'Expect Respect' Coming to Solon High Today

There's good relationships and bad relationships.

During the emotional and confusing time of adolescence, it can be difficult for a teenager to tell the difference between the two.

That's where Expect Respect comes in, which makes its annual stop at Solon High School today for a morning performance.

The program, founded by the Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland in 2001, features a 40-minute play depicting a day-in-the-life of teenagers at school. All of the actors are teenagers whose characters are caught in a variety of relationships – some healthy, some not.

The performance will be followed up in a week when Expect Respect returns to discuss some of the issues with freshman students.

"We use students in order to talk to other students about what's a healthy releationship, what's an unhealthy relationship and what's the difference between the two," said Dahlia Harris, teen outreach coordinator for the Jewish Family Service Association.

The play and follow-up discussions are frank and realistic, Harris said. The play features swearing and even portrays inappropriate touching.

"We try to make it as realistic as possible," she said. 

Teen dating violence is a real problem, and a 2000 report on intimate violence from the U.S. Bureau of Justice provides some eye-opening numbers.

About 33 percent of high school students have been or will be involved in an abusive relationship, and 40 percent of girls ages 14 to 17 said they know someone who has been hit by a boyfriend.

Solon High School has a strong presence in Expect Respect. The play features two Solon  students as actors, Liz Jones and Carly Chernomorets. Five other students participate on the advisory panel. They are Nadav Pecha, Nathan Lapin, Yolana Posta, Sherry Tanious and Ariel Bolden.

Harris said that having teenagers talk about the issue with other teenagers is an effective method. And while some of the issues are difficult to talk about, they would likely be more difficult if adults were trying to get through to the students.

"They are all in the same situation," Harris said.