Ivy Watts, mental health empowerment speaker and founder of Ivy Watts Speaks, hands the microphone to a student during Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth’s conference, “Building Leaders for a Better Future.” (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
WAKEFIELD – Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) hosted an in-person conference for students, “Building Leaders for a Better Future,” on March 20 at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers.
Approximately 175 students and 26 advisors from middle schools in Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Chelsea, Danvers, Lowell, Lynn, Milton, Newburyport, North Reading, Randolph, Revere and Stoneham attended the conference.
Essex Tech School Resource Officer (SRO) Michael Chase and mental health empowerment speaker Ivy Watts spoke with participants about leadership strategies and guided discussions focused on developing and practicing effective leadership skills. This was the first of three workshops for students that enhances leadership potential, increases mental wellness, promotes healthy life choices and builds confidence and resiliency.
The conference opened with remarks from Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker, who spoke to the audience about aspects of leadership before honoring Thea Splansky, the student who won the high school category of MPY’s annual poster project competition.
Thea, a tenth grade student from Lynnfield High School, won the contest for this year’s theme of “Kind People Are the Best Kind of People.” Her hand-drawn poster illustrates the importance of acting with compassion, care and understanding toward everyone, including oneself.
SRO Chase, a Boston Marathon bombing survivor, shared his perspective on trauma, resilience, the power of kindness and how it can transform individuals and communities.
With over 25 years of experience serving at-risk youth as a special education teacher, then as a police officer and now as an SRO, Officer Chase uses the knowledge he gained in education and law enforcement to teach his audience to lead with strength under pressure, build a positive culture through trust, and create environments where people feel safe, understood and supported.
Ivy Watts, founder of Ivy Watts Speaks, shared her story of the mental health struggles she experienced as an All-American student-athlete and Top 30 NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist. She spoke about the anxiety, burnout and self-doubt she dealt with despite appearing successful and confident to outsiders. She explained her healing journey and taught students hands-on self care tools to increase mental wellness, self-love, confidence and resiliency.
Watts has shared her story with over 200,000 corporate professionals, students and coaches through keynotes, workshops and somatic coaching. Watts, who is Mental Health First Aid Certified, is also a published author and the founder of the blog, “Beautifully Simply You.”
Participants commended the conference for the opportunities it provided students to connect with each other and the motivation it inspired.
“Thank you so much for the invitation to the Middle School Leadership Conference by MPY,” said Ottoson Middle School Peer Leaders and Student Sponsors Vicki Ross, Kalina Akenson and Kira Weiss. “The planning was very thoughtful in giving natural break times for students to get to know each other and or to reflect during the break. The speakers were inspirational and our students are excited to implement what they have learned.”
A second middle school student conference will be held on Friday, March 27, at Worcester Technical High School.
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth. MPY programming reaches nearly 6,000 educators per year in Massachusetts, spread across approximately 300 districts, with more than 190 webinars and over a dozen conferences and seminars.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission. To learn more, visit: massachusettspartnershipsforyouth.com.
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From left, School Resource Officer Michael Chase, Lynnfield High School sophomore Thea Splansky and Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker pose with Thea’s poster entry for MPY’s annual project, with the theme “Kind People Are the Best Kind of People.” Thea’s entry won in the high school division and she was honored at the “Building Leaders for a Better Future” conference. (Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth)
