Moffett students win ‘Peer Mentoring’ T-shirt design contest

For the second year in a row, the Moffett Peer Mentoring group has won the T-shirt design contest which promotes learning about students with disabilities.

Two students who are part of the Student Wellness Advocacy Team (SWAT), Madalyn Williams and Rashiya Hall, seventh graders at Moffett School, recently received a $75 gift card for the design they created.

Their design will be printed on the T-shirts for this year’s campaign teaching students how to interact with others by accepting them for who they are, according to Moffett School Nurse Shannon Edwards.

Edwards, a nurse for Moffett and Brushy Schools, said she is also the sponsor of the Student Wellness Advocacy Team (SWAT) at Moffett and the Tshirt design contest is open to all students who are members of the SWAT Team, she said.

Together, Edwards, School Counselor Lindsie Dyer and Pervasive Parenting Kody Toney and Terry Yarbery, work with the students at Moffett as the Peer Mentoring group. The group takes a team of students each year and works with them on learning about students with disabilities, Dyer said.

“The program, through pervasive parenting, works on the RESPECT Campaign which teaches students to do away with the labeling of others with the ‘R’ word,” Dyer said.

“We never use the word ‘retarded.’ We just call it the ‘R’ word,” Dyer said. “Moffett is the only participating school in Sequoyah County but schools in other counties have the same program through pervasive parenting as well.”

The group competes with other schools offering this program each year for the T-shirt design contest, according to Dyer. Students are asked to submit designs for the contest and the Pervasive Parenting Board of Directors vote on the designs.

“All shirts have to incorporate a design that goes along with what we are teaching,” Dyer said.

Kodey Toney, who began the program through a grant provided to serve Eastern Oklahoma, said the Pervasive Parenting Resource Center, located at Carl Albert State College in Poteau, provides funding for the Peer Mentoring Groups, one in Moffett and one in Panama, through funding provided by a grant.

“I have a son with autism and after years of educating others about children with disabilities, we realized the peer mentoring program provides a way for us to educate students or staff on how to treat people with disabilities with respect and acceptance through some of the education we’re able to provide,” he said.

Pervasive Parenting Center is a not-for-profit organization made up of families, local educators, community leaders, and health-care professionals. They strive to provide a better life for families in eastern Oklahoma who are coping with disabilities, because they work and live with those same issues every day, Toney said.

Toney said the T-shirts are available for anyone. Anyone wishing to purchase a T-shirt or is interested in the program may contact him at 918-658-5076.