Melissa Andres used to feel scared and unsafe going to her high school. Violent fights and threats among students created an environment of fear that students wanted to escape. In addition to the everyday conflicts, there was always at least one major incident every year at San Leandro High School: a deadly shooting, even a murder-suicide.

“I remember that many students wanted to get transferred to a different school - I was one of them,” says Melissa.

Fortunately, things have improved since Melissa began attending San Leandro High School (SLHS) three years ago. SLHS students recently held a news conference to mark the end of the school's 2010 Season of Service, Period of Peace -- a ten-week period between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Cesar Chavez Day when students engage in service-learning and community service projects to promote peace on campus and within the community. Students are challenged to discover how to work with others to promote communication and understanding. This year's effort involved nearly 800 students and has resulted in the third year of decline in violence and tensions on school campus. Suspensions at the school due to fights have been reduced by forty percent. 

Andres joined the program because she was tired of been afraid. “I did not want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”, she remembers. Now she sees and feels the difference when she walks in the campus. “You can hardly see fights anymore. Everybody is now more aware of how violence affects all of us not just the students involved in the fights. It is really important to raise awareness of what is going on,” she adds.

“I am seeing less and less fights or conflicts in school,” said Linda Granger, principal of San Leandro High School. “The students are really forging their own school culture—one of respect and acceptance. I am really proud of their dedication and commitment to promoting peace and communication among their peers and within the community.”

“The program enforces the feeling of been responsible and conscious of the decisions that the students made,” says Nic Knudsen, counselor at San Leandro High School.

“We are all in this together,” adds Melissa. “Our differences are assets in the school rather than the reverse. It becomes a pride in the school.”

Now in its third year, Season of Service, Period of Peace is a collaborative project of the Alameda County Office of Education and the San Leandro Unified School District. 

“I want to salute San Leandro High School students for their courage to support non-violence and peace within their school and community,” said Sheila Jordan, Superintendent of Alameda County Schools. “We applaud their creative leadership to effect change by educating the community about improved communication among fellow classmates.”

Melissa is now ready to go to Cal State Long Beach. She feels happy and proud of the progress that the whole community of San Leandro High has made. “Now I feel safe and I think that the majority of the violence is gone”, she says with enthusiasm. “It is going to take a while to end the violence but definitely it is going in the right direction.”