Elizabeth Taylor '04

Elizabeth Taylor

Helping Troubled Teens Mediate Conflicts

When Applied Psychology major Elizabeth Taylor ran into the principal at Klamath Union High School, she bent the administrator's ear for ideas on where to find a good externship. The principal invited the Klamath Union grad to return to her old stomping grounds to help at-risk students.

Taylor jumped at the chance and, within months, she had set up a peer mediation program and reawakened interest in a mentoring project called "Teachers Encouraging Struggling Students" or TESS.

For the mediation program, Taylor trained student facilitators in the fine art of talking down angry friends and acquaintances and helping them avoid serious disputes. "I taught peers how to serve as a neutral third party between the students who are in the conflict," she explains. "We get them into a one-on-one situation where they agree that they won't call someone names or they'll stop causing problems for a classmate. It's about normal high school issues."

The experience gave Taylor first-hand knowledge of high school operations and the challenges counselors and teachers face when dealing with troubled tens. Her efforts also garnered measurable results. Klamath Union reported fewer violent episodes than in past years, which they attribute directly to Taylor's program.

"My externship prepared me to know what I will be getting into in my career," says Taylor, who will attend graduate school at Oregon State University in school counseling. "It's great that OIT allowed me not just to learn from a textbook, but to have this kind of experience."