Student-Led Community Dialogue Focuses on Prevention of Youth Risk Behaviors
April 08, 2025
Guest post by Ranee Hall ’28
On Thursday, Thetford Academy students and community members joined the Getting to Y club to discuss the root causes of – and potential solutions to – student concerns identified in the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data. This Community Dialogue event was a follow-up to the club’s February 14 data analysis retreat, where members used the YRBS results to narrow their group’s focus to three student concerns.
The event, attended by more than 25 students and community members, aimed to dive deeper into the three concerns, explore root causes, and define action steps to address them.
The discussion focused on three major concerns faced by Thetford Academy students:
- 32% of females compared to 13% of males reported unwanted sexual behaviors
- 38% of females compared to 5% of males attempted to lose weight in unhealthy way
- 44% of females compared to 22% of males currently drank alcohol and 24% of females compared to 10% of males binge drank in the past 30 days
Starting off in small working groups, attendees brainstormed possible root causes for each concern, then brought their ideas to the larger group for discussion. After the groups worked through the causes, they moved on to discuss possible solutions and prevention methods. Finally, the group organized solutions into the themes and patterns that will serve as a framework for the Getting to Y club as they work to reduce risk behaviors at TA.
Discussing these difficult topics is the first step to reducing risk behaviors and changing the outcomes of future YRBS surveys. As one attendee shared, it’s unique and important to focus on “prevention solutions, not just ways to solve something after it happened.” Over the next several months, TA’s Getting to Y club will use the framework developed at the Community Dialogue session to define and implement their next steps in improving student health and well-being.
Attendees said that the Community Dialogue was “engaging, helpful, and informative” and were excited to see student-led change in action. To students, community engagement showed that people care about these issues and student concerns are important to community members as well as students. The Getting to Y club plans to keep the positive energy and momentum going and will keep the community informed and engaged about future events and actions.
