Thursday, September 13, 2018
Sixth-grade health teacher and lead secondary health educator Patty Zemke has always been aware of the diverse student populations in the Wausau School District. From supporting GSAFE alliances at the middle and high school levels to coordinating training on the power of language, Zemke has served as an advocate for LGBTQ youth.
The Wausau School District’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results match the statewide trend of higher risk behaviors among LGBTQ students. The YRBS is conducted every two years with the option for schools and districts to conduct their own surveys. “The biggest push for our district is to have students be comfortable at school, happy, and wanting to come to school. Knowing how to speak to students helps this,” Zemke said.
She has helped facilitate this work in several ways. The past four years, she has worked with the DPI on the implementation of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant called Wellness Improves Learning for Youth (WILY). Wausau’s focus for the grant was to decrease sexual risk behaviors among Wisconsin adolescents through safe and supportive environments, particularly for LGBTQ students, and to decrease sexual risk behaviors among Wisconsin adolescents through district policies and procedures.
The last two years, Zemke has also facilitated staff training through Kognito, which provides online conversation simulations focused on social, emotional, and physical health. Last year, all secondary staff participated in the training about mental health and parent conversations, while secondary educators learned about talking with students about mental health and where to refer them if they need support.
One particularly memorable Kognito simulation Zemke spoke of leads participants through how things play out after a student utters a “you’re so gay” comment during a class discussion. The simulation works educators through responses and how students are feeling during the exchange in order to better understand the feelings and repercussions of this language when it is used in the classroom.
Educators are not the only ones in the district developing their understanding of the importance of language and risk behaviors among youth. Three years ago, Zemke introduced the Providers and Teens Communicating for Health program (PATCH) at the high school level. Students from the Wausau School District were trained in how to talk to their doctors or healthcare providers to receive the best care possible. The students then teach healthcare providers how to use appropriate language with teenage patients. They also talk to other teens about how to talk to parents, how to ask for time alone with healthcare providers if necessary, and how to advocate for their own sexual health and mental health.
The program was so successful that Zemke agreed to continue the work with PATCH on a broader scale through PATCH Central Wisconsin, which includes students from the Wausau, Merrill, and DC Everest Area school districts. This summer, she learned that local healthcare providers had secured a grant through the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Community Engaged Research (CEnR) Seed Grant Program: MCW-Central Wisconsin and MCW-Green Bay Campuses. PATCH will continue through this grant, supporting ten more youth educators in delivering the workshops and exploring healthcare careers.
Overall, Zemke feels that the Wausau school district is ahead of the game with policies and staff development surrounding important issues for LGBTQ youth, but she knows that there will always be more work to do.
“The next step would be getting out into the community more and have the community feel more comfortable,” she said of her work. And of course, she plans to “continue to learn and develop and evolve to whatever students need.”