Seven Hills Stomp Soldiers

Seven Hills Stomp Soldiers perform at Railers game
https://www.telegram.com/news/20190317/seven-hills-stomp-soldiers-perform-at-railers-game
By Christine Peterson
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted at 7:08 PM Updated Mar 17, 2019 at 8:45 PM

WORCESTER - Members of the Seven Hills Stomp Soldiers, counterclockwise from bottom row, second from left, Griselda Nyarko, Kendra Anim Center, Abigial Asare, Xiomarie Carraquillo Vega, Venessa Ankrah and Abena Ofori-Mensah, along with the rest of their dance troupe, perform Sunday at the Worcester Ice Center after the first period of the Railers hockey game.

The dancers are students at Seven Hills Charter Public School, where Fresh Start program founder Derrick Kiser recently spoke. The performance kicked off a mental health awareness campaign by Fresh Start, which helps youth in the criminal justice system turn their lives around.

Mr. Kiser says that in order to help young gang members to leave the criminal life behind, their underlying mental health issues must be addressed. He says many of them, like him, have post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health problems from the environments they grew up in.