City honors Casa Grande student

Mayor David Glass presented a proclamation to Casa Grande senior Sarah Soss in honor of naming the month of February as “Teen Dating Violence Awareness” month for the city of Petaluma. 

“One in three adolescents in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner,” read Glass from the city’s proclamation. “High school students who experience physical violence in a dating relationship are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, are at greater risk of suicide, and are much more likely to carry patterns of abuse into future relationships.” 

Soss, a youth advisor to Guided to Safety, accepted the proclamation on behalf of her school, which will be observing Respect Week on the Casa Grande High School campus during the week of Feb. 9 through 13. 

“Nearly half of teens who experience dating violence report that incidents of abuse took place in a school building or on school grounds,” stated the proclamation. “Only 33 percent of teens who are in an abusive relationship ever tell anyone about the abuse.” 

Trisha Almond, who heads Guided to Safety, the local organization working with Soss to end teen violence and abusive behavior, said she started the program four years ago after seeing the play “Vagina Monologues” in Petaluma.

“It spoke to me. It made me want to help others and get the word out until the violence stops,” said Almond.

Almond noted that, while certain types of abuse were up to individual interpretation, many teens can be unaware that they should not have to endure abusive treatment just because it is familiar in their lives. 

“Sometimes teens - both the girls and the boys - are not aware that they are being abused because it has gone on for so long in their lifetimes, or they were never given the self-esteem to understand they should not be treated disrespectfully,” said Almond.

(Contact E. A. Barrera at ernesto.barrera@arguscou rier.com)