Family members, staff, alumni, mentors, community partners, and supporters gathered at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University to celebrate The Adolescent Education Program, THEO (Teens Helping Each Other) Peer Leadership Initiative 2026 Peer Induction Ceremony, recognizing a new class of peer leaders and youth advocates who successfully completed six weeks and 120 hours of intensive summer training.
Through the Adolescent Education Program (AEP)/THEO — Teens Helping Each Other, participants spent the summer developing skills in health education, leadership, public speaking, research, communication, and community outreach.
Trainees explored a range of health topics, including HIV, sexually transmitted infections, anatomy and puberty, contraception, public speaking and healthy decision-making. Their training also included presentations, exams, teach-backs, journal assignments, research projects, and a comprehensive final assessment designed to prepare them to serve as informed and confident peer leaders.
The summer training program extended well beyond the classroom.
Throughout the summer, trainees participated in community outreach activities across Brooklyn, including events at Wingate Park, Love Fest, and other community-based settings. These experiences gave participants the opportunity to engage directly with community members and their peers, share health information and resources, answer questions, and introduce others to THEO and its services.
For many trainees, those interactions also represented an important personal milestone: learning how to step outside their comfort zones, communicate with confidence, and recognize their own ability to positively influence others.
During the ceremony, graduates reflected on that transformation. Several spoke candidly about entering the program feeling shy, uncertain, or simply viewing the opportunity as a summer job, only to discover a supportive environment that challenged them academically while helping them become stronger communicators and more confident young leaders.
One of the ceremony’s most powerful messages came from 2026 valedictorian Faith Pierre, who reflected on the responsibility that comes with knowledge and the important role young people already play within their families, friendships, schools, and communities.
“We don’t have to wait until we’re older to make an impact. We don’t have to wait until we have a degree, a career, or a title before our voices can matter. The impact we have on our communities matters now.”
Faith also reminded her fellow graduates that advocacy does not always begin with a speech or a formal title. It can begin by listening, correcting misinformation, answering a friend’s question, or creating a space where someone feels comfortable enough to ask for help.
Her message reflected the core philosophy behind Teens Helping Each Other: young people can be trusted sources of information, support, and leadership for their peers when they are given the knowledge, tools, mentorship, and opportunity to succeed.
From THEO Graduate to Public Health Leader
The ceremony also highlighted THEO’s lasting impact through an alumni address from Raeann Rolston, who completed THEO’s summer training program 17 years ago and was herself named valedictorian of her training class. Roudjessie Charles whom completed the program in 2019, today both of these individuals are making astronomical change in their community.
Today, Raeann serves as Director of Admissions and Recruitment at the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health, while Roudjessie Charles serves as the Manager of the Arthur Ashe Institute’s Health Sciene Academy based at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. In both of their speech they reflected on how THEO helped shape both the person and professional they have become.
“THEO gave me something that has followed me throughout every stage of my life: confidence.”
They spoke about learning how to stand in front of a room, find their voice, connect with people, lead, and communicate information that could genuinely make a difference in someone else’s life.
Raeann and Roudjessie also reflected on how THEO introduced them to public health, even before they fully understood that the work they were dong as teenagers was part of a larger field.
“We learned that young people didn’t have to wait until adulthood to become leaders. We could educate our peers, serve our communities, and be part of creating change right then and there.”
Those early skills continue to shape their work today. Raeann speaks with students, presents to groups, builds relationships, creates opportunities, and helps prospective students imagine what is possible for their futures. While Roudjessie are creating the future leaders, doctors and public health professions.
Raeann emphasized that THEO’s impact goes far beyond learning how to facilitate a workshop or complete a community service project.
“Somewhere along the way, you are also building your character, your network, your confidence, and your vision for who you can become.”
Her message to the Class of 2026 reminded them that the lessons and relationships developed through THEO may continue to influence their lives for years to come.
“Do not underestimate what has been planted in you here.”
She also encouraged graduates to remember one of THEO’s most important lessons: leadership is not simply about moving forward personally, but about reaching back and helping someone else move forward too.
“I’m standing here today as proof that the impact of THEO does not end with the summer,” Raeann told the graduates. “It stays with you.”
She closed by encouraging the newest class to continue using their voices, leading, serving, helping each other, and remembering that they already have the ability to make an impact. Roudjessie ended her speech by telling the graduates to never be afraid to push yourself even when it seems hard because the reward is in the completion.
Carrying Christine Rucker’s Legacy Forward
The evening also included an emotional tribute to Christine L. Rucker, MPA, THEO’s founder and longtime director, whose leadership, mentorship, and commitment to young people helped shape generations of peer leaders.
For more than three decades, Christine helped build THEO into a community where young people could learn, grow, develop meaningful relationships, and see new possibilities for themselves.
Raeann became emotional while remembering Ms. Rucker and the way she continued to check in on her and encourage her long after her initial participation in the program—an example of the lasting relationships that have long defined THEO.
Alumni and staff reflected on the thousands of young people whose lives Christine’s mentorship touched and the foundation she created for future generations. Roudjessie spoke of the countless ways that Ms. Rucker supported her growth as THEO was her first job and all the things she learnt about being a professional.
As THEO moves into its next chapter, AEP/THEO Director Marian Searchwell-DeSouza, EdD, reflected on the responsibility of carrying that legacy forward:
“I am not trying to be her because I know I can’t. She’s got big shoes. But what I’ve decided to do is pull mine up right next to hers and march on.”
Graduates were recognized throughout the evening for their accomplishments in academics, leadership, writing, facilitation, research, and attendance. Each participant successfully completed the summer program and earned recognition as a Health Education Youth Worker.
The ceremony also reminded everyone that THEO is about more than coursework. It is about relationships, mentorship, community, and creating opportunities for young people to discover what they can achieve.
For the THEO Class of 2026, the induction ceremony marked both the completion of an intensive summer experience and the beginning of a new chapter.
They leave the program with more than certificates. They leave with knowledge, confidence, stronger voices, meaningful relationships, and a deeper understanding of the role they can play in supporting the health and well-being of their communities.
And, as Raeann’s journey demonstrates, the impact of THEO can continue long after the summer ends.
Congratulations to THEO’s 2026 Peer Leadership Class.
Learn more about The Adolescent Education Program, THEO (Teens Helping Each Other), the youth peer leadership initiative of the STAR Program at SUNY Downstate, including programs, resources, and opportunities to get involved at www.theoprogram.org.
