Joliet Herald News
October 28, 2006
Peer messages replace peer pressure
Teen troupe acts, sings to get timely message across
By CATHERINE ANN VELASCOTAFF WRITER
JOLIET -- The fight in the aisle of the auditorium looked so real that Joliet West High School security called for back-up.But it was suppose to look real. Teens won't listen to adults lecture about abusive relationships, bullying, alcohol and making the right choices.But have other teens show them while singing and performing skits and they will listen, said Lauren Verstat, 17, a senior at Wheaton North High School. She's a member of the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe that put on a show Friday for seniors at Joliet West High School Friday. MWAH! stands for "messages which are hopeful.""We are just like them. We go to school. We face the same things like they do," Lauren said. "I go to parties all the time, and there is drinking. ... I know kids who do drugs. A lot of people I know smoke ... get in trouble, but I'm not one of them. If I can change their views, it's worth it."Fighting in the aisle
So to get those messages across they act out situations students might find themselves in -- like a fight."I do all these things for you!" yelled the young man before slapping the girlfriend, who then ran away from him. The boyfriend started to go after her, but was stopped by another young woman who let him have it verbally."Violence is used to deal with problems. That is not what love is really about," said MWAH! actor David Scarzone, 10, of Naperville. "Someday, I might have a girlfriend and become married. I would love to be a father. I would want to be a great husband for my wife and a wonderful example for my kids and that is what I really think love is about."While students cheered when the girlfriend refused to go back to the boyfriend, they all became quiet listening to Joanne Murdock tell how her son, Ryan Murdock, 19, died in May, 2005, in an alcohol-related crash. He wasn't wearing a seat belt.One of Ryan's friends in the car called her and her husband. They were the first to arrive to the accident. When she held her son, she said, he was very, very cold. She said she had to leave him, knowing he would never say "I love you" again.Murdock told students to be patient when their parents call to check on them and ask who they are with. They are doing it only because they care and want to make sure their children are safe, she said.Message received
That really hit home for Brittaney Wehnert, 18, a senior at Joliet West High School."I understand it now," she said. "I thought (my dad) didn't think I was grown up enough, that I couldn't take care of myself. ... But he really cares and doesn't want anything bad to happen to me."Reporter Catherine Ann Velasco can be reached at (815) 729-6051 or via e-mail at cvelasco@scn1.com.
LIZ WILKINSON ALLEN/THE HERALD NEWS 10/27/06
Jemell Moore, 28, of Chicago,
and Lauren Verstat, 17, of
Wheaton (right) sing a song called "Who You'd Be
Today" to Joanne Murdock, of Buffalo Prairie, Illinois, during
a performance
by members of the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe at Joliet West High School on
Friday. MWAH stands for Messages Which Are Hopeful. Murdock talked to
members of the senior class about her son, Ryan Murdock (pictured at left)
who was killed at age 19 in 2005 in an auto accident because he was driving
drunk
and speeding. The MWAH group talked and sang about a variety of issues
teenagers face during the two hour assembly.
Wheaton (right) sing a song called "Who You'd Be Today" to Joanne Murdock, of Buffalo Prairie, Illinois, during
a performance by members of the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe at Joliet West High School on Friday. MWAH stands for Messages Which Are Hopeful. Murdock talked to members of the senior class about her son, Ryan Murdock (pictured at left) who was killed at age 19 in 2005 in an auto accident because he was driving drunk
and speeding. The MWAH group talked and sang about a variety of issues teenagers face during the two hour assembly.