Chugiak Elementary third-grader Kinley Sanders (center) practices the skills needed to be a peer mediator, as experienced mediators, fifth-graders Haylee Huck (left) and Peggy Sadler (right) observe. The districtwide program teaches children to resolve conflicts peaceably. STAR PHOTO BY MELISSA DeVAUGHN

Kinley Sanders twisted her third-grade face in anger and scrunched her brow in frustration. She crossed her arms, and pointed at fifth-grader Merrick Johnson, performing an Oscar-winning rendition of a kid mad on the playground.

Then in stepped the mediators, two classmates trained to resolve conflicts among themselves. By the time the students were done with their interaction, Sanders and Johnson had smiles on their faces and were shaking hands.

This mock argument - part of an Anchorage School District-wide mediator program called Resolving Conflicts Creatively - took place during a two-day training session that teaches select students across the district to serve as role models for good behavior. The aim of the program is simple: to get kids to resolve conflicts among themselves before little arguments become big problems.

"The mediators are self-selected, and the teachers nominate others," said Lydia Wood, a third-grade teacher and mediator instructor at Chugiak Elementary School. "There are kids who really need (mediating) skills and those who already have them. We put them together and it's really neat to see a kid who's never been on the 'good list' feel motivated and involved."

At the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center, where the Chugiak Elementary students had their training for two days Nov. 5 and Friday, the program focused on the five steps of mediation: Introduce yourself as a mediator, listen to the disputants, look for solutions to the conflict, find resolution to the problem and report your findings to an adult.

Of course, there are even more rules within those five rules, and the mediators are quick to explain them - no name-calling, no interrupting, keep the mediation private, etc. - but the goal remains simple.

Wood said the mediator program only allows children to intervene in cases of verbal disagreements or simple arguments. Behavior that escalates into violence or that is illegal is obviously handled by an adult.

"If it becomes scary or dangerous, they always get an adult," Wood said. In fact, she said, an adult is present at all mediations.

"Interpersonal conflicts cover a wide range (of emotions), and regardless of how large or small the issue may feel to those outside the conflict, it's important to the parties involved," said Ann Bryson, with Safe and Drug Free Schools, which sponsors the program. "Using the skills to regain effective relationships pays high benefits -- playground issues get resolved and don't come into classroom time."

Fifth-grader Makenna Girard, 11, became a mediator when she was in fourth grade. She said the training helped her resolve conflicts with younger students, and it made her feel good to be able to help.

Chugiak Elementary School counselor Catharine Nyman rehearses conflict scenarios with students in the peer mediation program. The children learn skills that help them resolve conflicts among one another. STAR PHOTO BY MELISSA DeVAUGHN

"There were some kids that called someone a name, and the other kid got kind of whiny about it," she explained of her first call to duty as a mediator last year. "The other kids ended up giving in, after we talked about it, and they apologized. It made me feel good that they felt better."

Girard's classmate Johnson, 10, the subject of the "mock argument" earlier in the day, said he decided to become a mediator this year because he wanted to do something positive for the school.

"It's my last year here, and I'm the youngest in my family," he said. "I thought it would be cool to try it, to teach people not to take sides."

Resolving conflicts among peers is a proven strategy. Bryson said the program started 25 years ago, and recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary, using the Resolving Conflicts Creatively model.

"I have been doing this for 22 years, so I think it was around the beginning of when the program started," Wood said. "But there was a push four or five years ago to have it at the junior highs, and they've even tried a version of it at Chugiak High School."

Bryson said indeed Chugiak High has a similar program for older students.

Catharine Nyman, a counselor at Chugiak and Alpenglow elementary schools, said the training she helped facilitate at her two schools was a great success.

"Our Alpenglow students trained at the new library and it went fantastic," she said. "We had more than 50 participants.

"The reason we are able to do this is through the Safe and Drug Free Schools program, and it is a real asset to the schools."