On Tuesday morning, the Safe Community Coalition paid a visit to Longfellow Middle School to talk to rising ninth graders (primarily against their own will).

As a first time Youth Advisory Council member, perhaps I should have been nervous to talk to middle schoolers about the perils of high school, but fortunately, I’m a naturally outgoing person and my and my team’s enthusiasm proved to be very effective at getting the eighth graders to talk.

Expecting questions about condom use and sketchy behavior at football games, I was shocked to find that our group of eighth graders was polite and reserved, even though their gym teachers had been instructed to leave the premises.

However, once we established that we were open to any conservation topic, the upcoming freshmen loosened up and asked questions ranging from sports to how many parties each of us crashed per night, seeming to forget that my team was chosen for being “model citizens.”

One especially anxious middle schooler asked, “So will I end up isolated and alone, left to fend off the drug dealers that roam the halls of Langley?”

With a laugh, we replied in the negative.