Teen Maze returns to Early County

BLAKELY — The Early County Family Connection Collaboration had the well being of teens in mind when they brought the Teen Maze to the area a year ago. The event gives teens the opportunity to see first-hand how certain decision about matters such as sex, drugs and alcohol can impact their life.

The event is back for a second year and will take place Tuesday at Early County High School.

Teen Maze is composed of a series of stations set up in Early County High’s Hammack Gym. As students enter the maze, they start off at a fictitious party that is suddenly shut down by the police. Some kids are taken to “jail” immediately for underage drinking, while others are sent to the first booth of the maze. At the first booth, participants draw a script that depicts a possible scenario a teen might face at a party in real life.

The script will tell the teen what choice he or she made and direct them to their next stop. While the path through the maze is determined by chance, at each stop students see potential consequences to certain choices and how problems could have been prevented. Other booths involve pregnancy, graduation, drugs and alcohol, college and careers and more.

Gwen Houston, executive director of the Early County Family Connection Collaboration, said the event was a success last year thanks in large part to the nearly 70 members of the community who volunteered their time and services. She said that she and others realize the activity needs to be further supplemented with sex, drugs and alcohol education, but if it’s enough to get teens to stop and think for just a moment before they act, it is beneficial.

“It’s an activity designed to let teenagers see the consequences of the choices they make in a safe environment,” she said. “One event isn’t going to change everyone’s life, but it could get them to thinking and asking more questions, which will help them to make some healthy choices.”

Houston said that after last year’s event she noticed a change in certain perspectives as students gained more knowledge.

“Some of the data that we were able to collect was things that they didn’t know, like you can get an STD and not know it,” she said. “We raised education somewhat about myths and facts. There were a lot of misconceptions about prescription drugs. We noticed there was a difference in the pre and the post in finding out about prescription drugs and the dangers of taking drugs not prescribed to you.”

The maze will be open Monday from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. so parents have the opportunity to see exactly what their children will be experiencing. Houston said last year’s community showing had a low turnout partly because it was a new event, but this year they hope to change that. Houston said they have been promoting it online and there will be a $50 dollar grocery card drawing for those in attendance.

“They were stunned. They were amazed,” she said of last year’s attendees. “One of the ladies works for the school system and I ran into her the next day and she could not wait for her son to go through it and then come home and talk about what he had seen compared to what she had seen. It was a very positive reaction from everyone.”

Early County High principal David Ferry said the event comes at a time when students may have to make some of these decisions.

“We’re coming into Spring Break and we think it’s important teenagers know the consequences of the decisions they can make, especially at times of the year such as this,” he said. “We also have prom coming up, so if we have the chance to turn some folks around and help them make a good decision about their behavior, we’re glad to do that and hope that will be the outcome of the Teen Maze.”