Fred Mitchell is the youngest of seven brothers. Mitchell recalled memories from his first home in Queens, N.Y. He always wanted to impress his older brothers, he said.
"That’s a lot of peer pressure."
The president and CEO of Next Level 4 Teens Inc., a nonprofit community organization for teenagers, talked to River Bend Middle School students Tuesday, Nov. 21, about the kind of pressure he experienced as a child.
With first semester grades about to close, Mitchell said he wanted to get out to at least one Loudoun County school before the Thanksgiving holiday, to talk to students about the positive ways to release pressure at stressful times in teenagers’ lives.
"Everybody say pressure," Mitchell said at the "Teen Peer Pressure" assembly.
More than 100 students shouted back, "Pressure!"
TUESDAY’S ASSEMBLY was geared toward eighth-grade students who will enter high school in September. Mitchell said the eighth-graders are at a critical point in their lives and need tools to help them cope with different pressures.
"How many people are under pressure in this room?" Mitchell said.
Students clapped their hands, made "whooping" noises and shook their heads "yes."
"Everybody’s under pressure," Mitchell said. "We’re all in the same boat."
With that said, the community leader turned his microphone over to four teenagers.
Andrew Lloyd is a freshman at Radford University in Radford, Va. The 19-year-old took time out of his vacation to talk to the eighth-graders about peer pressure because he said he knows what it’s like to feel overwhelmed and out of control.
Four years ago, Lloyd said he was getting into trouble at school.
"I was headed in the wrong direction, doing things I probably shouldn’t have been doing."
Around the same time, he met Mitchell who introduced him to Next Level 4 Teens. Lloyd said Mitchell took time to get to know him and gave him advice about how to get out of sticky situations and avoid bad decisions.
"Fred [Mitchell] helped me," he said. "He got me hooked up with the right people."
Now, Lloyd takes time to help others at the new Next Level 4 Teens Learning Center, a community center for teens in Ashburn.
"I want kids to know they’re not alone in this. Everyone experiences the same things," he said. "It’s important to reach out and let them know they’re going to be OK."
THE NEXT LEVEL Learning Center gives teenagers the option to talk to other teenagers or licensed professionals about serious, and not so serious, problems.
Dominion High School juniors Christie Troy and Kirstin Baker are teen mentors at the new facility in Ashburn. The Learning Center is not only a place to have fun, but talk about problems and "release some pressure," Troy said.
Baker’s favorite part of the job is talking things out with other people her age.
"We are all in the same boat," she said.
Troy and Baker said they mostly talk to other students about school and relationship issues.
"I think it’s easier for us to talk to each other about personal stuff like boyfriends and girlfriends," Baker said.
The Learning Center also has licensed psychologists on hand for students who need their expertise.
"Bottom line is, they're not alone," Mitchell said. "We need them to know that. We're here to help."