Over 100 Year Four male students at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, divided in six groups, have received some beneficial counselling and related assistance aimed at a dual purpose.
On one hand, the day-long A-Men Seminar, as it was called, had the objective of helping the youngsters to make better choices in life. On the other hand, it was to help them to choose their CXC subjects and eventually point them to a career choice later on.
The event, at the Mount Fortune Seventh-day Adventist Church, several days ago, was organised by the Guidance & Counselling Department of the Comprehensive School in conjunction with a number of Church Pastors and other persons in the public and private sectors.
A devotional session, conducted by host Minister, Pastor Trent Berg, of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, preceded the seminar sessions in which he also participated.
“The A-Men Seminar is an annual event we hold for boys where it is men talking to young men,” Ms Emma Ferguson, one of the school’s counsellors, explained at the start of the event on January 22. “This year’s topics include Sex and Me; Healthy Relationship with Girls; Resolving Conflicts; What it means to be a Man; Effective Communications; and Living in a Technological World, followed by interactive sessions with different young men in the community.”
She added: “The youngsters were expected to tell us what was on their heart as the facilitators sought to guide them. They were with us all day at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We provided lunch for them and assisted them in making better choices in life. The male students are all in Year Four. They are beginning to pick their subjects, and they should have a mind-set as to what they want to do at school that will lead them into their career and future. So we were just imparting some assistance to them for their destiny.”
In addition to Pastor Berg, the officiating Ministers were Pastors Dexter Welcome of the Dominion Faith Centre and Assistant Gleason Brooks of the Church of God (Holiness).
Other facilitators included Keithstone Greaves and Joash Proctor who dealt with Effective Communications; and Mr Ivan Connor, Mr David Christmas, Mr Kevin Hawley, Mr Andre Samuels and Mr Clive F Smith who conducted several other sessions including the interactive portions of the seminar.
