A group of sixth grade students at Leflore Legacy Academy got an opportunity over the weekend to learn about conflict resolution from a community activist who has a long history with working with at-risk youth in Leflore County.
“Conflict is a natural condition of life,” Shun Pearson, senior consultant of Mississippi Delta AT-Risk Youth Consultants LLC, said to the group of nine students gathered at the school.
Pearson had the group of students write examples of conflict and explain how to resolve them.
He stressed to the students that they should not let “petty conflict take you out of this Earth.”
He also told the students that they need to handle conflict in the right way and doing so helps them build character.
Some ways to practice conflict resolution include taming one’s emotions, avoiding taking issues personally and prioritizing resolution of the conflict rather than centering on being right.
The discussion soon led to the matter of gun violence in the community. Several students talked about regularly hearing gunshots throughout the Greenwood area.
Kiara Williams, a college and career counselor at the school, was present at the gathering. She told the students to consider themselves leaders and starters of movements and added that they possess the solution to gun violence.
“You are the solution. You take what you learn and you share the information,” she said.
Pearson is a physical education teacher at Threadgill Elementary, but he said the work he’s doing in partnership with Leflore Legacy is through his own consulting program, Mississippi Delta At-Risk Youth Consultants LLC.
Pearson’s program, which meets one Saturday a month, has already addressed behavior via social media. He plans to teach students about approaches to academics as well as team-building activities through a camping trip.
Pearson has so far worked with 30 students at Leflore Legacy, although he said he hopes to reach more students at the school. He also hopes his program will be supported by local government in order to widen his scope.
Citing the plethora of talent in the Delta, Pearson said he wants to influence as many youth as possible in Leflore County in order to see a difference going forward.
Synia Tate, one of the sixth graders on hand Saturday, said she learned a lot from Pearson.
“I think it’s best for us kids to change the community because if we don’t do it who will?” she said. “I wish that Greenwood could be better, and I hope we can change our bad ways into good ways.”
After the presentation, Williams said the point of Pearson’s program is to teach students how to control their anger as well as to solve problems in a positive manner.
Williams added that the school seeks to create a supportive culture for its students by implementing calm classroom techniques. These include teaching mindfulness to teachers and students in order to ease stress, as well as restorative practices, such as teaching students how to build healthy communities.
• Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
