Episode 77: Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders (2026)

Meet Arthur Ferraz, Christos Sarris, Jafar Al-Hilfy, and Zoe Tendler! They are seniors at Watertown High School and members of the Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders group. Christina Lupica and Sofia Block, orgranizers of the group from Wayside Youth and Family Support Network here in Watertown, also joined us for the conversation. We talk about what it's like building community and connections as a youth, their honest views on technology and phones, their advice for freshman, what it's like being in the transitional phase as seniors, and more.

Find out more about the Watertown Youth Coaltion at watertownyouthcoalition.org.

Transcript

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Matt 0:02

Hi there, welcome to the Little Local Conversations Podcast. I'm your host Matt Hanna. Every episode, I sit down for a conversation to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. For this episode, I went over to the high school to talk to a group of students who are part of the Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders Group, which is organized by the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network here in Watertown. And I chatted with four of their Peer Leaders, seniors at the high school this year, Zoe, Christos, Jafar, and Arthur. And I had a conversation with some of the Peer Leaders last year, but it was a different group. So they have different insights and we get into some different topics. I'll let Christina Lupica, who runs the group for Wayside, introduce the group and give us a little information about what they do, and then I'll get into a conversation with the Peer Leaders.

Matt 0:49

All right, so I am sitting here today in high school. I'm here today with the Peer Leaders group, which is run by Wayside, and they meet here every week at the school. So why don't you, Christina, introduce what the Peer Leaders group is and a little bit of what you do?

Christina 1:02

Hello, everyone. I am the adult advisor for the Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders. We engage with Watertown high schoolers or anyone in town that's high school age that has an interest in mental health or substance use prevention work. And we run different events or go to different events around town to table and try to create fun moments and learning moments for young people in town and just try to get students more involved with things that are going around. And yeah, we meet once a week to plan and chat and check in.

Matt 1:41

Cool. Thanks. All right, so now we're gonna talk to some of the Peer Leaders. So do you want to just briefly say your name and introduce yourself?

Zoe 1:49

Hi, my name is Zoe.

Christos 1:50

My name is Christos. 

Jafar 1:51

My name is Jafar. 

Arthur 1:51

I'm Arthur.

Matt 1:55

All right, so I've been here before and I talked with Peer Leaders last year about the experience of being a youth in the community. So I want to hit some different angles with you guys, even though you're a different group, you'll have different perspectives, of course.

Matt 2:06

I threw a couple of my taglines for the podcast out to you, and you had some thoughts on those. The one that's most interesting to me that's been on my mind recently is be curious, be local, be human. So just when I say that phrase, be curious, be local, be human, as a youth in this community, do any of those stick out to you and your experience here?

Zoe 2:26

I feel like it's really important to be curious and like put yourself out there when trying to find new activities. A part of that is just being local. So I think they work really hand in hand.

Christos 2:35

I agree with her saying that because you're young, you don't fully know everything, you don't know how you act. And even if you don't stay local, you might be a different person later on in a whole different area. So who knows?

Zoe 2:48

Also, when you're thinking about like high school, put yourself out there and try new things and figure out what you like. It really is helpful if you stay with an open mind and like try new things. Stay curious about what could be, like what are you interested in? Sign up for like random events you might hate, but you still did it. So now you know you hate them. So yeah.

Matt 3:07

Yeah, a lot of self-discovery at this age. It's just as important, like you said, to know what you don't like than what you do like as well. Yeah. So how have you used your curiosity, I mean, you found this group, but how have you used your curiosity to be actually part of the community in different ways?

Zoe 3:21

For me personally, it was trying to figure out, because I was a part of the student leadership academy. And from that, we got put into different group activities and I was put on the teen advisory board at the library. So I feel like a part of me was curious to sign up to do some new program. And now like I'm a part of something that helps bring kids to the library and like helps out high school students. From that, we've also made other peer mentorship programs. So it kind of all circles back to like helping out this high school.

Christos 3:50

I can say it's my first year being here. I'll admit I personally haven't done much outside of some of the little events that we've done around the school. But when we do those, I try and like push everyone, get a little interested, try and find us on social media and stuff. Because sometimes there's some little stuff there that's interesting. And I think a lot of people can benefit from it with stuff like that. But I also know that a lot of people like a little face-to-face. They don't want to just see something. If someone's like trying to get you interested, I feel like it'd be better if they tell you face-to-face than like, read our little article on the screen that like might help you. They want direct connections. That's what I at least try to do with what I've been here for.

Matt 4:30

Yeah. So how do you, with the youth, how do you get people involved face to face? You know, I always hear that kids are so attached to their screens, when adults are so attached to their screens too. Is that a real thing that you see in your life? And how do you get people involved in being in the real world, IRL, whatever they say these days?

Zoe 4:49

Honestly, I feel like adults sometimes make out phones and technology to be a lot worse than they are. They're definitely not like perfect, but I feel like a lot of times there'll be like circle group meetings where like teachers, what is wrong with this photo? And it's like a bunch of kids on their phone. And what if they just want a break from each other? What if they're doing an activity altogether on their phones? A lot of people just view that you're not able to make a community online. And I just think that you totally can. And nowadays you kind of start your community online and then move forward to meeting in person. And I just feel like a lot of adults need to realize that that's just like how it is nowadays. You can't really like view kids and think that they're not doing anything online.

Matt 5:26

Can you take us through an example of starting a community online that then led to in-person?

Zoe 5:31

From what I see like on Instagram and stuff, for example, like college clubs, they start off by making like advertisements online. Like they just like join us at this club meeting. They make posts to like reach out to others. So you can be scrolling and be like, wow, that looks so cool. I'm gonna join that. I think stuff like that, or even like game stuff, people make friends through games all the time online. I think nowadays it's actually kind of like a middle ground of how to meet people.

Matt 5:54

Anything to add on? 

Christos 5:56

I mean, basically the same stuff as her, even with the game stuff. I met some kid six years ago, and now I know him that he goes to like Brown University, and like we met through a little game, and I think stuff like that's important, and stuff like the college stuff that she said. I know someone else. There's like a giant little group chat of everyone going to the Brandeis school for their class, and it's like hundreds of people, and none of them have really met in person, but they talk there every day. So you can just do a lot of stuff online, it's easier, in my opinion, too. Obviously, the face-to-face stuff is good, but like not everyone's close to each other all the time. So it's easier just to shoot a little text. And I can say a lot of the older people, I come from a lot of people who are like old schoolish too, who are always like, get off the phone, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it's a little bad. I can also admit that I have a problem. Everyone has a little bit of a problem in my opinion, but I think they're just too used to it being like the bad thing that they don't try and see the good thing because it's just what they're used to.

Matt 6:54

Yeah, we could go down the phone thing for a while. Maybe I don't want to do that for a long time. Yeah, so what other things do you see the youth doing in the city to get involved locally in the real world in Watertown? What are the ways that they are getting involved?

Zoe 7:09

I mean, since high school has a graduation requirement of doing community service of like 36 hours, I think it kind of forces a lot of kids to go out in the community and do something. So that's definitely one way people like help shovel snow in the winter. But also, like, besides that, I not in like an educational community sense, but I feel like a lot of kids in Watertown prioritize the park. They meet up and like we'll go play basketball with each other. They'll hang out with friends. You really see like a lot of that when the weather gets nice.

Christos 7:37

Yeah. What's really nice about here is they also have the Boys and Girls Club over there, which I know a bunch of people that work there. It's a very good place for just kids to meet. They have a bunch of other stuff there, like they even have special stuff for swimming. And I could tell you, at least from when I was younger, I thought swimming was like the coolest thing ever. So it's just like a good way for them to encounter each other.

Matt 7:57

Yeah. And how do you feel about being out in the community, meeting people other than just your peers at school all day, you know, interacting with people from different generations? Does the community service help you get a better perspective on those different people in your community?

Zoe 8:11

I think so. I mean, my main community service activity was this peer leadership. And I feel like it's helped me kind of put myself out there. Like I did a Sparkshare summit in Boston where we met other peer leader groups and stuff. So I definitely kind of put myself out there and get to know other people.

Matt 8:27

You have any experience with other generations?

Christos 8:30

I could say I've talked to other generations around here. I mean, I consider myself to be more of an extroverted person, so I try and talk to a lot of people. And my dad has like a little shop in more of the other side of town. He knows people. So I technically, not know them, but like I've talked to a bunch of people from all the generations. So I try and talk to everyone. And then there's like a little church that we go to sometimes. It's a Greek community. They have a little festival which is happening now. So I try and talk to everyone when I go there and when I, we just go there sometimes around the year. So I can say I've talked to a lot of people. And I think we got a little great community here. We got a nice group of people here. Small little town, but great.

Matt 9:11

Yeah. So let's go community in a different way. So do you find yourself gravitating towards being part of just a small group of friends? Or do you find yourself wanting to be part of something larger as well?

Zoe 9:24

I guess I have like a small group, but at the same time, I feel like I know a lot of people. Like I feel like this town is really small, so you can just know everyone without like really knowing them. Which is kind of nice, I guess, because you kind of have classes and mutual like acquaintance, but like they don't have to necessarily be your best friend. It kind of feels nice.

Christos 9:42

I can probably say the same thing. I got a small group of buddies for myself, but I try to talk to everyone because like you never know who's quiet, and sometimes they just need someone to like help open them up a little bit. Everyone's good in their own way. So you just gotta try and be buddy buddy with everybody. You might not even know them, but just like say hi if you see them. You don't even need to like talk to them that much. I think it helps a lot with people in their self-esteem.

Matt 10:07

So maybe I could have you maybe try and talk to a few different types of people. Let's say for freshmen coming to high school, is there anything that you would tell them about feeling like they're belonging to the community?

Zoe 10:20

The main thing I would just say, I guess it's like an umbrella advice. Be easy on yourself. I guess that goes for community as well. It's just like don't try to force yourself to make friends. Don't force yourself to go out, put yourself out there, take your time, do what's comfortable for you, and like ease into it. The worst thing for this whole four years is like burning out, not being able to like do it all what you want.

Christos 10:43

Yeah, I feel like the same way. I feel like the bar is being raised every year for everyone to try and be like better than the last. So just take it easy on yourself. You just started, just enjoy it while you can. I mean, they also just got a brand new school now too. So take in all the glory.

Jafar 11:00

I actually want to say more about that type of like situation in high school. But it also has to do with like advocating for yourself more. Advocating for yourself, for your education, for your future, because that's when you're gonna start becoming your own person.

Matt 11:16

Yeah, and is there anything personally that helped any of you get from, you know, I'm sure you're a lot different people than you were when you were a freshman to where you are now in terms of your confidence of belonging. Is there anything that specifically helped you? Are there any specific resources or any places that helped you out getting through that experience?

Zoe 11:36

Not really. I feel like everyone's high school experience is different and there can't be just one space. My experience is not like the same as someone else's, so like I don't think that we can have like a common ground. At the end of the day, you really just need to figure out your own kind of vibe. And that's goes into being easy on yourself, like not forcing too much. It's like sometimes like it's a rough four years. Sometimes you can't really do anything about it. It can be in an awkward state of like trying to find a way to fix what's happening, but you also can't like really do anything. You just kinda have to like go with the flow a little bit.

Arthur 12:12

As you said, go at your own pace, and as you said, you're gonna be a completely different person four years from now. As for resources, I'd say like your own personal choice is the best resource. My tip is you should really put yourself out there first year and just do like a little trial and error. You can choose to like stick with a group of people for a couple of years, but if you don't want to, there's no problem switching some people around.

Zoe 12:38

There really isn't anything like holding you back. Just take things like as you go, be okay with like trying new things. I mean nothing is like set in stone. What Arthur is saying, like, if you don't want to hang out with a group of people, then don't. If you want to hang out with a group of people, then start doing so. Your best resource is just gonna be like your personal judgment.

Jafar 12:56

And I feel like you're gonna make personal mistakes with that. I made mistakes, and that's how you gotta grow up with it. That's pretty much how you gotta learn like your own values.

Matt 13:05

Now, if we talk on the other perspective, maybe. So how do you think that perhaps people in the city that are of older generations could do a better job of including the youth in the community?

Arthur 13:18

I think we've been fine in that like situation. Watertown has been a very welcoming community. I don't think there's that many changes that we need in Watertown that involves like community stuff. So I feel like the older generation, they have given us a good space to like live, just like enjoy childhood.

Zoe 13:35

Yeah. 

Matt 13:36

Cool. All right. You're doing a good job, older generation. Nice work. I don't know, was there any other, from anything that we've been kind of talking about, was there any other topics you wanted to go on a little more or felt like another idea popped up at some point that you wanted to touch on?

Arthur 13:51

I feel like technology has like a lot.

Matt 13:53

Yeah, we can dig into technology more for sure if you guys wanna. So was there any particular angle in that that you were thinking?

Arthur 13:59

My opinion personally, I don't see technology shaping or at least our generation's life that much. You know, the newer generation, they've been born with, you know, these resources which have shaped their life quite a lot. But for us, we got to like enjoy a little bit of like just nature and just you know how it was. But yeah, for like our generation, again, I don't see any change if we did not have a cell phone with us at all times. I feel like we actually benefit quite a lot of the freedom that we have.

Matt 14:29

And what has been your experience? I know there's been different cell phone policies in the school in the past few years. What has been your experiences with those? 

Jafar 14:36

Very different.

Zoe 14:37

I think that like now we have like Doorman where it locks your phone. I honestly think that like all these phone policies are kind of like stupid. If someone can't handle their phone, I think that's just more of a problem of the school. A class should be like interesting enough and teachers should be interesting enough, more excited to teach and more excited to engage students where they want to understand what's happening and not like want to look at their phone. And so, like back, I think like freshman year, like when there was like not really that many phone rules, it's not that hard to put your phone in your bag if you actually want to care what's happening. And now that's like how it is for a lot of students, because there's definitely students who like lock in for one class and like don't care about the others because are really interested in like one specific subject.

Jafar 15:18

There was a phone tree.

Matt 15:19

And for people listening who don't know what a phone tree is, what is a phone tree?

Zoe 15:22

Oh, it's just like a shoe tree. Yeah, that you just put your phones and like teacher would be like, oh, someone's like, it would be like the amount of numbers of students. It's like, oh, we're missing two phones. But also like by the end of the year, teachers like stop caring really. If they're making like an engaging classroom, they know that their students are listening.

Matt 15:39

And Doorman, I guess, should explain that for people listening too. Doorman is an app that's when you go into each class, or is it just at the beginning of the day where you're?

Zoe 15:46

Each class, it's like a VPN.

Matt 15:48

So it uses it like as the attendance and it turns off all the apps and stuff.

Arthur 15:52

Doorman, you know, this app, the phone policies. I feel like it only really affects like a small group of people at this school. I also believe that it's not really that hard to like put your phone away, actually, you know, be engaged in the classroom. Yeah, going back to what I said, I feel like phones do have a benefit, you know, like you can communicate with a lot of people. But at the same time, I feel like excessive use can cause like a disruption, you know, at school. But I feel like these phone policies in recent years have been, I feel like, a little bit too exaggerated. I feel like it was not that serious.

Matt 16:26

And why do you think there is a disconnect between the opinions on this?

Arthur 16:29

Just like the older generations, you know, they prefer to look at the negative outcomes of stuff rather than the positive, especially like in news. You know, like opinion-based articles and stuff talk badly about, you know, technology in general. So the older generation prefers to look at that rather than like the benefits. And because of that, they're like kind of scared about it. You know, they're scared about technology evolving. You know, it's like AI becoming something bigger now. There is a reason to kind of be uncomfortable about it, but in the past years I feel like phone use or like iPad use or just like whatever use of technology at school shouldn't be looked at as just completely negative, but should it be looked at as a resource to like engage your students.

Matt 17:14

What are some of the I guess inside or outside school, I mean, we've touched on some of them already too, but what are some of the positives of technology in your phones that you feel like it's enriched your engagement with other people?

Arthur 17:25

Chris has made a good point about, you know, having the chance to talk to people from like around the world and just like talk to people that you can't normally talk to in person. During the pandemic, it was a really good resource to talk to people. I've met countless people on the internet that have shaped my life. And it wouldn’t be possible if I didn't have a computer at home during my free time.

Matt 17:50

Do you guys feel like there's any topics that you think they have some insights on that I haven't hit on?

Christina 17:55

I'm just trying to think about like a year from now, this building won't be the high school. The four of you will be doing something else every Monday, three to four, you know. A couple of you have been doing this for at least all of this year or two years. Just like how to deal with the scary excitement of the next phase, I guess, or what's like your final mic drop thing you want to say about high school?

Arthur 18:23

I feel like the process of preparing for the future has been like a lot more stressful than, you know, the outcome. You know, during the year, for me personally, it's been a very stressful year in terms of just like preparing for the future, you know, trying to like get good grades, trying to talk to people. You know, your last year can't really leave without being like isolated or like in solitude. But after everything's been done, I just feel like I'm fine now. I feel like it shouldn't have been as stressful or as like panic inducing, yeah, anxiety inducing. I don't know, I just feel like the process of high school is just a very stressful thing compared to like actually growing up. I've had a better experience with applying to colleges, talking to new people for like roommates and stuff.

Zoe 19:07

I think it's like a weird middle ground in your life. Because there's so much you need to get done in such a short period of time. But also like what he was saying, like it's so stressful and so draining, and like the rest of your life won't be this draining. It's just you have to like or hopefully not. You like just have to cram in so much life-changing skills, life-changing decisions. So you just have to like cram everything within four years. And like the way you cram in the how you treat yourself and how you treat your environment is really affects what you end up doing. But at the same time, you can feel like what you wanted, it like doesn't even end up working out. So it's a very like rough especially like the last I think two years is like when everything starts getting like really real. It becomes like a very oh my god moment. And I think that's just high school is just like a really awkward stage in between what you are like gonna be doing in the future.

Arthur 20:01

You know, as I said, the past four years has been quite a struggle, but I feel like the outcome is kind of like needed so you can grow and like shape yourself. I don't think I could be the same person as I am now if it weren't for you know, cramming for like a test the day before or you know, like almost crying because you got like an F or something with some assignments. Yeah, I just feel like school, it's a really weird relationship. You know, it's like a bittersweet, you know, like you'd rather not be at school. But It's kind of needed. 

Christos 20:29

Bittersweet.

Sofia 20:30

I have a, I have a. Hello, late introduction. My name is Sofia, I'm a clinical intern with Wayside, and I co-run this club with Christina, just for reference. But when you're talking about like mic drop moment, just listening to all of you today, and what I've learned from the peers this year is just how important and impressive it is to see teenagers be able to talk about this stuff and be so willing to like put your opinions out there. Cause like I see it at the tabling events. You guys help your peers so much. Just them seeing that there's people out there who are willing to discuss mental health and community and all the other things we've been talking about today. Like it's really cool and impactful to see teenagers like you guys put your voices out there and put your opinions out there. And I think it's really impactful.

Matt 21:15

Yeah, I think I'm gonna wrap it up here. Thank you guys for sitting down and chatting. It's been interesting to hear.

21:20

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Matt 21:22

So that's it for my conversation with the Peer Leaders. If you want to hear more episodes of the podcast, more conversations with people in the city, you can head on over to LittleLocalConversations.com. There I have all the episodes, you can see upcoming events, sign up for my weekly newsletter, keep up to date with everything. If you do have an artsy bend to you, love you to check out the Creative Chats Conference. That's gonna be happening on Thursday, June 4th from 12 to 4 p.m. It's gonna be at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, and the theme is how to support a healthy local arts ecosystem. It's gonna be an afternoon of interactive panels. So if you are in the local arts scene in any way, come check it out. Have your voice heard as we come up with ideas and brainstorm together how to make a healthy local arts ecosystem. You can find all information at LittleLocalConversations.com/events. 

Matt 22:12

All right, and I want to give a few shout-outs here to wrap things up. I want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council, who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Find out more about them at WatertownCulturalCouncil.org and MassCulturalCouncil.org. And a couple more shout-outs to promotional partners. First, the Watertown Business Coalition. Their motto is Community Is Our Business. Find out more about them and their events at WatertownBusinessCoalition.com. And lastly, Watertown News, which is a Watertown Focus Online newspaper. It's a great place to keep up to date with everything going on in the city. Check that out at WatertownMANews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.