Freshman are Educated for the Future: Teen Maze
December 5, 2019
On October 23, the freshman of AHS attended an interactive program at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds called Teen Maze. Its purpose is to inform and show some of the choices in life that might get in the way of graduating high school. Although some students expected it to be, the maze as they call, it was not a maze. It was groups of tables, separated by dividers, to form each of the 40 stations.
The choices students made in their fictional lives were not their own. The staff and volunteers at the event chose randomly where they would go. A wristband that was either red, yellow, blue, or purple decided a student’s first location. Sofia Abshire and Zeena Bixby died automatically and had to read their eulogies, written by them, in front of a mirror above an empty casket. Zeena said, “I learned to think about my decisions and not do bad things on impulse.”
Tyashia Farmer got to visit her favorite station, the pregnancy clinic. There she toured three different tables talking about the three trimesters while wearing the pregnancy belly, which was actually a bag of sand. Fortunately, she graduated, but not before giving the baby up for adoption. Farmer was slightly overwhelmed at the beginning of the maze, where they’d staged a car accident and with actual 911 responders. She said, “I thought the set up was kind of ridiculous at first because of the makeup. It was very sad when I realized how careless people are when driving.” Overall, the experience for her is one to remember.
The Rehab and Parole station were also some favorites of the freshman, as they were very interactive, and you received prizes for your participation. At the parole station, you were instructed to pick garbage up off the ground. This station was Grace Lovejoy’s favorite because she’d seen people doing this before and it felt more immersive. Belle Fuller liked graduating because of the reward at the end, and Matt Johnson was very much entertained at the STD clinic with the disease wheel. The STD wheel was a multi-colored wheel, located at the STD clinic, with different types of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on each slot. Whatever STD you landed on, was the one you had.
Topics like these are covered in the health classes here at AHS, but it is always great to get an expert’s interpretation of it. The freshman enjoyed Teen Maze thoroughly and are pleased to have a more detailed outlook about these topics.
