Poway Unified School District students to share with parents at free March 31 forum

Students will get a chance to share their concerns with parents and the community at the free “What I Wish My Parents Knew” forum, which will be held from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 at Rancho Bernardo High School, 13010 Paseo Lucido in Rancho Bernardo.

“What I Wish My Parents Knew” is a series of workshops lead by teachers, administrators and faith leaders. Over 1900 parents in the community have attended previous events, according to Student Services Coordinator Traci Barker-Ball.

Parents will get the opportunity to attend two sessions at the event, choosing from communication, academic pressure, social media, setting guardrails, relationships, drugs and alcohol, and depression and suicide prevention.

At a session last year, several students shared that they felt that academic pressure was a bigger issue for student than sex, drugs or alcohol, and that academic pressure was often what drove students to turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with stress, or to self-injure or develop eating disorders.

Each session will allow for interacting with other parents, and several will feature students sharing their own stories and thoughts about the topic at hand.

Parents will also get the chance to ask questions and have them answered.

“What I Wish My Parents Knew” was developed after the deaths of several teenagers in San Diego from drugs and alcohol in 2012. Daryl Nuss, CEO of the National Network of Youth Ministries and long time resident of Poway, met with former Poway High School Principal Scott Fisher for a discussion of what the faith community could do to help the school district deal with the issues students face.

The event steering committee currently consists of Barker-Ball; Fisher; Nuss; Susie Berner, Poway High School mother and community leader; Todd Cassen, principal of Westview High School; John Ettore, lead pastor of The Gathering Place; David LeMaster, principal at Rancho Bernardo High School; Greg Mizel, principal at Del Norte High School; and Jesse Winkler, pastor of Westview Church.

Hundreds of teens at Poway High School, Del Norte High School and several faith communities in the district were surveyed about what they were concerned about and what they wish their parents knew, which produced the topics that are discussed at the event.

For more information or to register visit www.whatiwishmyparentsknew.com.

The event is free, but registering will allow the event to send you a reminder email.