CHESAPEAKE - Some Chesapeake students were STARS for a day.

STARS stands for Students: Trusting, Accepting, Respecting and Sharing. It is a positive peer leadership program sponsored by the Family Guidance Center through grants from the Alcohol and Drug Addictions-Mental Health Services Board of Adams, Lawrence and Scioto counties.

Chesapeake Middle School is participating in the program, giving students the opportunity to build character, connect with a positive adult role model, and have fun at the same time.

&#8220I am very excited about being able to work here at Chesapeake with the young people,” Mollie Stevens, prevention coordinator with the Family Guidance Center said Friday.

Thirty-eight students signed up for the program Friday, with more students bringing in permission slips at the end of the school day. Friday was the first meeting for the group, booster sessions will be held once a month at the middle school.

STARS is based on the Teen Institute model which was established in Ohio some 40 years ago. Students attending the program get to experience hands on fun activities geared to promote healthy lifestyles. Some of the things the youth will discuss include: Role play of assertive communication techniques, discussion of aggressive (bullying) behavior and feelings.

Students will also have the opportunity to build personal assets by connecting with a positive adult role model. The event includes family group cells which consist of small groups of youth and one adult facilitator to facilitate the character-building goals.

Stevens said that Family Guidance Center has also started a teen leadership club in the fifth and sixth grades and a STAND club for the seventh and eighth graders.

&#8220Building character is the toolbox for the future,” Stevens said.

It gives students the opportunity to &#8220cultivate what they need to be good citizens and lead healthy lifestyles and be productive citizens in life,” she said.