“Phly By Night” swoops into the lives of Galena teens

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Photo by Paul Apfelbeck

Students in an activity during last September’s “Phly by Night” in the GILA gym.

By KALA HENDRIKSON, staff writer

“Phly by Night” came to Galena on Jan. 21-22.

The event was part of Phlight Club.

Phlight Club helps you build a web of support, said Derek Peterson, founder of the Institute for Community and Adolescent Resilience. Mr. Peterson was joined for the Friday and Saturday gathering with SHS elementary teacher Jared Carlson and IDEA teacher and former Galena science teacher Corrie Hruby.

The event started in the GILA gym at 5 p.m. and went on until Saturday at 3 p.m. (the lock in). Phlight Club first did “Phly by Night” last semester and was a great success, said Mr. Peterson.

The event also helps you understand ROYGIBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, Blue, and Violet), he said. These colors have different meanings to them. When you walk around SHS or the dorms, you will find posters about what these colors mean.

“Phlight Club started as a class at Prescott College at Prescott, Arizona, and I was a college teacher there,” said Mr. Peterson. “The class was called Introductory to Changing the World.”

Phlight club also helps you to trust each other. There are trust activities we do. There is a bunch of other activities to do at Phlight Club. He’s been working with young people for more than a decade.

“The word Phlight Club came in 2007 from Yukon-Koyukuk,” said Mr. Peterson. Phlight Club has the “Rule of Five,” who are the five people you’re really close to. Those relationships build resilience and webs of support. This means that you can talk to anchors (adults) you are close to about what is happening in your life or what has happened before.

“Some of the kids that have gone and graduated from Phlight Club have gone and done big stuff, big jobs, start business, finish college education, become leaders in their village cooperation,” said Mr. Peterson.