saying the end goal is to provide activities and supports to benefit the youth.

Space is limited at the upcoming session and any community member interested in participating may contact Sampson at the administrative office by calling 330-679-2343, Ext. 4203, or email kristy.sampson@slindians.org.