Minister Destiny Testimony Schools

The lesson

Home is supposed to be the safe place. For a lot of young people, it mostly is. For some, home is where the hard stuff happens — yelling that never stops, adults who drink or use drugs and change into different people, being hit or grabbed, being left alone too much, or a feeling in your stomach that something is just not right. If any of that sounds familiar: it is not your fault, and it is not your job to fix the adults. Your job is to be as safe as you can and to know exactly who you can go to.

What "safe" actually means

Safe does not mean perfect. Every family argues sometimes. Safe means:

• You are not being hit, hurt, or touched in ways that are wrong.
• You have food, a place to sleep, and someone who knows where you are.
• You are not scared all the time in your own home.
• When something goes wrong, there is an adult you can tell who will believe you.

If one of those is missing, that is a real problem — and it is an adult problem, not a kid problem. Telling someone about it is not "snitching." It is how the problem gets to the people whose actual job is fixing it.

Red flags at home — signs something is wrong

• An adult hurts you, or hurts someone else in the home, or threatens to.
• An adult touches you in a way that feels wrong, or asks you to keep secrets about touching. You never have to keep that kind of secret. Ever.
• Adults are often drunk or high and nobody steady is in charge.
• You are locked out, or left alone overnight when you are too young, or there is often no food.
• You feel afraid to go home.

Any one of these is enough reason to talk to a trusted adult. You do not have to wait until it gets worse.

Your trusted-adult map

A trusted adult is a grown-up who: listens to you, believes you, does not hurt you, and will actually do something to help. It can be a parent or grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a teacher, a school counselor or nurse, a coach, a faith leader, a friend's parent, or a police officer or firefighter.

Build your map now, before you need it. Pick three trusted adults — not one, three — because one person might not be reachable. For each one, know:

1. Their name and how to reach them (phone number memorized or written somewhere safe).
2. Where to find them if you cannot call (their classroom, workplace, house).
3. What you would say. You can practice the sentence: "I need to tell you something serious. I am not safe at home / something happened, and I need help."

If the first adult does not believe you or does nothing, tell the next one. Keep telling until someone acts. That is not being dramatic. That is how help works, and adults who work with kids are trained and required to act.

Asking for help when you cannot talk out loud

Sometimes it is not safe to make a phone call. You still have options:

• Text a trusted adult or a hotline (Crisis Text Line: HOME to 741741).
• Show someone a note you wrote.
• Tell a teacher or counselor at school, in person, where it is safe to talk.
• If there is an emergency and you call 911 but cannot speak, stay on the line — dispatchers are trained to respond, and in many places you can text 911 instead.

Your own quick safety plan (make it today)

1. Safe place: one place you can go fast — a neighbor's porch, a store, a library, a friend's house.
2. Safe person: your #1 trusted adult, memorized phone number.
3. Safe words: if you have a friend or relative you call often, agree on a code word that means "I need help, send an adult."
4. Essentials: if you ever have to leave fast — shoes by the door, phone charged when you can.

Words to know — Week 1

• Trusted adult — a grown-up who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Red flag — a warning sign that something is wrong or unsafe.
• Safety plan — a plan you make ahead of time: where to go, who to call, what to say.
• Mandated reporter — a professional (teacher, counselor, nurse, coach, and others) who is required by law to report it when a child may be abused or neglected. If you tell them, they must pass it to people who investigate and help. That is a good thing — it means your words carry weight.
• Neglect — when a child's basic needs (food, shelter, supervision, medical care) are not being met.

What would you do? — Week 1

The situation: Your friend Kayla has been quiet all week. At lunch she finally tells you her mom's boyfriend yells every night, and last night he threw a plate at the wall near her. She makes you promise not to tell anyone. She says, "It's fine, he didn't hit me."

Walk it through:

1. Believe her, and say so. "I believe you. That is not fine, and it is not your fault."
2. A promise to keep a dangerous secret is not a promise you have to keep. Secrets about someone getting hurt or scared at home are never secrets to keep. Telling is not betraying her — it is protecting her. A thrown plate today can be worse tomorrow.
3. Tell a trusted adult the same day. A teacher, counselor, or your own parent. Say exactly what she told you.
4. If she is in danger tonight, that is a 911 call — or tell an adult who will make it.
5. Stay her friend. She might be upset you told. Most kids, later, are glad someone did. Keep showing up.

The same steps work if the person in the situation is you.

What you earned / what's next — Week 1

✅ Week 1 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can now spot red flags at home, you have the idea of a trusted-adult map with three names on it, and you know how to ask for help out loud, by text, or silently.

What's next: Week 2 — Safe Online: strangers, fake friends, and pressure. The internet has trusted-adult problems of its own, and next week you learn to spot them before they get close.

The lesson

Online, people are not always who they say they are. An adult who wants to get close to a kid will almost never start with anything that looks dangerous. It starts friendly. This week is about seeing the pattern early — because once you can name it, it loses its power over you.

Grooming — the pattern, step by step

Grooming is when an adult (or sometimes an older teen) slowly builds a kid's trust in order to use them. It usually looks like this:

1. The friendly stranger. Someone messages you — from a game, a group chat, social media, anywhere. They seem to like everything you like.
2. The fast friendship. Lots of attention, compliments, gifts (game currency, skins, money), "you're not like other kids, you're mature."
3. The secrets. "This is just between us." They ask you to move to a more private app, delete messages, or not tell adults.
4. The turn. They ask for photos, or send you photos, or push sexual talk, or ask to meet. If you sent anything, they may use it to threaten you: "Send more or I'll show everyone." That threat is a crime they are committing — it is called sextortion — and the blame is on them, never on you.

Any step of this pattern is a red flag — you do not have to wait for step 4. A real friend never needs you to hide them from every adult in your life.

The photo rule (this one matters)

Once a photo leaves your phone, you do not control it. It can be saved, copied, and shared in seconds, even from apps that say photos "disappear." So:

• Never send a photo of your body to anyone. Not to someone you "know," not to someone who sent one first, not under pressure, not as a joke.
• If someone asks, that request itself is the red flag. Stop, block, tell a trusted adult.
• If you already sent something: you are not ruined and you are not in trouble in this school's eyes. Tell a trusted adult quickly. If the person threatens you, that is sextortion — a crime against you. Adults and police deal with this constantly, and reporting early is how images get taken down and threats get stopped. The shame belongs to the person who asked and threatened — not to you.

Everyday online safety habits

• Private accounts. Keep profiles private; only accept people you actually know in real life.
• Location off. Turn off location sharing in apps and photos; don't post where you'll be.
• Personal details are private. Full name, school, address, routine — strangers don't need them.
• The screenshot rule: if you wouldn't want it on a screen in the school cafeteria, don't send it.
• Passwords are yours. Nobody legit — not a game company, not a "friend" — will ask for your password.
• Meeting up: never meet an online-only person in person. If you ever feel you must, that is exactly the moment to tell a trusted adult first. No exceptions is the safe rule.

If it already happened — the exact steps

1. Stop replying. Do not negotiate, do not send anything else, do not pay anything.
2. Save the evidence (screenshots of the threats and the account names) — then block and report the account in the app.
3. Tell a trusted adult today. Use your map from Week 1.
4. Adults can report to the CyberTipline: report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children), and to police. There is also a free service called Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org) that helps get images of minors removed from the internet.
5. Breathe. This happens to a lot of kids. The person counting on you staying silent is the predator. Telling is how you beat them.

Words to know — Week 2

• Grooming — when someone slowly builds a child's trust in order to use or harm them.
• Sextortion — threatening to share someone's private images unless they send more images or money. A crime committed by the person threatening.
• Predator — a person who targets children to harm or use them.
• Block / report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform about an account.
• Digital footprint — everything you post, send, and share online, which can be copied even after you delete it.

What would you do? — Week 2

The situation: In your favorite game, a player called "Storm" has been on your team for two weeks. Storm says she's 15, sends you game gifts, and tells you you're her best friend. Tonight Storm asks you to switch to a different chat app "so the team can't spy on us," and asks what school you go to.

Walk it through:

1. Name the pattern. Fast friendship, gifts, moving to a private app, asking for personal details (your school), secrecy from others — that is steps 1–3 of grooming, in order.
2. You don't have to accuse anyone. You don't owe Storm an explanation or a goodbye speech. Your safety does not need their permission.
3. Stop and block. Don't answer the school question. Block the account on the game and anywhere else.
4. Tell a trusted adult. Show them the messages. This is exactly what your trusted-adult map is for.
5. Notice the feeling. It can feel sad or embarrassing — Storm felt like a friend. That feeling is what the pattern is designed to create. Losing a "friend" who was never safe is a win, not a loss.

What you earned / what's next — Week 2

✅ Week 2 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can spot the grooming pattern step by step, you know the photo rule and why it matters, and you know the exact steps to take if someone pressures or threatens you online — including that the blame is never yours.

What's next: Week 3 — Bullying and Cyberbullying: what to do when it happens to you, and how to help a friend without making it worse.

The lesson

Bullying is not "just drama," and it is not something you have to handle alone or "toughen up" about. It has a shape: it is repeated, it is on purpose, and there is a power difference — someone stronger, older, more popular, or in a group, targeting someone who has a harder time defending themselves. One mean comment is a bad moment; a pattern of them is bullying.

The four kinds

• Physical — hitting, pushing, taking or breaking your things.
• Verbal — threats, slurs, constant insults, humiliating "jokes."
• Social — exclusion campaigns, rumors, turning a group against someone.
• Cyberbullying — the same weapons through phones: mean posts, edited photos, fake accounts, group chats made to mock someone, pressuring in DMs.

If it is happening to you — the plan

1. It is not your fault, and "ignore it" is not the only move. Ignoring sometimes works for a one-off comment. For a pattern, you need adults involved.
2. Save evidence. Screenshots with dates. Don't delete the thread — evidence is what turns "he said/she said" into action.
3. Block and lock down. Block accounts. Tighten privacy. You do not have to keep reading poison.
4. Tell a trusted adult — parent, teacher, counselor. Schools are required to respond to bullying reports. If the first adult shrugs it off, go to the next one on your map. Keep your screenshots.
5. Don't fight back in writing. Replying angrily in a chat usually becomes the screenshot they use. Starve it of reaction, feed it to adults with evidence.
6. Stay connected. Bullying aims to isolate you. Spend time with people who treat you right, in person when you can. If it is making you feel like hurting yourself, that is a 988 call or text — right away, any hour.

If you see it happening to someone else — be the reason it stops

Most bullying happens in front of an audience, and the audience is the most powerful part. You do not have to fight anyone to change it:

• Don't feed it: no laughing, no liking, no forwarding. Attention is the fuel.
• Reach out to the person being targeted: one kind message — "I saw that. It's not true and it's not okay. You good?" — matters more than you know. Kids who are bullied say being supported by even one person changes everything.
• Tell an adult what you saw, with evidence if you have it. Reporting cruelty is not snitching; snitching is getting someone in trouble for something harmless. This is not harmless.
• Invite them in: sit with them at lunch, add them to your group chat. Inclusion is a shield.

If you realize you've been part of it

It happens — a joke that went too far, a chat you laughed along in. What you do next is what counts: stop, delete what you can, apologize like you mean it (privately is fine), and don't do it again. That is not weakness. That is character.

Threats and crimes are different — act faster

If bullying includes threats of violence, weapons, sexual content, or a plan to hurt someone: that is beyond school discipline — tell an adult immediately, and if someone may be hurt soon, it is a 911 call. If the target talks about hurting themselves, treat it as real, every time: tell an adult and share the 988 number with them — or call it yourself and ask what to do.

Words to know — Week 3

• Bullying — repeated, on-purpose harm where there is a power difference.
• Cyberbullying — bullying done through phones, apps, games, or social media.
• Bystander — someone who sees bullying happen.
• Upstander — a bystander who acts: supports the target, refuses to feed it, tells an adult.
• Evidence — screenshots, dates, and saved messages that show what happened.

What would you do? — Week 3

The situation: A group chat you're in starts posting edited photos of a quiet kid from school, "Devon," with cruel captions. Everyone's laughing in the chat. You're not posting — but you haven't said anything either. Tonight Devon texts you separately: "please don't tell anyone. it'll just get worse."

Walk it through:

1. Not posting isn't the same as not being part of it. Silence in the audience is what the posters are playing to. You have more power than you think.
2. Support Devon first. Reply to him directly: "It's wrong, it's not your fault, and I'm not going to just watch."
3. About the secret: like Week 1 — this is a safety secret, not a keep-forever secret. Devon is scared it will get worse, which is understandable. But a campaign with screenshots does not stop on its own; adults with evidence are how it stops.
4. Save evidence and report it. Screenshot the chat (with names and dates visible), leave the chat, and give the screenshots to a counselor or trusted adult tomorrow — sooner if there are threats.
5. Keep being a person, publicly. Sit with him, message him like a normal friend. One steady ally breaks the isolation the whole campaign depends on.

What you earned / what's next — Week 3

✅ Week 3 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can tell bullying from a one-time argument, you have a real plan if it targets you (evidence, block, tell, stay connected), and you know how to be an upstander for a friend — including when a "don't tell" promise has to be broken to keep someone safe.

What's next: Week 4 — When It Feels Like Too Much: big feelings, asking for help without shame, and building your own safety plan. Finish it and the Certificate of Completion is yours.

The lesson

Everyone has stretches where things feel heavy — stress at home, trouble at school, friend drama, grief, or a sadness or worry that just sits there. This week is about understanding those feelings, knowing the warning signs that mean "get help now," and building the plan you'll actually use. This might be the most important week in this course.

Feelings are signals, not verdicts

• Feeling sad, angry, anxious, or numb sometimes is human, not broken.
• Feelings get dangerous when they stay and grow: weeks of feeling down, losing interest in everything, sleep or appetite changing a lot, feeling hopeless, or thinking everyone would be better off without you. Those are signals to get support — the same way a high fever is a signal to see a doctor.
• Asking for help is a skill, not a weakness. The strongest people you know have all been helped by somebody.

Know the help lines (put them in your phone today)

• 988 — call or text, 24/7, for emotional distress or thoughts of suicide. Free, confidential.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 if you'd rather type than talk.
• Childhelp 1-800-422-4453 — if home is the problem.
• 911 — if you or someone else might act on harmful thoughts soon, or anyone is in immediate danger.

You can also call 988 about a friend and ask what to do. You do not have to carry someone else's crisis alone.

The friend rule: take it seriously, every time

If a friend says they want to die, hurt themselves, or "not be here anymore" — even as a "joke," even if they say "don't tell":

1. Believe it could be real. You cannot tell from the outside, and the cost of being wrong is too high.
2. Stay connected. Keep talking, stay with them in person or on the phone if you can.
3. Tell a trusted adult immediately — parent, counselor, teacher — and call/text 988 for guidance. This is another promise that does not outrank a life. A living friend who is mad at you can forgive you later.
4. Do not promise secrecy about this. Ever. Say: "I care about you too much to keep that secret."

Calm-down tools that actually help (for the everyday too-much days)

• Breathe out slowly. Longer exhales than inhales, a few rounds — it physically slows a racing body down.
• Cold water / ice. Splash cold water on your face or hold something cold; it jolts the stress response down.
• Move. Walk, run, shoot baskets, dance in your room — stress is energy; give it somewhere to go.
• Name it to tame it. Say (out loud or in a notes app): "I'm furious because…" Naming a feeling shrinks it a little.
• Shrink the problem. Ask: "What is the next one thing I can do?" Not the whole solution — the next step.
• Sleep, food, water. A tired, hungry brain makes everything feel 10× worse. Basic care is real medicine.
• Limit the scroll. When you feel awful, feeds full of conflict and comparison pour fuel on it. Take the break.

Build your personal safety plan (write it in your notes app or on paper)

1. My warning signs — how I know a bad stretch is starting (e.g., "I stop answering texts," "my stomach hurts every morning").
2. My calm-down tools — the 2–3 from the list above that work for me.
3. My people — my three trusted adults from Week 1, plus one friend.
4. My places — somewhere I can go and feel safer.
5. My lines — 988, Crisis Text Line, Childhelp, saved as contacts.
6. My reason list — people, pets, goals, even small things (a team, a show, a future plan) that are worth staying for. Read it on the worst days.

You have now built, piece by piece across these four weeks, a complete safety toolkit: trusted adults, online defenses, a bullying plan, calm-down tools, and this safety plan. That is the whole course.

Words to know — Week 4

• Crisis — a moment when feelings or danger are too much to handle alone and help is needed right away.
• Confidential — kept private (hotlines are confidential, with one limit: if someone is about to be seriously hurt, helpers act to protect life).
• Coping tools — healthy actions that help you get through hard feelings (breathing, movement, talking, rest).
• Safety plan (personal) — your own written plan: warning signs, tools, people, places, and help lines.
• Support network — all the people and services you can turn to; stronger than any single person.

What would you do? — Week 4

The situation: Your best friend Marcus has changed over the last month — quit the team, stopped coming to lunch, leaves your messages on read. Tonight he finally replies: "honestly everyone would be better off if I just wasn't around. forget I said anything."

Walk it through:

1. Take it seriously. That sentence is a warning sign, full stop. "Forget I said anything" does not cancel it.
2. Respond with care, right now. "I'm not forgetting it. I care about you. Are you thinking about hurting yourself?" Asking directly does not put the idea in someone's head — that is a myth. It opens the door for them to tell the truth.
3. Stay on the line / keep texting. Don't leave him alone with it tonight if you can help it.
4. Bring in adults — tonight, not tomorrow. Tell your parent or his, or another trusted adult, exactly what he wrote. Call or text 988 and ask them what to do; they coach friends and family through this all the time.
5. Follow up tomorrow, and the day after. Sit with him at lunch. Keep inviting. Recovery is not one conversation; it's someone who keeps showing up. That's you — with adults carrying the heavy part alongside you.

What you earned / what's next — Week 4 + CORE COMPLETE 🎓

✅ Week 4 complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You know the warning signs that mean "get help now," you have calm-down tools for the everyday hard days, and you have your own written safety plan.

🎓 You finished the Youth — here is your certificate

All four weeks + all four quizzes at 80% or higher earns:

> Minister Destiny Testimony Schools

> Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth

> Certificate of Completion — Youth Program

>

> This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

>

> Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

>

> For completing: Youth (Weeks 1–4)

> Date completed: ______________

>

> Congratulations. You built a real safety toolkit: trusted adults you can name, defenses for online pressure, a plan for bullying, and a plan for your hardest days. Knowing how to keep yourself and your friends safer is knowledge you will carry for life. I am proud of you. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license or a government certification.

What's next: The 12-Month Youth Track — one new topic a month, going deeper: dating and consent, peer pressure and substances, trouble at school and safer choices, your body and health questions answered plainly, the juvenile court process step by step, charges and vocabulary, medical and mental-health facilities and your rights, and building your fresh start. Your toolkit comes with you.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 1 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Adapted from the Youth Core, Week 1.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What safe at home really means

Home is supposed to be the safe place. For a lot of young people, it mostly is. For some, home is where the hard stuff happens — yelling that never stops, adults who drink or use drugs and change into different people, being hit or grabbed, being left alone too much, or a feeling in your stomach that something is just not right. If any of that sounds familiar: it is not your fault, and it is not your job to fix the adults. Your job is to be as safe as you can and to know exactly who you can go to.

Safe does not mean perfect. Every family argues sometimes. Safe means you are not being hit, hurt, or touched in ways that are wrong. It means you have food, a place to sleep, and someone who knows where you are. It means you are not scared all the time in your own home. And it means when something goes wrong, there is an adult you can tell who will believe you. If one of those is missing, that is a real problem — and it is an adult problem, not a kid problem. Telling someone about it is not snitching. It is how the problem gets to the people whose actual job is fixing it.

2. Red flags at home — signs something is wrong

Learn to name what you are seeing. A red flag is a warning sign, and naming it helps you decide what to do next. Red flags at home include an adult who hurts you, hurts someone else in the home, or threatens to. They include an adult who touches you in a way that feels wrong, or who asks you to keep secrets about touching. You never have to keep that kind of secret. Ever. They also include adults who are often drunk or high so that nobody steady is in charge, being locked out or left alone overnight when you are too young, often having no food in the house, and feeling afraid to go home.

Any one of these is enough reason to talk to a trusted adult. You do not have to wait until it gets worse, and you do not have to prove it is "bad enough." If your body feels tense when you walk through the door, if you hide in your room to stay out of the way every night, or if you watch the adults' moods the way you would watch the weather before a storm, pay attention to that feeling. Your feelings are information.

3. Your trusted-adult map — build it before you need it

A trusted adult is a grown-up who listens to you, believes you, does not hurt you, and will actually do something to help. It can be a parent or grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a teacher, a school counselor or nurse, a coach, a faith leader, a friend's parent, or a police officer or firefighter. The key is not the title. The key is how the person acts: they take you seriously and they follow through.

Build your map now, before you need it. Pick three trusted adults — not one, three — because one person might not be reachable. For each one, know their name and how to reach them, with a phone number memorized or written somewhere safe. Know where to find them if you cannot call, such as their classroom, workplace, or house. And know what you would say. You can practice the sentence: "I need to tell you something serious. I am not safe at home, something happened, and I need help." Practicing the words when you are calm makes them much easier to say when you are scared.

If the first adult does not believe you or does nothing, tell the next one. Keep telling until someone acts. That is not being dramatic. That is how help works, and adults who work with kids are trained and required to act. Teachers, counselors, nurses, and coaches are mandated reporters — by law they must report it when a child may be abused or neglected. That means your words carry real weight when you tell them.

4. How to ask for help when you cannot talk out loud

Sometimes it is not safe to make a phone call. You still have options, and knowing them ahead of time matters. You can text a trusted adult or text a help line, such as texting HOME to 741741. You can show someone a note you wrote, either on paper or on your phone screen. You can tell a teacher or counselor at school in person, in a place where it is safe to talk. If there is an emergency and you call 911 but cannot speak, stay on the line — dispatchers are trained to respond — and in many places you can text 911 instead.

Think through which of these would work best in your home. Do you have a bedroom door you can close? A bathroom where a short text is normal? A walk to school where you can stop and talk? Choosing your safest way to reach out, before a hard night happens, is part of your plan, not an afterthought.

5. Your quick safety plan — make it today

A safety plan is a plan you make ahead of time so you are not trying to invent one while you are scared. Your quick plan has four parts. First, a safe place: one place you can go fast, like a neighbor's porch, a store, a library, or a friend's house. Second, a safe person: your number one trusted adult, with their phone number memorized. Third, safe words: if you have a friend or relative you talk to often, agree on a code word that means "I need help, send an adult." Fourth, essentials: if you ever have to leave fast, keep shoes by the door and your phone charged when you can.

Write your plan somewhere you can find it but where it will not cause trouble at home — a notes app, a school notebook, or a card in your backpack. Review it once in a while. People move, phone numbers change, and a plan only helps if it is current.

6. What NOT to do

Do not try to step between adults who are fighting or to protect someone by putting your own body in the way — get to your safe place and get an adult or call 911. Do not keep secrets about touching, threats, or being hurt, even if an adult told you that you would be in trouble for telling. That threat is part of the problem, not a rule you have to follow. Do not blame yourself for an adult's drinking, anger, or choices. And do not wait for a perfect moment to tell someone. A short, plain message sent today helps more than a perfect speech you never give.

Words to know — Month 1

• Trusted adult — a grown-up who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Red flag — a warning sign that something is wrong or unsafe.
• Safety plan — a plan you make ahead of time: where to go, who to call, and what to say.
• Mandated reporter — a professional, like a teacher, counselor, nurse, or coach, who is required by law to report when a child may be abused or neglected.
• Neglect — when a child's basic needs for food, shelter, supervision, or medical care are not being met.
• Code word — a word or phrase you agree on ahead of time that quietly means "I need help now."
• Confidential — kept private, shared only with people who need to know in order to help or keep you safe.

Myths vs facts — Month 1

• Myth: Telling an adult about trouble at home is snitching and will only make things worse. Fact: Telling is how help reaches you. Adults whose job is safety cannot help with a problem they do not know about, and reporting is the step that connects your family to support and protection.
• Myth: If home is not perfect, it means your family does not love you. Fact: Safe does not mean perfect. Many loving families argue and struggle. The line is about being hurt, being touched in wrong ways, being left without care, or being afraid all the time — those need outside help, no matter how much love is also there.
• Myth: You need proof, like photos or recordings, before anyone will believe you. Fact: You do not need proof to tell. Start with your words, said plainly. Mandated reporters are trained to listen first and let the right people look into it.
• Myth: A good kid handles family problems alone and never bothers adults. Fact: Handling it alone is not the job of a child or teen. Asking for help is the strong, correct move, and it is what trusted adults are there for.

What would you do? — Month 1

The situation: Your friend Kayla has been quiet all week. At lunch she finally tells you her mom's boyfriend yells every night, and last night he threw a plate at the wall near her. She makes you promise not to tell anyone. She says, "It's fine, he didn't hit me."

Walk it through:

1. Believe her, and say so. "I believe you. That is not fine, and it is not your fault."
2. Understand the promise. A promise to keep a dangerous secret is not a promise you have to keep. Secrets about someone getting hurt or scared at home are never secrets to keep. Telling is not betraying her — it is protecting her. A thrown plate today can be worse tomorrow.
3. Tell a trusted adult the same day. Choose a teacher, counselor, or your own parent. Say exactly what she told you, in her words as much as you can.
4. If she is in danger tonight, that is a 911 call — or tell an adult who will make it right away.
5. Stay her friend afterward. She might be upset that you told. Most kids, later, are glad someone did. Keep showing up, sitting with her, and checking in.

The same steps work if the person in the situation is you.

One more real-life story — Month 1

Jordan, 13, lived with his dad and his dad's partner. Most nights were fine, but when his dad worked late, the partner drank and started slamming doors and shouting at Jordan for small things, like leaving a cup on the counter. Jordan started staying in his room with the door locked and skipping dinner to avoid her. He told himself it was not serious because she had never hit him.

One afternoon his school counselor noticed he was falling asleep in class and asked if everything was okay at home. Jordan almost said "I'm fine," the way he always did. Instead, because he had practiced the sentence in his head — "I need to tell you something serious" — he said it out loud. The counselor listened, did not rush him, and explained what would happen next and who would be told. She made the report she is required to make, and a school social worker helped Jordan and his dad talk about a safer plan for late-work nights, including Jordan staying with his aunt on those nights.

The lesson is not that telling fixes everything in one day. It did not. The lesson is that Jordan did not have to carry the fear alone anymore, his dad learned what was happening when he was not home, and there was now a plan made by adults. Being scared at home, even without being hit, was enough reason to speak — and speaking early gave the adults more good options to help.

Try this — Month 1

Build your trusted-adult map today. On paper or in a private notes app, write down three trusted adults. For each person, write their name, how to reach them, and where you could find them in person. Then write one practice sentence you could say or text to start the conversation, such as "I need to tell you something serious and I need help." Next, finish your quick safety plan: one safe place you can reach quickly, one safe person whose number you will memorize, one code word if you want one, and where you will keep your shoes and phone charger. Check it once: could you use this plan tonight if you had to? If not, fix the missing piece now, while things are calm.

Resources to keep — Month 1

• 911 — call if you or someone else is in danger right now.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988 any time for emotional distress or a crisis.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to connect with a live counselor by text.
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline — 1-800-422-4453 — call if home is the problem or you are worried about abuse or neglect.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233 / text START to 88788 — if there is violence or fear between adults at home, this line helps with safety planning.
• A trusted adult, your school counselor, or your school nurse — people in your daily life who can listen and act.

What you earned / what's next — Month 1

✅ Month 1 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can spot red flags at home, you have a trusted-adult map with three names on it, you know how to ask for help out loud, by text, or with a note, and you have a quick safety plan you built yourself.

What's next: Month 2 — Online Safety — Strangers, Grooming, Sexting, and Sextortion. The internet has trusted-adult problems of its own, and next month you learn to spot them before they get close.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 2 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Adapted from the Youth Core, Week 2.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. Why online safety needs its own plan

Online, people are not always who they say they are. An adult who wants to get close to a kid will almost never start with anything that looks dangerous. It starts friendly. This month is about seeing the pattern early — because once you can name it, it loses its power over you. A profile photo, an age in a bio, and a kind voice prove nothing. Anyone can copy a photo, lie about their age, and learn what kids like in order to sound like a friend.

You do not need to be afraid of the internet to be safe on it. You need habits, clear rules for photos and private information, and the same trusted-adult map you built in Month 1, used quickly when something feels off.

2. Grooming — the pattern, step by step

Grooming is when an adult (or sometimes an older teen) slowly builds a kid's trust in order to use them. It usually looks like this. First, the friendly stranger: someone messages you — from a game, a group chat, social media, anywhere — and they seem to like everything you like. Second, the fast friendship: lots of attention, compliments, gifts such as game currency, skins, or money, and lines like "you're not like other kids, you're mature." Third, the secrets: "This is just between us." They ask you to move to a more private app, delete messages, or not tell adults. Fourth, the turn: they ask for photos, or send you photos, or push sexual talk, or ask to meet. If you sent anything, they may use it to threaten you: "Send more or I'll show everyone." That threat is a crime they are committing — it is called sextortion — and the blame is on them, never on you.

Any step of this pattern is a red flag — you do not have to wait for step four. A real friend never needs you to hide them from every adult in your life. If someone gets upset when you want to keep a parent, counselor, or trusted adult in the loop, that reaction tells you what you need to know.

3. The photo rule — this one matters most

Once a photo leaves your phone, you do not control it. It can be saved, copied, and shared in seconds, even from apps that say photos disappear. So never send a photo of your body to anyone. Not to someone you know, not to someone who sent one first, not under pressure, not as a joke. If someone asks, that request itself is the red flag. Stop, block, tell a trusted adult.

The same care applies to dating partners and friends your age. A photo shared in trust can be forwarded after an argument, saved without you knowing, or used to pressure you later. The safest rule has no exceptions for "but this person is different." If you already sent something, hear this clearly: you are not ruined and you are not in trouble in this school's eyes. Tell a trusted adult quickly. If the person threatens you, that is sextortion — a crime against you. Adults and police deal with this constantly, and reporting early is how images get taken down and threats get stopped. The shame belongs to the person who asked and threatened — not to you.

4. Everyday online safety habits

Small habits, used every day, block most problems before they start. Keep profiles private and only accept people you actually know in real life. Turn off location sharing in apps and in photos, and do not post where you will be. Treat personal details as private: full name, school, address, and your daily routine are not information strangers need. Use the screenshot rule — if you would not want it on a screen in the school cafeteria, do not send it. Keep your passwords to yourself; nobody legitimate, not a game company and not a friend, will ask for your password. Never meet an online-only person in person. If you ever feel you must, that is exactly the moment to tell a trusted adult first. No exceptions is the safe rule.

Also slow down before you click, download, or scan anything a stranger sends. Links and files can be used to steal accounts or track your device. If a "friend" suddenly asks for money, gift cards, or account codes, stop and check with an adult, even if the account looks familiar — accounts get hacked and copied.

5. If it already happened — the exact steps

If someone is pressuring or threatening you now, follow these steps in order. First, stop replying. Do not negotiate, do not send anything else, and do not pay anything. Second, save the evidence — screenshots of the threats and the account names — then block and report the account in the app. Third, tell a trusted adult today, using your map from Month 1. Fourth, adults can report to the CyberTipline and to police, and there is a free service called Take It Down that helps get images of minors removed from the internet. Fifth, breathe. This happens to a lot of kids. The person counting on you staying silent is the predator. Telling is how you beat them.

What NOT to do matters just as much. Do not delete everything in a panic before you have saved evidence, because the account names and threats are what helpers need. Do not try to handle the threats alone or bargain for more time. Do not blame yourself and go quiet — silence is what the person threatening you is counting on.

6. What to expect after you tell

Many kids worry that telling means losing their phone forever, getting in big trouble, or having everyone find out. Adults handle this in different ways, and some of those worries are understandable. What you can expect from the right helpers is this: a trusted adult listens, helps you block and report, and connects you to the CyberTipline or police if threats or images are involved. Counselors and hotline staff have heard this before and will not be shocked. The goal of telling is to stop the other person and protect you — not to punish you for being targeted. If the first adult reacts badly, go to the next person on your map, or call or text a help line yourself. Keep going until you reach someone who acts.

Words to know — Month 2

• Grooming — when someone slowly builds a child's trust in order to use or harm them.
• Sextortion — threatening to share someone's private images unless they send more images or money; a crime committed by the person threatening.
• Predator — a person who targets children to harm or use them.
• Block / report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform about an account.
• Digital footprint — everything you post, send, and share online, which can be copied even after you delete it.
• CyberTipline — the national reporting system for online exploitation of children, run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
• Private account — an account setting where only people you approve can see your posts and contact you.

Myths vs facts — Month 2

• Myth: If an app says photos disappear, sending a photo there is safe. Fact: Disappearing photos can be screenshotted, recorded with another phone, or saved in seconds. Once a photo leaves your phone, you do not control it.
• Myth: Grooming only happens with strangers who act creepy right away. Fact: Grooming usually starts friendly and normal, with compliments, gifts, and fast friendship. The secrecy and the push to move to a private app are the warning signs.
• Myth: If you sent a photo, it is your fault and you should hide it. Fact: The fault belongs to the person who asked for, pressured for, or threatened over the image. Telling a trusted adult early is how threats are stopped and images are taken down.
• Myth: Meeting an online friend in a public place makes it safe. Fact: There is no safe version of secretly meeting an online-only person. The safe rule is do not meet, and tell a trusted adult that they asked.

What would you do? — Month 2

The situation: In your favorite game, a player called "Storm" has been on your team for two weeks. Storm says she's 15, sends you game gifts, and tells you you're her best friend. Tonight Storm asks you to switch to a different chat app "so the team can't spy on us," and asks what school you go to.

Walk it through:

1. Name the pattern. Fast friendship, gifts, moving to a private app, asking for personal details like your school, and secrecy from others — that is steps one through three of grooming, in order.
2. Remember you do not have to accuse anyone. You do not owe Storm an explanation or a goodbye speech. Your safety does not need their permission.
3. Stop and block. Do not answer the school question. Block the account on the game and anywhere else you are connected.
4. Tell a trusted adult. Show them the messages. This is exactly what your trusted-adult map is for.
5. Notice the feeling. It can feel sad or embarrassing — Storm felt like a friend. That feeling is what the pattern is designed to create. Losing a "friend" who was never safe is a win, not a loss.

One more real-life story — Month 2

Maya, 14, got a message from someone who said he was 16 and went to a school nearby. He was funny, he remembered details about her day, and after a week he asked her to send a photo "just for him" and promised he would delete it. Maya felt uneasy but also flattered, and she sent a photo she would never have wanted anyone else to see.

The next day his tone changed. He said if she did not send another photo, he would send the first one to people at her school. Maya's stomach dropped. She wanted to delete the whole conversation and pretend it never happened. Instead, she remembered three things from this lesson: do not send anything else, save the evidence, and tell today. With shaking hands she took screenshots of the threats and his username, blocked him, and told her older sister, who sat with her while they told their mom.

Her mom contacted the school counselor and they reported together to the CyberTipline. They also used Take It Down to help stop the image from spreading. The threats stopped after the report. Maya still wishes she had not sent the first photo, but she is clear about the most important part: the crime was his threats, not her mistake, and telling on the very first day of threats is what protected her. Waiting and sending more, which is what he wanted, would only have given him more to threaten her with.

Try this — Month 2

Do a 10-minute privacy check on every app you use. For each app, check four things: Is my account set to private? Is location sharing off? Do I only follow and accept people I know in real life? Would I be okay if anything I posted this week appeared on a screen at school? Fix anything that fails the check. Then save two things in your phone where you can find them fast: the CyberTipline and Take It Down names from the Resources section, and the name of your number one trusted adult. Finally, practice your exit line for pressure — a short sentence you can copy and send, like "I'm not sending photos. I'm blocking this now and telling an adult." Having the words ready makes a pressured moment much easier.

Resources to keep — Month 2

• 911 — call if you are in danger right now or someone threatens to come to you in person.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988 any time for support during a crisis or frightening situation.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 if you would rather type than talk.
• CyberTipline — report.cybertip.org / 1-800-843-5678 — report online exploitation, grooming, or threats to share images.
• Take It Down — takeitdown.ncmec.org — free help to remove or stop the spread of images of minors online.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult, online or in person, is hurting or pressuring you.

What you earned / what's next — Month 2

✅ Month 2 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can spot the grooming pattern step by step, you know the photo rule and why it matters, you have strong everyday online habits, and you know the exact steps to take if someone pressures or threatens you online — including that the blame is never yours.

What's next: Month 3 — Bullying and Cyberbullying — What to Do, How to Help a Friend. Next month you learn what to do when cruelty comes from people you actually know, and how to stand up for a friend without making things worse.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 3 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Adapted from the Youth Core, Week 3.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What bullying is — and what it is not

Bullying is not just drama, and it is not something you have to handle alone or toughen up about. It has a shape: it is repeated, it is on purpose, and there is a power difference — someone stronger, older, more popular, or in a group, targeting someone who has a harder time defending themselves. One mean comment is a bad moment. A pattern of them is bullying.

Knowing the difference matters because the response is different. A one-time argument between equals can often be worked out between the people involved. A repeated pattern aimed at the same person, especially when a group joins in or phones keep it going after school, needs adults, evidence, and a plan. If you are unsure which one you are looking at, ask yourself three questions: Has it happened more than once or is it likely to keep happening? Is it meant to hurt, embarrass, or control? Is one side clearly stronger — by size, age, popularity, numbers, or having secrets or photos? If the answers lean yes, treat it as bullying and use this month's plan.

2. The four kinds of bullying

Bullying wears different clothes, but the harm is real in every form. Physical bullying is hitting, pushing, or taking or breaking your things. Verbal bullying is threats, slurs, constant insults, and humiliating jokes that are not jokes to the person hearing them. Social bullying is exclusion campaigns, rumors, and turning a group against someone on purpose. Cyberbullying uses the same weapons through phones: mean posts, edited photos, fake accounts, group chats made to mock someone, and pressuring messages in direct messages.

Cyberbullying has two extra stings. It can follow you home, so there is no break from it, and it can be copied and shared to a huge audience in seconds. That is also why evidence matters so much online — the post, the date, and the account name are often right there to save.

3. If it is happening to you — the plan, step by step

Start here: it is not your fault, and ignore it is not the only move. Ignoring sometimes works for a one-off comment. For a pattern, you need adults involved. Follow these steps. First, save evidence: screenshots with dates, and do not delete the thread. Evidence is what turns he said, she said into action. Second, block and lock down: block accounts, tighten privacy, and give yourself a break from reading painful messages. You do not have to keep reading poison. Third, tell a trusted adult — a parent, teacher, or counselor. Schools are required to respond to bullying reports. If the first adult shrugs it off, go to the next one on your map and bring your screenshots. Fourth, do not fight back in writing. Replying angrily in a chat usually becomes the screenshot they use against you. Starve the bullying of reaction and feed it to adults with evidence instead. Fifth, stay connected. Bullying aims to isolate you. Spend time with people who treat you right, in person when you can. If it is making you feel like hurting yourself, that is a 988 call or text — right away, any hour.

What to expect after you report: an adult may ask you to tell the story more than once, and the school may talk to other students. Change is not always instant, which is frustrating and does not mean reporting failed. Keep saving new evidence, keep your block in place, and report again if it continues. A clear record over time is powerful.

4. If you see it happening to someone else — be the reason it stops

Most bullying happens in front of an audience, and the audience is the most powerful part. You do not have to fight anyone to change it. Do not feed it: no laughing, no liking, no forwarding. Attention is the fuel, and withholding it matters. Reach out to the person being targeted: one kind message — "I saw that. It's not true and it's not okay. You good?" — matters more than you know. Kids who are bullied say being supported by even one person changes everything. Tell an adult what you saw, with evidence if you have it. Reporting cruelty is not snitching; snitching is getting someone in trouble for something harmless. This is not harmless. Invite them in: sit with them at lunch, add them to your group chat. Inclusion is a shield, because isolation is exactly what the bullying is trying to create.

You can do these things even if you are nervous, even if the person bullying is popular, and even if you are not close friends with the target. Small, steady actions from bystanders are the number one thing that makes bullying campaigns fall apart.

5. If you realize you have been part of it

It happens — a joke that went too far, a chat you laughed along in without thinking. What you do next is what counts: stop, delete what you can, apologize like you mean it (privately is fine), and do not do it again. A real apology names what you did, says you were wrong, and does not make excuses or blame the target for being upset. That is not weakness. That is character. If adults find a post you were part of, telling the truth about your part and showing you have stopped and apologized puts you in a very different position than denying or doubling down.

6. Threats and crimes are different — act faster

Some behavior goes past bullying into danger, and the response must be faster. If bullying includes threats of violence, weapons, sexual content, or a plan to hurt someone, that is beyond school discipline — tell an adult immediately, and if someone may be hurt soon, it is a 911 call. If the target talks about hurting themselves, treat it as real, every time: tell an adult and share the 988 number with them — or call it yourself and ask what to do.

What NOT to do in any bullying situation: do not forward cruel posts to "show people how bad it is," because every forward widens the audience and the harm. Do not post a public call-out that turns into a second pile-on. Do not promise the target you will keep a safety secret forever. And do not delete your evidence to make the problem go away — without evidence, adults lose their strongest tool to stop it.

Words to know — Month 3

• Bullying — repeated, on-purpose harm where there is a power difference.
• Cyberbullying — bullying done through phones, apps, games, or social media.
• Bystander — someone who sees bullying happen.
• Upstander — a bystander who acts: supports the target, refuses to feed it, and tells an adult.
• Evidence — screenshots, dates, and saved messages that show what happened.
• Power difference — an imbalance that makes it hard to defend yourself, such as size, age, popularity, numbers, or holding secrets or photos.
• Exclusion — leaving someone out on purpose as a way to hurt or control them.

Myths vs facts — Month 3

• Myth: Bullying is just part of growing up and kids should toughen up. Fact: Repeated, on-purpose harm with a power difference is not a normal rite of passage. It harms health, grades, and safety, and schools are required to respond when it is reported.
• Myth: Ignoring bullying always makes it stop. Fact: Ignoring a single comment sometimes helps. A pattern usually needs evidence, blocking, and adults involved. Starving a post of reaction and reporting it are two different tools — for a pattern, use both.
• Myth: If you are not the one posting, you are not involved. Fact: The audience gives bullying its power. Laughing, liking, forwarding, or staying in a mocking chat to watch all feed it. Supporting the target and reporting are how bystanders change the outcome.
• Myth: Telling an adult is snitching. Fact: Snitching is reporting something harmless to get someone in trouble. Reporting harm to protect a person is different — it is how the harm stops.

What would you do? — Month 3

The situation: A group chat you're in starts posting edited photos of a quiet kid from school, "Devon," with cruel captions. Everyone's laughing in the chat. You're not posting — but you haven't said anything either. Tonight Devon texts you separately: "please don't tell anyone. it'll just get worse."

Walk it through:

1. See your role clearly. Not posting isn't the same as not being part of it. Silence in the audience is what the posters are playing to. You have more power than you think.
2. Support Devon first. Reply to him directly: "It's wrong, it's not your fault, and I'm not going to just watch."
3. Think about the secret. Like Month 1 — this is a safety secret, not a keep-forever secret. Devon is scared it will get worse, which is understandable. But a campaign with screenshots does not stop on its own; adults with evidence are how it stops.
4. Save evidence and report it. Screenshot the chat with names and dates visible, leave the chat, and give the screenshots to a counselor or trusted adult tomorrow — sooner if there are threats.
5. Keep being a person, publicly. Sit with him, message him like a normal friend. One steady ally breaks the isolation the whole campaign depends on.

One more real-life story — Month 3

Alina, 15, found out there was a fake account using her photo and name, posting embarrassing made-up stories about her. At first only a few students followed it, but then the link started moving through group chats. Alina wanted to delete her own real account and disappear. Her cousin, who had taken this lesson, talked her out of deleting anything that night.

Instead, they worked the plan together over one evening. Alina took screenshots of the fake profile, the posts, and the dates, and saved the names of accounts sharing it. She reported the fake account in the app for impersonation and blocked the accounts sending her the link the most. The next morning she brought the screenshots to her school counselor with her mom. Because the evidence was organized, the school could act the same week, the platform removed the fake account, and a teacher addressed the class chats without naming Alina in a way that made things worse.

What stayed with Alina was not just that the account came down. It was that she did not face the first, worst night alone, and she did not destroy her own evidence out of shame. Someone stood next to her, the steps were clear, and adults could see exactly what happened. That is why this month teaches evidence, blocking, telling, and staying connected as one plan — each step makes the next one work.

Try this — Month 3

Become an upstander on purpose this week, in small ways that are safe to do. First, clean up your own audience habits: leave or mute one chat or feed that regularly mocks people, and unfollow accounts whose humor depends on embarrassing someone. Second, send one genuine kind message to someone who is often left out — not about bullying, just a normal, friendly message that includes them. Third, set up your evidence habit now, before you need it: learn how to take a screenshot on your phone that shows the name, the post, and the date, and practice it on a harmless post. When you know the buttons ahead of time, saving real evidence in a stressful moment takes seconds instead of becoming one more hard thing.

Resources to keep — Month 3

• 911 — call if there are threats of violence, a weapon, or a plan to hurt someone soon.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988 any time, for yourself or for a friend who is struggling because of bullying.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to talk by text when speaking out loud is hard.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if bullying connects to abuse or unsafe conditions at home.
• CyberTipline — report.cybertip.org / 1-800-843-5678 — report sexual content, threats, or exploitation online.
• Your school counselor, a trusted adult, or your school nurse — the fastest in-person help for school bullying, especially with screenshots in hand.

What you earned / what's next — Month 3

✅ Month 3 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can tell bullying from a one-time argument, you have a real plan if it targets you — evidence, block, tell, stay connected — and you know how to be an upstander for a friend, including when a "don't tell" promise has to be broken to keep someone safe.

What's next: Month 4 — Dating, Consent, and Healthy Relationships. Next month looks at what respect and consent actually look like up close, and how to spot pressure and control early.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

Quarterly final. This final covers Months 1–3 — everything in the lessons of this quarter. Review those lessons, then take the final here. Score 80% or higher to pass; retakes are always allowed, and answers are not shown. Passing this final completes the quarter.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 4 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What a healthy relationship actually looks like

A healthy relationship — dating, close friendship, or any close connection — is built on respect that you can see in daily actions, not just in big romantic moments. Both people can say what they think and be listened to. Both people keep their other friends, their family time, their hobbies, and their schoolwork. Disagreements happen, but they are handled with words, not threats, insults, or silent punishment. Each person trusts the other to tell the truth, respects a "no" the first time it is said, and feels more calm and more like themselves in the relationship, not less.

Pay attention to how you feel over weeks, not just on the best days. Do you feel relaxed being yourself, or do you rehearse texts and worry about moods? Can you spend a weekend with family without a flood of angry messages? Does the other person celebrate good news for you, or compete with it and pull you down? A healthy relationship makes your life bigger. An unhealthy one slowly makes it smaller — fewer friends, less freedom, more fear of setting the other person off.

There is no rush and no requirement to date. Many teens date, many wait, and both are normal. What matters, whenever dating enters your life, is that you know the standards in this lesson before pressure or strong feelings make them hard to think about.

2. Consent — what it is, in plain language

Consent means a clear, freely given "yes" to something specific — and it can be taken back at any time. Consent is not silence, it is not "they didn't say no," it is not a yes that was argued, begged, guilted, or pressured out of someone. A yes given because a person was afraid of losing the relationship, afraid of anger, drunk or high, asleep, or worn down by hours of asking is not a real yes.

Consent has five parts worth memorizing. It is freely given, with no pressure or manipulation. It can be reversed: a yes yesterday, or a yes five minutes ago, does not lock anyone in. It is informed: the person knows what they are agreeing to. It is enthusiastic, not reluctant or frozen. And it is specific: agreeing to one thing, like holding hands or kissing, is not agreeing to everything else. Each step needs its own yes, every time.

This applies far beyond physical touch, and learning it there helps everywhere. Consent matters for sharing photos, posting about someone, reading someone's messages, borrowing things, and making plans that involve the other person's time and body. A person who respects small boundaries — "don't post that photo of me" — is showing you how they will handle bigger ones.

If you are ever unsure whether you have consent, stop and ask, and treat hesitation, freezing, pulling away, or going quiet as a no. "I need to stop" and "I'm not comfortable" always end the moment, no debate. Respecting a stop is not awkward. It is the core of respect itself.

3. Boundaries — your lines, stated clearly

A boundary is a line you set about what is okay and not okay for you: how you want to be spoken to, how much time you spend together, what you will share online, what physical contact you want or do not want, and what privacy you keep, including passwords that stay yours alone. Boundaries are not walls to punish someone. They are information about how to treat you well.

State boundaries early, plainly, and once — you do not need a long defense. "I'm not sending photos like that." "I need my phone to stay private." "I go home at ten, and I need that respected." Then watch the response, because the response is the data. A healthy partner may be disappointed for a moment but will respect the line without sulking, arguing for an hour, or testing it again next week. Repeated testing, mocking, or "forgetting" a boundary is a red flag, covered next. You are also allowed to change a boundary — tightening one as you learn more about a person is wisdom, not unfairness.

Your boundaries count even if the other person is older, more popular, or says everyone else is fine with it. Age and experience gaps add power, which is why this lesson is direct: an older person dating a much younger teen holds more power, and any adult seeking a romantic or sexual connection with a minor is committing a crime and grooming, exactly as Month 2 described. Tell a trusted adult immediately in that situation.

4. Red flags of an unhealthy relationship

Learn these as a list you can check in real time. Jealous control: demanding to know where you are at all times, checking your phone, telling you who you can talk to or what you can wear. Constant contact as control: dozens of texts demanding instant replies, and anger or cold punishment when you are in class, asleep, or with family. Put-downs dressed as jokes, especially in front of others. Pressure of any kind — for photos, for physical steps you do not want, for secrets from every adult, for ditching friends or family. Threats: to hurt you, to hurt themselves if you leave, to share private photos or messages, or to spread rumors. Breaking things, punching walls, or scary driving during arguments — behavior meant to frighten is a warning even if you have not been touched. Blame-shifting: every problem becomes your fault, and apologies only arrive with excuses and conditions.

Also watch the cycle. Many unhealthy relationships alternate intense kindness and intense harm: a terrible fight, then gifts, tears, and promises, then slowly building tension, then another blow-up. The kind phase does not cancel the harmful phase. Judge the whole pattern over time, and judge whether the pattern is actually changing or just resetting.

What a healthy relationship looks like, by contrast, is almost boring in the best way: steady respect, freedom to have your own life, arguments that end with understanding instead of fear, and a "no" that is heard the first time.

5. Pressure — how it sounds and how to answer it

Pressure rarely announces itself. It sounds like: "If you loved me, you would." "Everyone does it, you're being dramatic." "You said yes last time." "I'll find someone who will." "Send it or I'll tell people you did anyway." Each of these lines has the same job — to move your boundary by making standing on it feel costly. Naming the tactic helps: this is guilt pressure, this is comparison pressure, this is threat pressure.

Your answers can be short, because boundaries do not require essays. "No. I'm not doing that." "I said no, and I need you to respect it." "I'm going home now, and I'll talk tomorrow when we're calm." If pressure continues after a clear no, leave the conversation or the place if you can do so safely, and tell a trusted adult what was said. A person who keeps pressing after a no has answered an important question about their character. Believe the answer.

Digital pressure counts, too. Demands for passwords, for live location at all times, for photos, or for screenshots proving where you are are control, not closeness. Closeness is chosen and relaxed. Control is demanded and tense. You can feel the difference in your body, and that feeling deserves your trust.

6. Getting out, helping a friend, and telling an adult

Ending an unhealthy relationship can feel hard even when you know you should, especially if threats are involved. You do not have to do it alone or perfectly. Tell a trusted adult and a friend what is happening before you end it, so people already know. If there are threats about photos, save the threats as evidence and do not send anything more — that is sextortion, as Month 2 taught, and adults and the CyberTipline can help. If you fear a reaction in person, ending things by text or with adults nearby, and having a ride and a safe place arranged, are sensible, strong choices, not cowardly ones. Afterward, block where you need to, tell your trusted adults if contact continues, and give yourself time. Relief and sadness can exist together; sadness after leaving does not mean leaving was wrong.

If a friend is in an unhealthy relationship, you help most by staying connected. Say what you see, plainly and kindly: "I've noticed he reads your phone and you seem stressed all the time. I'm worried about you." Do not attack the partner in a way that forces your friend to defend them and hide from you. Offer specific help — walking with them to a counselor, sitting with them while they tell a parent — and share help lines without pressure to use them instantly. If you learn of threats, violence, or sexual pressure, that is a safety secret: tell a trusted adult even if your friend asked you not to, because safety outranks secrecy every time in this school.

Words to know — Month 4

• Consent — a clear, freely given yes to something specific, which can be taken back at any time.
• Boundary — a line you set about what is okay and not okay for you in a relationship.
• Healthy relationship — a connection built on respect, honesty, freedom, and feeling safe to be yourself.
• Jealous control — using jealousy to monitor, limit, or rule a partner's time, friends, clothing, or phone.
• Coercion — pressuring, guilt, threats, or manipulation used to get a yes that is not freely given.
• Red flag — a warning sign, such as repeated boundary-testing, that a relationship is unhealthy or unsafe.
• Power difference — an imbalance, such as age, popularity, or experience, that makes it harder for one person to say no.

Myths vs facts — Month 4

• Myth: Jealousy and constant checking mean someone really loves you. Fact: Love is steady respect and trust. Demanding locations, passwords, and instant replies is control, and control is a red flag, not proof of love.
• Myth: If you said yes before, you cannot say no now. Fact: Consent can be taken back at any time, for any reason, including in the middle of something you agreed to earlier. A past yes never creates a permanent yes.
• Myth: A healthy relationship has no arguments. Fact: Healthy couples disagree. The difference is how: with words instead of threats or insults, without fear, and with both people free to speak and be heard.
• Myth: Pressure is normal because everyone gives in eventually. Fact: Pressure after a clear no is a character signal. A respectful person stops at no. You never owe anyone a yes to keep a relationship.

What would you do? — Month 4

The situation: You have been dating Alex for two months. At first it felt exciting — Alex wanted to spend all your free time together. Lately Alex asks for your live location "so I know you're safe," gets cold and distant for hours if you reply late during family dinner, and last week said, "If you cared about me, you'd send me a picture to prove it. Everyone sends them." You said you were not comfortable, and Alex laughed and said you were acting like a little kid.

Walk it through:

1. Name what you are seeing. Location demands, punishment for late replies, and pressure for a photo after you said no — that is jealous control plus coercion, two red flags in one pattern.
2. Trust the standard, not the laugh. Being called childish for a boundary is pressure language. Your discomfort after a clear no is information, not immaturity.
3. Restate the boundary once, plainly. "I'm not sending photos, and I'm turning location off. I need that respected." Then watch the response over the next days — respect or more testing tells you what you need.
4. Tell a trusted adult now, not only if it gets worse. Show them the messages asking for a photo after you said no. If Alex threatens to share anything or spread rumors, save the threats and tell that day — adults can help with reporting.
5. Make your support plan before the next hard conversation. Tell a friend what is going on, keep your family and friend time, and decide ahead of time that if the pressure continues you will end the relationship with adults who already know the situation.

One more real-life story — Month 4

Devon, 15, liked Priya a lot and wanted to impress her friend group, so when Priya teased him for taking too long to reply to texts, he started keeping his phone in his hand through classes, meals, and even practice. His coach benched him for being distracted, his grades dipped, and he felt panicky whenever his phone battery got low — not because he loved being on it, but because he dreaded the cold silence that followed a slow reply.

During a quiet moment, Priya's older sister, who worked as a school aide, noticed Devon checking his phone for the sixth time at a family cookout Priya had invited him to. She asked gently if he was okay. Devon told the truth: he was stressed all the time and did not know how to say it without starting a fight. She did not lecture him. She said, "A person who likes you will still like you after dinner with your family. Try telling her plainly and watch what happens."

Devon used a short boundary sentence that night: "I like talking to you. I can't reply during class, practice, or family meals, and I need that to be okay." Priya was quiet for a day, then apologized — she said her last boyfriend had ignored her for days and she had copied the checking habit without thinking about how it felt. They agreed on normal reply times, and the panic eased. Not every story ends this way, and Devon's lesson was not "every partner will change." His lesson was that stating a boundary early gave him real information fast: respect followed, so the relationship could improve. If contempt or more control had followed instead, that would also have been information — and a reason to leave and tell an adult.

Try this — Month 4

Write your relationship standards before you need them. On a private page, finish these four sentences in your own words: "In any relationship, I will always be free to…" (for example, see my friends and family). "A no from me means…" "Three red flags I will act on right away are…" "The trusted adult I would tell first is…" Then practice two short lines out loud until they feel natural: your boundary line — "No, I'm not doing that, and I need that respected" — and your support line for a friend — "I've noticed…, I'm worried about you, and I'll go with you to tell someone." Practicing on a calm day is what makes the words available on a pressured day.

Resources to keep — Month 4

• 911 — call if you are threatened, followed, or in danger right now.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988 any time you feel overwhelmed or unsafe in a relationship.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to talk by text with a live counselor.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233 / text START to 88788 — dating and relationship abuse help, including safety planning.
• RAINN — 1-800-656-4673 — help for sexual pressure, coercion, or assault, free and confidential.
• CyberTipline — report.cybertip.org / 1-800-843-5678 and Take It Down — takeitdown.ncmec.org — if photos are requested, threatened, or shared.

What you earned / what's next — Month 4

✅ Month 4 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can describe what a healthy relationship looks like day by day, explain consent in its five parts, state and defend your own boundaries, spot jealous control and pressure tactics, and help a friend without taking over for them.

What's next: Month 5 — Peer Pressure, Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol. Next month looks at how group pressure works, how to refuse without losing your people, and what substances actually do to a teen body and brain.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 5 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. How peer pressure actually works

Peer pressure is the push you feel to do what a group is doing so you will fit in, be liked, or avoid being mocked. It rarely sounds like a movie villain saying "do it or else." More often it sounds like laughter when you hesitate, a vape passed around a circle where everyone else has taken a hit, a chant of your name, a joke about being scared, or silence that makes you feel like the odd one out. Sometimes nobody says anything at all — you pressure yourself because you imagine what the group is thinking.

Understanding the mechanics gives you power over them. Groups reward sameness in the moment, which is why the first "no" feels huge and the feeling usually fades within minutes. Most teens overestimate how many of their peers vape, drink, or use drugs — in real surveys, the majority of teens do not. And groups are not as unified as they look: very often, when one person declines calmly, two others quietly feel relieved and decline, too. Your no can be the permission someone else was waiting for.

Pressure also moves online. Challenges, group chats daring someone to film something risky, and photos that make substance use look like the normal price of friendship all work the same way. The screen version adds a record: a video of you using can follow you to coaches, families, and schools long after the night ends.

2. Refusal skills — saying no and keeping your people

You do not need a speech. You need a few short, ready lines and a plan for the next thirty seconds. Keep it simple and warm when you can: "I'm good, thanks." "Nah, I'm not into that." "I've got practice tomorrow, I'm not messing that up." Humor works for many teens: "My lungs already filed a complaint." Changing the activity is often the strongest move of all: "I'm gonna grab food, who's coming?" — you offer the group somewhere else to go, and groups frequently follow whoever has a plan.

If pressure continues, get firmer and shorter: "I said no. I'm serious." Repeat the same calm line instead of debating new arguments — debating invites the group to solve your objections one by one. If you feel cornered, leave: a bathroom break, a text to a trusted adult, a ride home, or a code word arranged with a parent or friend ("text me 'homework' and I'll call with an emergency you have to leave for"). Leaving a risky half hour costs far less than the months of consequences that can follow using.

Also build your exits before the party, game, or hangout: know whose house you are at, keep your phone charged, know your ride, and tell a trusted adult where you will be. A teen with a ride and a reason to leave is much harder to pressure than a teen who feels trapped until someone else decides the night is over.

3. What vaping actually does

Vapes are often sold as flavored, harmless water vapor. They are not. Most vapes contain nicotine, a chemical that changes the teen brain while it is still developing — the brain keeps building focus, mood control, and impulse control into the mid-twenties. Nicotine trains the brain to crave more nicotine, which is why a casual weekend vape can become a daily need for money, hits between classes, and hiding use from family. That craving cycle is called addiction, and it is a property of the drug, not a weakness of the person.

Vaping also irritates lungs, worsens asthma, and can cause coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain. The flavors hide harshness, which makes deep, frequent inhaling easy. Devices can be shared, refilled, or altered, so a teen may not even know the strength of what they inhaled. Quitting often brings irritability, headaches, trouble concentrating, and strong cravings for days to weeks — unpleasant, temporary, and much easier with support from a trusted adult, a school nurse, or a counselor than alone and in secret.

Money tells part of the story, too. Pods, devices, and replacements add up fast, and dependence means spending first on nicotine and explaining later. School consequences add more: vaping at school is commonly punished with suspension and loss of activities, and coaches remove athletes for it. None of that arrives with the first hit — it accumulates, which is exactly why the first decisions matter most.

4. Alcohol, marijuana, and pills — plain facts

Alcohol slows the brain and body, lowers judgment, and makes injuries, fights, unsafe rides, and risky sexual situations far more likely. Teen brains are more sensitive to alcohol's harm and less sensitive to its sleepy warning signals, which makes drinking too much — alcohol poisoning — a real danger. Signs include vomiting, slow or irregular breathing, pale or bluish skin, confusion, and being unable to wake up. That is a 911 call, immediately. Turn the person on their side if you can do so safely, and stay — leaving someone to "sleep it off" can be fatal.

Marijuana is often described as harmless because it is a plant or because adults somewhere use it legally. For teens, regular use is linked in research to problems with memory, learning, motivation, and mood, and today's products are far stronger than in the past. Driving after using marijuana, or riding with a driver who has used alcohol or drugs, multiplies crash risk. The ride rule is absolute: never ride with an impaired driver. Call a trusted adult, use your code word, wait, walk with others in a safe area if that is truly safer — but do not get in that car.

Pills deserve a special warning. A pill that does not come from a pharmacy, handed to you by a friend or bought through social media, may not be what it claims to be at all. That leads directly to the next section, the most important one in this month.

5. Fentanyl — the danger, in plain terms

Fentanyl is an extremely strong opioid drug. A tiny amount — about the size of a few grains of salt — can stop a person's breathing. It is being mixed into fake pills made to look like real prescription medicine, and sometimes into other drugs, without the person taking them knowing it is there. That means a teen can die the first time, from one pill, believing they took something familiar. There is no safe way to tell by looking, smelling, or tasting whether fentanyl is present.

Because of fentanyl, this school's rules are strict and simple. Never take a pill that was not given to you by a pharmacist or a trusted adult who got it from a pharmacy. Never share prescription medicine, even with a friend in pain — their "same pill from home" may not be the same at all. If a friend becomes hard to wake, breathes slowly or stops, has blue or gray lips, or will not respond, call 911 immediately, say exactly what you know about what they took, and stay with them. Calling for help fast is the difference that saves lives, and fear of getting in trouble must never delay that call.

Adults in many schools and communities now carry naloxone, a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose if given quickly. You do not need to manage that yourself — your job is the fast 911 call, clear information, and not leaving the person alone.

6. Helping a friend, and getting help yourself

If a friend is starting to use regularly — vaping daily, drinking every weekend, changing friends, dropping grades, needing money, hiding use — say something early and privately: "I've noticed you vape every break now and you seem stressed without it. I'm worried about you." Offer to go with them to a counselor or school nurse. If a friend is pressuring others, you can refuse for yourself and still remain kind to the person: boundaries about behavior are not rejection of the human being.

If you are the one using and you want to stop, that wanting counts. Tell a trusted adult, a counselor, or your school nurse, or call SAMHSA at 1-800-662-4357 for confidential information and referrals. If substances and hard feelings are tangled together, 988 is there as well. What NOT to do: do not carry, hold, or sell substances for anyone — holding for a friend transfers the legal and school consequences to you. Do not try to drive or "handle" a medical emergency yourself without calling 911. And do not keep a friend's dangerous use as a loyalty secret. Like every safety secret in this school, this one goes to a trusted adult, because protecting a friend's life outranks protecting a friend's habit.

Words to know — Month 5

• Peer pressure — the push to match a group's behavior in order to fit in or avoid being mocked.
• Refusal skills — short, practiced words and actions for saying no and leaving a pressured situation safely.
• Nicotine — the addictive chemical in cigarettes and most vapes that changes the developing brain's craving system.
• Addiction — a cycle where the brain craves a substance and stopping brings withdrawal, despite harm.
• Alcohol poisoning — a medical emergency from drinking too much, shown by vomiting, slow breathing, and being unable to wake up.
• Fentanyl — an extremely strong opioid; a tiny amount can stop breathing, and it is hidden in fake pills.
• Impaired driver — a driver affected by alcohol or drugs, making a ride with them unsafe at any speed.
• Code word — a pre-arranged word or text that tells a trusted person you need an exit or help right away.

Myths vs facts — Month 5

• Myth: Everybody vapes or drinks — you are the only one who doesn't. Fact: Most teens do not vape daily or drink regularly. Groups make use look universal because the users are the loudest. The quiet majority is easy to miss.
• Myth: Vaping is just flavored water vapor and is basically harmless. Fact: Most vapes deliver nicotine, which addicts the developing brain, plus chemicals that irritate lungs. The flavor hides harshness; it does not remove harm.
• Myth: A pill from a friend is safe if it looks like a real prescription pill. Fact: Fake pills made to look real may contain fentanyl, and there is no way to tell by sight. A tiny amount can stop breathing. Only take medicine that comes from a pharmacy through a trusted adult.
• Myth: A good friend would never tell an adult about a friend's drug use. Fact: Dangerous use is a safety secret. Telling a trusted adult is how a friend gets support before an accident, addiction, or overdose. Loyalty protects the person, not the habit.

What would you do? — Month 5

The situation: At a small hangout at a classmate's house, a vape starts going around your circle on the porch. Two friends have taken hits. The person next to you holds it out and says your name with a grin. A couple of people laugh and one starts filming "for the story." You do not want to vape, and you really do not want to be filmed doing it.

Walk it through:

1. Use your simplest line first. "I'm good, thanks," said calmly, while keeping your hands down and passing the moment along. Most circles move on within seconds when the answer sounds relaxed and final.
2. Do not explain or apologize at length. Long defenses invite debate and keep the camera on you. If filming continues, add one firm line: "Don't film me. I'm serious."
3. Change the scene. Stand up and offer a plan: "I'm grabbing snacks inside — who's coming?" Movement breaks the circle, the camera, and the pressure all at once.
4. If pressure follows you inside, use your exit. Text your trusted adult your code word, step outside to wait for your ride, and leave. A short awkward exit tonight protects your lungs, your record, and your reputation for months.
5. Later, think about the friendship math. Friends who accept a no are keepable. Anyone who keeps pushing, filming, or mocking a no has shown you a red flag worth believing — adjust how much access they get to you.

One more real-life story — Month 5

Jalen, 16, was offered a pill at a party by an older student who said it would "help him relax" before a big game the next day, and that half the team used them. The pill looked ordinary. Jalen felt his heart pounding — not because he wanted it, but because three teammates were watching and he did not want to be the story of the night.

He used the plan he had made months earlier, almost without deciding to. "Nah, I'm not risking tomorrow's game," he said, and then immediately changed the subject and the location: he headed for the kitchen where the host's older brother was making food and started a conversation about the game. The moment passed. Nobody followed him with the pill.

Two weeks later, his school held an assembly after a student from a nearby town died from a fake pill containing fentanyl. Jalen sat very still. He has never claimed he "knew" the pill at the party was fake — that is the point of his story. He could not have known, and neither could the student offering it. Looking identical to real medicine is exactly what makes fake pills deadly. His refusal skill and his quick exit protected him from a risk nobody in that room could see. He tells younger players now: you do not need proof a pill is dangerous to refuse it. "Not from a pharmacy" is reason enough.

Try this — Month 5

Build your refusal kit today, while no one is watching. First, pick three lines that sound like you — one light ("I'm good, thanks"), one reason-based ("I've got a game tomorrow, not risking it"), and one firm ("I said no, I'm serious") — and say each one out loud twice. Second, set up your exit: save a code word with one trusted adult and one friend, keep your phone charged on nights out, and know your ride home before you arrive anywhere. Third, do a quick reality check: write down your honest guess of how many teens vape daily, then compare it to this lesson's fact that most teens do not. Noticing the gap between the loud picture and the real numbers makes the next circle on a porch much easier to stand in.

Resources to keep — Month 5

• 911 — call immediately for alcohol poisoning, an overdose, or anyone who will not wake up or is breathing slowly.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988 any time substances and hard feelings are tangled together, or you need support.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to talk by text when you need help deciding what to do.
• SAMHSA — 1-800-662-4357 — confidential information and referrals for substance use help, for yourself or a friend.
• Poison Control — 1-800-222-1222 — fast guidance if someone swallowed an unknown pill or substance and is still awake and breathing.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if substance use at home is making home unsafe.
• Your school counselor or school nurse — judgment-free first steps and local resources to keep.

What you earned / what's next — Month 5

✅ Month 5 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can explain how peer pressure works, use short refusal lines and a planned exit without a speech, describe what vaping, alcohol, and other substances do to a teen body and brain, state the fentanyl rule with no exceptions, and help a friend by bringing in a trusted adult early.

What's next: Month 6 — Mental Health — Feeling Overwhelmed, Asking for Help, Staying Safe. Next month brings these skills together: what to do when the pressure is not from a group, but from feelings that feel like too much.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 6 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Adapted from the Youth Core, Week 4.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the month test at 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — the point is to go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. Feelings are signals, not verdicts

Everyone has stretches where things feel heavy — stress at home, trouble at school, friend drama, grief, or a sadness or worry that just sits there. This month is about understanding those feelings, knowing the warning signs that mean get help now, and building the plan you will actually use. Feeling sad, angry, anxious, or numb sometimes is human, not broken.

Feelings get dangerous when they stay and grow: weeks of feeling down, losing interest in everything, sleep or appetite changing a lot, feeling hopeless, or thinking everyone would be better off without you. Those are signals to get support — the same way a high fever is a signal to see a doctor. A signal is not a life sentence. It is information that tells you what kind of help to reach for, and reaching early almost always makes the path back shorter and easier.

2. Asking for help is a skill

Asking for help is a skill, not a weakness. The strongest people you know have all been helped by somebody. Like any skill, it gets easier with practice and with exact words ready ahead of time. You can start small: "I've been feeling really low for a couple of weeks and I don't want to feel like this. Can I talk to you?" You can say it to a parent, a counselor, a school nurse, a coach, a faith leader, or another trusted adult from your Month 1 map. You can also write it in a note or a text if speaking is hard.

What to expect when you ask matters, too. A good helper will listen without rushing, ask what has been going on, and help you think about next steps — which might be rest and check-ins for a hard week, or a counselor, doctor, or help line for something heavier or longer-lasting. If the first person does not know how to help, that is not the end. Ask the next person. Needing help more than once, or needing a different kind of help than you first tried, is normal.

3. Know the help lines — put them in your phone today

Save these numbers now, while you are calm, so they are there on a hard night. You can call or text 988, 24/7, for emotional distress or thoughts of suicide. It is free and confidential. You can text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line if you would rather type than talk. You can call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453 if home is the problem. And you call 911 if you or someone else might act on harmful thoughts soon, or anyone is in immediate danger.

You can also call 988 about a friend and ask what to do. You do not have to carry someone else's crisis alone, and the people who answer these lines coach friends and family through exactly that, every day. Confidential means kept private, with one limit that protects life: if someone is about to be seriously hurt, helpers act to protect that person.

4. The friend rule — take it seriously, every time

If a friend says they want to die, hurt themselves, or "not be here anymore" — even as a joke, even if they say "don't tell" — take it seriously. Believe it could be real. You cannot tell from the outside, and the cost of being wrong is too high. Stay connected: keep talking, and stay with them in person or on the phone if you can. Tell a trusted adult immediately — a parent, counselor, or teacher — and call or text 988 for guidance. This is another promise that does not outrank a life. A living friend who is mad at you can forgive you later.

Do not promise secrecy about this. Ever. You can say, right in the moment: "I care about you too much to keep that secret." Asking directly also helps, and it does not plant the idea. Asking "Are you thinking about hurting yourself?" opens the door for a friend to tell the truth. It does not create thoughts that were not there.

5. Calm-down tools that actually help

For the everyday too-much days, you need tools that work on your body, not just advice to "calm down." Breathe out slowly, with longer exhales than inhales, for a few rounds — it physically slows a racing body down. Splash cold water on your face or hold something cold; it jolts the stress response down. Move: walk, run, shoot baskets, dance in your room — stress is energy, so give it somewhere to go. Name it to tame it: say, out loud or in a notes app, "I'm furious because…" Naming a feeling shrinks it a little. Shrink the problem by asking, "What is the next one thing I can do?" Not the whole solution — the next step. Take care of the basics: sleep, food, and water. A tired, hungry brain makes everything feel ten times worse, and basic care is real medicine. Limit the scroll: when you feel awful, feeds full of conflict and comparison pour fuel on it, so take the break.

Try these tools on medium-hard days, not only on the worst days. Practicing when the stakes are lower teaches your body what works for you, so the tools are familiar when you really need them. Notice which two or three help you most and write those down in your safety plan.

6. Build your personal safety plan

A personal safety plan is your own written plan for hard stretches, made by you, in your own words. It has six parts. First, my warning signs — how you know a bad stretch is starting, such as "I stop answering texts" or "my stomach hurts every morning." Second, my calm-down tools — the two or three from the list above that work for you. Third, my people — your three trusted adults from Month 1, plus one friend. Fourth, my places — somewhere you can go and feel safer. Fifth, my lines — 988, the Crisis Text Line, and Childhelp, saved as contacts. Sixth, my reason list — people, pets, goals, and even small things, like a team, a show, or a future plan, that are worth staying for. Read it on the worst days.

What NOT to do when you feel overwhelmed: do not isolate for days and tell yourself nobody cares — isolation makes the feelings louder and help farther away. Do not use alcohol, vaping, or other substances to numb feelings; they borrow calm from tomorrow and make anxiety and low mood worse as they wear off. Do not make big, permanent decisions in the worst hour of a bad night. And do not wait until a crisis to find your numbers and your people. The whole point of this plan is that past-you, on a calmer day, already did the hard organizing for present-you.

Words to know — Month 6

• Crisis — a moment when feelings or danger are too much to handle alone and help is needed right away.
• Confidential — kept private, with one limit: if someone is about to be seriously hurt, helpers act to protect life.
• Coping tools — healthy actions that help you get through hard feelings, such as breathing, movement, talking, and rest.
• Safety plan (personal) — your own written plan: warning signs, tools, people, places, and help lines.
• Support network — all the people and services you can turn to; stronger than any single person.
• Warning signs — changes in mood, sleep, appetite, interest, or behavior that signal you need more support soon.
• Overwhelmed — feeling like the demands or emotions in front of you are more than you can manage alone in that moment.

Myths vs facts — Month 6

• Myth: Asking for help means you are weak or cannot handle life. Fact: Asking for help is a skill that strong people use. Everyone needs support at some point, and asking early is how small problems stay small.
• Myth: Asking a friend if they are thinking about hurting themselves will plant the idea. Fact: Asking directly does not create the idea. It opens the door for honesty and help, and it shows your friend they do not have to hide.
• Myth: If someone mentions suicide as a joke, it is never serious. Fact: You cannot tell serious from joking from the outside. Treat every mention as real, stay connected, and bring in an adult and 988.
• Myth: Coping tools are only for a crisis. Fact: Breathing, movement, sleep, food, water, and naming your feelings help on ordinary stressful days, too — and practicing them then makes them work better in a crisis.

What would you do? — Month 6

The situation: Your best friend Marcus has changed over the last month — quit the team, stopped coming to lunch, leaves your messages on read. Tonight he finally replies: "honestly everyone would be better off if I just wasn't around. forget I said anything."

Walk it through:

1. Take it seriously. That sentence is a warning sign, full stop. "Forget I said anything" does not cancel it.
2. Respond with care, right now. "I'm not forgetting it. I care about you. Are you thinking about hurting yourself?" Asking directly does not put the idea in someone's head — that is a myth. It opens the door for them to tell the truth.
3. Stay on the line or keep texting. Do not leave him alone with it tonight if you can help it.
4. Bring in adults — tonight, not tomorrow. Tell your parent or his, or another trusted adult, exactly what he wrote. Call or text 988 and ask them what to do; they coach friends and family through this all the time.
5. Follow up tomorrow, and the day after. Sit with him at lunch. Keep inviting. Recovery is not one conversation; it is someone who keeps showing up. That is you — with adults carrying the heavy part alongside you.

One more real-life story — Month 6

Sofia, 16, noticed her own warning signs before anyone else did. For three weeks she had been sleeping badly, snapping at her little brother, and dreading school in a way that felt physical — a tight chest every morning on the bus. She was still getting her work done, so she told herself she had no right to complain. "Other people have it worse," she kept thinking.

What changed her mind was her own safety plan, half-finished in her notes app from an earlier lesson. She had written one warning sign: "When I stop wanting to go to practice, something is wrong." She had, in fact, quit going to dance practice two weeks earlier without really deciding to. Seeing her own words made it harder to argue with herself.

Sofia texted her school counselor the sentence she had practiced: "I've been feeling really low for a few weeks and I don't want to feel like this. Can I talk to you?" The counselor listened, helped her tell her parents together, and connected her with a counselor outside school. The tight-chest mornings did not vanish in a week, but they eased as sleep, support, and a plan came together. Sofia's lesson for this month is one she asked to share in her own words: comparing your pain to someone else's does not make yours smaller — it just makes you wait longer to get help for it. Your warning signs, in your own writing, can be the voice that talks you into asking.

Try this — Month 6

Write your personal safety plan today, in a notes app or on paper you keep private. Fill in all six parts: warning signs, calm-down tools, people, places, help lines saved as contacts, and your reason list. Then do two small setup tasks that make the plan real: save 988 and the Crisis Text Line as contacts in your phone, and practice one calm-down tool — slow exhales or a cold splash of water — once on a normal day so you know how it feels. Finally, choose your asking-for-help sentence and write that down, too. On a hard day, you should not have to invent words, search for numbers, or wonder who to call. Past-you handles that now.

Resources to keep — Month 6

• 911 — call if you or someone else might act on harmful thoughts soon, or anyone is in immediate danger.
• 988 (call/text) — call or text 988, 24/7, for emotional distress or thoughts of suicide, for yourself or about a friend.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 to connect by text if talking out loud is hard.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if home is the source of the stress or harm.
• SAMHSA — 1-800-662-4357 — information and referrals for mental health and substance use support.
• Your school counselor, your school nurse, or a trusted adult — in-person support who can stay involved over time.

What you earned / what's next — Month 6

✅ Month 6 complete (test score 80% or higher): You know the warning signs that mean get help now, you have calm-down tools for everyday hard days, you know how to respond when a friend is in crisis, and you have your own written safety plan. Month 6 completes the first half of your Youth year — six months of safety skills that build on each other, from your trusted-adult map to this plan.

What's next: Month 7 — Trouble at School, Running Away, and Safer Choices. Next month takes these same tools into school trouble and the urge to run, and looks at safer choices you can make in the moment and after.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

Quarterly final. This final covers Months 4–6 — everything in the lessons of this quarter. Review those lessons, then take the final here. Score 80% or higher to pass; retakes are always allowed, and answers are not shown. Passing this final completes the quarter.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 7 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 7 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• No judgment. Trouble at school or trouble at home does not make you a bad person. This lesson is about safer choices and getting support early.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What trouble at school can look like

Trouble at school is not one single thing. It can start small, like being late many days in a row, missing homework, or arguing with a teacher when you are already stressed. It can also be bigger, like a fight, leaving school without permission, damaging property, or being accused of taking something that is not yours. Sometimes the trouble is really about school itself. Sometimes school is just where feelings from home, friendships, or exhaustion finally spill over.

It helps to name what actually happened, plainly and without extra labels. "I left class without permission three times this week" is clearer than "I am a problem student." A clear description points to a clear fix. A label just sticks to you and follows you into the next classroom, even when your behavior has already changed.

Schools usually respond in steps. A teacher may talk with you first. A counselor or administrator may get involved next. There may be a meeting with a parent or caregiver, a behavior plan, detention after school, or, for serious safety issues, a suspension where you are sent home for a set time. Each school has its own rules in a student handbook, and those rules matter. Ask for the rule in writing if you do not understand why something is happening.

2. Why early help works better than waiting

Small problems are easier to repair. A missed assignment can become a plan. A misunderstanding with a teacher can become a short, calm conversation. When a problem is hidden for weeks, adults tend to find out all at once, and the reaction feels much bigger. That is why telling a trusted adult early is a strength, not tattling on yourself.

Pick an adult at school who has been fair to you, even if they are not your favorite teacher. That might be your school counselor or nurse, a coach, a librarian, or a teacher from a past year. You can start simply: "I am getting into trouble and I do not want it to get worse. Can I tell you what has been going on?" You do not need a perfect speech. Honest, short sentences work best.

If you have an individualized education program, a 504 plan, or other school supports, those supports are part of the picture. Meetings about discipline should take your learning needs and health needs seriously. A parent, caregiver, or trusted adult can help you ask whether your plan was followed and whether it still fits. You are allowed to ask questions about your own education.

3. The pause plan for heated moments at school

Most school trouble gets worse in about thirty seconds. Someone laughs, a comment lands wrong, a hallway gets crowded, and pride takes over. A pause plan gives your brain a job other than reacting.

Try these steps, in order, when you feel your body heating up:

1. Stop talking. Close your mouth on purpose so a sentence you cannot take back does not slip out.
2. Put space between you and the problem. Step back, turn toward a safe direction, or walk toward a classroom, office, or other supervised place.
3. Slow your breathing by letting the breath out longer than you take it in, for several rounds.
4. Use a short, neutral sentence if you must speak: "I need a minute," or "I am going to get an adult."
5. Go to an adult before you go back to the group. Explain what happened in plain facts first, feelings second.
6. Do not record, post, or forward the conflict. A video turns a bad ten minutes into a problem that keeps spreading for weeks.

What not to do matters just as much. Do not bring friends in as backup for a fight. Do not threaten someone in writing, because messages can be saved and shared. Do not leave school grounds in anger without telling an adult where you are going — leaving turns a discipline issue into a safety emergency, because now nobody knows where you are.

4. If you are called to the office or accused of something

Being called to the office can feel frightening even when you did nothing wrong. You still have choices that protect you.

Listen to the full question before you answer. It is okay to say, "I need to think about that for a minute," or "Can my parent or caregiver be contacted?" If you do not understand a word or a rule, ask what it means. If you are asked to write what happened, stick to what you saw and did yourself, in order, without guessing about other people's motives.

Be truthful without adding extra admissions about things you do not know. If you made a mistake, owning your part early, calmly, and once is usually stronger than a long chain of changing stories. Changing stories makes adults doubt even the true parts. If you believe an accusation is wrong, say so clearly and ask what evidence the school is using and how you can respond.

Ask three practical questions before you leave the meeting: What happens next? How long does it last? Who can my family or I contact if I have questions? Write down names, dates, and what was decided while it is still fresh. Paper helps memory, especially when you are upset.

5. Why young people think about running away

Running away usually starts as an attempt to solve a feeling, not as a plan for a new life. The feeling might be shame after trouble at school, fear of a punishment at home, anger after a fight, grief, or a belief that nobody will listen. Some young people leave because home itself feels unsafe. Those reasons deserve to be taken seriously, even though leaving without a safe place creates new dangers very fast.

It is important to separate two situations. If home is unsafe — if someone is hurting you, threatening you, or you are afraid to be there — that is not ordinary disobedience, and you need adult help and protection. Tell a trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, or call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If instead the problem is a painful argument or fear of getting in trouble, leaving overnight almost never makes that conversation easier. It adds fear, police involvement, and lost trust to the original problem.

In Massachusetts, when a young person leaves home and cannot be found, adults will usually try to locate them and return them to a safe setting. Police, family, and the school may all become involved. This information is general information only, not legal advice. What matters for your safety is simpler: the streets, cars, stations, and strangers' homes are far less predictable than the problem you left.

6. The real risks once you are out the door

The first hours away can feel quiet, which can fool you into thinking you have solved something. The risks build as the night goes on. You need food, a bathroom, a place to sleep, a charged phone, and a way to stay warm or cool. Friends may help for one night and then face their own parents' rules. Hiding in an empty building, a car, or with someone you barely know puts you where no trusted adult can find you.

People who offer a ride, food, or a couch may be kind — and some are not. A person who quickly offers everything you need, asks you not to tell anyone where you are, or wants photos, secrecy, or favors in return is showing red flags, no matter how friendly they seem. You never owe anyone your body, your silence, or your location for helping you.

Other warning signs to act on right away include: your phone is dying and no one knows where you are; the place you planned to stay falls through; someone pressures you to use alcohol or drugs to relax; or you have medication you need at home and no way to get it. Any one of these means it is time to call a trusted adult, call 988, text HOME to 741741, or call 911 if you are unsafe.

7. Safer choices that still give you space

Wanting space is normal. The goal is space with safety attached to it. Try these options before leaving, or use them if you have already left and want a way back:

1. Ask a trusted relative or a friend's parent, through your parent or caregiver or another trusted adult, if you can cool off at their home for a few hours in the open — not as a secret.
2. Go to a public, staffed place during open hours, like your local library, and use that time to call a trusted adult and make a plan.
3. Write the unsent version of what you want to say first. Read it later when you are calmer, and turn it into a shorter, safer conversation.
4. Agree on a cool-down signal at home: a word or gesture that means "I need twenty minutes alone in my room before we talk."
5. If you have already left, send one locating message to a trusted adult right away: where you are, who is with you, and that you are willing to talk about a safe way home.

A return is not a defeat. Many families and schools will focus first on the fact that you came back safely if you come back quickly and honestly. Waiting days to be found makes every conversation harder.

8. Repair after trouble — how trust is rebuilt

Repair has three parts: acknowledge, restore, and change. Acknowledge means naming your part without excuses: "I left class and scared people because nobody knew where I was." Restore means fixing what can be fixed — returning property, cleaning up damage you caused with adult guidance, or apologizing directly and briefly to the person affected. Change means showing a new pattern over time: arriving on time for two weeks, checking in with a counselor on Fridays, keeping your phone put away during class.

Apologies work best when they are specific and short. "Sorry for everything" is hard to believe. "I am sorry I shouted at you in front of the class. Next time I will ask to step out and get the counselor" tells the listener exactly what you understood. You may not control whether the other person accepts the apology right away. You do control whether your next actions match your words.

Keep a simple record of the good stretch that follows. Dates you attended, assignments you finished, meetings you kept. If an old label comes up later, that record shows growth in facts, not just promises.

Words to know — Month 7

• Suspension — being sent home from school for a set time because of a serious rule issue.
• Detention (school) — staying after school or during a set period as a school consequence; different from court detention.
• Behavior plan — a written plan that names a problem, the supports offered, and the steps a student will practice.
• Trusted adult — a grown-up who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Handbook — the school's written rules and procedures for students and families.
• Restore — to fix what can be fixed after harm, such as returning property or making a sincere apology.
• Red flag — a warning sign that a person or place may not be safe.
• Cool-down signal — an agreed word or gesture that means someone needs a short break before talking.

Myths vs facts — Month 7

• Myth: Running away makes adults finally leave you alone. Fact: Leaving usually brings more adults, more worry, and harder conversations — plus real danger while you are gone.
• Myth: If you admit any part of a mistake, you will be blamed for all of it. Fact: Owning your own part, clearly and once, usually makes the true parts of your story more believable.
• Myth: A friend's couch in secret is a safe long-term plan. Fact: Secret stays fall apart quickly and leave you without a trusted adult who knows where you are.
• Myth: Asking a counselor for help means you are in even bigger trouble. Fact: Counselors are there for early help, and asking early often keeps a small problem small.

What would you do? — Month 7

The situation: You got into a shouting match with a teacher after she took your phone during class. You walked out of school and are sitting behind a store two streets away. Your phone is at 12 percent. A friend texts that you can hide at his cousin's apartment tonight, but you have never met the cousin, and your friend says not to tell anyone.

Walk it through:

1. Name the risks you can already see: a dying phone, an unknown adult's apartment, and a secrecy rule from someone offering help.
2. Use the battery you have left for safety, not for posting or arguing. Send your location and what happened to a trusted adult.
3. Decline the secret apartment stay, plainly: "I can't do a place I don't know with no one told."
4. Walk to a staffed, public place nearby and call your school counselor or nurse, a trusted relative, or 988 for help planning your next step.
5. Return with an adult involved, then use the repair steps: acknowledge leaving, restore calm with a specific apology for shouting, and agree on a phone plan for class going forward.

One more real-life story — Month 7

Maya kept getting written up for being late to first period. Teachers assumed she did not care. In truth, she was getting two younger siblings ready each morning while her mother worked an early shift, and the bus connection barely worked. She was too embarrassed to explain and started skipping first period entirely, which turned lateness into a much bigger discipline problem. Her school counselor finally asked a different question — not "Why are you late?" but "What happens before school at your house?" Together they built a plan: a slightly adjusted arrival routine, a check-in at the counselor's office instead of a detention slip on hard mornings, and a family meeting about the bus problem. Maya's lateness did not vanish overnight, but the write-ups stopped growing because the real cause finally had a name.

The lesson: Behavior has a backstory. Telling a trusted adult the backstory early does not erase consequences, but it often changes which supports you get — and support is what makes better behavior possible.

Try this — Month 7

Build your own "pause card" on paper or in your phone notes. It takes about five minutes.

• Write your top three warning feelings: for example, hot face, racing thoughts, urge to shout.
• Write your three pause moves from this lesson that fit you best.
• Write the names of two trusted adults — one inside school, one outside school — and how to reach each one.
• Write one public, staffed place near your school or home where you could go during open hours to make a safe call.
• Read the card once when you are calm, so it is familiar when a hard moment comes.

Resources to keep — Month 7

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788
• A trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, and your local library can help you find local support during open hours.

What you earned / what's next — Month 7

✅ Month 7 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can name how school trouble grows, use a pause plan in heated moments, explain the real risks of running away, choose safer ways to get space, and repair trust with specific, honest steps.

What's next: Month 8 — Your Body, Your Health, and Questions You Are Scared to Ask: plain, factual answers about body changes, hygiene, seeing a doctor, and body safety, with no shame attached to asking.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 8 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 8 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• No shame here. Every question in this lesson is one that doctors, nurses, and trusted adults hear from young people all the time. Wondering about your own body is normal and healthy.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. Puberty — what changes, and why the timing is different for everyone

Puberty is the stage when a child's body gradually becomes an adult body. It is driven by hormones, which are chemical messengers made inside the body. There is no single correct starting age. Some young people notice changes early, others later, and both patterns can be completely normal. Comparing your timeline to a friend's timeline tells you almost nothing about your own health.

Changes many young people notice include growing taller quickly, gaining weight as the body shape changes, sweat and body odor becoming stronger, and hair growing in new places, such as under the arms and around the private parts. Skin often becomes more oily, which is why acne is so common in these years. Voices may deepen, sometimes unevenly at first. For young people who menstruate, periods begin during puberty; for others, the body begins producing sperm. Mood, energy, and sleep needs shift too, because hormones affect the brain as well as the rest of the body.

What helps most is accurate information and patience. Bodies do not change on a schedule you control, and teasing someone about being early, late, tall, short, or different is never okay. If a change worries you — pain, a very early or very late start compared with most peers, or anything that feels wrong — that is a question for a doctor or your school nurse, not something to diagnose from social media videos.

2. Periods and everyday body changes, in plain language

A period is the regular shedding of the lining of the uterus, and it is a normal sign that the body is maturing. Cycles are often irregular in the first years, which is common, though severe pain, very heavy bleeding, or missing school regularly because of symptoms are reasons to see a doctor. Keeping spare supplies in a bag, knowing where the nurse's office is, and having a trusted adult you can tell without embarrassment make school days much easier.

All bodies also produce normal discharges, sweat, and odors that change during puberty. Wet dreams during sleep can happen and are a normal body process, not something shameful or something a person chooses. Erections that happen unexpectedly are also a normal body response during these years and usually pass on their own. None of these everyday experiences make a person dirty, bad, or ready for anything — they are simply signs of a growing body doing its job.

If you ever notice a new lump, lasting pain, a rash that spreads, unusual discharge with itching or a bad smell, or an injury to your private parts, skip the embarrassment and get checked. Health professionals have seen all of it before, and early care prevents small issues from becoming bigger ones.

3. Hygiene that actually works

Hygiene is not about looking perfect. It is about keeping skin, teeth, and body healthy and comfortable. A few steady habits cover most of it:

1. Bathe or shower regularly, washing with soap, including underarms and around private parts — washing the outside of the body only, gently, with warm water.
2. Put on clean underwear and socks each day, and change out of sweaty sports clothes instead of staying in them for hours.
3. Use deodorant on clean, dry underarms if body odor bothers you; it works poorly on top of old sweat.
4. Brush teeth twice a day, floss once a day if you can, and keep sugary drinks as an occasional thing rather than an all-day habit.
5. Wash hands with soap after the bathroom, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or handling shared equipment.
6. Resist popping pimples, which can push infection deeper and leave marks; gentle washing and time help more, and a doctor can advise if acne is severe or painful.

Laundry access, money for supplies, or a crowded bathroom at home can make these habits harder. That is a resource problem, not a character problem. Your school counselor or nurse can often connect families with supplies quietly. Asking for soap, pads, or deodorant is a health request, and adults at school handle these requests regularly and discreetly.

4. Food, movement, sleep, and screens — the four basics

Growing bodies need real fuel. Regular meals with a mix of foods — grains, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and dairy or alternatives — support growth, mood, and concentration far better than skipping meals and crashing on snacks later. Water is the default drink your body runs on. Energy drinks and heavy caffeine can wreck sleep and raise anxiety, even when they promise focus.

Movement most days helps almost everything this month is about: sleep, mood, cramps, stress, and growth. It does not have to be a team sport. Walking, biking, dancing, swimming, or playing outside all count. Sleep is the third basic, and teenagers generally need more of it than adults think — a tired brain struggles with school, emotions, and body image at the same time. A regular wind-down time, a darker room, and keeping the phone charging outside arm's reach are small changes with outsized effects.

Screens are the fourth basic because they shape what you believe is "normal." Edited photos, filters, and fitness influencers selling products are not medical information. A body that is fed, rested, moving, and growing is a healthy body even if it does not look like an image online.

5. Seeing a doctor — what a checkup is really like

A checkup is a routine visit to track growth and catch problems early, even when you feel fine. Typically, a nurse or medical assistant checks your height, weight, and blood pressure and asks about allergies and medicines. The doctor asks about eating, sleep, activity, school, mood, and safety, examines your body by listening to your heart and lungs and checking areas like your ears, throat, back, and stomach, and may recommend vaccines or lab tests based on your age and history. You can ask what each part is for, before it happens.

You also have a voice in the room. You can ask for a parent or caregiver to stay or to step out for part of the talk, depending on the office and the topic — many doctors offer young people a few minutes of private conversation as they get older, because honest answers lead to better care. What you share in that private time is generally kept private, with an important limit health professionals explain: if someone is hurting you, or you may seriously hurt yourself or someone else, they must act to protect safety.

If something hurts, say so in plain words: where, since when, and how much it changes what you can do. Doctors would rather check ten things that turn out fine than miss the one thing that needed care. Bring a short written list of questions so nerves do not erase them, and write down the answers before you leave. For anything urgent — trouble breathing, a high fever that will not come down, a serious injury, or signs of poisoning — do not wait for a routine appointment. Poison Control is 1-800-222-1222, and emergencies are 911.

6. Body safety rules that never change

Your body belongs to you. Private parts are the parts covered by a swimsuit, and the rules around them are simple and strict:

• No one — not a relative, not a coach, not an older teen, not anyone — should touch your private parts, ask you to touch theirs, or show you sexual pictures or ask you for them, except for a real medical exam with a health professional, explained to you, for your health.
• Secrets about touching are never secrets you must keep. A person who says "this is our secret" about touching is breaking the rule, not you.
• Your "no" and your discomfort matter even with hugs, tickling, and lap-sitting. You can move away, say stop, and tell a trusted adult if someone ignores that.
• If something already happened, it was not your fault, no matter what you wore, said, or did before it. Tell a trusted adult, or call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453 or RAINN at 1-800-656-4673.

These rules protect you and also help you protect younger kids around you. If a younger child tells you something worrying about touching, believe them, do not promise secrecy, and tell a trusted adult the same day.

7. Asking the questions you are scared to ask

Most young people carry at least one body question they have never said out loud. They worry the question is weird, gross, or proof that something is wrong with them. In reality, health professionals rank almost all of these questions as completely ordinary. The scariest part is only the first sentence.

Use these steps to ask any health question safely:

1. Choose the right person: a doctor, your school nurse, a counselor, or a trusted adult — not a comment section, not an older teen who brags, not a video selling something.
2. Write the question down first. Reading your own sentence off paper or a phone is allowed, and professionals are used to it.
3. Start with a simple opener: "This is embarrassing for me, but I need to ask about my body."
4. Ask one question at a time, and ask them to explain any hard word they use.
5. If the first adult dismisses you, ask a second one. A brushed-off health question deserves another try, not silence.

What not to do: do not trade body photos for "advice" from anyone online, ever. Do not try strong creams, pills, supplements, or home remedies recommended in videos without a health professional — growing bodies react differently, and some products cause real harm. And do not let shame delay care for pain, injury, or possible infection. Shame fades quickly; untreated problems do not.

8. Respecting other people's bodies and privacy

Body respect runs in both directions. Do not comment on classmates' body changes, repeat health gossip, or share anyone's private information about periods, development, medical visits, or anything similar. Never photograph or record anyone in a bathroom, locker room, or changing space — that is a serious harm and can become a legal problem as well as a school one. If a friend confides a health worry, your job is small and powerful: listen, do not laugh, do not spread it, and encourage them to tell a trusted adult or health professional, offering to walk with them to the nurse if that helps.

9. You deserve respectful care — every time

Doctors, nurses, dentists, and counselors are there to help you — and most of them try hard to do it well. But you should know this clearly, because it protects you: you deserve respectful care, every single time, no matter what. That does not change because of your race, your family's language, your religion or how you dress, your body size, a disability, or what kind of insurance your family has. If a visit ever feels dismissive or wrong, that is information — not something wrong with you.

Here is what respectful care looks like, and what you are allowed to expect:

• You get listened to. If you say something hurts or feels wrong, it should be taken seriously and checked — not waved away. You know your body. Your report matters.
• You can ask questions. "What is this for?" "What else could this be?" "Can you explain that in simpler words?" Asking is never rude. A good provider expects questions.
• You can bring a trusted adult. A parent, guardian, or another trusted adult can be with you, hear what is said, and speak up with you. For most checkup conversations, you can also ask for a moment to talk with the provider privately — both are normal.
• Your body rules still apply. From Month 1 and Section 6 of this month: exams are explained first, touching is only for the medical reason, and you can always ask what is happening and why.
• If you feel dismissed, you have moves. Say, calmly: "I need this written down — that I reported this pain." Ask a trusted adult to help you ask for a second opinion or a different provider. If cost or insurance is the barrier, tell a trusted adult that too — schools, clinics, and community health centers have people whose job is solving exactly that.

Sometimes adults face the same problem in bigger form — Minister Destiny's Adult school teaches grown-ups how to speak up at the doctor and where to complain, in an added unit on medical discrimination. The lesson starts here, with you: being young does not make your pain smaller, your questions less important, or your dignity negotiable.

Words to know — Month 8

• Puberty — the stage when a child's body gradually matures into an adult body.
• Hormones — chemical messengers in the body that guide growth and body changes.
• Menstruation (period) — the regular shedding of the lining of the uterus as the body matures.
• Hygiene — habits that keep the body clean and healthy, like bathing, clean clothes, and tooth care.
• Checkup — a routine doctor visit to track growth and catch health problems early.
• Vaccine — a medicine that trains the body's defenses to fight a specific illness.
• Private parts — the parts of the body covered by a swimsuit; they belong to you alone.
• Confidential — kept private, with a safety limit if someone may be seriously hurt.
• School nurse — a health professional at school who can answer body questions and help with illness or injury.

Myths vs facts — Month 8

• Myth: Everyone's body changes at the same age, so being earlier or later means something is wrong. Fact: Puberty timing varies widely, and early or late compared with friends is usually normal; a doctor can confirm if you are worried.
• Myth: Asking a doctor an embarrassing question will shock them. Fact: Doctors and nurses hear these questions daily and would rather you ask than guess from videos.
• Myth: If a part of your body looks different from photos online, it is unhealthy. Fact: Edited and filtered images are not medical standards; health is about how your body works and feels, not matching a picture.
• Myth: You must keep a secret if an adult says touching is "our secret." Fact: Secrets about touching are never yours to keep — telling a trusted adult is always the right move.

What would you do? — Month 8

The situation: For two weeks you have had a painful, itchy rash in a private area. You are embarrassed and have told no one. A video online says a strong cream sold on a shopping site will "fix anything in three days." Your friend says just order it and stop worrying.

Walk it through:

1. Notice the red flags in the video's promise: fixes anything, fast deadline, and selling a product — that is advertising, not medical care.
2. Do not order or apply a strong product to sensitive skin without a health professional; the wrong cream can make a rash worse.
3. Pick your person: your school nurse is often the easiest first step, and you can read your question from a written note if speaking is hard.
4. Use the opener from this lesson: "This is embarrassing for me, but I need help with a health problem."
5. Follow the professional's plan, and tell a trusted adult if symptoms get worse, spread, or do not improve when the professional said they should.

One more real-life story — Month 8

Jordan dreaded gym class because changing quickly felt impossible — his voice was cracking, he sweated through his shirt by second period, and he was sure everyone noticed everything. He started skipping gym, his grade dropped, and a counselor asked what was going on. Jordan admitted he felt like his body was changing louder than everyone else's. The counselor connected him with the school nurse, who explained plainly why sweat and odor increase during puberty, suggested showering or washing up and applying deodorant after gym, keeping a spare shirt in his locker, and checking in with his doctor at his next checkup about normal timing. None of it was magic. Within a few weeks Jordan was back in gym with a spare shirt, a routine, and — most importantly — the knowledge that his changes were ordinary.

The lesson: Ordinary body changes can feel enormous when you carry them alone and in silence. One honest conversation with a health professional turned embarrassment into a short, practical list.

Try this — Month 8

Make a private "my health basics" card for your wallet, bag, or phone notes.

• List your four basics for this week: one regular meal you actually eat, one way you like to move, your target bedtime, and your hygiene essentials.
• Write the name of your doctor's office if you know it, plus your school nurse's name and office location.
• Write three body or health questions you have — just for yourself — and star the one you will ask at your next checkup or nurse visit.
• Add the help lines from this lesson to the back of the card.

Resources to keep — Month 8

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• RAINN: 1-800-656-4673
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222
• Your school counselor or nurse, a trusted adult, and your local library can help you find reliable health information.

What you earned / what's next — Month 8

✅ Month 8 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can explain puberty in plain language, name hygiene and health basics that work, describe what a checkup is like, state the body safety rules without hesitation, and ask a health question without shame.

What's next: Month 9 — The Juvenile Court Process — Detention, DYS, Probation, Step by Step: what actually happens, in order, if a young person enters the juvenile court system in Massachusetts, and the rights that travel with them.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 9 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 9 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• Information only, not legal advice. This lesson explains a process in general, Massachusetts-first terms so it is less frightening. It is not legal advice for any person's case. A lawyer who knows the case is the right guide for real decisions.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. Why juvenile court exists, and how it differs from adult court

Massachusetts has a separate court system for young people accused of breaking the law. The idea behind it, in general terms, is that a young person is still developing, so the system is supposed to focus more on supervision, services, and change than the adult system does — while still taking safety and harm seriously. Cases for young people are usually heard in Juvenile Court, and the language is different on purpose. A young person is generally not described the same way an adult defendant is, and hearings are generally less public than adult trials.

Different does not mean consequence-free, and it does not mean casual. A judge still decides what happens. Orders still must be followed. Deadlines still matter. What the separate system does offer is a structure built around a young person's age: parents or caregivers are pulled into the process, probation and service providers play a large role, and the outcomes — called dispositions — can include supervision and support in the community, not only confinement.

Everything in this lesson describes general principles and a typical order of steps. Real cases vary by county, by the seriousness of the allegation, and by a young person's history. Information only, not legal advice — that limit protects you, because advice for someone else's facts can harm your own case.

2. Step one — police contact

A case often begins with police contact: an officer responds to a call, investigates something that happened at school or in the community, or stops a young person to ask questions. Police may talk with witnesses, review video, and contact a parent or caregiver. Depending on what the officer believes happened, several things can follow — a warning, a referral to a diversion or support program in some places, release to a parent or caregiver, an application for a complaint that starts a court case, or, for serious or urgent situations, being taken into custody.

Two rights matter from the very first conversation. You generally have the right to remain silent — you do not have to answer questions about what happened — and the right to a lawyer. A calm, respectful sentence protects both: "I want to remain silent and I want a lawyer, and I want my parent or caregiver contacted." Arguing your case on the sidewalk rarely helps; the courtroom, with a lawyer beside you, is where facts are tested properly.

If you are taken into custody, you may be searched, your belongings may be held, and you will be asked identifying information. Staying physically calm, keeping your hands visible, and not running or resisting protects your safety even when you believe the stop is unfair. Complaints about how an encounter was handled are made afterward, through a parent, caregiver, or lawyer — not in the moment, with your body.

3. Step two — intake and the first decisions

After police contact, a court case does not always start automatically. In Massachusetts, a complaint application is generally reviewed through an intake-type process involving the court and a clerk or magistrate, who considers whether the legal requirements for a case are met and, in some situations, whether the matter can be handled without a formal charge. A probation department also becomes involved early in juvenile cases, gathering basic information about the young person, school, and family so the court is not deciding in the dark.

A parent or caregiver is a central part of this stage. The court will want a responsible adult who knows where the young person lives, attends school, and can get them to court dates. If family circumstances are complicated, say so early through a lawyer or probation — hiding a housing or caregiving problem does not make it disappear; it makes the court's plan unworkable, and unworkable plans lead to violations later.

Bring or be ready to share practical information: current address, school name and grade, any medical or mental-health needs and medicines, and the best phone number for the caregiver. Accuracy here is not a small thing. A wrong address can mean a missed court notice, and a missed date can mean a warrant.

4. Step three — arraignment, explained plainly

Arraignment is usually the first formal court appearance in front of a judge. Its job is limited and important: the charge is read, the young person is told what the allegation is, and they enter a response — in juvenile practice, typically a denial, meaning the case is not admitted and the process continues. Arraignment is not the trial. Nobody is expected to prove the whole case that day.

At or around arraignment, the court makes sure the young person has a lawyer. If a family cannot afford one, the court can appoint one — having a lawyer is a right in this process, not a favor. The judge also addresses release conditions: whether the young person goes home with a caregiver while the case continues, and what rules apply in the meantime, such as attending school, obeying a curfew, staying away from a person or place, or having no new offenses.

Courtrooms have their own etiquette, and it is learnable. Arrive early, dress as neatly as you reasonably can, turn off your phone, stand when instructed, address the judge as "Your Honor," and let your lawyer do most of the talking. Bring a notebook with your lawyer's name, the courtroom, and the next date written down, because stress erases details quickly.

5. Step four — the detention hearing, and what detention means

Detention in juvenile court means the young person is held in a secure or supervised setting before the case is finished, rather than going home. It is not supposed to be a punishment before a finding; its stated purpose, in general terms, is safety and making sure the young person returns to court. Because it takes away liberty, the court holds a detention hearing — a focused hearing where a judge decides whether holding the young person is legally justified or whether release with conditions will do.

At that hearing, the lawyer can argue for release and present a concrete plan: who the young person will live with, how they will get to school, how supervision will work at home. Judges respond better to specific plans than to general promises. A caregiver who shows up, understands the conditions, and can describe the home routine gives the judge something real to rely on.

If detention is ordered, it is reviewed as the case moves, and it is different from a final commitment after a case is decided — the next steps explain that difference. While detained, a young person still has rights, including access to a lawyer, medical care, education services in the facility, and protection from harm. A problem inside — illness, bullying, a medicine missed — should be reported to staff, to the lawyer, and to a caregiver at the first contact, not carried in silence.

6. Step five — the case itself: hearings, negotiation, and trial

After arraignment, cases usually move through one or more pre-trial hearings. Lawyers exchange information about the evidence, called discovery — reports, witness names, video, and other materials the law requires to be shared. This is when a lawyer can challenge whether evidence was obtained lawfully, ask the court to exclude certain evidence, and test weaknesses in the allegation before any trial happens.

Many cases are resolved without a trial, through negotiation between the lawyer and the prosecutor, ending in an admission to some or all of an allegation with an agreed or argued disposition. A young person should never be rushed into that choice. The questions to ask a lawyer first include: What evidence do they actually have? What happens to my record and my future under this option? What conditions would I live under, and for how long? If a case does go to trial in Juvenile Court, a judge — rather than a jury, in most juvenile matters — hears the evidence and decides whether the allegation was proved under the required standard. Witnesses testify, lawyers question them, and the young person may testify or remain silent; remaining silent at trial is a right and cannot be treated, in law, as proof of guilt.

Timelines vary. Weeks or months between hearings is common, and waiting is one of the hardest parts. Use the waiting well: stay in school, follow release conditions exactly, and keep every court paper in one folder at home.

7. Step six — disposition: probation, DYS commitment, and other outcomes

If a young person is found delinquent — the juvenile system's finding after an admission or trial — the judge orders a disposition, which is the juvenile equivalent of a sentence. Dispositions are supposed to fit both the act and the young person. Common outcomes, in general terms, include probation in the community, restitution or community service in some cases, participation in programs or counseling, or commitment to the Department of Youth Services, known as DYS.

Probation means living at home under a probation officer's supervision, following written conditions — school attendance, curfew, check-ins, programs, no new offenses — for a set period. Probation is a real chance and a real obligation at once. Missing check-ins or ignoring conditions can lead to a violation hearing, where the judge can add conditions or choose a stricter disposition. Honesty with a probation officer about a slip, raised early with your lawyer's guidance, is almost always safer than hiding it until it surfaces another way.

A DYS commitment means the young person is placed in DYS custody, which can involve a period in a residential or secure program followed by community supervision as they transition home. DYS programs include education and services during placement. The length and path vary with the case and the young person's progress. Families stay involved through visits, calls, and planning meetings as the program allows, and planning for school and home begins well before release day.

Cases can also end in dismissal, or in outcomes that avoid a delinquency finding, depending on the facts and the stage — one more reason a lawyer's advice on your exact facts matters more than any general lesson can.

8. Release, going home, and staying out of the courtroom

Whether the last stage was detention, probation, or a DYS placement, release works best as a plan rather than a date. Before release, know: where you will live, where you will attend school and how you will get there, what conditions are still active and for how long, who your probation officer or DYS caseworker is and how to reach them, and what the first week's schedule looks like, hour by hour. Bored, unstructured first weeks are where old patterns re-enter.

Expect home to feel both good and strange. Caregivers may be relieved and watchful at the same time. Rules may be tighter for a while. That watchfulness usually loosens as the new routine proves itself — attendance, check-ins kept, curfews met. Keep proof of the good stretch: report cards, program certificates, a calendar with every appointment checked off. If old friends pull you toward the exact behavior that started the case, that is information, not disloyalty to notice. Month 12 of this track is devoted to building the fresh start that follows a case, step by step.

One last truth for this month: one case, handled honestly and finished fully, does not have to be the story of your whole life. Young people's records are treated differently from adult records in important ways, which Month 10 explains — along with charges, fines, and the vocabulary adults use for all of it.

Words to know — Month 9

• Arraignment — the first formal court appearance, where the charge is read and the process formally begins.
• Charge / complaint — the written allegation that a young person broke a specific law.
• Detention hearing — a hearing where a judge decides whether a young person must be held or can be released with conditions before the case ends.
• Probation — living in the community under a probation officer's supervision and written conditions.
• DYS — the Department of Youth Services, the Massachusetts agency responsible for young people committed by the juvenile court.
• Disposition — the judge's decision about consequences and services after a finding in a juvenile case; similar to a sentence in adult court.
• Discovery — the exchange of evidence between the sides before trial, as the law requires.
• Lawyer / attorney — a licensed legal professional who represents a person in court; a young person in juvenile court has the right to one.
• Conditions of release — rules a judge sets while a case is pending, such as curfew, school attendance, or staying away from a person or place.

Myths vs facts — Month 9

• Myth: Arraignment is the trial, so everything is decided the first day. Fact: Arraignment mainly reads the charge, confirms a lawyer, and sets release conditions; the case itself unfolds afterward.
• Myth: Detention and a DYS commitment are the same thing. Fact: Detention is holding before the case is finished; a DYS commitment is a disposition ordered after a finding.
• Myth: If you cannot afford a lawyer, you have to handle juvenile court alone. Fact: A young person has the right to a lawyer, and the court can appoint one when a family cannot afford one.
• Myth: Staying silent means you look guilty, so you should explain everything to police immediately. Fact: The right to remain silent exists for your protection; explaining is a decision to make with a lawyer, in the proper setting.

What would you do? — Month 9

The situation: Your friend is picked up after a fight outside school and spends the night held instead of going home. In the morning his caregiver is panicking and asks you what happens next, because you just finished this lesson. He has a detention hearing coming, and no lawyer has called yet.

Walk it through:

1. Slow the caregiver down with the order of steps: police contact already happened; a detention hearing decides only whether he stays held or goes home with conditions for now — it is not the trial.
2. Help her build the specific release plan a judge can rely on: who he lives with, the home supervision routine, how he gets to school, and how a curfew would be enforced.
3. Make the lawyer the urgent item: if none has been appointed or contacted, the caregiver should ask the court and probation how to reach the appointed lawyer before the hearing.
4. Gather the practical folder: address, school name, any medicines or health needs, and the caregiver's best phone number, all in one place.
5. Keep your role in bounds: you can share general information and support, and you cannot give legal advice — and saying that limit out loud is itself helpful, because it points the family to the lawyer for decisions.

One more real-life story — Month 9

When Andre had his arraignment, he left the courthouse with three papers, a curfew, and a probation check-in — and he understood almost none of it, because he had been too nervous to listen. The date he misremembered nearly became a missed court date, which could have meant a warrant. His grandmother did two simple things that changed the rest of his case: she pinned every court paper to one folder on the refrigerator, and she made Andre read each condition out loud at the kitchen table until he could explain it in his own words. At his lawyer's suggestion, he also wrote the next court date on the folder itself in large marker. Andre finished probation without a violation — not because the case was easy, but because the paperwork and the dates stopped being a fog.

The lesson: In court, organization is a form of protection. One folder, dates written large, and conditions you can explain in your own words prevent the most common unforced errors.

Try this — Month 9

Draw the process as a road on one sheet of paper, using this lesson only.

• Mark six stops in order: police contact, intake, arraignment, detention hearing (only if held), pre-trial hearings or trial, disposition.
• Under each stop, write one sentence: what is decided there.
• Beside the road, write the three calm sentences from this lesson for a first encounter: asking for a lawyer, asking for a caregiver to be contacted, and asking for the next date in writing.
• At the end of the road, write what a good first week home includes, in your own words.

Resources to keep — Month 9

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357
• A trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, and your local library can help you find legal-aid information and understand court paperwork. This lesson is information only, not legal advice.

What you earned / what's next — Month 9

✅ Month 9 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can walk the juvenile court process in order — police contact, intake, arraignment, detention hearing, pre-trial steps, and disposition — explain how detention differs from a DYS commitment, describe probation, and name the rights that apply from the first step onward.

What's next: Month 10 — Charges, Fines, and Consequences — and the Vocabulary of the System: what the words adults use actually mean, what fines, fees, and restitution are, and how records and everyday consequences work.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

Quarterly final. This final covers Months 7–9 — everything in the lessons of this quarter. Review those lessons, then take the final here. Score 80% or higher to pass; retakes are always allowed, and answers are not shown. Passing this final completes the quarter.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 10 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 10 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• Information only, not legal advice. This lesson explains words and general ideas, Massachusetts-first. It does not state amounts for any fine or fee, because those depend on the law, the case, and the court — your lawyer and the court paperwork are the sources for your own case.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What a charge actually is

A charge is a written claim by the state that a person broke a specific law. Read that sentence again, because two ideas inside it protect you. First, a charge is a claim, not a conclusion — being charged is not the same as being found responsible after the process runs. Second, a charge points to a specific law, which means the state has to connect real evidence to that law's requirements. Vague trouble is not a charge; paperwork that names an alleged act and a law is.

Charges have levels of seriousness. In general terms, less serious offenses carry lighter possible consequences, and more serious offenses — especially those involving harm to a person — carry heavier ones. The same act can also be looked at differently depending on age, which is why young people are in juvenile court in the first place. You may hear adults argue about what the right charge should have been. That argument is normal in the system, and it is one of the main jobs a lawyer does: testing whether the charge fits the evidence and the law.

Never guess what a charge means from its nickname on the street or in a song. Names that sound casual can describe serious allegations, and names that sound terrifying can cover conduct you would not expect. Ask your lawyer to translate your exact charge into plain sentences: What does the state say I did? What would they have to prove? What are the possible outcomes if they prove it?

2. The path from charge to outcome — key words in order

Cases have a life cycle, and each stage has its own vocabulary. After a charge comes arraignment, where it is formally read, as Month 9 explained. Then come pre-trial steps, where evidence is exchanged and lawyers file motions — written requests asking the judge to decide a legal question, such as whether certain evidence can be used. A case may be continued, which simply means postponed to a later date, something that happens often and is not, by itself, good or bad news.

An outcome is called a disposition in juvenile court. A case can be dismissed, meaning it ends without a finding. A young person may admit to facts in some cases, or a case may proceed to trial, where the state must prove the allegation and a judge decides. A finding of delinquency is the juvenile system's determination that the allegation was established. Each of these words — dismissed, admitted, trial, delinquent — carries different consequences for records, money, school, and home, so never treat them as interchangeable.

A warrant deserves its own paragraph because it frightens people out of proportion to its fixability. A warrant is a court order connected, commonly, to a missed court date or an unmet obligation. The danger is real — a warrant can lead to being taken into custody when encountered — but the remedy starts with contact, not hiding: a caregiver and lawyer contacting the court promptly to address it. Hiding converts a paperwork problem into a pattern of avoidance.

3. Fines, fees, and costs — three different buckets of money

Adults often mash all court money into one word, but there are distinct buckets, and knowing which bucket you are looking at changes your options. A fine is a sum of money ordered as a penalty for an offense. Court fees and costs are charges connected to running the case or to specific services and programs the court orders. Surcharges and assessments are additional amounts that may be added by law on top of other sums in some matters. This lesson intentionally gives no amounts: amounts are set by law and by the individual case, they change over time, and any number printed in a general lesson could be wrong for you and mislead your family.

Juvenile cases handle money differently from adult cases in a number of ways, and a caregiver may be drawn into payment questions in ways that surprise families. That is why the paperwork matters so much. For every money item connected to a case, a family should be able to answer: What is this charge called? Who is ordered to pay it? By when? What happens if it is not paid on time? Who do we call to ask for more time or a different arrangement?

If paying would mean missing rent, utilities, or food, do not just stop paying and stop calling. Contact the court or probation as instructed on the paperwork, explain the hardship before the deadline, and ask — through a lawyer where possible — what options exist, such as a payment schedule or a review of the obligation. Courts deal with hardship requests constantly. Silence reads as refusal; an early, documented request reads as responsibility, and the two are treated very differently.

4. Restitution — money with a different purpose

Restitution is not a fine, even though both involve money leaving your household. Restitution is meant to repay a specific person or business for a specific loss the court finds was caused — for example, property that was damaged or taken. Because it is tied to a victim's loss, judges take unpaid restitution seriously, and completing it is often part of showing that repair actually happened.

Restitution is also where documentation protects everyone. Amounts should come from proof of loss, not from a guess in a hallway conversation. Payments should always be made the way the court directs, never as informal cash handed to the other party, and every receipt should be kept in the case folder from Month 9. If a loss amount seems wrong — an item valued far above its real worth, or damage that existed before — that is a lawyer question to raise through the process, not an argument to have with the victim directly. Direct contact outside the court's structure can violate conditions and create a second problem on top of the first.

When restitution is finished, get written confirmation and keep it. Months later, a single paper proving completion can end a dispute in one minute that memory alone would argue about for an hour.

5. Records — what is kept, who can see it, and what "sealed" means

A record is the system's memory of a case: the charge, the court events, and the outcome. Young people hear two opposite myths about juvenile records — that they vanish automatically at eighteen like they never existed, or that they follow you identically to an adult record forever. The truth, in general terms, sits between those stories. Juvenile records are treated with more protection and less public access than adult records, and Massachusetts law provides ways, in many circumstances, for records to be sealed after certain waiting periods and conditions are met. But sealing is generally something that must be applied for and granted — not a switch that flips itself on a birthday.

Because the details depend on the type of case and its outcome, families should ask a lawyer or a legal-aid clinic a direct question once a case is closed: "What can be done about this record, and when?" Keep the disposition paperwork forever somewhere safe at home; you cannot easily prove an outcome years later without it, and proving an outcome is often the whole point.

School is a separate record world. Your school keeps its own files about attendance and discipline, governed by different rules from court records. A court outcome does not automatically rewrite a school record, and a school action does not decide a court case. When adults in the two systems need to communicate, they do so within rules about what can be shared — and you and your caregiver can ask, plainly, what has been shared and why.

6. Consequences beyond the courtroom — school, home, activities, future

The sentence or disposition is only one layer of consequence, and for many young people it is not even the heaviest layer. At school, a case can overlap with suspension, loss of a team or club position, or a changed daily schedule, because schools apply their own rules to safety and conduct. At home, consequences include tighter supervision, lost trust that must be re-earned in small increments, and stress on caregivers who are juggling court dates, work, and money at the same time.

Looking forward, certain applications in adult life — for jobs, housing, licenses, or programs — ask questions about history, and the correct answer depends on what actually happened in the case, what the record's current status is, and what the question legally asks. Never guess on such a form and never let a friend fill it in for you. A wrong answer given casually can cause more damage than the original case. Legal-aid clinics exist precisely to answer, "How do I answer this question truthfully and lawfully?" for people without money for a lawyer.

None of this is written to frighten you. It is written so that choices made in a hallway in ten seconds are weighed with the full picture visible. When a friend proposes something risky, the vocabulary of this lesson is a tool: name the likely charge in your head, name the buckets of money, name the school and home fallout — and watch how the "fun" drains out of the plan.

7. Probation conditions, violations, and how small slips grow

Probation conditions are the written rules of a community disposition or release: attend school, keep a curfew, report to a probation officer, complete a program, stay away from a listed person or place, commit no new offenses. Think of conditions as the actual contract of the case. The original charge decided whether you entered the system; the conditions decide whether you exit it on schedule.

A violation is a claim that a condition was broken. Not every violation leads to the harshest response — probation officers and judges can respond with warnings, added supports, or adjusted conditions — but every hidden violation tends to be discovered at the worst moment, usually with a new incident attached. The pattern professionals respect is the opposite: early honesty, delivered through the channels your lawyer advises, with a concrete correction already started, such as a missed check-in rescheduled and attended before the hearing about it.

Families can make conditions survivable. Post them where everyone can see them. Build the week's driving, meals, and activities around curfew and check-ins instead of treating them as surprises. If a condition is genuinely impossible as written — a program time that collides with the only bus, a rule that conflicts with a medical appointment — raise it promptly through the lawyer or probation officer and ask for a modification in writing. Working conditions get adjusted; ignored conditions get violated.

8. Speaking the system's language without fear

The vocabulary of courts is old, formal, and — once translated — mostly ordinary. Judges, lawyers, and probation officers use these words all day, and they do not expect a young person to arrive fluent. What they respect is a young person who asks for translation rather than nodding along. Keep these moves ready: "Can you explain that word in plain language?" "Can I have that date and that condition in writing?" "Who do I call if I cannot do what is written here?" Each question is allowed. Each one prevents a misunderstanding that could otherwise be counted against you.

Bring that same translation habit home. Caregivers often leave court more confused than the young person, because they were focused on worry instead of words. A family that sits down the same evening, folder open, and walks through each term and date together starts the next morning as a team instead of as three people carrying three different versions of the case.

Words to know — Month 10

• Charge — the written claim that a person broke a specific law; an allegation, not a final finding.
• Fine — money ordered as a penalty for an offense.
• Fees and costs — charges connected to the case process or to court-ordered services and programs.
• Restitution — money ordered to repay a specific victim for a specific loss caused by the offense.
• Disposition — the juvenile court's decision about consequences and services after a case is resolved.
• Dismissed — a case ended by the court without a finding.
• Warrant — a court order, often connected to a missed date or unmet obligation, that can lead to being taken into custody.
• Sealing — a legal process that limits who can access a record; it generally must be requested and granted.
• Violation — a claim that a condition of probation or release was broken.
• Motion — a written request asking a judge to decide a legal question in a case.

Myths vs facts — Month 10

• Myth: A fine and restitution are the same thing. Fact: A fine is a penalty to the court; restitution repays a specific victim for a specific loss.
• Myth: Juvenile records automatically disappear completely on your eighteenth birthday. Fact: Juvenile records have extra protections, but sealing generally must be requested and granted; ask a lawyer about your case.
• Myth: If you cannot pay what the court ordered, the smart move is to ignore it until it goes away. Fact: Contacting the court or probation before the deadline to explain hardship and ask about options is treated very differently from silence.
• Myth: Being charged means you have already been found delinquent. Fact: A charge is an allegation the state must prove through the court process.

What would you do? — Month 10

The situation: Your case has ended with probation, a program, and two kinds of money ordered — a payment to the court and restitution for a store window you broke. Your caregiver, stressed, says: "Money is money, just hand the store owner cash when we see him, and skip the court payment this month; they'll never notice." You are not sure, but she sounds confident.

Walk it through:

1. Sort the money into this lesson's buckets: restitution repays a specific loss; the court payment is a separate obligation with its own deadline.
2. Spot the risks in the suggestion: cash to the owner leaves no official proof of repayment, approaching the owner may violate your conditions, and skipping the court payment in silence can become a violation.
3. Propose the documented route instead: pay exactly as the court paperwork directs, keep every receipt in the case folder, and get written confirmation when restitution is complete.
4. Address the real problem underneath — money is tight this month — by contacting probation or the court before the deadline, with your caregiver, to explain and ask what options exist.
5. If you are unsure who is right, make the call that protects the record: ask your lawyer before changing any payment the court ordered.

One more real-life story — Month 10

Devon finished his community disposition believing he was "done with court." He threw his papers into a drawer and stopped thinking about them. A year later, an application for a youth program asked a question about past court involvement, and Devon froze — he did not know whether his case had been dismissed or found delinquent, whether anything was still owed, or how to answer truthfully. He almost left the application blank, which would have cost him the program and might have looked like hiding something. Instead, his school counselor connected the family with a legal-aid clinic, which reviewed his disposition paperwork — his grandmother had kept her own copies — confirmed the outcome and that his obligations were complete, and explained how to answer that exact question accurately for his record's status.

The lesson: Your paperwork is part of your future. Keep the disposition, keep the receipts, and when a form asks about your history, get the wording explained by a professional instead of guessing.

Try this — Month 10

Build a one-page "case words" glossary of your own, even if you have never had a case.

• Copy each word from this month's list and rewrite its definition in your own plain words, from memory, then check yourself against the lesson.
• Add a money map: three boxes labeled Fine, Fees/Costs, and Restitution, with one sentence under each about who receives it and why.
• Write the three translation questions from this lesson at the bottom: asking for a word in plain language, asking for a date in writing, and asking who to call.
• Keep the page in a folder at home — the same folder habit this track teaches for any important paperwork.

Resources to keep — Month 10

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357
• A trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, and your local library can help you find legal-aid information. This lesson is information only, not legal advice.

What you earned / what's next — Month 10

✅ Month 10 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can explain a charge in plain language, sort fines, fees, and restitution into their proper buckets, describe records and sealing without the myths, and use the vocabulary of the system to ask sharp, protective questions.

What's next: Month 11 — Medical and Mental-Health Facilities — What a Stay Is Like, Your Rights: what happens at intake, who you will meet, your rights inside, and how discharge and going home actually work.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 11 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 11 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• No shame here. Needing medical or mental-health care in a facility is healthcare, not punishment and not failure. Many young people have a stay at some point, and needing one says nothing about your worth.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. Why a young person might stay in a facility

A facility is an organized place where care happens around the clock. Some facilities are medical: a hospital stay can follow a serious illness, an injury, surgery, or a health problem doctors need to watch closely for a few days. Others focus on mental health: a stay may be recommended when feelings, thoughts, or behavior have become unsafe or too heavy to manage at home for a while — for example, thoughts of harming yourself, a crisis that is not settling, or symptoms that need daily professional care and a safe, structured setting while a treatment plan is built.

How a stay starts varies. A caregiver may bring a young person to an emergency department for evaluation. A doctor, counselor, or crisis team may recommend admission after an assessment. Sometimes police or an ambulance are involved because safety could not wait. However it begins, the purpose professionals state is the same: safety first, then understanding what is happening, then a plan that continues after discharge.

A stay is not a verdict about your character, and it is not a punishment, even when rules feel strict. Structure — set times for meals, groups, and sleep — is part of how facilities keep many young people safe at once and watch health closely. Knowing what to expect turns much of that strangeness into routine within a day or two.

2. Intake — what happens when you arrive

Intake is the arrival process, and it is mostly questions, checks, and paperwork. Staff confirm who you are, why you came, your medical history, allergies, and any medicines you take. They check basics like temperature, blood pressure, height, and weight. For a mental-health admission, they will ask directly about safety — whether you have thoughts of harming yourself or others, what has been happening at home and school, sleep, eating, and what helps you when you are upset. Honest answers at intake are not "getting yourself in trouble"; they are how the team calibrates care to what you actually need.

Belongings are usually reviewed. Facilities commonly hold or restrict items that could be unsafe on a unit — belts, cords, certain toiletries, and electronics are typical examples — and they explain their own list. You may be given hospital clothing for part or all of a stay on some units, or allowed your own comfortable clothes within the rules on others. Rules differ by facility and by unit, so ask what applies where you are, and ask what items family may bring later.

A caregiver is normally part of intake, providing history, insurance or contact information, consent paperwork, and the names of your regular doctor, counselor, and school. If you arrive without a caregiver, staff work to contact family and to arrange the permissions the law and the facility require. Write down, or ask staff to write down for you: the unit's phone number, visiting and phone-call times, and the name of the person coordinating your care. Those three facts are your lifeline for staying connected.

3. The people you will meet

A facility team is larger than most young people expect, and each role is different. Nurses provide day-to-day care, give medicines, check on you through the day and night, and are often the fastest route to help with a physical need or a rising worry. Doctors — including psychiatrists on mental-health units — evaluate, diagnose, oversee treatment, and decide medical questions with the team. Social workers and case managers coordinate with family, school, and outside providers and build the discharge plan. Therapists or counselors run individual and group sessions. Teachers attached to some programs help you keep up with schoolwork so returning is not a cliff. Unit staff or milieu counselors keep the daily routine running and are the adults you will see most between sessions.

You do not have to remember every name on day one. A workable strategy is to identify two people: the nurse or staff member on your shift when you need something immediate, and the social worker or case manager for questions about family contact, school, and discharge. Everyone else will become familiar through the routine.

Ask each professional the questions their role owns. Medicine questions go to the nurse and doctor: What is this? What is it for? What feelings or side effects should I report? Plan questions go to the social worker: When can my family visit? What happens at discharge? If you do not know who owns a question, ask any staff member to point you to the right person — routing questions is part of their job.

4. A typical day inside

Most youth units run on a visible schedule, often posted on a board. Days usually include wake-up and hygiene time, breakfast, health checks and medicines, school or learning time, therapy groups or activities, lunch, rest or quiet time, more groups or individual sessions, phone or visiting time, dinner, evening activities, and a set lights-out. Groups might cover coping skills, emotions, safety planning, communication, or planning for discharge. You will not love every group, and that is normal; attending, listening, and trying one idea from each is a realistic goal that staff notice and respect.

Free time exists but looks different from home. Phones and personal electronics are usually limited or held, shared spaces are supervised, and doors, checks, and counts at set times are routine. Staff checks during the night — brief, regular looks to confirm everyone is safe — can startle new arrivals; knowing they are standard safety practice, not suspicion of you personally, makes them easier to sleep through.

Boredom and homesickness are the two most common complaints, ahead of everything else. A paper notebook, reading material from the allowed list, and the unit's activities carry most young people through. If anxiety spikes, say so before it crests: staff can offer coping tools, a quieter space within the rules, or a check-in rather than waiting for a crisis to announce itself.

5. Your rights during a stay

Being a patient does not cancel your personhood, and being young does not cancel your rights. While details vary by facility and situation, core rights young patients can generally expect include: care that treats you with dignity and without abuse or discrimination; clear explanations of your treatment in language you understand; the chance to ask questions and to say what is or is not helping; privacy for your health information, shared on a need-to-know basis with the team and your caregivers rather than broadcast; contact with family through the unit's calls and visits, unless a specific safety reason limits it; needed medical care, food, hygiene, and sleep; and a way to raise a concern — to a staff member, a supervisor, a patient advocate where one exists, or your caregiver — if you believe you are being mistreated.

If something feels wrong, use your voice in steps. First, name it calmly to the staff member involved: what happened, and what you need. If it continues, ask for a charge nurse or supervisor and repeat the facts, once, clearly. Tell your caregiver at the next call or visit, in concrete detail, and tell your outside counselor or doctor at discharge as well. Write down dates, times, and names while your memory is fresh. A complaint stated in facts is powerful; you do not need to shout to be taken seriously, and shouting can, unfairly or not, distract adults from the facts themselves.

On medicines specifically: you have the right to an explanation of what you are being given and why, every time it changes. If a medicine makes you feel strange — dizzy, wired, flattened, sick — report it promptly and specifically. Adjusting medicines based on patient reports is ordinary medicine, not complaining.

6. Staying connected to family and school

Connection is part of treatment, not a reward for good behavior. Families typically have scheduled phone times and visiting hours, and staff may hold family meetings where the team, the caregivers, and you discuss what is improving, what is still hard, and what home needs to look like at discharge. Use calls for real connection, not only for complaints about the food — though a moment of normal joking with family does more for most young people than they expect.

School connection takes a little organizing. With caregiver permission, the facility or family can let your school know you are receiving medical care — the school generally needs to know you are absent for medical reasons, not your private details — and arrange for assignments or a teacher's lessons to reach you where the program allows. If keeping up is unrealistic during a short, intense stay, the discharge plan can include how missed work will be handled on return. Either way, ask the question early; a guidance counselor who hears from the family on day two can protect your grades far better than one surprised on the day you walk back in.

Friends are usually a smaller circle during a stay: limited phone lists are common, and social media is generally paused. That pause, while annoying, often lowers the temperature of whatever peer crisis surrounded admission. You can reconnect, on your terms, after discharge.

7. Discharge — how going home actually works

Discharge is a planned handoff, not a sudden release. As the stay nears its end, the team holds discharge planning: Is safety stable? What treatment continues outside — therapy appointments, a doctor for medicines, a school plan? What are the warning signs that things are slipping again, and what will the family do, step by step, if they appear? You should leave with paperwork: a summary, medicines and instructions if any were prescribed, follow-up appointments with dates, and crisis resources. In this school, those resources always include 988 by call or text and the Crisis Text Line at HOME to 741741.

Many young people step down rather than simply stopping care: a day program, intensive outpatient sessions several times a week, or weekly therapy may follow the stay. That is a sign the plan is being taken seriously, not a sign you failed to finish. Attend the first follow-up appointment even if you feel fine — especially if you feel fine. The relationship with the outside therapist is built in calm weeks so it exists in hard ones.

At home, expect an adjustment stretch. Caregivers may hover. Siblings may have questions you do not want to answer; a short, prepared sentence helps — "I was in the hospital getting help, I'm home now, and I don't want to get into details." Sleep, appetite, and energy may take days to return to your rhythm. A follow-up safety plan, written while support is close, should name your warning signs, your coping tools, your trusted adults, and your help lines, exactly as you practiced in Month 6 and Week 4 of the Core.

8. Getting the most from a stay, and afterwards

Three habits separate a stay that changes things from a stay that merely pauses things. First, participate: groups and sessions work in proportion to what you bring to them, and honest effort is visible to the team writing your plan. Second, practice one or two coping tools inside until they are boring — breathing you have done fifty times on a quiet unit is breathing you can find at 2 a.m. at home. Third, tell the truth about discharge fears before discharge day. "I am scared the same fight happens the first night home" is exactly the sentence family meetings exist to hear, because the plan can be adjusted while the whole team is still in the room.

Afterwards, a stay becomes part of your health history — private, and yours to share selectively. You may tell close friends a simple version, tell most people nothing at all, and tell future health professionals the full version, because they need it to care for you well. Choose per person, and let no one pressure the details out of you. Needing a higher level of care, getting it, and coming home with a plan is a complete, respectable story of handling a hard thing the right way.

Words to know — Month 11

• Facility — an organized place, such as a hospital or treatment center, where care is provided around the clock.
• Intake / admission — the arrival process of questions, health checks, and paperwork when a stay begins.
• Unit — a specific section of a facility where a group of patients stays and receives care.
• Psychiatrist — a doctor who specializes in mental health and can prescribe medicine.
• Case manager / social worker — a professional who coordinates family, school, and services and builds the discharge plan.
• Discharge — the planned end of a stay, when care is handed off to family and outside providers.
• Step-down care — follow-up treatment that is less intensive than a facility stay, such as a day program or regular therapy.
• Patient advocate — a person whose job is to help patients raise concerns and understand their rights.
• Follow-up appointment — a scheduled visit after discharge that continues treatment and checks progress.

Myths vs facts — Month 11

• Myth: A mental-health stay is a punishment for bad behavior. Fact: It is healthcare in a structured setting, aimed at safety, understanding, and a working plan for home.
• Myth: Once you are admitted, you have no say in anything. Fact: You can ask questions about every part of your care, say what helps, and raise concerns through staff, supervisors, advocates, and your caregiver.
• Myth: Staff checks at night mean they think you did something wrong. Fact: Regular checks are standard safety practice for everyone on a unit.
• Myth: Discharge means treatment is over. Fact: Discharge is a handoff — follow-up appointments and a safety plan continue the care at home.

What would you do? — Month 11

The situation: It is your second day on a mental-health unit. A new medicine is brought with your evening routine, but nobody has told you its name or what it is for, and you feel nervous about taking something unexplained. A peer at the table whispers, "Just refuse everything — that's how you get out faster."

Walk it through:

1. Separate the two problems: an unexplained medicine is a legitimate question; the peer's strategy is not medical advice and refusing care rarely helps a discharge plan.
2. Use your right to an explanation, calmly and directly: ask the nurse the medicine's name, what it is for, and what effects you should report.
3. If the answer is rushed, ask for the doctor or charge nurse to explain before the next dose — routing the question upward is allowed.
4. Tell your caregiver on your scheduled call what you asked and what you were told, so an outside adult shares the picture.
5. Keep participating in the day's structure; the team planning your discharge weighs engagement and stability, not silence and refusal.

One more real-life story — Month 11

Priya arrived at a medical unit after a severe asthma episode frightened everyone, including Priya, who had been hiding how often she used her rescue inhaler at school because she did not want to seem dramatic. Intake felt endless — questions, a wristband, her belongings listed. But on day two, the routine settled: checks, schoolwork from the program teacher, a respiratory therapist who taught her to track symptoms honestly, and a social worker who arranged for the school nurse to be part of the plan. At discharge, Priya left with a written action plan, a follow-up appointment, and instructions her whole family reviewed together at the table. The biggest change was not a device or a medicine — it was that Priya stopped treating her own warning signs as an embarrassment, which meant the next episode got help an hour earlier instead of a day later.

The lesson: A stay works best when it replaces hiding with a written plan. Honest tracking, named steps, and adults who share the same page are what turn one frightening episode into safer months ahead.

Try this — Month 11

Write a "if I ever had a stay" preparation page, kept privately at home.

• List your regular medicines, allergies, doctor, and counselor, as best you know them — caregivers can help you complete it.
• Write two comfort items you would ask family to bring, if the facility allowed them.
• Write your top three coping tools and the names of your trusted adults.
• Write the three questions from this lesson to ask about any medicine: its name, its purpose, and what to report.
• Add the help lines from this lesson at the bottom, so the page is useful in any health crisis, stay or no stay.

Resources to keep — Month 11

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357
• Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222
• A trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, and your local library can help you find health information and local support.

What you earned / what's next — Month 11

✅ Month 11 complete (test score 80% or higher): You can describe intake step by step, name the members of a facility team and what each one does, state your rights during a stay, and explain how discharge planning, step-down care, and a safety plan carry treatment safely home.

What's next: Month 12 — Staying Out of Trouble — Exit Plans, Goals, and a Fresh Start: the closing month, where you build your exit plan from old patterns, set goals you can measure, repair what can be repaired, and finish the full 12-month Youth course.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Month: 12 of 12 (one month per topic; self-paced) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees your answers. Nothing you read or answer here is sent anywhere — your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• How you pass this month: Take the Month 12 test at the end and score 80% or higher to earn this month's certificate and complete the full 12-month Youth course. You can retake it as many times as you need.
• This is a beginning, not a graduation from support. Finishing this course does not mean you must handle everything alone from now on. Your trusted adults and help lines stay yours.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. You can also call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line, any time, day or night.

The lesson

1. What a fresh start really is — and what it is not

A fresh start is not a magic morning where the past disappears. Records, memories, and other people's caution do not vanish because you decided to change. A fresh start is a pattern, built on purpose, that slowly becomes the truest thing about you: weeks of showing up, obligations finished, promises kept in small denominations. Adults who doubted you at first are rarely won over by a speech. They are won over by a calendar full of ordinary days done right.

It also helps to retire one cruel idea at the start of this month: that a young person who has been in trouble is "a troublemaker" as an identity. You are a person who made certain choices, in certain circumstances, some of which you would now choose differently. Circumstances can be changed, supports can be added, and choices are made fresh each day. The whole 12-month course was built on that belief — from your trusted-adult map in the Core to the court vocabulary of Month 10. This month turns that belief into an operating plan.

Finally, a fresh start is allowed to be quiet. You do not owe anyone an announcement, a post, or a public apology tour. Quiet consistency reaches the people who matter, one kept commitment at a time.

2. Your exit plan — leaving old patterns on purpose

An exit plan is a written plan for leaving the situations that produced your trouble, made before you are standing inside one of them again. Start by naming your pattern honestly, in one paragraph: Where does your trouble usually begin? What time of day, which places, which people, what feeling right before? Most young people find their risk is not "everywhere, always" — it concentrates in a few repeatable scenes. Those scenes are what the plan is for.

Then write your exits, scene by scene:

1. The early exit: how you avoid the scene entirely — a different route home, a different lunch table, declining an invitation the night before instead of at the door.
2. The mid-scene exit: a sentence that leaves without escalating, such as "I'm out — I've got somewhere to be," plus a real destination: home, practice, work, a relative's house.
3. The rescue exit: a trusted adult or friend you can text a code word to, who calls you with a believable reason you must leave, and a way to get home that does not depend on the group.
4. The morning-after exit: if you slip and join in anyway, what you do within 24 hours — tell a trusted adult, make the repair that is possible, and re-enter your routine instead of disappearing into shame for a week.

An exit plan fails when it exists only as good intentions in your head during a calm moment. It works when it is written, shared with one trusted adult, and rehearsed — actually saying the sentences out loud once, so they are in your mouth before you need them under pressure.

3. Goals that can be measured — school, home, and future

Goals fail for a boring reason: they are written as wishes. "Do better in school" cannot be checked on Friday. "Attend every class this week and turn in the two missing assignments by Thursday" can be — and checking it, and seeing it done, is what builds the confidence that wishes never deliver. Build your goals with four parts: the action, the amount, the deadline, and the proof. Proof might be a checked-off calendar, a returned paper, or a counselor's initials. It feels unglamorous. It is also how probation gets finished, grades get rebuilt, and trust gets re-earned — all with the same tool.

Set goals in three lanes so one bad week cannot total the whole plan. A school lane: attendance and one subject to stabilize first, because one repaired class proves the method before you attack all of them. A home lane: one contribution and one responsibility done without being asked — small, visible, repeatable. A future lane: something that pulls you forward, like saving toward a specific item, training for a team or a license when you are eligible, exploring a trade, art, or subject through your local library, or volunteering, which quietly builds references — adults who can truthfully say they watched you work.

Review your goals weekly, briefly, in writing. Cross off what is done without ceremony. Rewrite what failed with a smaller first step, not with self-attack: a missed week usually means the step was too big, the support was missing, or the old pattern got there first — each of which has a fix in this lesson.

4. Your support team — who does what

Staying out of trouble is not a solo sport, even for a private person. Your support team is the set of people and resources you have assembled across this whole course, now given clear jobs. Your trusted adults are for early honesty — hearing about a slip or a temptation while it is still small. Your school counselor or nurse is for school obstacles and health questions. A mentor, coach, faith leader, or program leader is for structure and belonging — the hours of the week when trouble used to schedule itself. Family, where it is safe and possible, is for the daily scaffolding: rides, meals, reminders, and the visible record of your effort.

Belonging deserves its own emphasis. Empty time in the exact hours when old patterns ran is the most common setup for relapse into trouble. Fill those hours deliberately for the first months: a team, a job, a club, a class, a faith or community group, a standing commitment at home. You are not just avoiding something. You are building a week that has no obvious hole for the old life to climb back through.

Give each supporter one permission in advance: permission to ask you directly how the plan is going, and to hear an honest answer without an explosion. And agree on your side of the bargain — you will answer, and you will raise problems before they become police, court, or emergency problems. That was the promise pattern underneath every month of this course; this month you simply write it down.

5. Repair — finishing what the past still owes

A fresh start goes faster when old business is actually closed. Make a repair list with three columns: what is owed, to whom, and the concrete finishing step. Owed items vary: an unfinished apology, borrowed money or a damaged item a family agreed you would work off, a program or paperwork obligation left hanging, a relationship where a brief, honest sentence is still owed. Courts call some of this restitution and completion of conditions; this lesson's point is wider — unfinished business keeps the past loud, and finishing it turns the volume down for everyone, including you.

Work the list by safety and size. Small, safe repairs first, done completely, build momentum. Repairs that involve a person you are ordered to stay away from are never done by direct contact — those go through a lawyer, probation, or another official channel, exactly as Month 10 taught. A repair you cannot safely or legally make stays on the list with its proper channel noted, not forced.

Some things cannot be repaired to the person harmed; time has passed or contact is impossible. In those cases, adults who work with young people point to living repair: directing effort toward the kind of good that answers the kind of harm — helping younger kids avoid your mistake, community service in the area affected, steady kindness in the same setting where trouble happened. It does not rewrite the past. It writes the next chapter in the same place, which readers of your life will notice.

6. Handling the pull back — slips, labels, and hard days

Plan for the pull back instead of pretending it will not come. Old friends may test whether the new you is real, sometimes with affection, sometimes with mockery: "You've changed" said as an accusation. Decide your answer now, when you are calm: "Yeah, I have. I'm not going back to court." You do not need to condemn them or lecture them; you are allowed to simply leave, use your exit sentences, and let the friendship find its level. Some friendships survive a change of activities. Some do not, and grieving that honestly beats sabotaging your plan to avoid the grief.

Labels will linger in some adults' mouths after your behavior has changed. The counterweight is your record — the folder this course kept telling you to keep: attendance, finished obligations, certificates including this course's, program completions, and any positive notes from teachers or supervisors. Paper does not feel emotional, which is precisely its strength: it answers a label with dates.

Hard days need a written protocol too, because willpower is a poor tool at midnight. Yours should combine this course's strongest parts: the pause plan from Month 7, the coping tools and safety plan from Month 6 and the Core, your exit sentences from this month, and one standing instruction — on the worst day, shrink the goal to the next 24 hours. Get through today lawfully, fed, rested, and connected to one trusted person. Streaks are built one unglamorous day at a time, and a single hard day survived without new trouble is a genuine win.

7. Looking forward — education, work, and your story

With immediate stability built, the future lane of your goals can widen. Education options in Massachusetts towns typically include staying the course to a diploma, credit-recovery routes if you have fallen behind, and vocational and technical paths that teach a trade alongside academics — your school counselor or nurse and your local library can help you find what exists near you without any cost to ask. Each option rewards exactly the skills this year practiced: showing up, finishing paperwork, asking for translation of hard words, and keeping appointments.

Work, when you are old enough and it fits your obligations and conditions, adds money, references, and a daily structure that competes with trouble. So does saving: a small, visible savings goal converts "staying out of trouble" from an avoidance project into a building project, with a number that climbs because you held your plan. Review any conditions you still live under before accepting commitments — a job or program that conflicts with curfew or check-ins must be adjusted on paper first, through the proper channel, not improvised.

Last, your story. You get to decide what your hard chapters mean. Some people eventually use them to help others — mentoring, speaking, working in a helping field. Others close the door and build a private, ordinary, good life, which is equally honorable. Neither choice needs to be made this month. What this month asks is smaller and larger at once: live the pattern, keep the folder, honor the team, finish the repairs — and let the fresh start stop being a plan and start being your description.

Words to know — Month 12

• Exit plan — a written plan, made in advance, for avoiding or leaving the situations that led to trouble.
• Code word — an agreed word or message that signals a trusted person to help you leave a situation.
• Measurable goal — a goal with an action, an amount, a deadline, and proof it was done.
• Support team — the trusted adults and professionals, each with a clear role, who back your plan.
• Repair — finishing what the past still owes: apologies, repayment, obligations, done through safe and legal channels.
• Relapse (into old patterns) — sliding back into the behaviors and scenes that produced trouble; a slip to correct, not an identity.
• Reference — an adult who can truthfully describe your work and character to a school, program, or employer.
• Fresh start — a new pattern of kept commitments, built over time, that becomes the truest description of you.

Myths vs facts — Month 12

• Myth: A fresh start means everyone must forgive and forget instantly. Fact: Trust returns through a pattern of kept commitments over time, and your job is the pattern, not controlling other people's timing.
• Myth: If you slip once, the whole plan is ruined and you may as well quit. Fact: A slip is information with a 24-hour correction plan — tell, repair, and re-enter your routine.
• Myth: Real change means announcing it to everyone. Fact: Quiet consistency reaches the people who matter; no announcement is owed to anyone.
• Myth: Staying out of trouble is only about avoiding bad things. Fact: Filling your week with school, work, people, and goals you are building toward is half the protection.

What would you do? — Month 12

The situation: You have kept your plan for six weeks. On Friday, the group from your old pattern invites you out that night — the same route, the same spot where the incident that started your case happened. They laugh when you hesitate: "Six weeks and now you're too good for us?" Your phone buzzes, your stomach drops, and part of you wants to prove you have not changed toward them at all.

Walk it through:

1. Recognize the scene from your exit plan: same people, place, and hour as the original pattern — this is the exact situation the plan was written for.
2. Use your mid-scene exit sentence, prepared in advance: "I'm out — I've got somewhere to be," and actually go to the real destination your plan names.
3. Trigger your rescue layer if pressure rises: send your code word to your trusted person and take the call they return.
4. Decline without condemning: you can say you are not risking court again and mean them no insult; you do not need their agreement for your exit to count.
5. Log the win the next morning in your goal review — a temptation faced and refused is progress with proof, and tell your support person it happened so the team stays real.

One more real-life story — Month 12

At the start of his fresh start, Luis defined his goal as "stay out of trouble until probation ends" — and white-knuckled it, bored, through three empty months, nearly slipping twice out of sheer nothing-to-do. His counselor pushed him to rebuild the goal using this lesson's method. The new version had lanes: school — stabilize his two worst classes with checked-off weekly work; home — cook dinner on Tuesdays without being asked; future — save, in small amounts, toward a tool set for the vocational program he wanted, researched free at his local library. He also filled his old risk hours with a recreation-league team. Probation still ended on the same date. The difference was what he had when it did: a climbing savings number, two repaired grades, a coach who would serve as a reference, and a week too full for the old route home to tempt him.

The lesson: "Stay away from trouble" is a fence. Goals, structure, and a support team are a road. People walk roads much longer than they pace behind fences.

Try this — Month 12

Complete your one-page Fresh Start sheet — the capstone activity of this course.

• Write your pattern paragraph: where, when, with whom, and feeling what, your trouble usually began.
• Write your three exits: early, mid-scene with its sentence, and rescue with its code word and trusted person.
• Write one measurable goal in each lane — school, home, future — with action, amount, deadline, and proof.
• Write your repair list: what is owed, to whom, and the safe finishing step for each item.
• Write your support team with one job beside each name, and keep the finished sheet with your course certificates.

Resources to keep — Month 12

• Emergency: 911
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357
• A trusted adult, your school counselor or nurse, and your local library can help you find programs, education options, and local support.

What you earned / what's next — Month 12

✅ Month 12 complete (test score 80% or higher): You have built a written exit plan, measurable goals in three lanes, a support team with clear jobs, a repair list with safe channels, and a protocol for hard days — and with this month, you have completed the full 12-month Youth course.

🎓 You finished the 12-Month Youth Course — here is your final certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Youth 12-Month Course

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

For completing: Youth — 12 Months: Safety, Health, the Court Process, and a Fresh Start (Months 1–12) Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. Over twelve months you built a complete toolkit: trusted adults, online safety, a plan for bullying and hard feelings, honest knowledge about your body and your health, the juvenile court process and its vocabulary in plain language, your rights in medical and mental-health care, and now an exit plan and goals for your fresh start. Carry it with you. I am proud of you. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license or a government certification.

What's next: Keep your Fresh Start sheet, your safety plan, and your folder of certificates together. Revisit any month whenever you need it — the course stays open to you — and when you are ready, consider sharing what you learned by being the trusted person for someone younger who is where you started.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Lessons are educational information, written in plain language. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. Help lines: 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

Quarterly final. This final covers Months 10–12 — everything in the lessons of this quarter. Review those lessons, then take the final here. Score 80% or higher to pass; retakes are always allowed, and answers are not shown. Passing this final completes the quarter.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This school never asks your name. Your progress and quiz answers stay on your own device. If you pass this unit's quiz (80% or higher, retakes allowed), you earn a downloadable certificate with a blank line — you write your own name on it after you save it. Quiz answers are not shown; if you miss a question, re-read the lesson and try again.
• If you ever need help: call 911 in an emergency · call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) · text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) · call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453 if you or a friend is being hurt.
• This lesson is a trip around the world. Other countries run their courts and governments differently from ours — different on purpose, because of their own histories. Different does not mean wrong; it means learning the local rules, like learning a new game.

The lesson

Part 1. Courts in Our Country — A Quick Map

In the United States, we actually have two court systems side by side. State courts handle most everyday cases: most crimes, family matters, contracts, and accidents. Federal courts handle cases about federal law — the laws of the whole country.

In many of our courtrooms, the decision-maker is a jury: ordinary citizens who hear both sides and decide what happened. Above the trial courts sit appeals courts, which check whether the first court followed the rules. At the top is the U.S. Supreme Court. One more special feature: our courts can strike down a law that conflicts with the Constitution — a power called judicial review, started by a famous 1803 case, Marbury v. Madison.

Hold on to three pictures: juries of citizens, two systems side by side, and courts that can say "that law breaks the Constitution." Now let's travel.

Part 2. Other Countries Run Courts Differently — And That Is Normal

Most countries in Europe, Latin America, and much of Asia use a system built on big written rule books called codes. Instead of a jury, professional judges usually decide cases — sometimes with ordinary citizens beside them on a panel — and the judge asks most of the questions, working from a thick case file. That style is called the inquisitorial system: "the court investigates." Our style — two sides arguing while the judge referees — is called adversarial.

Some countries mix systems together, use religious law for topics like family matters, or follow customary law — rules from long traditions. Scholars group all this into "legal families," like a family tree for law. The United States belongs to the common law family, shared with England, Canada, and Australia. France, Germany, Brazil, and Japan belong mostly to the civil law family of codes. (Careful: "civil law" here means the code-based family, not a "civil case" at home.)

Part 3. Governments Come in Different Shapes

Countries also organize the top of the government in different shapes:

• In a republic like ours, the leader is chosen, not born into the job, and a constitution sets the rules.
• In a constitutional monarchy — like the United Kingdom or Japan — a monarch is head of state, but elected leaders actually govern.
• In a parliamentary system, voters choose a parliament, and its majority picks the prime minister. If the parliament loses confidence, the government can change quickly, without waiting for an election.
• In a presidential system like ours, voters elect the president separately, for a set number of years.
• Some countries are federal like us, sharing power between a national government and states or provinces. Others are unitary, where the national government holds the main power.
• Some governments do not hold free elections at all; power sits with one leader or one party.

Part 4. Rules Between Countries — A First Look at International Law

Countries also need rules for dealing with each other. That body of rules is called international law, built mostly from treaties — written agreements countries sign and promise to keep, like contracts between nations.

After World War II, countries created the United Nations (the UN) to solve problems by talking instead of fighting. Almost every country belongs — 193 of them. The UN has a court, the International Court of Justice (the World Court), which settles arguments between countries — it does not put people on trial. A different court, the International Criminal Court, tries individual people for the very worst crimes in the world, only when their own country's courts cannot or will not.

Here is the honest part: there is no world police force. International law works because countries keep their promises and pressure each other when promises break. It is weaker than law inside a country — and it still runs much of daily life: passports work abroad, packages cross oceans, and a treaty says the consulate must be told when one of its citizens is arrested abroad.

Part 5. Why This Matters to You

Someday you may travel, study, work, or have family in another country. When you are in another country, that country's laws and courts are the ones that apply to you. Knowing that ahead of time is not scary — it is smart, like learning the rules before a new game.

It matters at home, too. Classmates and neighbors may come from countries with different systems. When someone says "that's not how court works," you can answer kindly: "It's how court works there — let me tell you how it's built."

Words to know — Courts and Governments Around the World

• Jury — ordinary citizens who listen to a case and decide what happened.
• Appeals court — a court that checks whether a lower court followed the rules.
• Judicial review — a court's power to strike down a law that conflicts with the constitution.
• Legal family — a group of countries whose legal systems are built the same basic way.
• Civil law family — the systems built mainly on written codes, where professional judges usually decide.
• Treaty — a written agreement between countries that they promise to keep.
• International law — the rules countries have agreed to follow with each other.
• United Nations — the organization of 193 member countries, founded in 1945.

Myths vs facts — Courts and Governments Around the World

• Myth: Every country has juries like ours. Fact: Juries belong mostly to our legal family. In most of the world, professional judges decide — sometimes with citizens on a panel.
• Myth: The United Nations is a world government. Fact: The UN is an organization of countries. It cannot overrule them; it works through agreements.
• Myth: The World Court can arrest people. Fact: The International Court of Justice settles arguments between countries. It never tries people.
• Myth: If a country does things differently, its system must be broken. Fact: Systems grow from each country's history. Different designs can each work.
• Myth: International law never affects regular people. Fact: Passports, mail, travel, and consulate help abroad all exist because of agreements between countries.

Think it through — Courts and Governments Around the World

You are watching a show with your family. In the story, a character is in court in another country. There is no jury — just judges asking questions from a big file — and your cousin says, "That's fake. Courts don't work like that."

Walk it through:

1. Part 1 gives you our picture: juries, two systems, courts that can strike down laws — our design.
2. Part 2 explains what you are seeing: a civil law system, where professional judges investigate from a case file. That style — inquisitorial — covers most of the world.
3. The kind, correct answer: "It's real — just a different legal family. Ours uses juries. Theirs uses judges with a file. Both try to be fair, in different ways."

One more real-life story — Courts and Governments Around the World

A student in Massachusetts had a pen pal in Japan. The pen pal wrote that a courtroom visit showed citizens sitting with the judges to decide a serious case — citizens, but not a jury? Looking it up: Japan uses panels where citizens and judges decide together. She wrote back: "Our citizens decide alone in a jury box. Yours decide together with judges. Same idea — regular people helping decide — different design."

Takeaway: When something abroad looks strange, ask "how is it built?" before deciding it is wrong.

Cases & codes to study — Courts and Governments Around the World

For this topic, the "codes" are two famous documents. Both are free to read.

The law itself — read the real words

• The Constitution of the United States — the rule book for our government: it creates the courts (Article III) and protects rights like jury trials. Read it free at the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution
• The Charter of the United Nations (1945) — the agreement that created the United Nations and the World Court. Read it: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text

Where to read the real thing, free: the National Archives (https://www.archives.gov) for America's founding documents; the United Nations (https://www.un.org) for the Charter.

Try this — Courts and Governments Around the World

• ☐ Pick a country you are curious about: jury or judges? Republic or monarchy? Federal or unitary? Write one line for each.
• ☐ Explain the difference between the World Court and the International Criminal Court — who goes before each one?
• ☐ Read the UN Charter's first page (the Preamble). Write down one promise the countries made.
• ☐ Draw two courtrooms: ours, and one from a civil law country. Label who decides in each.

Resources to keep — Courts and Governments Around the World

• National Archives (archives.gov) — America's founding documents, free.
• United Nations (un.org) — the UN Charter and explainers about how the UN works.
• JuriGlobe — World Legal Systems (juriglobe.ca) — a University of Ottawa map of how every country's legal system is built (explore it with a teacher or parent if you like).

What you earned / what's next — Courts and Governments Around the World

✅ Courts and Governments Around the World complete (quiz score 80% or higher): you can describe U.S. courts, explain how other countries build theirs differently, name the main shapes governments take, and say what international law and the United Nations are. Your certificate names this topic — keep it with pride.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Courts and Governments Around the World

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

You just traveled the whole world in one lesson and learned how its courts and governments are built. Most grown-ups cannot explain that — you can. Keep going; I am proud of you. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Charter of the United Nations (1945) — United Nations (https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text) — the UN's founding agreement (Part 4).
• Constitution of the United States — National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution) — Article III and jury-trial rights (Part 1).
• JuriGlobe — World Legal Systems, University of Ottawa (https://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/syst-demo/index-alpha.php) — the legal-family groupings (Part 2).
• International Court of Justice (https://www.icj-cij.org) — the World Court's own description of its work (Part 4).
• OpenStax, Introduction to Political Science (openstax.org) — parliamentary/presidential comparisons checked against Part 3.

Course Record — Courts and Governments Around the World

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• describe the two U.S. court systems and the role of juries and appeals;
• explain how civil-law courts differ — professional judges, case files, judge-led questioning;
• name the main government shapes: republic, constitutional monarchy, parliamentary, presidential, federal, unitary;
• explain what international law and a treaty are, and what the United Nations and the World Court do;
• state why international law has no world police, and give two daily-life examples of it.
• Study time: Approximately 45 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. You write your own name on a certificate after downloading it.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• Every President was once a kid watching from the outside. This unit explains the process simply and honestly. It favors no party and no person; the road is the same for everyone.

The lesson

Part 1. The three rules in the Constitution

The Constitution — the country's rulebook — sets only three requirements for being President. A President must be:

1. A natural-born citizen — a citizen of the United States from birth.
2. At least 35 years old.
3. A resident of the United States for at least 14 years — someone who has made this country home for a long stretch.

That is the whole list. No rule requires a President to first be a senator, a governor, a soldier, or a college graduate. Many Presidents have been some of those things — voters liked their experience — but the Constitution requires none of it. Two more rules complete the picture: a term lasts four years, and no one may be elected President more than twice. The door is real, written down, and the same for everybody.

Part 2. Step one and two — parties pick their person: primaries, caucuses, and conventions

A political party is a big group of people who share ideas about how the country should be run. Each party chooses one person as its candidate — but usually several people want the job, so the party's members choose among them, state by state, in contests called primaries and caucuses.

• In a primary, party members vote by ballot, like a regular election.
• In a caucus, party members meet in person, talk it over, and choose.

Winning earns a candidate delegates — people who go to the party's big meeting and vote for them there. That meeting, in the summer, is the national convention. There the delegates officially choose the candidate, the candidate announces a running mate, and the party writes its platform: its list of ideas.

A person can also run without a party — legal, but harder: a party gives its candidate a ballot place in every state, while an independent must sign up state by state, months ahead.

Part 3. Step three — the whole country votes

After the conventions, the candidates travel, speak, and debate. Then, on Election Day — the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, a date set by law — voters in every state cast their ballots for President and Vice President.

Here is the surprising part: when you vote for a President, you are officially voting for a group of people called electors who have promised to vote for your candidate. Your vote chooses your state's electors, who then do the official choosing. That system is the Electoral College (Part 4).

Part 4. Step four — the Electoral College finishes the job

The Electoral College is not a school. It is a group of 538 electors from all the states and the capital district. Its math:

• Each state gets electors equal to its members of Congress — its Representatives plus its two Senators; every state gets at least three.
• In almost every state, the candidate who wins the state's popular vote gets all of that state's electors. Maine and Nebraska split theirs by district as well.
• The electors meet in their own state capitals in December and cast the official votes.
• A candidate needs 270 electoral votes — more than half of 538 — to win.

So candidates work to win states, one by one, adding up to 270. The winner is decided by this electoral count, which usually — but not always — matches who won the most individual votes nationwide. In early January, Congress counts the votes, and the count is certified.

Part 5. January 20 — inauguration, and what you can do right now

On January 20, at noon, the new President's term begins. At the inauguration, the President-elect raises a hand and swears the oath written in the Constitution: to faithfully do the job, and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. The moment the oath is finished, the President is the President.

You cannot run yet — rule two says 35 — but the path is not closed to you; it is just scheduled. Everything that makes a future candidate ready starts now: learning how government works, serving in your school and neighborhood, and keeping your word. Every President once stood where you stand: outside the door, learning where it is. Now you know.

Words to know — How to Become President of the USA

• Natural-born citizen — a citizen of the United States from birth; one of the three requirements for President.
• Political party — a large group of people who share ideas about how the country should be run.
• Primary — an election where a party's members vote by ballot to choose their candidate.
• Caucus — a meeting where a party's members gather, discuss, and show which candidate they support.
• National convention — the big meeting where a party officially chooses its candidate.
• Running mate — the person a candidate chooses to run for Vice President on the same ticket.
• Elector — a person chosen by a state to cast one of its Electoral College votes.
• Electoral College — the group of 538 electors whose votes officially elect the President; 270 are needed to win.
• Inauguration — the ceremony where the new President swears the oath, on January 20.

Myths vs facts — How to Become President of the USA

• Myth: You must be a senator or governor first. Fact: The Constitution requires only three things: natural-born citizen, at least 35, and 14 years living in the United States. Past jobs are voters' choice, not rules.
• Myth: The Electoral College is a school electors attend. Fact: It is not a place at all — it is the name for all 538 electors and their voting in their own states.
• Myth: Election Day picks the President and that's the end. Fact: Voters choose their state's electors on Election Day; electors vote in December, and Congress counts in January.
• Myth: Whoever gets the most votes in the whole country automatically wins. Fact: The winner reaches 270 electoral votes. Campaigns win state by state; the electoral count is what the Constitution counts.
• Myth: Kids can do nothing about elections until they can vote. Fact: You can learn the process, follow real elections, and serve in your community — and later register and vote in every election.

Think it through — How to Become President of the USA

The situation: Jaylen, age 12, tells his class: "When I grow up I'm going to be President. I'll just put my name on the ballot in November and everyone will vote." His teacher asks the class to correct his plan using the real steps.

Walk it through: (1) Check the three rules (Part 1): Jaylen is a natural-born citizen, but he must be at least 35 and a 14-year resident — so his plan starts with growing and learning. (2) His name does not go straight onto a November ballot (Part 2): most candidates first win primaries and caucuses, earn delegates, and are chosen at a convention — or, without a party, sign up state by state, months ahead. (3) Even in November (Part 3), voters are officially choosing electors pledged to a candidate. (4) The electors decide (Part 4): Jaylen-the-candidate would need to win enough states to reach 270, have the electors vote in December, and have Congress count in January. (5) Only then (Part 5) comes January 20 and the oath. The dream survives — it just gains a map.

One more real-life story — How to Become President of the USA

In December of an election year, a retired schoolteacher signed her name to a formal ballot in a quiet ceremony. She was one of her state's electors, chosen because her candidate had won the state in November. Asked why so important a job had so simple a ceremony, she answered: "Because the country decided long ago that power should change hands with paper and promises, not with armies. Simple is the point."

Takeaway: The road to the presidency runs on written steps anyone can learn — three rules, state-by-state choosing, electors, a count, and an oath.

Cases & codes to study — How to Become President of the USA

The law itself — read the real words

• U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 5 (U.S. Constitution) — the three requirements for President. Read it: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C5-1/ALDE_00013692/
• U.S. Const. amend. XX, § 1 (U.S. Constitution) — terms end and begin at noon on January 20. Read it: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/provisions.html

Try this — How to Become President of the USA

• ☐ I can say the three constitutional requirements for President from memory.
• ☐ I can explain a primary and a caucus.
• ☐ I can do the Electoral College math: 538 electors, 270 to win — and find how many electors my state has.
• ☐ I can order the steps: primaries and caucuses → convention → Election Day → electors vote → Congress counts → inauguration.

Resources to keep — How to Become President of the USA

• 911 — in danger now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• archives.gov — Electoral College · constitution.congress.gov — how electors and counting work; the Constitution with official explanations.

What you earned / what's next — How to Become President of the USA

✅ How to Become President of the USA complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can state the three constitutional requirements, explain how parties choose their candidate, say what voters really choose on Election Day, do the Electoral College math of 538 and 270, and name what happens on January 20.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — How to Become President of the USA

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here — it is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You now hold the map of the longest road in American public life. Keep learning; the door is written down, and it does not move. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license or a government certification.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• American Government 3e, Chapters 7 and 12 — OpenStax (https://openstax.org/books/american-government-3e/pages/15-4-controlling-the-bureaucracy) — open textbook checked for voting, elections, and the presidency.
• Qualifications for the Presidency — Constitution Annotated, Congress.gov (https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C5-1/ALDE_00013692/) — the three requirements.
• Legal Provisions Relevant to the Electoral College Process — National Archives, archives.gov (https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/provisions.html) — electors, January 20, and the counting process.
• U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 5; U.S. Const. amend. XX, § 1 — the qualifications and the January 20 term dates (texts in Cases & codes).

Course Record — How to Become President of the USA

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• state the three constitutional requirements for President, the four-year term, and the two-election limit;
• explain how a party chooses its candidate through primaries, caucuses, delegates, and a convention;
• explain that voters on Election Day officially choose their state's electors;
• do the Electoral College math — 538 electors, 270 to win — and describe the December vote and January count;
• describe inauguration on January 20 and the oath that begins the term.
• Study time: Approximately 45 minutes — reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after you download it.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are allowed. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit is about secret watching by a partner, friend, ex, or stranger — not family rules.

The lesson

Part 1. Watching vs caring — where the line is

Parents and guardians setting rules for a young person's phone is a family matter and is generally lawful. This unit is not about that. A safe parent or guardian can help you with every step here.

This unit is about secret watching by a boyfriend or girlfriend, a friend, an ex, or a stranger:

• A partner who must have your password "or else."
• A friend who tracks your location all day and night and gets angry when it is off.
• Someone who always knows what you said in private chats they were not part of.

That watching is about control. It is not love, and it is not friendship. Caring respects a "no." Control punishes a "no." In many cases, secret watching also breaks the law. It is not your fault for trusting someone.

Part 2. Location sharing — your location is yours to share

Location sharing means an app shows where your phone is to people you choose. Shared freely, for a short time, it can help with rides or meeting up. Left on all the time under pressure, it hands someone a live map of your life.

You can see who can see you. Open the location or sharing settings and look for the list — the roster — of people and apps that can see your location. Both major phone types keep this list in Settings, and sharing apps keep their own list inside the app. Just look. You do not have to change anything.

Pressure lines sound like: "If you trusted me, you'd share it." Trust never requires a live map of you. Real trust can hear "I am turning this off" and stay calm. Turning sharing off is allowed. If that feels scary because of how someone will react, tell a trusted adult.

Part 3. Passwords and accounts are yours — and the safe-device rule

A password is like a house key. Nobody you date or hang out with needs it, and demanding it is a warning sign, not a test of love.

Signs an account is being watched:

• Messages marked read that you never opened.
• A new device signed in to your account.
• Settings you changed change back.
• Someone repeats things you only typed in private.

If you think your phone is watched, use the safe-device rule before changing anything: use a phone or computer the watcher cannot see — a school or library device, or a trusted adult's device — to get help and make a plan. Sudden changes on a watched phone can be seen right away and can make things worse or make the person angry. Plan first, with a trusted adult.

Part 4. Apps — stores, permissions, and stalkerware

Get apps only from the official app stores on your phone. Apps from random websites or links can carry hidden tools.

Before you install any app, check what permissions it asks for. A simple game that wants your location, messages, and camera for no clear reason is a warning sign. A good app asks only for what it needs.

Know this word: stalkerware — apps made to spy on someone's phone. They can read messages, track location, and hide so the owner does not see them. Do not install apps a partner or friend insists on "so I know you're safe," or a "parental control" style app that no parent asked for. You can say no, and tell a trusted adult someone asked.

Part 5. What to do — tell, save proof, and get support

You do not have to handle secret watching alone.

1. Tell a safe adult. A parent or guardian you trust, a school counselor, or a teacher. If the first adult does not act, tell the next one.
2. If you are scared to tell, that feeling is exactly why hotlines exist. Call or text 988, text HOME to 741741, or call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453.
3. Save proof from the safe device. Screenshot demands and threats. Keep copies where the watcher cannot reach them. Do not delete the originals.
4. Make changes with a plan, with a trusted adult, from a safe device.

Being monitored is never something you caused by trusting someone. The person who chose secret watching is responsible.

Words to know — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

• Location sharing — showing where your phone is to people on a list you can check.
• Stalkerware — apps made to spy on a phone, often hidden from its owner.
• Password — a secret code that locks your account, like a house key.
• App permission — what an app asks to reach, such as location, messages, or camera.
• Roster — the list of people and apps that can see your location.
• Safe device — a phone or computer the watcher cannot see.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you and will act to help you stay safe.
• Control — using pressure, fear, or watching to make someone obey.
• Secret watching — checking someone's phone, messages, or location without their free agreement.

Myths vs facts — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

• Myth: Sharing my location proves I have nothing to hide. Fact: Your location is private. Keeping it private only proves it is yours.
• Myth: If a partner wants my password, they really love me. Fact: Love respects privacy. Demanding a password "or else" is control.
• Myth: Turning off location sharing means I did something wrong. Fact: Turning it off is allowed at any time. A caring person accepts it calmly.
• Myth: An app a friend picks is safe because they picked it. Fact: Check any app. Access it does not need is a warning sign.
• Myth: If I once shared, I cannot take it back. Fact: Sharing can be stopped, safely, with a trusted adult and a safe device.

Think it through — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

Maya, 15, has a boyfriend who demands her location on at all times and her password "to prove trust." When her location was off at a family dinner, he sent angry messages for an hour. Last week he quoted a private chat with her cousin — a chat he was never part of. Maya is scared to turn anything off.

Walk it through: (1) Name the line (Part 1): this is not a family rule. Demanding a password and punishing her is control, not care. (2) Location (Part 2): trust never requires a live map, and turning sharing off is allowed — but her fear matters. (3) The quoted chat is a sign her account may be watched (Part 3), so no sudden changes on her own phone. (4) Steps (Parts 3 and 5): use a safe device, tell a trusted adult, save screenshots, and plan together first. If scared to tell, call or text 988 or text HOME to 741741.

One more real-life story — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

This is a made-up story mixing details from many real situations. Jordan, 14, shared location with a friend "just for rides home." Soon the friend commented on every stop, got upset when sharing paused, and knew plans Jordan had only typed to family. Jordan used a library computer to look up help and told a school counselor. Together they checked the roster and found an extra app Jordan did not remember installing. With a parent, Jordan saved screenshots and, with a plan, removed the extra access and set new passwords from a safe device.

Takeaway: Feeling uneasy is enough reason to check your roster and tell a trusted adult.

Cases & codes to study — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2018)

• The facts: The government got months of records showing where a man's phone had been, without a warrant.
• The question: Does the government need a warrant for long-term phone location records?
• The ruling and the outcome: Yes, generally. Getting those records was a search, and a warrant was needed. The decision was for Carpenter.
• Why it matters to you: Your location tells your whole story, so the Court treated it as deeply private.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-402_h315.pdf (the official opinion, at supremecourt.gov)
• 🎥 Watch / listen: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-402 — the case page with the actual oral argument audio, published by Oyez.

The law itself — read the real words

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99 — in Massachusetts, secretly hearing or recording private communications can be a crime. Read it: https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/partiv/titlei/chapter272/section99

Where to read the real thing, free: malegislature.gov (https://malegislature.gov), courtlistener.com (https://www.courtlistener.com).

Try this — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

• ☐ Find who can see your location — just look; do not change anything
• ☐ Check one app's permissions: does what it wants match what it does?
• ☐ Name three trusted adults you could tell about a password demand
• ☐ Learn the safe-device rule: plan first, from a device the watcher cannot see
• ☐ Save the help lines: 988, Crisis Text Line, and Childhelp

Resources to keep — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

• 911 — in danger now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if someone is pressuring or watching you.
• thehotline.org — a site for older teens in relationships.

What you earned / what's next — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

✅ When Someone Is Watching Your Phone complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can tell secret watching from caring, check your location roster, spot signs of watching, and use the safe-device rule.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Your location and passwords belong to you. Asking a trusted adult for help is strength. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Massachusetts General Laws — malegislature.gov (https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/partiv/titlei/chapter272/section99) — wiretap law text checked.
• Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 (U.S. Supreme Court 2018) — warrant generally required for long-term location records.
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — secretly intercepting wire and oral communications.
• Oyez — oyez.org (https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-402) — Carpenter facts, holding, and argument audio checked.
• Supreme Court of the United States — supremecourt.gov (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-402_h315.pdf) — official Carpenter opinion checked.
• Federal Trade Commission — ftc.gov — stalkerware actions and guidance checked.

Course Record — When Someone Is Watching Your Phone

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• tell a family phone rule from secret watching by a partner, friend, ex, or stranger
• find the roster of people and apps that can see their location
• name signs that an account may be watched
• explain the safe-device rule and plan changes with a trusted adult
• check app permissions and say what stalkerware is
• save proof safely and name help lines to use
• Study time: Approximately 0.4 hours — reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit. 80% or higher passes and earns the certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• Your rights if an officer ever stops you — and the exact sentences that use them.

The lesson

Part 1. A stop is not a verdict — you are presumed innocent

The biggest idea here: you are presumed innocent. The law treats you as innocent unless the government proves otherwise in court, beyond a reasonable doubt. You never have to prove you did nothing — that job is the government's, start to finish.

If an officer stops you, know what is — and is not — happening. Questioning is the beginning of a process, not a finding, not a punishment, not a verdict. People get questioned for being nearby or matching a description; plenty are never charged. Remember: this moment is questions, not conclusions.

Part 2. The sentences that protect you — say them out loud

You have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer. But here is what TV leaves out: these rights work when you say them out loud. Mere quiet can be misread, and the questions keep coming. Learn these by heart:

• "Am I free to go?" If yes, walk away. If no, the next sentences matter.
• "I want my parent or guardian." Ask early; repeat if needed.
• "I want a lawyer." Yours even if you did nothing wrong and cannot pay — asking is not an admission.
• "I am using my right to remain silent." Then stop explaining — answering "just one more question" hands the protection back.

Say them politely, calmly — polite plus clear is strongest.

Part 3. Massachusetts gives young people an extra shield

A teenager in a small room with uniformed adults is not in a grown-up's position, so Massachusetts adds protection: before a young person can give up — lawyers say waive — the right to remain silent, there must be a real chance to talk it through with a parent or interested adult.

The rule is strongest for the youngest: if you are under 14, your waiver cannot count at all without that adult consultation first. At 14 or older, the consultation should ordinarily happen, and a waiver without it counts only when the circumstances show an unusual degree of maturity and understanding. A parent asking for a lawyer is the system working as designed; a parent is support, not a substitute — ask for both.

Part 4. Searches — you do not have to agree

An officer may ask, "Can I look in your bag?" or "Let me see your phone." Asking means they need your permission — yours to give or withhold. The protective sentence is: "I do not consent to searches." Say it calmly, once. If an officer proceeds anyway, do not physically resist. Challenges happen later, in court — your clear "I do not consent" is what a lawyer will need.

Your phone holds your whole private life, and the law treats it that way: police generally need a warrant to search it. At school, officials follow different rules; tell a parent the same day.

Part 5. During the encounter — and after it

During: keep your hands visible. Do not run. Do not argue the law on the sidewalk. If frightened, say so: "I am scared. I want my parent. I want a lawyer. I am using my right to remain silent." Then be boring: quiet, still, polite.

After: safely with your family, do three things. Tell a parent or trusted adult everything that day. Write it down — where, when, who, what was said, what you asked for, what happened. Writing within a day beats memory in a month. Families have options: a complaint and a lawyer.

Words to know — Your Rights When Police Question You

• Presumed innocent — the law treats you as innocent unless the government proves guilt in court.
• Right to remain silent — your constitutional right not to answer questions that could incriminate you.
• Invoke — to use a right by clearly saying so, out loud.
• Lawyer (counsel) — a legal professional who protects your rights and advises you.
• Interested adult — in Massachusetts, a parent or stand-in adult who understands a young person's rights and can explain them first.
• Waive — to give up a right — for example, answering questions you could have refused.
• Consent — permission; whether you gave it is why "I do not consent" matters.
• Warrant — a judge's written permission for a search.

Myths vs facts — Your Rights When Police Question You

• Myth: Asking for a lawyer makes you look guilty. Fact: A right held by innocent and accused alike; lawyers advise it because it protects the innocent.
• Myth: If I just explain everything, it will all be over. Fact: Pressured answers get misunderstood, and small errors grow. Wait for a lawyer and a parent.
• Myth: Staying quiet without speaking uses my right to silence. Fact: Courts have held silence alone may not count. Say it: "I am using my right to remain silent."
• Myth: Police can search my phone whenever they want. Fact: A phone's contents are private in law; police generally need a warrant.
• Myth: Being questioned means permanent trouble. Fact: Questioning is a beginning, not an end; most questioned people are never charged.

Think it through — Your Rights When Police Question You

The situation: Dee is 15. Something was stolen from a locker room; an administrator has Dee wait in an office. A police officer arrives, asks where Dee was at lunch, and asks to "just check" Dee's backpack and phone. Dee did nothing wrong but feels pressure to prove it.

Walk it through: (1) Part 1: Dee is presumed innocent and must prove nothing; questioning is not a verdict. (2) Part 2: Dee asks, "Am I free to go?" If not: "I want my parent or guardian. I want a lawyer. I am using my right to remain silent" — then stops explaining; even "I didn't do it" can wait. (3) Part 4: "I do not consent to searches" — and no grabbing anything back. (4) Part 3: at 15, consultation with a parent or interested adult should ordinarily come first. (5) Part 5: that evening, Dee tells a parent and writes it down.

One more real-life story — Your Rights When Police Question You

In a real Massachusetts case, two brothers, 13 and 12, were questioned about a break-in. The officer read the warnings to their father — but nobody made sure he understood or explained them, and statements were used against the older boy. The Supreme Judicial Court threw out the result: a warning read at a family is not a young person understanding their rights, and under 14 a genuine consultation must come first.

Takeaway: The protection is a real conversation with an adult who understands — and asking for it is your right.

Cases & codes to study — Your Rights When Police Question You

A real case, in plain words — Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court of the United States, 1966)

• The facts: Ernesto Miranda was questioned for two hours and confessed, never told he could stay silent or have a lawyer.
• The question: May prosecutors use statements taken this way?
• The ruling and the outcome: No. Before custodial questioning, police must warn: the right to remain silent, that statements can be used against the person, the right to a lawyer, appointed if needed. Conviction overturned.
• Why it matters to you: This case created the warnings; asking for a lawyer is normal.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/384/436 (the full opinion, published by Cornell's Legal Information Institute)

A real case, in plain words — Commonwealth v. A Juvenile (No. 1), 389 Mass. 128 (Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, 1983)

• The facts: The brothers' story above: warnings read to a father never shown to understand or explain them.
• The question: What must happen before a Massachusetts juvenile's waiver of silence can count?
• The ruling and the outcome: Reversed. Under 14, no waiver counts without an interested adult present who understands the warnings and can explain them. At 14 and older, consultation should ordinarily happen; without one, waiver requires a high degree of intelligence, experience, knowledge, or sophistication.
• Why it matters to you: Your extra Massachusetts shield — "I want my parent or guardian" is a power sentence.
• 📄 Court document: https://law.justia.com/cases/massachusetts/supreme-court/1983/389-mass-128-2.html (the full opinion, published by Justia)

The law itself — read the real words

• Fifth Amendment (U.S. Constitution) — no one can be compelled to be a witness against themselves; the source of the right to remain silent. Fourth Amendment — protects against unreasonable searches; source of the warrant rule for a phone's contents. Read both at archives.gov. More, free: courtlistener.com · scholar.google.com · malegislature.gov.

Try this — Your Rights When Police Question You

• ☐ Say Part 2's five sentences aloud until they feel boring.
• ☐ Talk with a parent or guardian about this unit, and how to reach them fast.
• ☐ Write the three after-steps from memory, then check Part 5.
• ☐ Explain the interested-adult rule to a friend in two sentences.

Resources to keep — Your Rights When Police Question You

• 911 — if you or someone else is in danger right now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, day or night.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 if you cannot talk out loud.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is hurting or pressuring you.
• mass.gov — official Massachusetts information: courts and juvenile justice.

What you earned / what's next — Your Rights When Police Question You

✅ Your Rights When Police Question You complete (test score 80% or higher): You can explain the presumption of innocence, say the protective sentences, state the interested-adult protection, refuse consent safely, and stay calm in an encounter.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Your Rights When Police Question You

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You know your rights as sentences you can say — calm, clear, and yours. A hard moment does not get to decide who you are. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court of the United States 1966) — the warnings required before custodial questioning.
• Commonwealth v. A Juvenile (No. 1), 389 Mass. 128 (Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts 1983) — the Massachusetts interested-adult rule for juvenile waiver.
• National Archives (archives.gov) — "The Bill of Rights," Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
• Massachusetts government (mass.gov) — official courts and juvenile-justice information.

Course Record — Your Rights When Police Question You

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• explain the presumption of innocence — the government must prove guilt; you prove nothing;
• state the five protective sentences and why they must be spoken aloud;
• describe Massachusetts' interested-adult protection, under 14 and at 14 and older;
• refuse consent to a search, calmly and without resisting;
• list the safety steps during an encounter, and the three steps after.
• Study time: Approximately 30 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. Earned certificates are downloaded blank; you write your own name after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are unlimited. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit is about fairness: racism in plain words, true stories of young people who changed things, and what to do safely when you see unfair treatment. The rule that runs through all of it: people are never the problem — unfair treatment is.

The lesson

Part 1. Fair and Unfair — What Racism Means in Plain Words

Three words, in plain language. Prejudice is judging a person before you know them, by the group they belong to. Discrimination is prejudice put into action: treating someone unfairly because of that group. Racism is prejudice and discrimination aimed at people because of their race.

These words point at actions and attitudes, not people. The problem is always the unfair treatment — a rule, a habit, a joke, a choice — never the person it lands on. But it can be changed.

Fairness does not mean everyone is the same. Differences are ordinary. Fair means the same respect, chances, and welcome for all.

Part 2. True Stories — Young People Who Changed Things

Ruby Bridges was six years old in 1960, in first grade. Unfair laws in her state kept Black children and white children in separate schools. A court ordered the schools opened, and Ruby became the first Black child to attend her elementary school. Because some people were angry, four federal marshals walked with her into school all year to keep her safe. Ruby did not miss a day. Her courage changed what was possible for other children.

The Children's Crusade happened in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. More than a thousand students marched peacefully to ask for fair treatment. Many were arrested simply for marching. Their courage moved the whole country: the Civil Rights Act became law the next year.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister — a pastor — who taught fairness, peacefully, and that every person has worth. Change does not wait until you are grown.

Part 3. Words That Wound — Slurs, Exclusion, and "Just Joking"

A slur is a cruel word aimed at a person's race or background. Slurs wound because they do not describe anything the person did — they attack what the person is. Hearing them again and again can make a person feel unsafe at school.

Exclusion wounds more quietly. Leaving someone out — of the game, the table, the team chat — because of who they are is discrimination in everyday clothes, online too: a removed group-chat member, a player mocked for an accent.

Now the honest part: "I was just joking." A joke is funny when the person it is about is laughing too. If a "joke" needs someone's race or background as the punchline, it is not really a joke — it is a wound with an excuse attached. If it landed as cruelty, treat it as cruelty, and do not repeat it.

Part 4. What To Do When You See It — The Upstander Steps

A bystander watches something happen. An upstander does something safe and helpful. None of these steps asks you to fight or risk danger. Ever.

1. Do not join in. Do not laugh along, repeat the slur, or pass the post on.
2. Support the person targeted. Sit with them. Include them. "That wasn't okay — are you all right?" repairs more than most people realize.
3. Get a safe adult. A teacher, counselor, coach, parent, or other trusted adult. If the first adult shrugs it off, tell the next one. Keep telling until an adult acts.
4. Tell what happened, clearly. What happened, who was involved, when. Save a screenshot if it happened online.

Never confront anyone physically, gang up, or promise secrecy when someone is being hurt.

Part 5. Kindness as a Practice — And When To Tell a Safe Adult

Kindness is not only a feeling. It is a practice — something you do on ordinary days. Share the seat. Learn to say names correctly. Include the new student. When fairness is your habit, standing up is easier.

Some moments are always tell-an-adult moments, right away: bullying that keeps happening; threats, online or in person; a pattern — the same person targeted again and again; anything that makes someone — or you — afraid or unsafe. Telling is not snitching. Telling a safe adult to stop harm is how harm actually stops.

If you are the one targeted, help exists any time: 911, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741.

Words to know — Fairness and Courage

• Prejudice — judging a person because of the group they belong to.
• Discrimination — treating someone unfairly because of the group they belong to.
• Racism — prejudice and discrimination aimed at people because of their race.
• Slur — a cruel word aimed at a person's race or background.
• Exclusion — leaving someone out because of who they are.
• Upstander — a person who responds to unfair treatment with a safe, helpful action.
• Safe adult — an adult who believes you and will act to help.
• Segregation — keeping groups of people apart by rule or law.

Myths vs facts — Fairness and Courage

• Myth: Young people are too small to change anything. Fact: Ruby Bridges was six, and the Birmingham marchers were students. Their courage changed laws.
• Myth: If it was meant as a joke, it cannot hurt anyone. Fact: A "joke" whose punchline is someone's race or background wounds. Judge the effect, not the excuse.
• Myth: Standing up means fighting or arguing with the person doing it. Fact: The upstander steps are safe: do not join in, support the person targeted, get a safe adult.
• Myth: Telling an adult is snitching. Fact: Telling to stop harm — bullying, threats, a pattern — is protection, not betrayal.
• Myth: Being fair means treating everyone as if they are all the same. Fact: Fairness means the same respect, chances, and welcome for everyone.

Think it through — Fairness and Courage

The situation: In a class group chat, two students post "jokes" about a classmate's name and accent, then remove her from the chat. A friend says, "Just stay out of it — they'll stop eventually." What is happening here, and what can you do?

Walk it through: (1) Name it (Parts 1 and 3): mocking a name and accent targets who she is, not anything she did — prejudice in action. "Jokes" are not harmless because tellers call them jokes. Removing her from the chat is exclusion. (2) Your moves (Part 4): do not join in or forward the posts; support her — sit with her at lunch; save a screenshot; tell a safe adult what happened, who was involved, and when. Nobody has to confront anyone — the upstander steps are safer. (3) The pattern rule (Part 5): repeated targeting is exactly when telling an adult is required, not optional.

One more real-life story — Fairness and Courage

A new student at Marcus's school ate lunch alone every day because an untrue rumor, based on nothing but his background, called him "weird." Marcus did not make a speech. He moved his tray. He sat down, learned his name, and asked about his games. The rumor did not get argued with. It got outnumbered.

Takeaway: Most unfairness is defeated the way Part 5 teaches — by a practice, repeated on ordinary days, until the person left out is simply in.

Cases & codes to study — Fairness and Courage

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (Supreme Court of the United States, 1954)

• The facts: Laws in several states kept Black and white children in separate public schools. Families sued, saying that broke the Constitution.
• The question: Does separating schoolchildren by race deny them the equal protection promised by the Fourteenth Amendment?
• The ruling and the outcome: The Court said yes — unanimously. Separate schools for children separated by race are inherently unequal. The families won, and school segregation by law was declared unconstitutional.
• Why it matters to you: This decision opened the door Ruby Bridges walked through (Part 2). Fairness in school is a constitutional promise, not a favor.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.brownvboard.org/_files/ugd/098e0a_1f49330e2a4a4023b86b273cd198c313.pdf (full opinion, May 17, 1954)

The law itself — read the real words

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (United States law, signed July 2, 1964) — this law made segregation in public businesses illegal, banned unfair treatment in jobs, and ended segregation in public places and public schools. National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/civil-rights-act

Try this — Fairness and Courage

• ☐ Learn to say every classmate's name correctly; ask politely about any you are unsure of.
• ☐ Write down your three safe adults: your first calls for bullying, threats, or a pattern.
• ☐ Practice the sentence out loud: "That wasn't okay — are you all right?"
• ☐ Check your group chats and games: is anyone left out? Invite them in.

Resources to keep — Fairness and Courage

• 911 — if you or someone else is in danger right now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, for heavy feelings.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• National Archives — archives.gov — the Civil Rights Act.

What you earned / what's next — Fairness and Courage

✅ Fairness and Courage complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can explain prejudice, discrimination, and racism in plain words; retell Ruby Bridges' and the Children's Crusade's stories; say why slurs, exclusion, and "just joking" wound; work the upstander steps safely; and name when telling a safe adult is required.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Fairness and Courage — Standing Up for Each Other

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. Fairness is a practice, and courage can be quiet — a seat offered, a name said right, an adult told in time. Keep standing up for each other. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• National Park Service (nps.gov) — "Ruby Bridges" (https://www.nps.gov/people/rubybridges.htm) — Ruby Bridges, age six, escorted by four federal marshals, Nov. 14, 1960; Part 2.
• National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution (nmaahc.si.edu) — "The Children's Crusade" (https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/childrens-crusade) — over one thousand students marched in Birmingham, May 2, 1963; Part 2 (told age-safe).
• Nobel Prize (nobelprize.org) — "Martin Luther King Jr. – Biography" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/) — Dr. King as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (1954); Part 2.
• United States Courts (uscourts.gov) — "Brown v. Board of Education Podcast" (http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/supreme-court-landmarks/brown-v-board-education-podcast) — decided May 17, 1954, unanimously; Cases & Codes.
• National Archives (archives.gov) — "Civil Rights Act (1964)" (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/civil-rights-act) — signed July 2, 1964; the code entry.

Course Record — Fairness and Courage

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• define prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and state that unfair treatment — never a person — is the problem;
• retell the stories of Ruby Bridges and the Children's Crusade and name Dr. King as a minister;
• explain why slurs, exclusion, and "just joking" wound;
• list and apply the upstander steps without physical confrontation or danger;
• describe kindness as a practice and name the situations that always require telling a safe adult;
• state what Brown v. Board of Education decided and what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made illegal.
• Study time: Approximately 45 minutes. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the certificate; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit covers two hard moments: being accused of something you did not do, and being targeted by someone else. Both have calm steps that protect you.

The lesson

Part 1. If you are accused — the first things to do, and the things never to do

Stay calm. Take a breath. You do not have to explain yourself on the spot.

Do not run, argue, or fight. Arguing can create new trouble unrelated to the accusation, and that trouble is real even if the first claim is not.

Remember: being accused is not being convicted. An accusation is a claim. Claims have to be proved: the grown-ups have to prove what happened; you do not have to prove you didn't.

Never agree to "just admit it and it will go easier" without your parent or guardian and a lawyer. That promise is not theirs to make. Never let anyone rush you.

Part 2. The words that protect you — asking for your parent or guardian and a lawyer

Learn these sentences word for word. Saying them is strength, not rudeness:

• "I want my parent or guardian here."
• "I want a lawyer."
• "I am not answering questions until my parent or guardian and a lawyer are here."

Then you may be quiet. Silence after asking for help is allowed and smart.

A parent or guardian is your support. A lawyer is the expert who protects you in this kind of moment. You are allowed both.

If questioning continues, repeat the same calm sentences. You need no new words.

Part 3. Never sign, never delete — papers, phones, and pressure

Papers: Do not sign statements, confessions, or "incident reports" about what happened without your parent or guardian — and, for anything serious, a lawyer — reading them first. A signature can turn someone else's words into "your" statement.

If you already signed something, tell your parent or guardian and a lawyer. It is not the end, and hiding it helps no one.

Phones: Never delete messages, photos, or accounts because someone tells you to. Deleting can destroy the proof that helps you, and it can look like hiding.

If a school or an officer asks for your phone or its passcode, that is a moment for your parent or guardian and a lawyer. Say the Part 2 sentences, calmly, again.

Adults and other kids may both pressure you. Pressure is a signal to slow down, not speed up.

Part 4. When someone targets you — saving proof the right way

Now the other thread. Sometimes the problem is not an accusation against you. It is someone targeting you — messages, rumors, threats, or fake accounts.

Here, the same phone becomes your proof kit. Do not delete the thread, even if it is upsetting. Screenshot with the date, time, and account name visible. Save the original messages too, not only pictures of them.

The Youth Stalking unit teaches the full safety pattern for being followed or contacted repeatedly — read it for those steps. This unit's new ground is proof discipline generally.

Part 5. Your proof notebook — dates, screenshots, and a copy a grown-up holds

A proof notebook is a simple dated list. For each event, write the same day, in your own words: date, time, what happened, and who saw it.

Screenshots and the notebook go together. The notebook explains the screenshots: what they show, when they happened, and why they matter.

Give a copy to a trusted adult, or keep copies somewhere the other person cannot reach — a parent's email, or a folder a counselor holds.

Never edit or "fix up" a screenshot. A changed picture is worse than none, because it makes true proof look fake. Save it exactly as it is.

Part 6. Tell a safe adult — and what happens after you tell

Tell a safe adult today — a parent, caregiver, counselor, or coach. Show what you saved. If the first adult brushes it off, tell the next one. Keep telling until an adult acts.

After you tell, adults may talk to the school, save records, contact police if a crime may have happened, or get a lawyer. Those steps are the adults' job. Yours was telling and saving.

Hear this clearly: being accused falsely is frightening and unfair. It is also survivable. The young people who come through it best stayed calm, said the sentences, saved everything, and told fast.

Words to know — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

• Accusation — a claim that someone did something wrong; a claim still has to be proved.
• Alibi — proof showing you were somewhere else when something happened.
• Evidence — information, like messages or records, that helps show what happened.
• Guardian — an adult legally responsible for a young person's care.
• Lawyer — a trained legal expert who advises and protects a person in legal matters.
• Proof notebook — a dated list of what happened, when, and who saw it, in your own words.
• Screenshot — a picture of what is on a screen, saved exactly as it appeared.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.

Myths vs facts — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

• Myth: If you did nothing wrong, explain everything right away. Fact: You do not have to explain on the spot. Ask for your parent or guardian and a lawyer first.
• Myth: Asking for a lawyer makes you look guilty. Fact: Asking for a lawyer is a right, and a smart, calm step anyone may take.
• Myth: Admitting it will make it go away faster. Fact: Never admit something you did not do. A promise that it will "go easier" is not theirs to make.
• Myth: Deleting upsetting messages cleans up the problem. Fact: Deleting can destroy proof that helps you and can look like hiding. Save first.
• Myth: One screenshot is all the proof you need. Fact: Screenshots work best with original messages and a dated proof notebook.

Think it through — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

A student is called to the office and told a classmate says he stole headphones from a locker. An administrator asks him to "write down what happened" and sign it, and to hand over his phone "to clear this up." He did not take them, and he is scared and angry. What should he do?

Walk it through: (1) Stay calm, do not argue (Part 1). A claim must be proved. (2) Say the sentences (Part 2): "I want my parent or guardian here." "I want a lawyer." "I am not answering questions until my parent or guardian and a lawyer are here." Then be quiet. (3) Do not sign yet, or hand over the phone on the spot (Part 3) — that is a moment for his guardian and a lawyer. (4) Do not delete group-chat messages showing he was at practice (Parts 3 and 5). They may be his alibi; save them and write a same-day notebook entry. (5) Tell his guardian today (Part 6).

One more real-life story — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

This is an illustrative teaching story, not a real case.

Maya was accused of posting a cruel fake account about a classmate. Too upset to think clearly, she let saved proof speak: her dated notebook, and creation-time screenshots saved by her friend, showed she was at a family event with no phone when the account was made. Her counselor and guardian used the proof, and the accusation was withdrawn.

Takeaway: Proof saved calmly speaks when you are too upset to.

Cases & codes to study — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1966)

This is the case that made the warnings famous. The Court said people in custody must be told they may stay silent and have a lawyer before questioning. The warnings young people hear on TV come from this case. Decided June 13, 1966.

• 📄 Court document: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-384/pdf/USREPORTS-384-436.pdf

The law itself — read the real words

• Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — it says no one has to testify against themselves. Read it: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript

Where to read the real thing, free: CourtListener (https://www.courtlistener.com/) and the National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript).

Try this — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

• ☐ I can say the three sentences by heart
• ☐ I will not sign a statement before my parent or guardian reads it
• ☐ I will never delete messages, photos, or accounts when there is a problem
• ☐ I can keep a proof notebook: date, time, what happened, who saw it
• ☐ I can name two trusted adults I would tell today

Resources to keep — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

• 911 — if you are in danger right now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, day or night.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 — safety help if someone is targeting you.

What you earned / what's next — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

✅ When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can stay calm when accused, say the protective sentences, refuse to sign or delete under pressure, save proof well, and tell a safe adult fast.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned to stay calm, save everything, and ask for help out loud — that is real strength. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (U.S. Supreme Court 1966) — the case requiring warnings about silence and a lawyer before custodial questioning.
• U.S. Constitution, Amendment V — no person shall be compelled in a criminal case to be a witness against himself.
• National Archives — archives.gov (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript) — Bill of Rights transcription, including the Fifth Amendment.
• GovInfo — govinfo.gov (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-384/pdf/USREPORTS-384-436.pdf) — official U.S. Reports text of Miranda v. Arizona.
• CourtListener — courtlistener.com (https://www.courtlistener.com/) — free court opinions, named as a study site here.

Course Record — When You Are Accused — and Keeping Proof

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• state that an accusation is a claim that must be proved, and name the first calm steps
• say word for word the three sentences asking for a parent or guardian and a lawyer
• explain why not to sign statements or delete messages under pressure
• save targeting proof with dated screenshots and the original messages
• keep a dated proof notebook and place a copy with a trusted adult
• name trusted adults to tell, and describe what adults may do next
• Study time: Approximately 0.5 hours — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This lesson talks about harm in plain, careful words. Nothing graphic. The most important sentence in it: if someone harms you, it is not your fault — not ever, not for any reason.

The lesson

Part 1. What Abuse Means in Plain Words

Abuse means someone harms you, frightens you on purpose as a pattern, ignores the care you need, or uses you — and it is wrong every time, even if the person is an adult, even if they are family, and even if they say you caused it.

Adults are supposed to keep kids safe. Most adults do. But some adults — and sometimes older kids — break that rule. Learning the names for kinds of harm helps you understand your feelings and tell another adult clearly what is happening.

You do not need proof to tell, or the right legal words. Describe what happens, in your own words, to a trusted adult. Their job is to listen, believe you, and act. Your job is only to tell — and keep telling until someone helps.

Part 2. Different Kinds of Harm

Physical harm is when someone hurts your body — hitting, shaking, or punishing in a way that causes pain, marks, or injury. There is a careful difference between discipline and harm: discipline is meant to teach and keep a child safe, and it never leaves a child injured or terrified. If you are being hurt or are afraid of being hurt at home, that is harm — and it is okay to tell, even if you are not sure which side of the line it falls on. Deciding that is an adult's job, not yours.

Emotional harm is a pattern of words and actions meant to make you feel worthless or afraid: constant insults, threats, and being blamed for everything. One argument is not the same thing. A home where you are afraid all the time is not okay.

Neglect is when adults responsible for you do not provide what you need — food, a safe place to sleep, care when you are sick, supervision that fits your age — for a long time, not just one hard day.

Sexual harm is any sexual touching, or being shown or asked for sexual pictures, by anyone. A child can never agree to this, it is always the other person's fault, and you should tell a trusted adult right away.

If any of this sounds familiar, Part 4 is the part that matters most.

Part 3. Feelings, Secrets, and Why Telling Can Feel Hard

Kids who are harmed often feel mixed up. You might love the person and hate what they do. You might feel scared, angry, numb, or guilty. All of those feelings are normal. None of them mean the harm is your fault.

People who harm kids often protect themselves with secrets: "This is our secret." "No one will believe you." "You will break up the family." Hear this plainly: a secret about harm is never a secret you have to keep. Safe secrets are things like a surprise party — they are happy, and they end. A secret that makes you feel bad or scared is a secret to tell.

Telling can feel hard, or the first person may not listen. That is not the end — tell the next trusted adult. Counselors, teachers, nurses, coaches, a friend's parent, a relative — keep going until one adult acts. Hotline helpers at Childhelp (1-800-422-4453) also listen to kids about exactly this.

Part 4. Trusted Adults and Telling Until You Are Believed

A trusted adult listens to you, believes you, keeps you safe, and does not ask you to keep secrets about harm. Build your list before you need it — at least three names, including one outside your family and one at school.

When you tell, use plain words: what happens, who does it, and how it makes you feel. If talking out loud is too hard, write it down and hand it over. That counts as telling.

What should happen next: the adult listens, thanks you for telling, and contacts people whose job is protecting kids. You might be asked to tell your story more than once. That is not because you are not believed — it is how helpers each do their part. You will not have to face the person who harmed you. That is never a child's job.

If you are afraid to go home today, say that sentence exactly: "I am afraid to go home today." If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you cannot talk out loud safely, text HOME to 741741, or call or text 988.

Part 5. Staying Safer and Getting Help

You are not responsible for stopping abuse. That is an adult job, always. But there are things that help you stay safer while adults do their part.

Know your safe places: a neighbor's home, a relative's home, school, a library. Know how you would get there. If someone at home checks your phone, use a device they cannot check — a school or library device — for help lines.

Being harmed can affect sleep, school, appetite, and mood — that is your body reacting to something hard, not something wrong with you. Talking with a counselor, resting, and being with safe friends are real parts of healing. Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453 and 988 (call or text) are there day and night.

If a friend tells you they are being harmed: believe them, do not promise to keep it secret, and tell a trusted adult with them or for them. That is not betraying a friend. That is rescuing one.

Words to know — Abuse

• Abuse — when someone harms you, frightens you as a pattern, ignores care you need, or uses you; it is never the child's fault.
• Neglect — when adults responsible for you do not provide needed food, shelter, care, or supervision over time.
• Trusted adult — an adult who listens, believes you, keeps you safe, and never asks you to keep secrets about harm.
• Disclosure — telling someone that harm has happened to you, in your own words.
• Secret about harm — a secret someone makes you keep about being hurt or frightened; you never have to keep this kind of secret.
• Physical harm — someone hurting your body, causing pain, marks, or injury.
• Emotional harm — a pattern of insults, threats, and fear meant to make you feel worthless or unsafe.
• Safe place — somewhere you can go when home feels frightening, with adults you trust.

Myths vs facts — Abuse

• Myth: If I tell, I will be the one in trouble. Fact: Telling about harm is never wrong. The trouble belongs to the person causing harm.
• Myth: It only counts if it happens many times. Fact: One serious act of harm counts. A pattern counts too.
• Myth: If the person says sorry, I have to keep it secret. Fact: An apology creates no secrecy rule. You can always tell a trusted adult.
• Myth: Adults can always tell when a kid is being harmed. Fact: Often they cannot — which is why telling matters, and why you may need to tell more than one adult.
• Myth: If I love the person, it cannot be abuse. Fact: Loving someone and being harmed by them can both be true, and telling is still right.

Think it through — Abuse

Jordan, 12, dreads evenings. His stepfather shouts insults at him most nights, has shoved him hard enough to leave a bruise twice, and told him, "If you tell your mom, you'll be the reason this family breaks." He asks his school counselor: "Is it even abuse if it's mostly yelling?"

Walk it through: (1) Part 2: the pattern includes emotional harm — nightly insults and fear — plus physical harm. Either kind counts; together they are a clear pattern. (2) Part 3: "you'll break the family" is the classic secret-protection line. A secret about harm is never Jordan's to keep, and a child does not break a family by telling the truth — harm does. (3) Jordan already did Part 4's hardest step: he told a trusted adult, whose job is to listen, believe him, and contact the people who protect kids. His own words are enough. (4) His love for his mom is not a reason for silence. Telling is how help reaches the family.

One more real-life story — Abuse

Priya, 13, told her aunt that her older cousin, who babysits her, had been showing her sexual pictures and said she would be in trouble if anyone knew. Her aunt went quiet and said she needed to think. Priya felt crushed — until she remembered the rule: if the first adult does not act, tell the next one. The next morning she told her school nurse, who believed her and contacted the people who protect kids. The babysitting ended that day.

Takeaway: The first adult freezing did not mean Priya was wrong — it meant she needed the next adult on her list. Keep telling until you are believed. That is how protection starts.

Try this — Abuse

• ☐ I can name at least three trusted adults, including one outside my family and one at school.
• ☐ I have thought of my safe places — where I could go if home felt frightening — and how I would get there.
• ☐ I know the difference between a happy secret (like a surprise) and a secret about harm, which I never have to keep.
• ☐ I have saved these in a place I can reach: 911, 988 (call or text), Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741, Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.
• ☐ I have practiced my telling sentence: "I need to tell you something that is happening, and I need you to listen and help."
• ☐ If a friend told me about harm, I know my steps: believe them, do not promise secrecy, tell a trusted adult.

Resources to keep — Abuse

• 911 — if you are in danger right now.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — adults whose job is listening to kids about harm and helping them get protection.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, day or night, for you or for a friend.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 — help by text when talking out loud is not safe or not possible.
• RAINN — 1-800-656-4673 — confidential help if sexual harm has happened.

What you earned / what's next — Abuse

✅ Topic Library — Abuse complete (test score 80% or higher): You can name the kinds of harm in plain words, tell discipline from harm at a general level, explain why secrets about harm never have to be kept, and use your trusted-adult list — telling, and keeping telling, until you are believed.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Abuse

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned the names for kinds of harm and the strongest move there is: telling a trusted adult, and keeping telling until you are believed. That is courage. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Topic Library — Domestic Violence: when adults at home fight and frighten each other, and why stopping it is never a child's job.

Sources

• Childhelp — National Child Abuse Hotline public guidance on recognizing abuse and getting help
• mass.gov — Massachusetts Department of Children and Families public information on reporting child abuse and neglect

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 in an emergency · 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This lesson is about violence between adults at home. Read it somewhere you feel safe. The most important truth: violence at home is not your fault, and it is not your job to stop it. Ever.

The lesson

Part 1. When Fighting at Home Is Not Just Fighting

All families argue sometimes. An argument is not the same as violence. Violence at home — domestic violence — is when one person uses harm, threats, or control to frighten another person in the household, again and again, as a pattern.

It can look like hitting, pushing, or throwing things. It can also be quieter: one adult controlling the money, checking the other's phone, deciding who they may see, threatening them, or frightening everyone with shouting. A home can feel dangerous even when no one is hit.

Kids in that home are affected even if the violence is never aimed at them. Hearing it through a wall counts, and it can affect how you feel, sleep, and learn. Kids almost always know more than adults think. Naming it is the first step to getting help — and stopping violence is adult work.

Part 2. What You Might See, Hear, and Feel — And Why It Is Not Your Fault

You might hear shouting, threats, or crying, or see one adult frighten the other. You might be asked to carry messages, keep secrets, or take sides. Being put in the middle is not fair to you, and you can tell a trusted adult.

Feelings here are all over the place, and every one is normal: scared, angry at one or both adults, sad, guilty, embarrassed to have friends over, relieved when the frightening adult leaves, and confused because that same adult can also be kind. Loving someone and being frightened of what they do can both be true.

Now the part to memorize: it is not your fault. Not because of your grades, your noise, or your behavior. Adults sometimes say someone "made" them lose control. That is not true — each adult is responsible for their own actions. And you are not responsible for stopping it — not by behaving perfectly, not by getting between them. Kids who try to stop fights can get hurt. Your job is only to get safe and tell a trusted adult.

Part 3. Safe Places and a Plan You Can Use

You cannot control what adults do, but you can have a plan for the frightening moments. Think it through now, while things are calm.

Safe places in the home: a room with a door you can close, away from the fight — ideally not a kitchen or bathroom. Sometimes the safest place is outside: a neighbor's porch or a relative's home nearby. Learn the route when nothing is happening.

During a fight: do not go into the room, and do not get between adults. Go to your safe place. If you safely can, take younger brothers or sisters with you. If someone is about to be seriously hurt, calling 911 is the right move — Part 4 explains how.

After a fight: things may go quiet or one adult may act extra kind. That calm is part of a cycle; it does not mean the problem is finished, and it does not cancel your right to tell. If you are hurt, tell a trusted adult the same day.

Your plan in your head: my safe place is _; my outside safe place is _; my trusted adults are ___; if I cannot talk out loud, I can text HOME to 741741.

Part 4. Telling a Trusted Adult and Calling for Help

Telling is not snitching or betraying your family. It is how the adult safety system finds your family. Good people to tell: a safe relative, a teacher, counselor, school nurse, coach, or a friend's parent. Use plain words: "At home, one adult frightens and hurts the other. I am scared, and I need help."

If the first adult does not act, tell the next one. Keep telling until someone helps. You can also call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, where advocates help family members too.

Calling 911: if someone is being hurt now, or you fear serious injury, call 911. Say your address if you know it and what is happening. If you cannot talk safely, call and leave the line open if you can, make any sound you safely can — dispatchers are trained for silent calls — or get to a neighbor and call from there. You will never be in trouble for calling 911 to protect someone.

What happens next is decided by adults, because of adult actions — never because a child told the truth about being scared.

Part 5. Coping, Friends, and Knowing You Deserve Safety

Living with fear at home can follow you: trouble sleeping or concentrating, stomachaches, feeling jumpy at loud voices. Those are normal reactions to something hard — not something wrong with you. Things that help: telling a counselor; routines with safe people; rest and easy friends; and calling or texting 988, or texting HOME to 741741, on nights your feelings get too big.

A good friend believes you, does not spread it around, and encourages you to tell an adult. You do not owe anyone the full story.

Hold on to this: control and fear are not what love looks like, and calm after a fight is part of a cycle, not a cure. You deserve a home where nobody is frightened. Asking for that is the strongest move in this lesson.

Words to know — Domestic Violence

• Domestic violence — a pattern where one person at home uses harm, threats, or control to frighten another.
• Coercive control — controlling another's daily life — money, phone, friends, movement — using fear.
• Cycle — tension builds, a frightening incident happens, then calm follows before it builds again.
• Trusted adult — an adult who listens, believes you, keeps you safe, and never asks you to keep secrets about harm.
• Safe place — a place in or outside your home you can go during a fight.
• Code word — a word agreed with a trusted person that means "get help" or "call 911."
• Advocate — a trained helper at a hotline or program who helps people plan for safety.
• 911 silent call — calling 911 when you cannot safely talk, leaving the line open and making any sound you can.

Myths vs facts — Domestic Violence

• Myth: If I behaved better, the fighting would stop. Fact: Violence is caused by the adult choosing it — never by a child's behavior. It is not your fault.
• Myth: It is my job to protect the adult being hurt. Fact: Getting between adults can get you hurt. Your job is a safe place, 911, and a trusted adult — that is how you help.
• Myth: If no one is hit, it is not domestic violence. Fact: Threats, control, isolation, and constant fear are domestic violence too.
• Myth: Telling will only make things worse. Fact: Telling is how help reaches a family. If the first adult does not act, tell the next one.
• Myth: The calm times after a fight mean it is over. Fact: Calm is often part of the cycle. You can tell someone even during calm times.

Think it through — Domestic Violence

At night, Sam, 14, hears his father shouting threats at his mother in the kitchen, then a crash. His 8-year-old sister comes to his room crying. Sam wants to run downstairs and shout at his father to stop. He also knows the trusted neighbor, Mrs. Chen, is home next door.

Walk it through: (1) Sam's urge is loving — and Parts 2 and 3 are clear: getting between adults can get a child hurt, and stopping violence is never a child's job. His job is safety. (2) Part 3's plan: Sam takes his sister, stays out of the kitchen, and goes to his outside safe place — Mrs. Chen's home. (3) Part 4: from there he can call 911 safely. This is a "call now" situation. (4) Later, Sam tells his school counselor, even if things are calm by morning — calm does not cancel telling. (5) Nothing here is Sam's fault. He did the bravest version of helping: he got his sister safe and brought adults in.

One more real-life story — Domestic Violence

Leah, 11, kept a small bag by her bed: a flashlight and her grandmother's number on paper. One Saturday, shouting started and she heard her stepfather threaten her mother. Leah did not go downstairs. She took her little brother to the bathroom farthest from the noise, the one with a locking door, and texted HOME to 741741 because she was afraid to talk out loud. The counselor helped her decide to call 911. Police came, and on Monday Leah told her teacher, who believed her and connected the family with help.

Takeaway: Leah's small plan did everything this lesson asks of a child. She did not stop the fight. She got safe and brought adults in. That is the whole job, and she did it.

Try this — Domestic Violence

• ☐ I have named my safe place inside the home and my outside safe place, and I know how to get to each.
• ☐ I know I will not go into the room where a fight is happening or get between adults — I will go to my safe place and take younger kids with me if I safely can.
• ☐ I have at least two trusted adults named, and I have practiced my telling sentence in plain words.
• ☐ I have saved: 911, 988 (call or text), Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741, Childhelp 1-800-422-4453, National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233.
• ☐ I know how a silent 911 call works: call, leave the line open if I can, make any sound I safely can — or get to a neighbor and call from there.

Resources to keep — Domestic Violence

• 911 — if someone is being hurt now or you fear serious injury.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — helpers who listen to kids living with violence at home.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org) — advocates who help family members too.
• 988 (call or text) — support for feelings that get too big.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 — silent help by text when talking is unsafe.

What you earned / what's next — Domestic Violence

✅ Topic Library — Domestic Violence complete (test score 80% or higher): You can explain domestic violence in plain words, why it is never a child's fault or job to stop, use a safe-place plan, and tell trusted adults — keeping telling until someone helps — including how to call 911 when you cannot talk.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Domestic Violence

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned the truth that matters most: violence at home is never your fault and never your job to stop — getting safe and telling is the bravest help there is. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Topic Library — Abuse: the kinds of harm in plain words, and telling until you are believed.

Sources

• thehotline.org — National Domestic Violence Hotline, educational pages for family members and young people on abuse and safety
• Childhelp — National Child Abuse Hotline guidance for children living with violence at home

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 in an emergency · 988 (call/text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed in the lesson.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit teaches how to stay safe from being taken by a stranger, and also by someone you know. Most kids who are taken are taken by someone they know, so the rules cover both. Knowing the rules is what keeps you in charge.

The lesson

Part 1. What kidnapping and unlawful restraint mean

Kidnapping means someone takes you, or keeps you, against your will, when they have no legal right to do it. It can happen by force, by threats, or by tricks. Being tricked counts: if someone lies to get you into a car, you did not agree, and it is not your fault.

Unlawful restraint is when someone stops you from leaving: holding a door shut, locking you in a room or a car, or refusing to let you walk away. That is also against the law, and it is always okay to tell.

One fact matters most: people who do this are breaking the law. A kid is never the one in trouble for being taken.

Part 2. Who takes children and adults — family, known people, and strangers

Here is the honest picture. Most children who are taken are taken by a family member, often during a fight between parents over custody, when one parent keeps a child past the agreed time or leaves with the child. The next group is people the child knows: a relative, a family friend, a neighbor, or someone met online. Being taken by a complete stranger is the rarest kind, and it still matters.

What this means for you: the rules are not only about strangers. They are about permission. No one, stranger or familiar, takes you anywhere without the permission of the parent or caregiver in charge of you at that moment. A person who argues with that rule is showing you a warning sign.

Part 3. Prevention in everyday life

These habits protect:

• The permission rule. Before you go anywhere with anyone, the caregiver in charge must know and say yes. If plans change, check first.
• The code word. Your family picks a secret word. Anyone sent to pick you up must know it. No word means you do not go, even if the person seems nice or says it is an emergency.
• Lures are tricks, and you can name them. Common lures: "Your mom sent me," "help me find my lost dog," "I have something for you in the car," and online messages offering gifts or a ride. A safe adult does not ask a child to find a pet, offer secret gifts, or keep a ride secret.
• Stay where people are. Walk with friends, use busy routes, and do not take shortcuts through empty places.
• Online counts. Someone you only know online is not a known safe person. Never agree to meet an online contact, and tell a trusted adult if one asks. Month 2 teaches online safety in full.
• Trust the uneasy feeling. If a situation feels wrong, you do not have to be polite or be sure. Move toward people and tell an adult.

Part 4. AMBER Alert and missing-person reports — there is no waiting period

If a child goes missing, adults should call 911 right away. There is no waiting period: nobody waits hours or a day to report a missing child, and the first hours matter most. If you cannot find a younger brother, sister, or friend and you think something is wrong, tell an adult at once, or call 911 yourself. You will never be in trouble for reporting too fast.

An AMBER Alert is the emergency message sent to phones, radio, and highway signs when police confirm a child has been taken and the case fits the alert rules. If you ever saw the child, person, or car described, tell an adult or call 911. Never approach the person yourself.

Part 5. The first hours — what to do step by step

If someone tries to take you:

1. Yell, loudly, in words people understand: "No! I don't know you! Help!" or, if you know the person, "No! You are not allowed to take me! Help!" Noise is a tool. Use it.
2. Run toward people: a store, a school, a house with lights and people. Do not run to empty places.
3. Break away and get to people. If someone grabs you, make it as hard as you can to hold you, get loose, and run. This school teaches breaking away and running, not fighting to win.
4. Tell an adult and call 911 as soon as you are safe, and say exactly what happened.

If a friend or sibling is missing: tell a trusted adult immediately, share what you know (where they were going, who they were messaging, what they were wearing), and do not search in risky places yourself. Information shared quickly is real help.

Part 6. Roles, rights, and support after a report

After a report, police search and investigate, alerts spread the description, and organizations that help find missing children work with the family. Your job is to tell the truth about what you know and let adults do theirs.

Your rights are simple: to say no to going with anyone, to be loud when you feel unsafe, to tell a trusted adult, and to keep telling until an adult acts. If the person who tried to take you is in your own family or home, telling is still right, and Childhelp (1-800-422-4453) and 988 (call or text) are lines you can use yourself.

Scared feelings afterward are normal. Talk to a trusted adult and rest. None of it was your fault: not if you were tricked, not if you froze, not if you went along at first. The fault belongs to the person who did it, every time.

Words to know — Kidnapping Awareness

• Kidnapping — taking or keeping someone against their will, by force, threats, or tricks, with no legal right to do it.
• Lure — a trick used to get a child to go with someone, like a false message that a parent sent them.
• Code word — a secret family word a person must know before a child goes with them.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Safe place — a place with people who can help, like a store, school, or library desk.
• AMBER Alert — an emergency public message sent out when police confirm a child has been taken.
• Missing-person report — the official police record made when someone is reported missing; it can be made right away.
• Private information — facts strangers do not need, like your school, address, and daily routine.

Myths vs facts — Kidnapping Awareness

• Myth: Only strangers take children. Fact: Most children who are taken are taken by a family member or someone they know. The permission rule covers everyone.
• Myth: Adults must wait 24 hours to report a missing child. Fact: There is no waiting period. Reporting right away is the rule.
• Myth: If someone tries to grab you, you should be quiet and polite. Fact: Yelling, breaking away, and running to people is exactly right.
• Myth: If you were tricked into going, it is your fault. Fact: A trick is the other person's crime, not your fault. Telling is always right.

Think it through — Kidnapping Awareness

After soccer practice, a man Leo, age 10, has never seen calls from a car: "Leo! Your dad's car broke down, he sent me to get you. Hurry, he is waiting at the shop." Leo's dad does sometimes send family friends. The man seems friendly and knows Leo's name and his dad's name. The coach has gone inside. What should Leo do?

Walk it through: (1) Check the permission rule (Part 3): the caregiver in charge did not tell Leo about any change. Knowing Leo's name proves nothing; names are easy to learn. (2) Use the code word: Leo can ask, "What's the word?" from a safe distance, without going near the car. Any other answer means Leo does not get in. (3) Follow Part 5: move toward people: the school door, the coach, other parents. If the man pressures him or tries to grab him, yell "No! I don't know you! Help!" and run to people. (4) Tell a trusted adult; adults can call his dad and, if needed, 911. If it turns out to be a mix-up, Leo still did everything right.

One more real-life story — Kidnapping Awareness

Sofia, 12, got a message from an account claiming to be a 13-year-old from a nearby school. Over two weeks the messages turned into offers: new shoes if Sofia would meet "her" at the mall, and a request to keep the meeting "our secret." Sofia felt flattered, then uneasy. She remembered Part 3: someone you only know online is not a known safe person, and secrecy is a warning sign. She showed the messages to her aunt, a trusted adult, who contacted police. Sofia was not in trouble.

Takeaway: Lures work online exactly as they work at a car window: gifts, flattery, and secrets. Sofia's protection was recognizing the pattern and telling fast.

Try this — Kidnapping Awareness

Set up your safety basics:

• ☐ Our family has a code word, and I know the rule: no word, no ride
• ☐ I can name three trusted adults and one safe place on each route I walk
• ☐ I can say my exit lines out loud: "No! I don't know you! Help!"
• ☐ I know the lures: lost pets, secret gifts, "your parent sent me," online meeting offers
• ☐ Location sharing on my apps is off, and I do not share my school or routine with strangers
• ☐ I know reporting has no waiting period, and I can call 911 myself

Resources to keep — Kidnapping Awareness

• 911 — if you are in danger, someone tries to take you, or a child is missing.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time you feel scared or overwhelmed.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is hurting or pressuring you.
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: missingkids.org — missing-children help.

What you earned / what's next — Kidnapping Awareness

✅ Kidnapping Awareness complete (test score 80% or higher): You know what kidnapping is, that most takings involve family or known people, how to spot lures and use the code word, that reporting has no waiting period, and the steps: yell, break away, run to people, tell.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Kidnapping Awareness

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You know the rules that keep you in charge: permission first, the code word, loud and fast to people, and telling right away. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: The Stalking unit.

Sources

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — fbi.gov — kidnapping and missing-persons information.
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) — missingkids.org — missing-children guidance.
• Massachusetts government — mass.gov — missing persons information.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit teaches safety basics about stalking: when someone follows you, watches you, or will not stop contacting you. It can feel embarrassing to talk about, especially if the person is someone you know. It is never embarrassing; it is a safety problem, and adults handle those.

The lesson

Part 1. What stalking is — a pattern, not a single act

Stalking is a pattern of behavior aimed at one person that makes them feel unsafe: following them, showing up where they are, watching them, or contacting them again and again after they want it to stop. One annoying message is not stalking. A pattern that keeps coming, especially after a clear "stop" or a block, is what adults and police take seriously.

The person doing it might be a stranger, but often it is someone known: an older student, an ex, someone from a team or a game, or an adult. Whoever it is, the rule is the same: you are allowed to want contact to end, and ending it is your right. Nobody earns access to you by refusing to accept no.

Part 2. How stalking works — following, contact, monitoring, and showing up

Stalking aimed at young people usually looks like this:

• Being followed or watched: someone keeps appearing on your route or at your practices, too often to be chance.
• Unwanted messages: texts, DMs, and comments that keep coming after you stop answering, say stop, or block, including through new accounts.
• Monitoring: someone demands your location, checks your phone, uses a shared account to watch you, or always knows where you were.
• Showing up and pressuring: appearing at your school events, contacting your friends for information about you, or sending gifts after you said no.

Location sharing deserves its own warning. Sharing your live location can feel normal between friends, but it hands someone a map of your life. Keep it off except, if your family uses it, with a parent or caregiver. If anyone pressures you to share it, or gets angry when you turn it off, that pressure is itself a warning sign.

Part 3. The law in general — stalking, harassment, and protection orders

Stalking is against the law. In general, laws describe it as a pattern of conduct aimed at a person that causes fear or serious distress, and it can be charged as a crime in person, by phone, or online. Harassment, a pattern meant to alarm or distress someone, is also covered by law.

Courts can also issue protection orders: official orders telling a person to stay away and stop all contact. Adults in your life can ask a court for one, and breaking an order is itself a crime. You do not need to know which order fits; the legal steps are the adults' job.

One more fact: you cannot get in trouble for being stalked, and telling is not "snitching." Reporting someone who is frightening you is how safety adults can do their job.

Part 4. Documenting and keeping evidence safely

If you think a pattern is starting, your phone can become your evidence kit:

1. Save the messages. Do not delete threads, even upsetting ones. Screenshot with the date, time, and account name visible, including new accounts made after a block.
2. Write a simple log. Date, time, what happened, where, who saw it. Same-day notes are the most useful.
3. Tell a friend and ask them to save anything the person sends them about you. Other copies back yours up.
4. Keep copies safe. Show a trusted adult and store copies somewhere the person cannot reach. Do not collect evidence by answering, meeting, or provoking the person. Silence plus saving is strongest.
5. Check your sharing. Review who can see your location, posts, and stories, and tighten settings with a trusted adult's help.

Part 5. Safety planning and reporting, step by step

1. Tell a trusted adult today. Parent, caregiver, counselor, coach. Show the messages. If the first adult shrugs it off, tell the next one; keep telling until an adult acts.
2. Block and report in the app, evidence saved first. Blocking is not rude; it is a boundary with a button.
3. Change the predictable parts of your day for a while: routes, walking partners, where you wait for rides. Tell friends not to share your schedule or location with the person.
4. If the person shows up in real life: do not engage, move toward people, go into a store or another safe place, and call a trusted adult or 911 if you feel unsafe.
5. If it continues, adults can report to police with your log and screenshots, and ask about protection orders. In immediate danger, call 911 yourself; text HOME to 741741 or call or text 988 for support.

Part 6. Support, roles, and rights — for the person targeted and people around them

Your rights, plainly: to say stop and have it respected; to block anyone; to keep your location private; to be believed; and to help from adults whose job is safety. None of this changes if the person is popular, older, or someone you once dated. A past relationship is not a permanent permission slip.

Friends have a role too. If a friend tells you someone will not leave them alone: believe them, do not pass along their location or schedule, save anything the person sends you about them, and encourage them to tell a trusted adult. Never confront the person, and never share the story for drama.

And hear this clearly: being stalked is never the target's fault. Not because of photos posted, messages answered earlier, or kindness mistaken for interest. The person who refuses to stop is doing something wrong. Fear and trouble sleeping are common reactions, and 988 (call or text) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) exist for those feelings.

Words to know — Stalking

• Stalking — a pattern of following, watching, or contacting a person that makes them feel unsafe.
• Unwanted messages — messages that keep coming after you stop answering, say stop, or block the sender.
• Location sharing — an app feature showing others where your phone is; it hands them a map of your life.
• Block and report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Safety plan — steps you and trusted adults agree on to keep you safer.
• Private information — facts like your school, address, routine, and live location that others do not need.

Myths vs facts — Stalking

• Myth: If the person likes you, following you and messaging nonstop is romantic. Fact: Contact that continues after "stop" or a block is a warning sign, not romance. Respect listens the first time.
• Myth: It only counts as stalking if a stranger does it. Fact: Stalking is often done by someone known: an ex, an older student, or an adult. The pattern is what matters.
• Myth: Answering a few messages means you caused it. Fact: Nothing you answered makes stalking your fault. The person who will not stop is responsible.
• Myth: Blocking is dramatic and rude. Fact: Blocking is a normal safety tool. You never owe anyone continued access to you.

Think it through — Stalking

Jada, 14, broke up with her boyfriend of two months. In the three weeks since, he has texted every day despite her "please stop," made a second account after she blocked him, and twice waited near her bus stop "just to talk." Yesterday a friend showed Jada a screenshot: he asked the friend what time Jada's practice ends. Jada says, "He hasn't hurt me. My friends say I am being cold." What is happening, and what should Jada do?

Walk it through: (1) Name the pattern (Part 1): repeated contact after a clear stop, a new account after a block, showing up in person, and collecting her schedule from friends. That is following, contact, and monitoring together (Part 2), and it is stalking behavior whether or not he has touched her. (2) The "cold" framing is wrong (Part 6): a past relationship is not a permission slip. (3) Jada's steps (Parts 4 and 5): save everything including the friend's screenshot, start a dated log, tell a trusted adult today and show the evidence, keep the block and report the new account, tell friends not to share her schedule, and change her bus-stop routine with adult help. (4) If he appears again and she feels unsafe, she moves toward people and calls 911.

One more real-life story — Stalking

Noah, 16, noticed a car slowing near him on his walk home three days in a row, and an unknown account began messaging "saw you on Elm Street, nice jacket," with details only someone watching would know. Noah felt silly: "Guys don't get stalked, and maybe it is a joke." He still did what this unit teaches: he screenshotted the messages with dates and told his older brother, who walked the route with him the next day and saw the car again. Their parents reported to police with the screenshots and log. An officer identified the driver as an adult with no connection to Noah, and the contact stopped after police involvement.

Takeaway: Stalking can target anyone, and "maybe it is nothing" is exactly when documentation and telling work best. Noah's screenshots and log let adults act on facts.

Try this — Stalking

Safety check:

• ☐ Location sharing off in my apps, except with a parent or caregiver if my family uses it
• ☐ My accounts are private, and I only accept people I know in real life
• ☐ I know how to block and report in every app I use
• ☐ Three trusted adults are named in my phone
• ☐ I know the first steps by heart: save it, log it, tell an adult, block and report
• ☐ My friends know: never share my schedule or location with someone I have cut off

Resources to keep — Stalking

• 911 — in danger now, or the person is following you.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org) — safety planning help, including stalking by a dating partner.

What you earned / what's next — Stalking

✅ Stalking complete (test score 80% or higher): You can say what stalking is, spot its forms, protect your location, save evidence, and work the steps.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Stalking

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned that "stop" is a complete sentence, your location belongs to you, and telling fast is strength. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Harassment.

Sources

• Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) — stalkingawareness.org — stalking fact sheets.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — cdc.gov — preventing stalking guidance.
• Massachusetts government — mass.gov — protection orders information.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. In danger now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are allowed. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit is about peer harassment: when someone your age, or a group, targets you again and again, at school, online, or both. It also teaches the difference between harassment and ordinary conflict.

The lesson

Part 1. What harassment is — and what it is not

Peer harassment is a pattern of unwanted behavior aimed at one person: repeated mean messages, rumors spread on purpose, group chats made to mock someone, photos shared to embarrass, threats, or being shut out as a group campaign. Three things mark it: repeated, aimed at a specific person, and one-sided: the target cannot make it stop alone.

What harassment is not: one argument between equals, a joke both people enjoy, or a friend's bad mood. Those are ordinary conflict. Getting the name right matters: conflict is solved between the people in it; harassment is solved with adults, because the pattern and the power are not equal.

Part 2. Criminal harassment and civil harassment prevention orders in Massachusetts, in general

Harassment is not only a school problem; the law covers it too. Massachusetts law treats criminal harassment, in plain terms, as a pattern of acts (generally three or more) done on purpose to seriously alarm a person, causing distress any reasonable person would suffer. Police and courts handle those cases; adults make those reports.

Massachusetts courts can also issue civil harassment prevention orders: official orders telling a person to stop contact and stay away, available even when the harasser is not a family member or dating partner. Breaking one is a crime. Families ask the court for these in serious cases. Your part is smaller and powerful: document and tell, so adults with the legal tools have something solid. If harassment includes threats, sexual messages, or an adult's involvement, tell a trusted adult the same day.

Part 3. Harassment at work, at school, and online

At school is where peer harassment most often lives: hallways, lunchrooms, group chats that follow you home. Most schools have anti-harassment rules, a person you report to, and duties to respond once told. A written, dated report with a copy kept is far stronger than a hallway complaint. If the first report changes nothing, it still starts the record the next step stands on.

Online, harassment includes repeated cruel messages, accounts made to mock you, embarrassing photos spread around, and pile-ons. Save before you block: screenshot with the account name and date, report in the app, then block. Platform and school reports are separate; serious cases deserve both.

At a job, teens can face harassment from coworkers or customers too. Tell a trusted adult and a manager in writing if you can; you never have to absorb it.

In every setting, a pattern aimed at a person who wants it stopped is harassment.

Part 4. Documenting and keeping evidence

Your memory is not the file; screenshots are. Build it:

1. Log it the same day. Date, time, where, who, exactly what was said or done, and who saw it. Short and factual beats long and emotional.
2. Screenshot with proof of who and when: the account name, the date, and the whole conversation, not one cropped line.
3. Save originals. Do not delete threads, even the worst ones, and do not edit screenshots. Copies stored with a trusted adult protect the file.
4. Note witnesses. Friends who saw it are part of the record; write their names next to the entries.
5. Do not feed the pattern to gather proof. You never need to answer or stay in a chat "for evidence." Save what exists, block, and tell. Your own messages become part of the file adults read.

Part 5. Reporting paths, step by step

1. Tell a trusted adult today. Parent, caregiver, counselor, teacher, coach. Show the log and screenshots; showing beats describing. If the first adult does nothing, tell the next one.
2. Report at school in a way that leaves a record: the counselor's office, the school's reporting form, or an email a trusted adult helps you send. Keep your copy.
3. Report online conduct in the app for every account and post, and keep the confirmations with your log.
4. If it continues or grows, adults can escalate: administration, police where threats or a criminal pattern are involved, and court orders in serious cases. Threats of violence, sexual content, or an adult involved: same-day telling, always.
5. Know the difference between telling and tattling. Tattling tries to get someone in trouble over something small. Telling to get help reports a pattern that is hurting someone and cannot be stopped alone.
6. If you feel unsafe: move toward people, find an adult, call 911 in immediate danger. 988 (call or text) and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) support the feelings too.

Part 6. Roles, rights, responsibilities, and support

Your rights, plainly: to be free of a targeted pattern at school and online; to tell and be believed; to have reports answered; and to support that does not depend on being "tough enough" first. Adults' roles: caregivers advocate for you; counselors and teachers receive reports and act; administrators handle serious cases; police and courts handle threats.

Your responsibilities are about the record and each other: be accurate, do not exaggerate (the true pattern is serious enough), do not join pile-ons, and do not forward cruel content. Bystanders become upstanders when they act: refuse to join, save the screenshot for the target, sit with the target, tell an adult. One upstander changes the math of a hallway.

Finally: harassment is never the target's fault. Feeling anxious or losing sleep over a pattern is a normal reaction, and 988 and Childhelp (1-800-422-4453) exist for young people carrying this.

Words to know — Harassment

• Harassment — a pattern of unwanted conduct aimed at a person that seriously alarms or distresses them.
• Peer harassment — harassment by someone the target's own age, often at school or online.
• Ordinary conflict — a disagreement between equals that both sides can help solve.
• Bystander — a person who sees harassment happen and is not the target or the person doing it.
• Upstander — a bystander who acts: refuses to join, supports the target, saves evidence, tells an adult.
• Telling to get help — reporting a pattern that is hurting someone and cannot be stopped alone.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Block and report — app tools that cut off contact and alert the platform.
• Screenshot — a saved picture of a screen, used as evidence when it shows the account name and date.

Myths vs facts — Harassment

• Myth: If you are not being hit, it is not serious. Fact: A repeated pattern of messages, rumors, or mockery aimed at you is harassment, and schools and the law treat patterns seriously.
• Myth: Telling an adult is snitching. Fact: Telling to get help stops a pattern you cannot stop alone. They are different things.
• Myth: If everyone laughs, it is just a joke. Fact: A joke does not have a target who wants it to stop. The target's experience counts.
• Myth: Answering back with something worse fixes it. Fact: Retaliation joins the pattern adults review. Saving, blocking, and telling is stronger.

Think it through — Harassment

Since October, three classmates have run a group chat mocking Ben, 13: edited photos, a running joke about his voice, screenshots of his posts shared for ridicule. Ben was removed from the chat, but members quote it in the hallway, and twice someone recorded his reaction in class and posted it. Ben told a teacher once; she said, "Stay off that app and it will die down." It has not. Ben asks: "Is this actually harassment, or just drama? And what do I do when the first report did nothing?"

Walk it through: (1) Name it with Part 1's tests: repeated for months, aimed at one person, one-sided and unwanted, across online and in-person settings. That is peer harassment, not ordinary conflict, which requires equals who can solve it between themselves. (2) The teacher's advice failed a basic test (Part 3): the pattern lives in hallways too, not only in an app. A failed first report starts the record; it does not close the case. (3) Ben's steps (Parts 4 and 5): build the log with honest dates, screenshot posts with names and dates, save the recordings' links, then tell a trusted adult and report again, in writing to the counselor, copies kept. (4) If it continues, adults escalate, and threats or sexual content go to police the same day. (5) Ben is not required to endure it or prove he is "tough." His job is document and tell.

One more real-life story — Harassment

Aisha, 15, watched a pile-on build against a classmate, Priya, in a shared server: jokes about her accent, her lunch, her family. Aisha never posted, but she stayed silent, and it bothered her more each week. Then she used the upstander steps: she screenshotted the worst threads with names and dates, gave them to Priya privately, sat with her at lunch, and went with her to the counselor, reporting what she had seen. The counselor later said a witness with dated evidence changed everything: the school could act on facts.

Takeaway: Upstanders do not need speeches. A saved screenshot, a seat at lunch, and a walk to the counselor beside the target can change a pattern's ending.

Try this — Harassment

Build your telling system:

• ☐ I can say the difference: harassment is repeated, aimed, and one-sided; conflict is between equals
• ☐ I know how to screenshot with the account name, date, and full conversation showing
• ☐ My log format is ready: date, time, where, who, what happened, witnesses
• ☐ I know my school's reporting path and have a trusted adult outside school too
• ☐ I have practiced the upstander moves: do not join, save it, sit with them, tell an adult
• ☐ 988 and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) are saved in my phone

Resources to keep — Harassment

• 911 — if you are in danger, or threats of violence are being made.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time you feel overwhelmed.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if you are being hurt or pressured.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org) — if harassment comes from a dating partner.
• mass.gov — Massachusetts harassment prevention order information.

What you earned / what's next — Harassment

✅ Harassment complete (test score 80% or higher): You can tell harassment from ordinary conflict, describe how the law treats a pattern, document and report with a record, and act as an upstander.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Harassment

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned to name a pattern, keep the record, tell until an adult acts, and stand beside the person it targets. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: More.

Sources

• Massachusetts government — mass.gov — harassment prevention orders information.
• StopBullying.gov — stopbullying.gov — federal guidance on bullying and peer harassment.
• Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) — stalkingawareness.org — documentation guidance.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws and school rules vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911. If a situation involves your family, a trusted adult can help you talk to a lawyer or to your school about what applies to you.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress and quiz answers stay on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you pass this unit's quiz (80% or higher, retakes allowed), you earn a downloadable certificate with a blank line — you write your own name on it after you save it. Quiz answers are not shown; if you miss a question, re-read the lesson and try again.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• You may have already taken Month 3 of the Youth track, which teaches bullying and cyberbullying — what it is, the plan if it targets you, and how to be an upstander. This library unit deepens Month 3 instead of repeating it: here you learn the law side in plain words, how schools and apps are supposed to respond, and exactly how to save proof so adults can act fast. If you have not taken Month 3, this unit still stands on its own.

The lesson

Part 1. What Cyber Bullying Is

Cyber bullying is bullying done through phones, apps, games, or social media: repeated, on-purpose cruelty where one side has more power. Month 3 taught the three-part test, and it is worth keeping in your pocket: Has it happened more than once, or is it likely to keep happening? Is it meant to hurt, embarrass, or control? Is one side stronger — by numbers, popularity, age, or by holding secrets or photos?

Online, the cruelty takes forms like these: mean posts that keep coming; edited photos made to embarrass someone; rumors spread through group chats; leaving someone out on purpose, organized in a chat; fake accounts pretending to be the target; and pressuring messages at all hours. Two things make the online kind extra hard. It follows you home — there is no bell that ends it — and it can be copied and shared to a huge audience in seconds.

Here is the hopeful side of that same fact, and it is the reason this unit exists: online cruelty leaves records. The post, the account name, the date — they are often right there on the screen. A rumor whispered in a hallway is hard to prove. A screenshot is not. Your screenshots are not "keeping drama alive." They are the proof that lets adults stop it. And one more line, from Month 3 and from this school always: being targeted is never your fault — not for posting, not for answering once, not for trusting someone who turned. The person choosing cruelty owns the cruelty.

Part 2. The Law and School and Workplace Rules Behind It

"The law side" is really four sets of rules working at the same time.

School rules. Schools are required to respond to bullying reports — the most important legal fact in this unit. Massachusetts schools, like schools in many states, must have a bullying prevention policy, a way to report, and a process for looking into reports and acting. Cyber bullying counts even when it happens off campus — on a weekend, from home — if it spills into school life and makes school unsafe or hard to attend. You do not have to decide whether your situation "counts." That is the school's job. Your job is to report it with proof, which Part 6 teaches.

App and platform rules. Every app has its own rules against bullying, threats, and fake accounts, and its own report button. Reporting in the app can get posts removed and accounts shut down. It cannot do the school's job, and the school cannot do the app's job. They are separate doors — often you need both.

Criminal law — for the most serious parts. Some things that can show up inside cyber bullying are crimes for anyone: threats to hurt someone; demanding money, photos, or anything else by threatening someone (that connects to blackmail and sextortion — crimes by the person threatening, covered in Month 2); posting someone's home address to get others to bother them; and sexual content involving a minor, which adults report to the CyberTipline. Not every mean post is a crime — mean posts are usually handled by the school and the app — and you do not have to sort out which law fits. Adults, counselors, and police do that sorting. Your report, with proof, is what they sort from.

Your rights inside all of this. You have the right to tell, to keep telling if the first adult does nothing, to save proof, to block anyone, and to be supported instead of blamed. Rules vary by state and by school, which is why this unit teaches the shape of the law: report, proof, separate doors, serious parts go to police. That shape is true everywhere.

Part 3. How It Works, Step by Step

Step 1 — It starts small. One mocking comment, one edited photo, one "joking" post in a group chat — small enough that the person posting can say "relax, it's nothing" if anyone objects.

Step 2 — The audience joins. Likes, laughing replies, forwards, new people added to the chat. The audience is the fuel: posters keep going because the crowd reacts, and the target feels the whole crowd, not just one person.

Step 3 — It repeats and spreads. More posts, new accounts if old ones get blocked, messages late at night, the content jumping from one app to another. A screenshot of a screenshot can travel far beyond where it started.

Step 4 — The target gets isolated. The target leaves the chat, avoids the app, dreads school, stops answering friends. Isolation is not an accident — it is what the campaign is trying to do, and it is the most dangerous step for the target's health and mood.

Step 5 — It either escalates or gets interrupted. Without interruption, campaigns often get worse: private information posted, threats added, demands made. With interruption — proof saved, adults and the school acting, the app removing accounts — campaigns usually shrink, because the audience scatters once real consequences appear. Month 3 taught you to refuse the audience role. This unit adds the interrupter's tools: proof and reports, at the right doors, early — while the campaign is still at Step 2 or 3 and easiest to stop.

Part 4. Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities

If you are the target: your job is only three things — save proof, tell adults, and stay connected to people who treat you right. You do not have to confront the posters, out-argue a group chat, or prove you are "tough enough" to deserve help. You have the right to report at school and in the app, and to keep reporting if it continues.

If you are a friend or witness — the bystander: you have more power than the posters do, because you are the audience they are performing for. Do not like, laugh at, or forward cruel posts; save proof if it reaches you; send the target one real message — "I saw it. It's wrong and it's not your fault"; tell an adult, with the proof; and keep including the target like a normal friend. That is what being an upstander means, and kids who were targeted say one steady ally changed everything.

If you have posted or joined in: stop now, delete what you can, and apologize like you mean it — privately is fine: name what you did, say it was wrong, no excuses, no blaming the target for being upset. If the school gets involved, telling the truth about your part, showing you stopped, and showing a real apology puts you in a far better position than denying or posting more. Owning it early is character, and adults notice the difference.

Adults and schools: once a report reaches them, the response is their job. If the first adult shrugs it off, go to the next adult — counselor, administrator, parent — and bring your screenshots each time. And on "don't tell" promises: if a targeted friend begs you not to tell, that is a safety secret, not a keep-forever secret (Month 1's rule). Telling an adult to protect someone is not snitching — snitching is reporting something harmless just to get someone in trouble. This is not harmless.

Part 5. Warning Signs That It Is Escalating

Move faster — tell an adult the same day, and expect police or the CyberTipline to be part of it — if you see any of these:

• Threats. Any threat to hurt someone, to show up somewhere, or to damage things. A threat with a time or place is a 911 call.
• Private information posted. A home address, a school, a daily routine — posted so others can bother or scare the target. Save it, report it in the app, and tell adults right away.
• Demands. "Send money / send a photo / do this, or else." A demand backed by a threat is a crime by the person sending it — full stop. Never pay, never send, save the message, tell an adult today. If the demand involves sexual photos, that is sextortion from Month 2, reported to the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678) by adults.
• New accounts keep appearing after blocks, or the campaign follows the target from app to app. Persistence is proof it will not fade on its own.
• The target is falling apart. Not sleeping, not eating, avoiding everyone, missing school — or talking about hurting themselves. Take that seriously every time: tell an adult immediately and share 988 with them, or call or text 988 yourself and ask what to do. If talking out loud is hard, text HOME to 741741.

Escalation means new kinds of harm — threats, private information, demands. New kinds of harm mean more adults and more doors, sooner. That is the plan working at the right speed.

Part 6. What to Do — Evidence, Reporting, and Support

The evidence habit — your strongest tool. Before you block anyone or delete anything, save proof: screenshots showing the account name, the post, and the date, plus the profile page and who shared it. Keep copies beyond the app if you can, like a folder a trusted adult also has. Do not edit screenshots — if the app removes a post later, yours may be the only copy that exists.

Report at school. Bring your screenshots to a counselor, teacher, or administrator — a parent can come with you. Say plainly: "I am reporting cyber bullying, and I have proof." Ask what happens next and write it down. If it continues, report again with the new proof. Change is not always instant — that does not mean reporting failed.

Report in the app. Use the report tool on each post and account — for bullying, for threats, and for fake accounts, report as impersonation. Then block. Reporting helps get the account removed for everyone; blocking protects your own screen right away.

Report the serious parts to police and the CyberTipline. Threats, demands, sexual content, or someone planning to show up — an adult can help you make a police report, and danger happening soon is 911. Sexual content or extortion involving a minor goes to the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678).

Support the target — and yourself. After the reports, keep doing the human part: message the target, sit with them, include them, and check in again next week, not just on the worst day. If you are the target: block the cruelty out of your daily feed without deleting your proof, spend time with people who treat you right in person, and if it is hurting your sleep, your mood, or your safety, that is a 988 call or text — for you, any hour, no shame attached. Telling is how this ends. Silence is what the campaign is counting on.

Words to know — Cyber Bullying

• Cyber bullying — repeated, on-purpose harm through phones, apps, games, or social media, where one side has more power.
• Power difference — an imbalance that makes it hard to defend yourself, such as numbers, popularity, age, or holding secrets or photos.
• Evidence — screenshots, dates, account names, and saved messages that show what happened.
• Bystander — someone who sees bullying happen.
• Upstander — a bystander who acts: supports the target, refuses to feed it, saves evidence, and tells an adult.
• Doxxing — posting someone's private information, like a home address, so others will bother or scare them.
• Impersonation — pretending to be someone else online, for example with a fake account using their name and photo.
• CyberTipline — the national reporting system, run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, for online exploitation of children.

Myths vs facts — Cyber Bullying

• Myth: Screenshots are just keeping drama alive. Fact: Screenshots are evidence. The school and the app can act on proof; without it, reports often stall at "we can't see it." Save first — then block.
• Myth: If it happened off campus and after school, the school cannot do anything. Fact: Schools are required to respond to bullying that spills into school life, including online campaigns from home. Report it with proof.
• Myth: Reporting in the app is the whole fix. Fact: The app can remove posts and accounts. The school handles the students. Police handle threats and demands. They are separate doors.
• Myth: If the target tells, it will definitely get worse, so silence is safer. Fact: Campaigns grow in silence and shrink when proof reaches adults who act. A documented report is what posters actually fear.
• Myth: Joining in "just a little" — one laugh, one forward — doesn't count. Fact: The audience is the campaign's fuel supply. Every participant owns their part, and every person who refuses starves it.

Think it through — Cyber Bullying

A chat you are in has been posting cruel edits of a classmate, Sam, for two weeks. Tonight someone adds Sam's home street address "so we can drive by and honk," and a fake account using Sam's photo appears. Sam messages you: "Please don't show anyone. If teachers see it, they'll make it worse." What do you do?

Walk it through: (1) Locate the campaign on Part 3's steps: it has repeated and spread (Step 3), and tonight it added two escalations from Part 5 — private information posted, and an impersonating account. New kinds of harm mean you move faster and wider, today. (2) Save proof before anything else, per Part 6: screenshots of the address post, the fake profile, and earlier edits — with names and dates — before the chat gets deleted or the account vanishes. (3) Weigh Sam's request with Part 4's rule: this is a safety secret, not a keep-forever secret. Sam is scared, and that fear makes sense — but an address posted to a group is about physical safety, not just feelings. You can tell Sam honestly: "I'm telling because this crossed into safety. I'll stay next to you through it." (4) Report at both doors: in the app (the fake account as impersonation, the address post as private information), and at school tomorrow at the latest, with a parent if Sam wants one there. If anyone talks about actually going to the house, that is a 911 call. (5) Stay Sam's person afterward: the check-in next week matters as much as the report this week.

One more real-life story — Cyber Bullying

Nia, 13, found a fake account using her name and photo, posting embarrassing made-up notes "from her" to students at school. Her first urge was to delete her own account and miss school until it blew over. Her older brother stopped her for one evening and they worked Part 6 in order: screenshots of the fake profile, every post, the dates, and the accounts spreading the link — saved before they reported anything. Nia reported the account in the app as impersonation and blocked the accounts messaging her the link. The next morning, she and her mom brought the screenshots to the school counselor. Because the proof was organized, the school acted the same week, the platform removed the fake account, and a teacher spoke to the classes involved without putting Nia on the spot. What Nia says mattered most: she did not spend the first, worst night alone, and she did not delete her own proof out of shame.

Takeaway: Proof, saved calmly before anything is blocked or deleted, turns "someone is doing this to me" into action at school and on the app — often within days. Your job is never to fight the campaign alone; it is to hand adults a record they can act on.

Try this — Cyber Bullying

• ☐ Practice the screenshot habit on a harmless post: name, content, and date all visible in one shot.
• ☐ Check your main apps: account private, location sharing off, block and report tools found before you need them.
• ☐ Leave or mute one chat or feed where mocking someone is the entertainment.
• ☐ Save these in your phone: 988, Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741), and the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678).
• ☐ Send one normal, kind message to someone who is often left out — not about bullying, just inclusion.
• ☐ Decide now who your first and second adults are if you ever need to report.

Resources to keep — Cyber Bullying

• 911 — call if there are threats of violence, a plan to go to someone's home, or danger happening soon.
• 988 (call or text) — call or text 988 any time, for yourself or for a friend who is struggling because of bullying.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 — talk by text when speaking out loud is hard.
• NCMEC CyberTipline — 1-800-843-5678 — report sexual content, demands, or exploitation online involving a minor.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if bullying connects to abuse or unsafe conditions at home.
• stopbullying.gov — clear information on bullying and cyber bullying and how schools respond.

What you earned / what's next — Cyber Bullying

✅ Topic Library — Cyber Bullying complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can explain the law side in plain words — school duties, app rules, and the serious parts that belong to police — save proof the right way, report at each separate door, spot escalation, and support a targeted friend without carrying a safety secret alone.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Cyber Bullying

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned that online cruelty leaves proof — and that proof, in the hands of adults who act, is how campaigns end. Save it, report it, and stand by your friend. You are the audience, and the audience decides. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Topic Library — Impersonating: fake accounts, people pretending to be kids or friends, and how to spot and report them.

Sources

• stopbullying.gov — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "What Is Cyberbullying" and prevention and response guides
• ftc.gov — Federal Trade Commission, consumer guidance on online safety, impersonation, and protecting personal information
• mass.gov — Massachusetts Attorney General and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance on bullying prevention and school response

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 in an emergency · 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call/text 988) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741).

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws and school rules vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911. If a situation involves your family, a trusted adult can help you talk to a lawyer or to your school about what applies to you.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress and quiz answers stay on your own device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you pass this unit's quiz (80% or higher, retakes allowed), you earn a downloadable certificate with a blank line — you write your own name on it after you save it. Quiz answers are not shown; if you miss a question, re-read the lesson and try again.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• Online, a photo and a name prove almost nothing. Anyone can copy a photo, use a real kid's name, and type like a friend. This unit teaches you how impersonating works — strangers pretending to be kids, fake accounts pretending to be people you know, and accounts that were hacked — how to check who is really typing, and what to do when you find a fake. It connects to Month 2, which taught the grooming pattern, and to the Youth Cyber Bullying library unit. It does not repeat them: this unit is about identity — how to tell a real person from a copied one.

The lesson

Part 1. What Impersonating Is

Impersonating means pretending to be someone you are not, to trick people. Online it happens in three main ways, and you should be able to name all three.

One: a stranger pretends to be a kid. An adult — or sometimes an older teen — builds a profile that says they are your age, uses photos of a real young person or a made-up one, learns what kids at your school or in your game talk about, and messages like a friend. The goal is to become trusted: to get personal information, photos, secrets, or a meeting. This is where impersonating connects to Month 2: pretending to be a kid is often the first costume in the grooming pattern. The friendly stranger, the fast friendship, the push for secrets — a fake age is what lets the pattern start.

Two: a fake account pretends to be a real person you know. Someone copies a classmate's, a cousin's, or even your own photos and name and makes a twin account. Then the twin posts embarrassing things "as" that person, messages their friends asking for money or codes, or spreads rumors wearing their face. The person copied is a victim too — they did not post any of it. This happened in the Cyber Bullying library unit's story about Nia; here you learn the identity side of it: how to spot a twin and how to get it removed.

Three: a real account gets taken over. A friend's actual account suddenly messages you — but the typing is not your friend. Someone guessed or stole the password, or tricked your friend into giving a code, and now they are typing as them. The profile is real. The person is not. This is why a strange message from a familiar account must be checked, not obeyed.

What all three share: the identity is the trick. The person typing wants you to trust the photo and name so you skip the questions you would ask a stranger. This unit's whole defense is one habit: check who is typing through a different door than the one they knocked on. Part 6 makes that a step-by-step skill.

Borrowing an identity is not always a trick, and fairness matters: clearly labeled parody and fan accounts, role-play in a game where everyone knows it is play, and a username that is just a made-up nickname are not impersonating a real person to fool someone. The line is fooling a real person — making someone believe the account is a specific real kid, friend, or official, so they trust, pay, share, or meet. If someone is being fooled on purpose, it is over the line.

Part 2. The Law Behind It — Officers, Officials, and Ordinary People

You do not need penalties or legal codes for this unit. You need the shape of the law, in plain words, so you know adults and police take this seriously — because they do.

Pretending to be a police officer or another official is a crime by itself. The fake badge, the fake "detective" account messaging a kid, the person in a costume trying to get into a home or a car — the law treats pretending to be an officer as a serious offense on its own, and worse when it is used to get money, entry, or obedience. If someone claiming to be an officer contacts you in a way that feels wrong — through a game or app, demanding secrecy, asking for photos or a meeting — that is not how real officers work. Tell a trusted adult and let adults call 911 or the real police department's published number to check. A real officer can always be verified; a costume cannot survive verification, and asking to verify is always allowed.

Pretending to be an ordinary person to harm or trick someone is also against the law in general. Using a fake profile to steal money, to threaten or harass someone, to get private photos, or to get into accounts brings fraud, harassment, and computer-misuse laws into play, as adults and police sort them. Sexual messages, photo requests, or threats involving someone under 18 are exploitation, and adults report them to the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678). You never have to name the law. Your report — with screenshots — is what lets adults match the facts to the law.

Apps have their own rules too. Platforms prohibit impersonation accounts, and their report tools can remove a twin or a fake — usually fastest when the real person (or their parent) confirms their identity the way the app asks. School rules can also apply when a fake account targets students or disrupts school, which is why a school report and an app report are, once again, separate doors that both may need opening.

Your rights in all of this: you may check anyone's identity before trusting them; you may refuse to share codes, photos, and personal information with any account, however familiar it looks; you may report a fake account that copies you or anyone else; and if someone fooled you, you have the right to help without blame. Being fooled by a copied face is the trick working as designed — the fault is the copier's, never yours.

Part 3. How Impersonation Works, Step by Step

Step 1 — Photos and details are collected. Public posts are a supply store: photos, school name, team, friends' names, birthday, favorite games. A copier needs only a few pieces to build a believable account. This is why Month 2's privacy habits — private account, no location, limited personal details — are impersonation armor, not just good manners.

Step 2 — The account is built to be believed at a glance. Same photo, a name spelled almost the same (one letter changed, an extra underscore), a bio copied from the real one. A stranger-pretending-to-be-a-kid builds differently: new account, photos of an unknown young person, interests matched to yours, and a friend list padded with other kids harvested from public groups.

Step 3 — Contact starts small and friendly. A follow, a "hey, I think we go to the same school," a message "from" your cousin: "new phone, this is my new account." Small asks come first — follow back, accept the request, answer an easy question — because each yes makes the next ask feel normal.

Step 4 — The real ask arrives. From a fake kid: personal details, a more private app, photos, secrets, a meeting. From a twin account: money ("I'm stuck, send a gift card code"), sign-in codes ("send me the code they texted you so I can get back into my account"), or cruel posts that damage the copied person's name. From a taken-over account: links, money asks, and messages spreading to your whole friend list through you.

Step 5 — Secrecy and urgency hold it together. "Don't tell — your parents wouldn't get it." "Hurry, I need the code now." Sound familiar? That is Month 2's pattern and this school's universal alarm: urgency plus secrecy means stop, whoever the account claims to be. Real friends can wait ten minutes for you to check. Tricks cannot.

Step 6 — Discovery usually comes sideways. A friend asks the real you about a post you never made. The real cousin texts from their real number, confused. Two accounts with your face sit side by side in a search. Discovery is not failure — it is the moment the plan in Part 6 starts, and the faster it starts, the smaller the damage.

Part 4. Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities

If you discover a fake — of you, of a friend, or a stranger pretending: your jobs are save, report, and warn. Save screenshots of the fake profile, its posts, and its messages to you, with dates. Report it in the app as impersonation. Warn the real person — through a channel you already trust, like their real number or in person — and warn friends who may have accepted it, so nobody sends it money, codes, or trust. You are not responsible for hunting the copier or confronting them; adults and the platform do that part.

If you are the person copied: it is not your fault, and it does not mean your account was careless. Tell a trusted adult the same day. The app may ask the real person (or a parent) to confirm identity to remove the twin — that process is normal and worth doing quickly. Post one calm note from your real account: a fake exists, you did not make the posts, report and block it, reach you only here. Then let the reports work. Arguing with the fake account in public feeds it your audience.

If a "friend's" message feels wrong: you have the right — and the responsibility to your real friend — to check before acting. A familiar account asking for money, codes, or secrecy gets verified first, every time, with no apology needed. Checking protects your friend as much as you: if their account was taken, your report may be how they find out.

If you have ever made a fake account "as a joke": hear this plainly. A joke everyone is in on is play; a fake that fools real people — that collects their trust, money, codes, or fear — is impersonating, with school and legal consequences that do not shrink because you were laughing. The repair is the honest one: take it down now, tell anyone who was fooled, apologize without excuses, and tell a trusted adult before the school or platform finds it first. Owning it early is always the better position.

Adults and platforms: adults help with identity confirmation, school and police reports, and CyberTipline reports where exploitation is involved. Platforms remove accounts that break impersonation rules — and your screenshots are what they act on, so the saving step is never wasted.

Part 5. Warning Signs of a Fake Person or Fake Official

Learn the silhouette of a fake the way Month 2 taught the grooming pattern — so recognition is instant:

• Almost-right identity. The name is spelled slightly off, the account is brand new, the follower count is tiny, or there are two accounts with the same face. Real friends rarely need a "new account" with no history.
• Thin or borrowed life. Few real posts, no tagged photos with actual people, answers about school or your town that are vague or wrong, a life story that sounds dramatic and cannot be checked.
• Fast closeness. Best-friend energy in days, compliments constantly, "you're the only one who gets me" — from someone you have never verified. Speed is a tool; real friendship usually builds slower.
• The check fails or is refused. They will not do a live video wave, will not answer a question only the real person would know, get angry or hurt when you say you want to check, or flood you with urgency when you slow down. A real friend survives a check and is not offended by it.
• Asks that cross lines. Codes from your phone, passwords, money or gift cards, photos of you, your school or address, moving to a private app, keeping the friendship secret from all adults.
• Official costumes online. An account claiming to be police, a school official, or a company, messaging you privately, demanding secrecy, money, photos, or a meeting. Real officials work through real channels — a school office, a parent, a published phone number — not through a game chat with a badge photo.

One combined test covers most of it: new or almost-right account + fast trust + an ask that needs secrecy or speed = stop and check. You do not need to be sure it is fake to check. Checking is cheap, safe, and always allowed.

Part 6. What to Do — Protect Yourself, Preserve Evidence, and Report

The verification habit — your master move. Check identity through a different door than the one they knocked on. If "your cousin" messages from a new account, text their old, known number or ask them in person. If a "new kid" claims your school, ask a question only a real student would know — and still keep adults in the loop before trust grows. If an account claiming to be an official contacts you, do not engage: tell a trusted adult, who can check through the real organization's published number. Never verify using links or numbers the suspicious account itself sends — that is asking the trick to grade itself.

Everyday protection. Keep accounts private; accept only people you know in real life; do not post your school, address, routine, or location. Never share sign-in codes or passwords with anyone — no real friend, game, or company will ask for the code texted to your phone. Turn on the strongest sign-in protection your apps offer. These habits shrink the supply store a copier shops from.

If you find a fake, in order: (1) Save screenshots — profile, posts, messages, dates. (2) Report the account in the app as impersonation, and block it. (3) Tell a trusted adult today, and warn the real person through their real channel. (4) If the fake asked anyone for money, codes, or photos, or claimed to be an officer, adults should also make a police report; if it involved sexual messages or photo asks toward a minor, adults report to the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678). (5) If it copied you, make the one calm note from your real account from Part 4, then let the process work.

If you were fooled — by a fake kid, a twin, or a taken-over account: stop contact, save the evidence, block, and tell a trusted adult today, even if you sent a photo, a code, or money, and even if you feel embarrassed. Especially then. If a photo is being threatened or shared, that is sextortion from Month 2 — a crime against you — and telling quickly is how threats stop and images get taken down. If an account of yours was taken over, an adult can help you recover it, change passwords everywhere the same one was used, and warn your contacts. You will not be in trouble in this school's eyes for being targeted by a trick built to target you. The person who built it owns every bit of the blame.

Words to know — Impersonating

• Impersonation — pretending to be someone else — a real person, a made-up kid, or an official — to trick people into trusting, sharing, paying, or obeying.
• Fake profile — an account built with someone else's copied photos and details, or an invented identity, controlled by a different person.
• Catfishing — building a fake online persona to draw someone into a false friendship or romantic relationship.
• Verification — checking who someone is through a different, trusted channel — never through the links or numbers the suspicious account itself provides.
• Account takeover — when someone steals or guesses a password or code and types from a real person's actual account.
• Sign-in code — a code sent to your phone or email to prove a sign-in is really you; it works like a key and is never shared.
• CyberTipline — the national reporting system, run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, for online exploitation of children.

Myths vs facts — Impersonating

• Myth: A real photo and a familiar name mean the account is that person. Fact: Photos and names are the easiest things in the world to copy. Identity is proved by a check through a trusted channel — a known number, an in-person question — never by a profile picture.
• Myth: I would be able to tell if an adult was pretending to be a kid. Fact: Pretenders study how kids talk and lift real photos precisely so you cannot tell from the chat alone. That is why the rule is habits, not hunches: no secrets, no photos, no meetings, adults in the loop.
• Myth: A fake account that fools nobody for long is just a prank with no consequences. Fact: A fake that fools real people — collecting trust, money, codes, or fear — is impersonating, and school rules and the law can both apply even if the maker calls it a joke.
• Myth: If my friend's account asks for a code, helping quickly is loyalty. Fact: Codes are keys. A "friend" demanding your code urgently is either a fake or a takeover until a check through a different door proves otherwise. Real loyalty is checking — it protects your friend too.
• Myth: If I was fooled, I should hide it so I don't get in trouble. Fact: Hiding protects only the pretender. Telling a trusted adult quickly is how accounts get recovered, fakes get removed, and threats get stopped — and being fooled is never your fault.

Think it through — Impersonating

A new account follows you using your friend Jayden's photo. The name is Jayden's, with one extra letter. It messages you: "New account, my old one got locked. Don't tell anyone yet, it's embarrassing. Can you send me the code that just got texted to you? I put your number as my backup lol. Hurry." You did just receive a code. What do you do?

Walk it through: (1) Run Part 5's combined test: almost-right account (extra letter, new, no history), fast trust, and an ask that needs secrecy and speed — all three lights are red at once. (2) Name the ask clearly, using Part 1: the code texted to your phone is a key to your accounts, and no backup arrangement works by a friend asking you to hand it over in a chat. This is the takeover trick — either the account is a twin, or Jayden himself is being tricked too; either way the code does not move. (3) Verify through a different door, per Part 6: text Jayden's real, known number — "is this you on a new account?" — or ask him at school. Do not use any link or number the new account gives you. (4) Save and report: screenshot the messages and the profile, report the account as impersonation, block it, and tell a trusted adult — because an account wearing your friend's face asking for codes is a school-and-safety fact, not private drama. (5) Notice the secrecy line on purpose: "don't tell anyone, it's embarrassing" is the script borrowing Jayden's dignity to protect itself. Real Jayden, told through his real number, will be grateful — his face is being used, and your check may be the first warning he gets.

One more real-life story — Impersonating

Sofia, 14, kept seeing a boy named "Ethan" in her game's friend suggestions — same school in his bio, same favorite team, funny in the group chat. Within a week Ethan was messaging nightly, said the others "didn't get him like she did," and asked her to move to a private app and not mention him to her older sister, who "would just make it weird." Sofia felt flattered — and, remembering Month 2, a little sick. The speed, the secrecy, the private app: the pattern showed through the persona. She did one check before blocking: she asked Ethan, casually, the name of their school's mascot and the road the school is on. He dodged twice, then guessed wrong. Sofia screenshotted the chats, blocked the account, reported it, and told her sister and mom that night. Adults reported the account's photo requests — which had already gone to another student — to the CyberTipline. Sofia later said the mascot question mattered less than the decision to ask it: the moment she decided a real friend would survive her questions, the flattery lost its power.

Takeaway: You do not have to prove someone is fake before you protect yourself. A check through a different door, a question only a real person can answer, and adults kept in the loop turn "I think this might be fake" into safety — whether or not you ever learn who was typing.

Try this — Impersonating

• ☐ Check your friend list: do you actually know, in real life, every account you follow back? Remove any you cannot place.
• ☐ Practice the check: decide now which known number or in-person question you would use if a "friend" messaged from a new account tonight.
• ☐ Confirm your accounts are private, location is off, and your school and routine are not in your bio.
• ☐ Say the code rule out loud once: "A code texted to my phone is a key. I never send it to anyone."
• ☐ Save these in your phone: 988, Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741), and the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678) for an adult to use.
• ☐ Tell one trusted adult this week what a twin account is — teaching it is how your whole circle gets harder to fool.

Resources to keep — Impersonating

• 911 — call if someone claiming to be an officer or anyone else is trying to meet you, come to you, or is making you feel unsafe right now.
• 988 (call or text) — call or text 988 any time if being fooled, threatened, or copied has left you frightened or overwhelmed.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 — talk by text when speaking out loud is hard.
• NCMEC CyberTipline — 1-800-843-5678 — adults report online exploitation, including adults pretending to be kids and sexual photo requests.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult, online or in person, is pressuring or hurting you.
• stopbullying.gov — information on fake accounts, bullying, and how schools respond.

What you earned / what's next — Impersonating

✅ Topic Library — Impersonating complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can name the three kinds of impersonating — a stranger pretending to be a kid, a twin account, and a takeover — spot the warning silhouette, verify any account through a different door, and run the save-report-warn plan for a fake, without blaming yourself or anyone else who was fooled.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Impersonating

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned that a face on a screen is a claim, not a proof — and that one calm check, through a door you trust, defeats the whole trick. Ask the question. Real friends survive it. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Topic Library — Cyber Bullying is this unit's companion: if you have not taken it, it teaches the law side of online cruelty, saving proof, and standing by a targeted friend.

Sources

• stopbullying.gov — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, guidance on fake accounts and online impersonation among youth
• ftc.gov — Federal Trade Commission, consumer guidance on online safety, impersonation, and protecting personal information
• mass.gov — Massachusetts Attorney General consumer-protection pages on impersonation and phone scams

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 in an emergency · 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call/text 988) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741).

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit teaches the line between a welcome and hazing — and what to do when a group crosses it.

The lesson

Part 1. What hazing is — the price-of-belonging test

Hazing is when joining a group — or staying in it — costs you humiliation, pain, exhaustion, or danger. New members endure things the older members choose: embarrassing performances, servitude, being screamed at, staying up all night, forced physical tests, being frozen out as punishment. The activity is not the point. The message is: we decide what you are worth, and you pay to belong.

Here is the test that never fails: would this activity happen if nobody had to earn their place? Real practice is hard because the sport is hard. Hazing is hard for a different reason — to see whether you will submit. Any group can slide into it, usually calling it tradition.

Part 2. Pressure tactics — how "choice" gets manufactured

Almost nobody is dragged into hazing. They are maneuvered into it, and knowing the maneuvers is protection. Watch for: the belonging price tag — "everyone did it; quitters don't make the team." The secrecy rule — "what happens here stays here," which exists to keep adults from hearing it. The slow slide — small dares first, each a little worse, so there is never one obvious moment to refuse. The audience — laughter and phones out, so stopping feels like public failure. The deadline squeeze — decisions demanded on the spot, at night, when you are tired and outnumbered.

And here is the fact the pressure hides: in Massachusetts, a person's agreement is not a defense to hazing. "I chose to" is easy to say when the price of refusing is everything you wanted. Your willingness was never the group's permission slip.

Part 3. The law in general — it is a crime, and witnesses must report

Hazing is against the law in Massachusetts. The state's anti-hazing law makes organizing or taking part in hazing a crime, and its definition covers things that endanger your body or your mind — including extreme stress, being kept from sleep, and being isolated.

The same law puts a duty on witnesses: a person at the scene who knows hazing is happening must report it to law enforcement as soon as they safely can. Standing silent is against the law too. Schools must also give students the law and have a discipline policy for hazing. Sorting out which rule fits is the adults' job. Yours is to tell.

Part 4. Refusing and getting out — a plan beats a moment

Refusing is easiest when you decided before the moment arrives. Build your exits now: a standing reason to leave ("my ride comes at nine, no exceptions"); a friend outside the group who knows where you are; a code word with a parent or caregiver that means call me and be the bad guy — blame the exit on them, proudly. In the moment: refuse a single step ("I'm not doing that one"), leave with anyone else who looks uncomfortable — there is almost always someone — or walk out entirely. Losing a place in a group that charges this price is not a loss. It is a receipt showing what the group actually was.

If you have already been through it: it was not your fault, your agreement under pressure does not make it okay, and it is not too late to tell.

Part 5. Protecting friends — the bystander's job

Hazing needs an audience that stays quiet. Break that, and you break the practice. If you see it starting: say something out loud — even "this isn't funny anymore" changes the room; pull the targeted person out with an errand or a ride; and tell a trusted adult the same day, showing messages or photos if you have them. A trusted adult can make the law-enforcement report with you. If someone is hurt, unresponsive, or in danger, call 911 first.

Do not pass the story around as gossip or post about the target. Support them plainly: believe them, stay their friend in public, and never repeat the group's line that they "couldn't hack it." The person who was hazed did nothing wrong.

Words to know — Hazing and Prevention

• Hazing — when joining or staying in a group costs humiliation, pain, exhaustion, or danger, whatever the person says about agreeing.
• Initiation — becoming a member of a group; the stage when hazing most often happens.
• Pressure tactic — a maneuver that manufactures "agreement," like secrecy rules or slow escalation.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Bystander — someone present who is not the target or organizer; a witness at a hazing scene has a legal duty to report it.
• Duty to report — the legal obligation to report hazing you witness to law enforcement as soon as you safely can.
• Code word — a family signal that means "call me and get me out of this."
• Consent (as a defense) — the claim that a person's agreement excuses the conduct; under Massachusetts law, it does not excuse hazing.

Myths vs facts — Hazing and Prevention

• Myth: Hazing is just joking around. Fact: If belonging costs humiliation, exhaustion, or danger, it is hazing, whatever the intention.
• Myth: If you agreed to it, it is your fault. Fact: In Massachusetts, consent is not a defense to hazing — the law sees through agreement under pressure.
• Myth: It only counts if someone gets physically hurt. Fact: The law includes endangering mental health — extreme stress, lost sleep, and isolation count.
• Myth: Telling an adult is snitching. Fact: Reporting protects people, including next year's new members — and witnesses have a legal duty to report.
• Myth: Walking away means you were not tough enough. Fact: Walking away means you read the group correctly. Real teams build members up.

Think it through — Hazing and Prevention

The situation: Priya made the dance team she has wanted since sixth grade. "Bonding weekend" means: first-years carry everyone's bags, stay up until 3 a.m. cleaning and running errands, get screamed at for mistakes, and are warned that "what happens here stays here" and anyone who leaves "is done." At 1 a.m. Priya texts you: "I want to go home but I'll lose everything."

Walk it through: (1) Name it (Part 1): belonging priced in exhaustion, servitude, and degradation is hazing — the sport requires none of it. (2) Spot the tactics (Part 2): secrecy rule, belonging price tag, run at night when she is tired and outnumbered. Her "choice" is being manufactured. (3) The law backs her (Part 3): hazing is a crime in Massachusetts, sleep deprivation and extreme stress are in the definition, and her agreement is no defense for the organizers. (4) Act (Parts 4 and 5): Priya can use an exit — ride, code word, leaving together — and you can tell a trusted adult tonight and show the texts. She is refusing a bill she never owed.

One more real-life story — Hazing and Prevention

At Dev's soccer tryouts, the older players ran "rookie night": dares, ridicule, and a rule that first-years could not sleep until the captains said so. Dev used his family's plan — he texted his dad their code word. Ten minutes later his dad called, loud about a family emergency, and Dev got to be annoyed about leaving instead of scared. His dad told the league; the league ended the tradition and disciplined the captains. Two other first-years later told Dev they had wished someone would call for them too.

Takeaway: Dev used an exit built in daylight (Part 4) — and an adult's report protected the whole class, not just him (Part 5).

Cases & codes to study — Hazing and Prevention

A real case, in plain words — Furek v. University of Delaware (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1991)

A college student was seriously hurt during a fraternity initiation. He sued his university, saying it knew hazing kept happening on campus and failed to protect students. The state's highest court agreed a university can have a legal duty to protect students from hazing it knows about and can control — even though the student took part willingly — and restored the jury's verdict in his favor. The lesson: adults and institutions are responsible for what they know and allow.

The law itself — read the real words

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 269, §§ 17–19 — the anti-hazing law: § 17 makes hazing a crime and says consent is no defense; § 18 makes witnesses report it; § 19 makes schools hand the law to students and adopt a discipline policy. Read § 17: https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/partiv/titlei/chapter269/section17

Try this — Hazing and Prevention

• ☐ Set up a family code word and a standing exit ("my ride comes at nine").
• ☐ Read your school handbook's hazing rule and find where reports go.
• ☐ Learn Part 2's pressure tactics well enough to name them out loud.
• ☐ Agree with a friend: if either of you is targeted, the other tells a trusted adult the same day.
• ☐ List three trusted adults, and save 911, 988, and the Crisis Text Line in your phone.

Resources to keep — Hazing and Prevention

• 911 — if someone is hurt, unresponsive, or in danger right now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, including after a hazing experience.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.

What you earned / what's next — Hazing and Prevention

✅ Hazing and Prevention complete (test score 80% or higher): You can spot hazing by the price-of-belonging test, name the pressure tactics, state the law in general terms, use an exit plan, and protect a friend by telling an adult the same day.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Hazing and Prevention

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. Real belonging never charges pain as dues — and you have a plan, a code word, and the law on your side. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Furek v. University of Delaware, 594 A.2d 506 (Supreme Court of Delaware 1991) — an institution that knows hazing is occurring can owe students a duty of protection; told in plain words in Cases & Codes.
• Chapter 269 §§ 17–19 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — the anti-hazing law: hazing made a crime, witnesses' duty to report, schools' duties.

Course Record — Hazing and Prevention

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• apply the price-of-belonging test to tell hazing from legitimate activity;
• name the pressure tactics that manufacture agreement;
• state the Massachusetts law in general terms, including that consent is not a defense and witnesses must report;
• use a prepared exit plan, including a family code word, to refuse or leave safely;
• act as a protective bystander: interrupt, support the target, tell a trusted adult the same day.
• Study time: Approximately 30 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after downloading.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit talks about a scary subject in a calm way, the same way your school does. Attacks at schools are rare. Schools plan for them so that everybody knows their job — and your job is small, clear, and doable. That is what this lesson teaches.

The lesson

Part 1. Why schools have a plan — and why your part is simple

Your school has an emergency plan, the way it has a fire drill plan. The plan exists so that on a frightening day, nobody has to invent what to do. Adults — teachers, staff, and police — carry the big jobs: knowing the building, making decisions, and stopping any danger.

Your jobs are three, and they are the same in almost every emergency:

1. Listen to the adults in charge.
2. Move where they tell you, quickly and quietly.
3. Tell an adult anything you know that could matter — before, during, or after.

That is the whole lesson in advance. The rest of this unit explains each job and answers the questions students actually ask.

Part 2. Tell — the job that can prevent the whole day

The most powerful safety job you have happens on ordinary days, not emergency days.

If you hear or see something that worries you — someone talking about hurting people at school, a threat online, a message or post that sounds like a plan, someone showing you something that scares you — tell a trusted adult: a teacher, a counselor, a parent or caregiver, or another adult you trust. Keep telling until an adult takes it seriously.

Three things students get wrong about this:

• It is not snitching. Snitching is about getting someone in trouble for something small. Telling is about keeping people safe from something big. They are opposites.
• A threat is never a secret to keep. Even if a friend says "don't tell," a safety secret is the one kind you never keep — the same rule this school teaches in every unit.
• You do not have to be sure. You are not accusing anyone, and you do not need proof. Your job is only to hand what you heard to an adult. Deciding what it means is the adults' job — schools have teams trained for exactly that.

Most people who say worrying things are themselves upset or in trouble, and telling is how they get help early. That is another reason to tell: it is how a bad day gets stopped while it is still just words.

Part 3. Listen and move — if there is danger at school

If an emergency announcement is made or a teacher gives urgent instructions, the drill you already know is the real thing: listen, move, stay quiet, stay with your group.

• Follow your teacher's instructions exactly, even if they differ from a drill — adults adjust the plan to where the danger actually is.
• If adults direct you to leave the building, go — quickly, without stopping for your bag, your phone, or anything in your locker. Things can be replaced. Move to the meeting place your school uses and stay with your class so teachers can account for everyone.
• If your class stays in the room, do what your teacher directs: move where they say, stay quiet, and let the adults handle the door. Never open the door for anyone — police and staff have ways to get in, and they will announce when it is safe.
• Keep your hands visible and follow police instructions if officers arrive. Their first job is to make sure the danger is over. Do what they say, right away, even if it feels confusing — questions come after everyone is safe.

If you are somewhere without a teacher — a hallway, a bathroom, outside — move away from any danger sounds, get to the nearest group of adults or the school's meeting place, and tell an adult where you were.

Part 4. Reuniting and the days after

After an emergency, schools bring students and families back together at a set place, and release students to parents or caregivers one group at a time. This can take a while and feel chaotic. Your jobs stay the same: stay with your group, tell staff if you were hurt or if you saw someone else hurt, and wait for your family through the school's process — it exists so that every student is accounted for.

The days after matter too. It is normal to feel shaky, sad, angry, numb, or fine one hour and upset the next — sometimes right away, sometimes weeks later. All of that is a normal reaction to an abnormal day. Talk to a parent, caregiver, counselor, or another trusted adult about how you feel. If feelings get very heavy, call or text 988 any time, or text HOME to 741741 to type with a counselor instead of talking. Asking for that help is strength, and this school will say it in every unit until it sounds ordinary — because it is.

And one last media rule, which protects real families: do not spread rumors or share frightening posts about an emergency. Only repeat what the school or police have officially said. Somewhere, a family is waiting for real news; rumors make their worst day harder.

Words to know — Active Shooter Awareness Training

• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Emergency plan — the plan your school made in advance for emergencies, so everyone knows their job without having to invent it.
• Safety secret — a secret about someone's safety; the kind of secret that is never kept — you tell a trusted adult.
• Meeting place — the set place where your class gathers outside the building so teachers can account for everyone.
• Reunification — the organized process by which a school releases students back to their families after an emergency, one group at a time, so every student is accounted for.
• All-clear — the official announcement that an emergency is over and it is safe to move again.
• Threat — words or messages saying someone plans to hurt people; always told to an adult, never kept secret, never repeated as a joke.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — the free, confidential service you reach by calling or texting 988, any time, for yourself or for a friend.

Myths vs facts — Active Shooter Awareness Training

• Myth: Telling an adult about a threat is snitching. Fact: Snitching gets someone in trouble over something small. Telling keeps people safe from something big — and often gets the worried person help early (Part 2).
• Myth: In an emergency, I should grab my phone and bag first. Fact: Move when adults direct you, empty-handed. Things can be replaced; seconds cannot (Part 3).
• Myth: If someone knocks and says it is safe, I should open the classroom door. Fact: Never open the door. Staff and police have their own ways in, and they announce the all-clear themselves (Part 3).
• Myth: Feeling upset weeks later means something is wrong with me. Fact: Delayed and returning feelings are normal after a frightening event. Talking to an adult, 988, or Crisis Text Line is the strong move (Part 4).

Think it through — Active Shooter Awareness Training

The situation: During lunch, a student you barely know shows you a message on his phone: a photo of your school with words underneath saying "watch what happens Friday." He laughs and says, "It's just a joke — don't be a snitch." You feel scared and unsure. Friday is in two days.

Walk it through: (1) Name what you saw (Part 2): a threat about your school, with a day attached. Whether he meant it is not your call to make — deciding is the adults' job. (2) Reject the frame (Part 2): this is not snitching and not a secret you can keep. Safety secrets are never kept. (3) Tell today, not Friday: go to a teacher, counselor, or the main office, and tell a parent or caregiver at home as well. Say exactly what you saw — the photo, the words, who showed you, and when. Keep telling until an adult takes it seriously. (4) If nothing seems to happen and you stay worried, that worry is itself a reason to tell again — and if you ever feel you are in danger right now, call 911.

One more real-life story — Active Shooter Awareness Training

During a fire drill at one school, a fifth-grader who used a wheelchair realized the class's usual exit route took her down a hallway that was blocked that week for repairs. She told her teacher that afternoon — a small, ordinary act of telling. The school fixed its plan that week: a new route for her class, marked on the plan, known by every teacher on that floor. Nobody ever needed it for a real emergency. But her teacher used the story with every class after: "The plan got better because one student spoke up on a normal day."

Takeaway: Your most important safety job (Part 2) happens on normal days: notice, and tell. Plans get better — and days get prevented — exactly that way.

Cases & codes to study — Active Shooter Awareness Training

This topic is a skill taught from official public guidance, not a legal subject — there are no cases or codes to study for it. What governs it is the guidance itself, and your own school's plan:

The guidance itself — read the real words

• FBI — Active Shooter Safety Resources (Federal Bureau of Investigation) — the federal government's safety page, including training made for schools, written in the same calm "Run. Hide. Fight." order the adult world uses. Read it with a parent or teacher: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources/
• Ready.gov — Attacks in Public Places / Active Shooter (Federal Emergency Management Agency) — the plain-language federal page on being prepared, making a plan with your family, and staying safe. Read it: https://www.ready.gov/publicspaces

Where to read the real thing, free: the FBI's safety resources at fbi.gov (https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources/); Ready.gov at ready.gov (https://www.ready.gov/publicspaces); and, most important of all, your own school's emergency plan — ask your teacher to show you what it asks of students.

Try this — Active Shooter Awareness Training

• ☐ I can name my three jobs: listen, move, tell.
• ☐ I know my school's meeting place and how my class gets there.
• ☐ I can name two trusted adults — one at school, one outside it — I would tell about a threat.
• ☐ I know a threat is never a secret and never a joke to pass on.

Resources to keep — Active Shooter Awareness Training

• 911 — in danger now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, for you or a friend.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• Your school's office and counselors — the first place to tell about anything that worries you.

What you earned / what's next — Active Shooter Awareness Training

✅ Active Shooter Awareness Training complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can name your three jobs in an emergency, explain why telling an adult about a threat is protection rather than snitching, describe what to do while reuniting with your family, and name the help lines that are always open.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Active Shooter Awareness Training

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You know your three jobs, and the most important one happens on ordinary days: you speak up. That is how people get protected — and how worried people get help in time. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Active Shooter Safety Resources — Federal Bureau of Investigation (https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources/) — the federal school-safety framing and Run. Hide. Fight. principles behind this unit.
• Attacks in Public Places / Active Shooter — Ready.gov, Federal Emergency Management Agency (https://www.ready.gov/publicspaces) — family planning, exit awareness, and be-safe-after guidance.
• Planning and Response to an Active Shooter: An Interagency Security Committee Policy and Best Practices Guide — Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/Planning%20and%20Response%20to%20an%20Active%20Shooter_2021.pdf) — the facility and school planning standard checked for this unit's reunification and all-clear material.

Course Record — Active Shooter Awareness Training

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• name their three jobs in a school emergency — listen, move, tell — and explain each;
• explain why reporting a threat is protection, not snitching, and why safety secrets are never kept;
• describe what to do when directed to leave the building, when staying in a classroom, and when police arrive;
• describe reunification and the normal feelings that can follow an emergency, and name the help lines.
• Study time: Approximately 30 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are allowed. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit teaches safety with no weapons, no insults, and no harm: voice, distance, safe places, trusted adults.

The lesson

Part 1. Why insults make things worse — and the sequence that protects you

An insult can turn a bad moment dangerous. Words that embarrass someone make it harder for them to back down, and a crowd or group chat can push both sides to keep going. Protecting your dignity — and leaving the other person theirs — is itself protection. Be firm without being cruel.

Use this order: NOTICE → MOVE AWAY → USE YOUR VOICE → GO TO PEOPLE AND SAFE PLACES → TELL AN ADULT → KEEP TELLING UNTIL SOMEONE ACTS. If danger is close, skip ahead — go straight to people and call 911.

Part 2. NOTICE — paying attention early

Situational awareness means noticing what is around you while you still have choices. Look up on your routes — bus stop, walk home, parking lots. Put your phone down at transitions: getting on and off the bus, crossing lots, arriving home.

Trust a bad feeling based on what someone does: following you, blocking your path, refusing to accept no, demanding you go somewhere. Never judge safety by what someone looks like — behavior is the signal, not appearance. Tell your family your plan, route, and expected arrival time. A plan someone else knows can bring help.

Part 3. MOVE AWAY — distance is protection

Distance does quiet, powerful work. Cross the street, change seats, leave early, or step into a store or open public building. There is no prize for staying on your planned path.

If someone follows you, head toward people and light, into an open business, and call 911 or a trusted adult. Never go somewhere alone with someone pressuring you.

One rule about things: if someone demands your phone or bag in a robbery, give it up. Things can be replaced. You cannot be. Move away, tell an adult, and call 911. Letting go is not losing — it is the plan.

Part 4. USE YOUR VOICE — loud for help, calm to cool things down

Your voice has two jobs. For danger, use a strong, loud voice to get help and witnesses: "I don't know you — stay back!" or "Call 911!" That differs from insulting or daring someone — loud for help is specific and aimed at getting people to act.

For a tense peer moment, calm words work better. Slow down, do not match shouting, and use I-language: "I need space." "I don't want to fight." Give the other person a face-saving exit: "Let's take a break and talk tomorrow." Walking away from dares is strength, not losing — a dare only works if you accept it.

Online: do not feed it, block, save the messages, tell an adult. Never agree to meet an online antagonist or someone who fought with you online. See this library's Cyber Bullying unit for more.

Part 5. SAFE PEOPLE AND SAFE PLACES — build your network before you need it

A trusted adult believes you, does not hurt you, and will act. Name yours now: family, teachers, coaches, librarians, store workers, bus drivers, and neighbors you know. A bystander who gets help is also part of safety — and you can be that person for someone else.

Build a safe haven map of your routes: school, library, fire station, open businesses, and houses of worship — places with staff and other people.

Travel safer together. Walk with friends, watch out for the friend who is alone, and never leave a friend behind at a party or event. Check in on younger kids and grandparents, too — "are you okay, and do you know who to call?"

Part 6. TELLING AND AFTER — keep telling until someone acts

If you need help fast, call 911 and say where you are first, then what is happening. Stay on the line and answer the dispatcher's questions.

Afterward, tell a trusted adult what happened — and keep telling until someone acts. If the first adult does not help, tell another. That is finishing the job, not complaining.

Save evidence honestly: keep messages and screenshots as they are, do not edit them, and hand them to an adult. Feelings after a scare — shaky, angry, tearful, trouble sleeping — are normal. Talk to someone you trust; use 988 or the Crisis Text Line if feelings stay heavy.

Part 7. Nonviolence is strength

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught that nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people — not for cowards. As The King Center explains, it seeks to win friendship and understanding, to defeat injustice, not people, and chooses love instead of hate. Walking away with your dignity, and refusing to humiliate someone else, come from that same strength.

Many faith communities teach peacemaking in their own ways. Whatever your family's beliefs, the lesson is the same: strength protects people — it does not hurt them.

Words to know — Nonviolent Safety

• Situational awareness — noticing people, places, and changes around you while you can still choose.
• De-escalation — calm words, space, and time that help a tense moment get smaller.
• Boundary — a clear limit you set, such as "I need space."
• Safe haven — a place with people who can help, such as a school, library, or open business.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Bystander — a person who sees something happening and can help, by getting an adult or calling 911.
• Escalation — when words or actions make a conflict bigger and harder to stop.
• Nonviolence — staying safe and solving conflict without hurting anyone, in body or words.
• I-language — saying what you need, starting with "I," such as "I need space," instead of blaming.
• Face-saving exit — a way out that lets the other person leave without being embarrassed.

Myths vs facts — Nonviolent Safety

• Myth: Walking away from a dare means you lost. Fact: Walking away is strength. A dare only works if you accept it.
• Myth: A good insult will make someone back down. Fact: Insults escalate. Embarrassing someone makes backing down harder.
• Myth: Judge who is dangerous by how they look. Fact: Judge by behavior — following, blocking your path, refusing to accept no — never appearance.
• Myth: Hold onto your phone or bag if someone demands it. Fact: Give it up. Things can be replaced; you cannot be.
• Myth: If the first adult does not help, nothing more can be done. Fact: Keep telling until someone acts.

Think it through — Nonviolent Safety

The situation: After school, a group-chat disagreement becomes a challenge: "Meet me behind the gym and say that to my face." A crowd gathers, friends film, and the other student shouts insults. You feel trapped between looking weak and making things worse.

Walk it through: (1) Notice (Part 2): a dare, a crowd, and filming are signs of escalation, not conversation. (2) Move away (Part 3): do not go; head toward people — back inside school, toward staff. (3) Use your voice calmly (Part 4): "I don't want to fight. I need space," and offer a face-saving exit — "We can talk tomorrow with a counselor." Do not trade insults. (4) Tell (Parts 5 and 6): show a trusted adult the saved, unedited messages, and keep telling until an adult acts. Never meet someone who fought with you online.

One more real-life story — Nonviolent Safety

This is an example story, written for this lesson — not a report about a real person.

Sam, walking home from practice, noticed a car slowing beside him twice. He put his phone away, crossed to the lit side of the street, and stepped into an open convenience store. Inside, he called his aunt — a trusted adult — and stayed until she arrived. The car was gone. Sam still told his family that evening, and they changed his route for the next week.

Takeaway: Noticing early, moving toward people and light, and telling the same day are the whole plan working — quietly, as it should.

Cases & codes to study — Nonviolent Safety

The legal steps here are the adults' job. One Massachusetts law is worth knowing exists, so you know adults and courts have a tool to help:

The law itself — read the real words

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 209A, § 4 — lets a Massachusetts court enter temporary orders protecting a person from abuse; adults ask the court. Read it: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleIII/Chapter209a/Section4

Where to read the real thing, free: Massachusetts Legislature (https://malegislature.gov) — read the law with a grown-up.

Try this — Nonviolent Safety

• ☐ Draw your safe-places map: mark a safe haven on each route you walk.
• ☐ Name three trusted adults and save how to reach them.
• ☐ Practice out loud: "I don't know you — stay back!" "Call 911!" "I need space."
• ☐ Tell your family your usual route and expected arrival time.
• ☐ Group-chat check: if a dare starts, I know my steps — don't feed it, block, save, tell.

Resources to keep — Nonviolent Safety

• 911 — in danger right now; say where you are first.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, day or night.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• Right To Be (righttobe.org) — free youth bystander training (https://righttobe.org/events/bystander-intervention-for-youth-how-to-show-up-for-others-14/).

What you earned / what's next — Keeping Yourself Safe Without Weapons, Without Insults, Without Harm

✅ Keeping Yourself Safe Without Weapons, Without Insults, Without Harm complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can work the full sequence without weapons, insults, or harm.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Keeping Yourself Safe Without Weapons, Without Insults, Without Harm

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. A strong voice, safe distance, and trusted adults protect you — and walking away is strength. I am proud of you. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Massachusetts Legislature (malegislature.gov) — Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 209A, § 4 (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleIII/Chapter209a/Section4) — temporary court orders protecting a person from abuse.
• The King Center (thekingcenter.org) — The King Philosophy (https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/) — Dr. King's principles of nonviolence.
• Right To Be (righttobe.org) — Bystander Intervention for Youth (https://righttobe.org/events/bystander-intervention-for-youth-how-to-show-up-for-others-14/) — youth bystander training prioritizing your safety while helping.

Course Record — Keeping Yourself Safe Without Weapons, Without Insults, Without Harm

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• State the safety sequence in order, from noticing to keep telling until someone acts.
• Explain why insults escalate, and how I-language and a face-saving exit de-escalate.
• Describe noticing by behavior, never appearance, and keeping a phone down at transitions.
• State the property rule for a robbery: give up the item, move away, call 911.
• Name trusted adults and safe havens on their routes, and explain never leaving a friend behind.
• Explain what to say first on a 911 call, and how to save messages without editing them.
• Study time: Approximately 0.5 hours (about 30 minutes) — reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, written in plain language, and is not legal advice. It teaches you how to protect your own accounts and devices. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or how you answer. Your progress stays on your own device.
• We never ask your name. If you earn a certificate, you download it first and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown — go back, find what you missed in the lesson, and learn it for real.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.

The lesson

Part 1. What Cyber Security Awareness Means for Everyday Life

Cyber security awareness means knowing how to keep your accounts, your device, and your information yours. Your accounts are worth more than you might think: your game account may hold things you earned or bought, and your email is the master key — with it, someone can reset the passwords on almost everything else.

Here's the honest picture of how accounts get taken. It is almost never a genius in a hoodie typing furiously at one kid. It's big, automatic operations: stolen password lists tried on thousands of accounts at once, and fake messages sent to huge numbers of people, hoping a few are tired, rushed, or scared enough to click.

Remember the rule that beats almost every trick: when a message creates panic or a countdown, slow down. Real companies can wait while you check. Fakes can't.

Part 2. Passwords and Passphrases That Hold

A password has one job: to be hard for everyone but you to guess — including computer programs that try millions of guesses.

• Long beats complicated. A passphrase — several ordinary words strung together — is much stronger than a short password full of symbols, and way easier to remember.
• Every account gets its own. If one game's password leaks in a data breach and you used that same password for your email, the leaked list gets tried on your email next — automatically. A different password for every account means one leak stays one small problem. And skip the guessable: your name, your pet, your team, your birthday.
• A password manager — an app that remembers a different strong password for every account.
• Your passwords are yours alone. Not for friends, not for anyone. Sharing a password is handing over a key that keeps working after the friendship changes. A real friend will never ask.

Part 3. Two-Factor Authentication and Account Recovery

Two-factor authentication means your account asks for a second proof it's you after your password — usually a code on your own device. Turn it on everywhere it's offered: email first, then games and socials. With it on, even a stolen password usually isn't enough to get in.

One rule protects the whole system: your code is for your eyes only. If someone messages or calls saying they're from a game company, a platform, or even "support," and asks you to read them a code that just arrived — that person is trying to break into your account, with you as their helper. The code really arriving proves nothing; they triggered it by trying to log in as you. Real companies never ask for your code. Block, and tell a trusted adult.

Set yourself up to recover accounts before anything goes wrong: keep a reachable email or phone number on your important accounts. And if you ever see an alert like "new sign-in to your account" that wasn't you — don't swipe it away. Tell a trusted adult and use Part 6.

Part 4. Phishing — Fake Messages and Fake Sites

Phishing is a fake message built to trick you into clicking, logging in, or handing something over. It wears costumes: "Your account will be deleted," "You won a prize," a "free" game-currency offer.

Spot the pattern:

• Pressure: act now, last chance, account closing, a countdown.
• Something to click that takes you to a fake website — a copy of a real login page. It can look perfect; looks prove nothing.
• Asks for things real companies don't ask for in messages: your password, your code, payment for a "verification."
• Small wrongness: a sender address that's almost the real one, weird spelling.

Your defense is a habit, not a talent: stop, don't click, check the real way. Open the app yourself, or type the address you know. If the "problem" is real, it will be waiting inside the real app. And never log in from a link a message sent you — that one habit blocks most fake sites.

Part 5. Updates, Public Wi-Fi, and Backups

Updates fix holes. When your phone, apps, or games update, they repair security flaws attackers use. Turning on automatic updates is one of the easiest protections there is.

Public Wi-Fi is not private. The free network at a café, mall, or airport is shared with strangers, and fake networks exist. Rules that keep you safe: use your phone's data for anything sensitive when you can; don't log into important accounts on public Wi-Fi; never install something a Wi-Fi sign-in page suddenly demands.

Backups save your stuff. A backup is a copy of your photos, schoolwork, and files kept in a second place. If your device breaks or gets lost, a backup means your memories and work still exist. Set it up with a trusted adult and let it run automatically.

Part 6. If Something Goes Wrong — Contain, Report, Recover

If you think an account was taken or someone is pressuring you for codes or passwords — act fast, and tell a trusted adult right away. Nobody in this school will blame you.

1. Stop contact. Don't reply to the fake messages, don't send codes, money, or anything else.
2. Save the evidence, then block and report in the app — screenshots of the messages first.
3. Fix the real account the real way: open the actual app yourself, change the password to a new passphrase, turn on two-factor authentication, and change any other account that used that same password, email first. If your account sent weird messages, warn friends not to trust requests coming from it.
4. If money or game items were taken, a trusted adult can help report it — including at ic3.gov, the FBI's internet crime reporting site.
5. Breathe. Then keep the habits. Almost everyone gets fooled once; what matters is that you told quickly.

Words to know — Cyber Security Awareness

• Passphrase — a password made of several ordinary words together — long, strong, and easier to remember.
• Password manager — an app that safely remembers a different strong password for every account.
• Two-factor authentication — a second proof it's you, like a code on your own device, after your password.
• Phishing — a fake message pretending to be a real company or person, trying to trick you into clicking.
• Fake website — a copied page that looks like a real login page but records what you type.
• Software update — a fix from the maker of your device or app; updates repair security holes.
• Public Wi-Fi — shared wireless internet in a public place; convenient, but not private.
• Backup — a copy of your important files kept in a second place.
• Trusted adult — a grown-up you know and trust — the person you tell fast when something goes wrong.

Myths vs facts — Cyber Security Awareness

• Myth: Hackers only go after famous people and rich people. Fact: Attacks are mostly automatic and aimed at everyone at once. Your accounts are worth taking.
• Myth: A short password with lots of symbols is the strongest kind. Fact: Length wins. A passphrase of several words is stronger and easier to remember.
• Myth: If the code really came to my phone, the person asking must be legit. Fact: The person asking probably triggered that code by trying to log in as you. Real companies never ask for your code.
• Myth: If I clicked a bad link, I'm in huge trouble and should hide it. Fact: Clicking happens to almost everyone. Telling a trusted adult fast is how a click stays small.

Think it through — Cyber Security Awareness

Jayden gets a message in his favorite game from an account that looks official: "SECURITY ALERT — your account was reported. Verify within 24 hours or it will be banned." The link opens a login page that looks perfect, and Jayden's hands are shaking as he starts typing his password. His friend Marcus says, "It looks real, just do it." What should Jayden do?

Walk it through: (1) Name every warning sign from Part 4: a threat ("will be banned"), a countdown (24 hours), a link in a message leading to a login page, and fear doing the pushing. Perfect looks are proof of nothing — copied pages are cheap. (2) Apply Part 1's rule: the message needs Jayden rushed; real companies can wait. So Jayden stops and closes the page. (3) Check the real way, per Part 4: open the game app himself. If there were a real problem, it would appear there. (4) Protect others: report the fake account and tell a trusted adult. (5) Notice what didn't happen: Jayden lost nothing by waiting five minutes. Checking is always free; rushing is what costs.

One more real-life story — Cyber Security Awareness

Sofia used the same password — her cat's name and her birth year — for her email, her game, and her socials. One day that password leaked in a data breach. Within a week, a "friend" started messaging people from Sofia's social account asking for gift cards. With her mom, Sofia followed Part 6: she got her email back first, changed every password — new passphrases, all different, saved in a password manager — turned on two-factor authentication, warned all her contacts, and reported the theft through the platform. The leak was a company's failure and the theft was a criminal's choice; her only job had been the password habit.

Takeaway: One reused password connected every account Sofia owned. Different passphrases plus two-factor authentication break that chain — and telling fast turns a takeover into an annoying afternoon.

Try this — Cyber Security Awareness

• ☐ My email has its own passphrase, different from every other account, and two-factor authentication is on.
• ☐ I can say the code rule out loud: my codes are for my eyes only.
• ☐ I never log in from a link in a message — I open the real app myself.
• ☐ Automatic updates are turned on for my device and apps, and my photos are backed up somewhere besides my device.
• ☐ I know my trusted adult, and I would tell them the same day if an account problem happened.

Resources to keep — Cyber Security Awareness

• 911 — call if you are in danger right now.
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 — if you'd rather type than talk.
• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — ic3.gov — a trusted adult can help you report internet crime.
• Childhelp — 1-800-422-4453 — if an adult is hurting you.

What you earned / what's next — Cyber Security Awareness

✅ Topic Library — Cyber Security Awareness complete (test score 80% or higher): You can build a passphrase that holds, explain why every account needs a different one, use two-factor authentication and the code rule, spot phishing and fake sites, keep your device updated and backed up, and follow the steps if something goes wrong.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Topic Library: Cyber Security Awareness

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You now know the secrets that aren't secrets: long passphrases, a different one for every account, codes you never share, and the calm habit of checking before you click. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Keep building your safety map.

Sources

• staysafeonline.org — National Cybersecurity Alliance, family guidance on passwords
• cisa.gov — Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, "Secure Our World" program

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 in an emergency · 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call/text 988) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after downloading.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit extends the Cyber Bullying and Stalking units — it does not repeat them. It teaches the other crimes that happen on social media, in plain protective words, exactly how the FBI teaches young people about the worst of them: it is a crime done to a young person, never the young person's fault.

The lesson

Part 1. This unit starts where two others end

You may already know Cyber Bullying (saving proof, standing by a friend) and Stalking (when someone will not stop contacting you). This unit adds the rest of the map — the other crimes on social media, the laws in plain words, and the steps that protect you. Everything here is protective; nothing teaches how any crime is done.

One idea runs through the unit: proof can travel as fast as harm — if you save it before it disappears. Screenshots with dates, account names, and the order of events turn "nobody will believe me" into something adults and police can act on. Cyber Bullying taught the saving habit; this unit teaches when the law calls something a crime, so you know how much help you deserve.

Part 2. Threats and pile-ons — when words become crimes

Arguments online are not crimes. But the law draws real lines. Threats: a message seriously threatening to hurt someone can be a crime — federal law (18 U.S.C. § 875) covers threats sent across state lines, as internet messages usually are, and Massachusetts law covers threats too. Courts protect free speech carefully: in Elonis and Counterman, the Supreme Court required proof of what the sender understood — at minimum, that the sender recklessly disregarded a real risk the words would be taken as threatening violence. Plainly: "just a joke" is not automatic protection, and not every angry message is a crime. Adults sort the facts; your job is never to sort them alone.

Pile-ons are the second line: many accounts attacking one person together. Each sender may say "I only sent one message" — but the law looks at the pattern. Federal stalking law (18 U.S.C. § 2261A) and Massachusetts stalking and criminal-harassment laws (chapter 265, §§ 43 and 43A) are built for patterns meant to frighten or seriously distress — and both Massachusetts laws expressly cover internet messages. A pattern is not protected because it was divided into pieces.

Part 3. Doxxing and swatting — two crimes that leave the screen

Doxxing means publishing someone's private information — home address, school, a parent's workplace, phone number — to invite others to harass or harm them. "Findable somewhere" is not permission; the wrong is the invitation. If someone posts your private information, that is a crime to report, not an embarrassment to hide: save the posts, tell an adult, and ask about platform removal and, if the pattern continues, a court order (Part 5).

Swatting is a fake emergency report: someone lies to emergency services, claiming violence at an address, to send police rushing to an innocent home. Never a prank: it terrifies the family, wastes responders a real emergency needs, and risks real injury in a response to nothing. If you hear someone planning one — in a chat, in a game — tell a trusted adult or report it. Speaking up is how it stops before a door is forced open at midnight.

Part 4. Sextortion — a crime done TO a young person, never their fault

This is the unit's most important part, written the way the FBI writes it for young people. Sextortion happens when an adult tricks or pressures a young person connected to images, then threatens them — threatening to share images unless the young person sends more, or pays money. The FBI's guidance is clear about where the crime lives: the adult is the criminal. The young person is the victim. It is never the young person's fault, and the young person is not in trouble for being tricked.

Read that again: the criminal's whole plan depends on the victim believing the opposite. Shame and fear are the tools — lies told by a criminal. The FBI instructs young people to do what this school always teaches: stop, do not send anything more, do not pay, save the messages, and tell a trusted adult right away, and report it to the platform and law enforcement. The same sentence, true every time: you will not be in trouble for telling; telling is how it stops. You will be believed and helped — and reporting protects the next young person too. If this part frightens you, the help lines in Resources are staffed by people who take exactly this call.

Part 5. Your protection plan — settings, saving, orders, adults

A plan for your worst day, not just a good one. Settings first: private accounts, followers you actually know, location sharing off, selective posting — the FBI's guidance teaches the same habits; a smaller audience is a smaller target. Save before you solve: screenshot with account name, date, and time; keep messages in order. Do not delete in fear; do not answer to "get more proof." Tell and keep telling: a trusted adult, the platform's report button, then — for threats, patterns, doxxing, or sextortion — the police, with your proof in hand. Know the court door: Massachusetts ch. 258E lets a person suffering harassment ask a court, with an adult's help, for a harassment prevention order — no contact, stay away from home and school or workplace. Judges act on records, and your record is the one you kept.

Words to know — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

• Threat — a serious message promising to hurt someone; online threats can be crimes.
• Course of conduct — a pattern of acts over time aimed at one person — the shape stalking and harassment laws are built for.
• Doxxing — publishing someone's private information, like a home address, to invite harassment or harm.
• Swatting — a fake emergency report meant to send police rushing to an innocent person's home; a dangerous crime, never a prank.
• Sextortion — an adult threatening a young person over images; the adult's crime, never the young person's fault.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Harassment prevention order — a ch. 258E court order: stop contacting someone; stay away from their home and school or workplace.
• Evidence — saved proof: screenshots with accounts, dates, and times, kept in order.

Myths vs facts — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

• Myth: Threats online are 'just words,' not real crimes. Fact: Serious threats are crimes under federal and Massachusetts law; recklessness can be enough, and 'online' is no shield.
• Myth: One message in a pile-on is nothing. Fact: The law looks at the pattern — joining it is part of it.
• Myth: "Findable" information is fine to post about someone. Fact: Doxxing's wrong is the invitation to harass or harm. Findable is not permission.
• Myth: Swatting is a funny prank. Fact: It is a fake emergency that endangers an innocent family and the responders. It is a serious crime.
• Myth: A young person in sextortion will be in trouble and should stay quiet. Fact: The FBI says the opposite: the adult is the criminal; the young person is a victim, not in trouble — and telling is how it stops.

Think it through — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

The situation: Someone posts Maya's home address in a group chat — "go say hi" — and for two days new accounts send waves of insults after every post she makes. One message says, "We know your street. Sleep well." Maya deleted the first day's messages and is scared to tell her mother, thinking she "started it" by arguing in the chat last week.

Walk it through: (1) Name it (Parts 2–3): doxxing; a pattern — a course of conduct; a threat. Last week's argument makes none of it her fault. (2) Laws in outline (Part 2): patterns meant to frighten fit the federal stalking law and Massachusetts §§ 43 and 43A; threats fit the threat laws — adults sort the exact charges. (3) Proof from today (Part 5): stop deleting; save everything with account names, dates, and times; report every account. (4) Tell (Parts 4–5): her mother first, then police with the proof — and ask about a ch. 258E order. Any suggestion of coming to her home is 911.

One more real-life story — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

A student received a terrifying threat from an account pretending to be a classmate: send money, or private images would be shared school-wide. He almost paid. Instead he did the hardest thing this unit teaches — he told his older sister that night, exactly as it happened. She sat beside him while they saved every message, then went with him to their parents and the police. He later told a counselor: "Nobody yelled. Everybody just said — that's a crime, and it's not yours."

Takeaway: In sextortion, the criminal's tool is shame (Part 4). Telling breaks the tool. You will be believed, and you are not in trouble.

Cases & codes to study — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

Elonis v. United States, 575 U.S. 723 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2015)

• The facts: A man posted violently worded lyrics on Facebook about his wife and others and was convicted of online threats.
• The question: Can someone be convicted just because a reasonable reader would feel threatened, without proof of what the sender understood?
• The ruling and the outcome: No — the law requires more than carelessness about how words would land. The decision was reversed and sent back.
• Why it matters to you: Courts examine the sender's side too — which is why the exact words you save matter.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/13-983 (case page, at Oyez)

Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2023)

• The facts: A man sent hundreds of unwanted Facebook messages to a musician, making new accounts whenever she blocked him.
• The question: What must the government prove about the sender before punishing messages as true threats?
• The ruling and the outcome: It must show the sender at least recklessly disregarded a real risk his words would be viewed as threatening. The conviction, built without that proof, was vacated.
• Why it matters to you: "I didn't mean it" is not a magic shield — ignoring the obvious risk your words terrify someone can be enough.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/22-138 (case page, at Oyez)

Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S. 98 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2017)

• The facts: A state banned everyone on its registry from social media and prosecuted a man for a post celebrating a dismissed ticket.
• The question: Can a state ban a whole group from social media entirely?
• The ruling and the outcome: No. The ban punished far more speech than its safety purpose allowed. The conviction was reversed.
• Why it matters to you: Safety laws must aim at harmful behavior — threats, patterns, contact — not at simply being online.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-1194 (case page, at Oyez)

The law itself — read the real words

• 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) (U.S. Code) — threats to kidnap or injure sent across state lines are a federal crime. Read it: https://law.justia.com/codes/us/title-18/part-i/chapter-41/sec-875/
• 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2) (U.S. Code) — an online course of conduct meant to frighten or seriously distress can be federal stalking. Read it: https://law.justia.com/codes/us/title-18/part-i/chapter-110a/sec-2261a/
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 43 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — Massachusetts stalking: a pattern plus a threat of death or bodily injury, including by internet messages. Read it: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter265/section43
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 43A (Mass. Gen. Laws) — criminal harassment: a willful pattern seriously alarming someone, including by internet messages. Read it: https://law.justia.com/codes/massachusetts/2015/part-iv/title-i/chapter-265/section-43a/
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 258E (Mass. Gen. Laws) — harassment prevention orders: no contact; stay away from home and school or workplace. Read § 3: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/Partiii/Titleiv/Chapter258e/Section3

Free reading: Oyez (https://www.oyez.org); malegislature.gov (https://malegislature.gov).

Try this — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

• ☐ I can name the five crimes in this unit.
• ☐ I know my saving order: screenshot with account, date, and time — before I block or delete anything.
• ☐ I set one account more private and turned off location sharing.
• ☐ I named my trusted adults out loud to a friend or wrote them in my notebook.
• ☐ I know the sextortion truth by heart: the adult is the criminal; telling is how it stops.

Resources to keep — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

• 911 — in danger now, or if anyone suggests coming to your home.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time, including if messages are making you feel hopeless.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 — if the person threatening you is a dating partner.
• mass.gov — Massachusetts court information about harassment prevention orders.

What you earned / what's next — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

✅ Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can name the crimes that happen on social media, tell a threat and a pattern from an argument, state the sextortion truth the FBI teaches, save proof in the right order, and run your protection plan.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You know the screen's dangers by name and the plan that answers every one of them: save, tell, report, and never carry shame that belongs to a criminal. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Sextortion: A Growing Threat Targeting Minors — FBI (https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/atlanta/news/sextortion-a-growing-threat-targeting-minors) — the FBI framing this unit follows: the crime is the offender's; come forward to a trusted adult or law enforcement.
• Sextortion Targets Youth Online — FBI (https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/sextortion-053019.mp4/view) — transcript checked: victims are not in trouble; the coercing adult is.
• Elonis v. United States, 575 U.S. 723 (U.S. Supreme Court 2015) — negligence is not enough under § 875(c).
• Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (U.S. Supreme Court 2023) — true threats require subjective proof; recklessness suffices.
• Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U.S. 98 (U.S. Supreme Court 2017) — a blanket access ban burdened too much speech.
• 18 U.S.C. § 875 (U.S. Code) — interstate threats to kidnap or injure.
• 18 U.S.C. § 2261A (U.S. Code) — federal stalking, including online conduct.
• Chapter 265 § 43 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — Massachusetts stalking, including electronic communications.
• Chapter 265 § 43A (Mass. Gen. Laws) — Massachusetts criminal harassment, including electronic communications.
• Chapter 258E § 3 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — harassment prevention orders.

Course Record — Social Media Crimes and Prevention and Laws

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• distinguish a threat and a pattern from an ordinary online argument
• name doxxing and swatting and state why each is a serious crime
• state the FBI's sextortion framing: the adult is the criminal; telling a trusted adult is how it stops
• save proof in the right order with accounts, dates, and times, without deleting or re-engaging
• run the protection plan: settings, saving, telling, reports, and the ch. 258E court door
• Study time: Approximately 1 hour — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice and not medical advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911. This lesson does not diagnose or treat any person.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit is about prevention: how this condition can develop, why a growing brain deserves protection, and how to help a friend.

The lesson

Part 1. What a substance use disorder is — in plain words

A substance use disorder is a health condition. The body and brain learn to expect a substance, the person craves it, and they keep using it even when it hurts their health, grades, family, sports, or safety. It is not a sign of a bad person — which is exactly why prevention matters.

Three parts work together: the brain, which learns habits and rewards fast; behavior, the routines and cues around use; and circumstances, like stress, sadness, pain, or being around heavy use. Understanding it early gives a person the best chance to stay free of it.

Part 2. Why a growing brain needs extra protection

Your brain keeps developing into your twenties. The systems for judgment and weighing consequences are still under construction, while reward systems are already strong. That normal gap is why substances can hit a young person harder and teach the brain faster: early use raises the risk of a lasting pattern.

Nicotine in cigarettes and vapes can train craving quickly, and vaping can deliver a lot of nicotine without tasting harsh. Alcohol slows the brain and body and harms judgment and memory. Cannabis can affect attention, learning, motivation, and driving, and today's products can be stronger than people expect. Your choices should rest on how your brain works — not on an ad or a friend's guess.

Part 3. Pressure is real — refusal skills that actually work

Most offers sound like friendship: "Everyone's doing it," "Don't be weird," "Just once." Planning your answer before that moment is the skill. Short, calm lines work best: "No thanks, I'm good." "I want to stay clear for practice." You do not owe a long explanation, and repeating the same line without arguing — the broken record — is a real technique.

Add backup moves. Stay near friends who respect a no. Have a code word or text with a parent, caregiver, or older sibling that means "come get me." If substances appear unexpectedly, leaving is not rude — it is keeping your promise to yourself. Never ride with a driver who has been using; call a trusted adult or 911 if someone is in danger.

Part 4. Signs a friend may need help — and how to help

Watch for a pattern, not one bad day: pulling away from family and old friends, grades or attendance dropping, needing a substance just to get through the day, hiding or lying about use, or using to cope with every hard feeling. You cannot diagnose a friend, and you should not search or accuse them.

Talk privately and specifically: "You've missed practice three times and you seem miserable without your vape. I'm worried about you." Listen more than you lecture. Do not cover for use, buy or hold anything, or keep a dangerous secret. Tell a trusted adult — a parent, counselor, coach, or nurse — even if your friend asked you not to. If a friend is hard to wake or breathing slowly, call 911 and stay until help comes.

Part 5. Trusted adults, privacy, and the law in general

Name at least two trusted adults before a crisis. A school counselor can listen and connect you to outside help; a doctor or nurse can assess health needs. If talking at home feels hard, another trusted adult can help you find the words.

Substance use treatment records held by certain programs have strong legal confidentiality, but adults may need to share information to keep you or someone else safe. You can always ask: "Who else will you need to tell?"

One legal idea teaches compassion with accuracy. In Robinson v. California, the Supreme Court said a state may not make it a crime simply to be a person with an addiction. That does not make possessing or using illegal substances legal, and it does not erase school rules or consequences for acts. It means the right response to the condition is help — not shame.

Part 6. Building a life that protects you

Prevention is not only saying no. Build a day with less room for craving and pressure: sleep, food, movement, and people who like you without substances. Notice your triggers — boredom, stress, a group chat — and plan a different response: music, a walk, calling someone, leaving the chat.

Posts about use can follow a person to teams, jobs, and college. Do not share photos of someone else using, and do not let anyone pressure you into holding, buying, or delivering anything.

If you have already used and want to stop, tell a trusted adult or clinician honestly; stopping some substances can need medical guidance. Reaching out early is strength.

Words to know — Addictions

• Substance use disorder — a treatable health condition in which a person keeps using a substance despite serious harm and has difficulty stopping.
• Craving — a strong urge to use a substance, often triggered by cues or stress.
• Tolerance — the body's adaptation so the same amount produces less effect than before.
• Withdrawal — symptoms that can occur when a body adapted to a substance no longer gets it.
• Refusal skills — planned, calm ways to say no and leave a risky situation safely.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Vaping — breathing in aerosol from an electronic device, which often delivers nicotine.
• Protective factor — something that lowers risk, such as stable relationships, sleep, and support.

Myths vs facts — Addictions

• Myth: Vaping is just flavored water vapor. Fact: Many vapes deliver nicotine, which can train craving quickly.
• Myth: A person with a substance use disorder is a bad person. Fact: It is a health condition; the person deserves dignity.
• Myth: A real friend keeps a dangerous secret about use. Fact: Telling a trusted adult is how help arrives.
• Myth: One try cannot matter. Fact: Early use raises the chance of a lasting pattern, and no one knows in advance who will be affected most.
• Myth: Saying no requires a perfect speech. Fact: A short line, repeated calmly, plus a plan to leave, is a complete refusal skill.

Think it through — Addictions

The situation: At a gathering, Sam is offered a vape again and again. The host laughs, "Don't ruin the night." Sam does not want to vape. Across the room, Sam's friend Alex, who vapes daily and missed two practices, is asking people for money.

Walk it through: (1) Sam (Part 3): use a short line — "No thanks, I'm good" — repeat it, and use the planned ride or code text to leave if pressure rises. (2) Alex (Part 4): daily use, missed practices, and seeking money form a pattern to care about, not a diagnosis Sam should announce. (3) Helping (Part 4): speak privately later, refuse money for use, and tell a trusted adult or school counselor. (4) Compassion (Part 5): a developing condition is a health matter; the response is help, not mockery or a shared secret.

One more real-life story — Addictions

Jada started vaping because it seemed harmless and it was everywhere. Within months she was planning her day around it and embarrassed by how strong the pull felt. She told her school counselor first, asking who would need to know. The counselor connected her with her clinician and a quit-support plan, and Jada told her best friend the truth. The first weeks were uncomfortable, but the craving eased. She later said the hardest part was not quitting — it was saying the first sentence out loud.

Takeaway: Asking for help early gives a growing brain its best chance to heal and stay free.

Cases & codes to study — Addictions

Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (Supreme Court of the United States, 1962)

• The facts: A state law made it a crime simply to be a person addicted to narcotics, and a man was convicted on that status alone.
• The question: May a state punish a person for the condition of addiction itself?
• The ruling and the outcome: The Court said no and reversed the conviction: punishing the status of addiction is cruel and unusual punishment. Acts remain a separate question.
• Why it matters to you: A person with this condition deserves help and treatment, not punishment for who they are.
• 📄 Court document: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/370/660/

The law itself — read the real words

• 42 C.F.R. Part 2 (Code of Federal Regulations) — gives substance use disorder records held by covered programs added confidentiality. Read it: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/renderer/v1/content/enhanced/2025-01-29/title-42?chapter=I&subchapter=A&part=2

Where to read the real thing, free: eCFR (https://www.ecfr.gov); CourtListener (https://www.courtlistener.com).

Try this — Addictions

• ☐ Write two short refusal lines and practice them out loud.
• ☐ Set up a code word or text with a trusted adult that means "come get me."
• ☐ Name two trusted adults you could tell about a worried-about friend.
• ☐ List three protective parts of your week and one change that strengthens them.

Resources to keep — Addictions

• 911 — if a person is hard to wake or breathing slowly.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — if an adult is hurting you.
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 — treatment referrals.

What you earned / what's next — Addictions

✅ Addictions complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can explain a substance use disorder in plain words, say why a growing brain needs protection, use refusal skills, spot a worrying pattern in a friend, and name trusted adults and help lines.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Addictions

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned to protect your future and help a friend without shame. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Psychology 2e — OpenStax (https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/index) — Sections 4.5 and 16.4 on substance use and addictive disorders, syllabus anchor.
• National Helpline — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (samhsa.gov) — SAMHSA Helpline 1-800-662-4357, the referral line named here.
• Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (Supreme Court of the United States 1962) — punishing the status of addiction is cruel and unusual punishment; conviction reversed.
• 42 C.F.R. Part 2 (Code of Federal Regulations) — confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records.

Course Record — Addictions

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• explain a substance use disorder in plain, person-first words
• describe why a developing brain is more vulnerable, at an educational level
• use refusal lines, a code word or text, and an exit plan under pressure
• recognize a worrying pattern in a friend and involve a trusted adult
• state the Robinson idea that a condition is not a crime in itself
• list protective habits and name emergency and support help lines
• Study time: Approximately 0.75 hours — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice and not medical advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911. If you are struggling, call or text 988 any time — free, confidential, day or night.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit is about helping — yourself and your friends. It teaches the warning signs, the one rule that matters most, and the numbers that work. People in crisis can be helped, help works, and asking for help is strength.

The lesson

Part 1. Hard feelings and a crisis are different — and both deserve help

Everyone has awful days: a fight, a failure, a loss. Those feelings are real and deserve support. A crisis is different: it is when pain starts to feel hopeless — when a person feels trapped, like a burden, or like things will never get better. That feeling is a health emergency, the way a broken bone is. It is not weakness, and it is not drama.

Two truths to keep. First, a crisis is a feeling-state, not a life sentence — it can pass, especially with support and care. Second, nobody has to reach the worst point before asking for help. Feeling overwhelmed or hopeless is reason enough to call 988 or text HOME to 741741, right then.

Part 2. Warning signs in a friend — what to watch for

You may be the first person to notice when a friend is in trouble. Watch for changes like these:

• Talking or posting about wanting to die, feeling hopeless, having no reason to live, or being a burden to everyone.
• Pulling away — quitting the group chat, skipping things they used to love, avoiding everyone.
• Big changes: sleeping all the time or barely at all, not eating, failing classes they used to pass.
• Using more alcohol or drugs, or taking new risks without caring what happens.
• Giving away things that matter to them, or saying goodbye in a way that feels final.

One sign is a reason to check in. Several signs together — or anything that sounds like goodbye — is a reason to act today, using Part 3. Trust what you notice. You are not overreacting; you are being a friend.

Part 3. The one rule: never keep a friend's secret about safety

Here is the most important sentence in this unit: if a friend tells you they are thinking about suicide, you never keep that secret — you tell a trusted adult immediately. A friend may beg you not to tell. Tell anyway. A friendship can survive a broken promise; it cannot be rebuilt after a loss. Telling is not snitching. It is how your friend gets help bigger than any friend can carry alone.

A trusted adult is someone who believes you and will act: a parent or caregiver, a counselor, a teacher, a coach. Show them the messages if you have them. If the first adult shrugs it off, tell the next one, and keep telling until an adult acts. You can also call or text 988 — counselors there help worried friends too.

Part 4. How to help a friend — ask, listen, stay, connect

You can do more than tell, and none of it requires the perfect words. Ask directly: "Are you thinking about suicide?" Asking does not plant the idea — that is a myth, and Part 5 takes it apart. Listen: let them talk, do not judge, and do not promise secrecy. Stay: with them, in person or on the phone, while an adult or counselor gets involved. Connect: call 988 together, or text HOME to 741741 side by side. If a friend might act right now, call 911.

And if the person in crisis is you: the same steps are yours. Tell a trusted adult today. Call or text 988. You deserve the same help you would get for a friend.

Part 5. Myths that get in the way

Myths keep people silent, so learn the facts cold. "Talking about suicide makes it worse" — false; talking opens the door to help. "People who mention it just want attention" — false; every mention is a warning sign to take seriously. "If I tell, my friend will hate me forever" — a friend may be upset for a while; that is a price worth paying for their life. "Real friends handle things between themselves" — false; real friends bring in the adults and counselors whose job this is. You would not set a friend's broken bone yourself. Do not carry this alone either.

Words to know — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

• Crisis — a time when pain feels hopeless and a person feels trapped; a health emergency that can pass with support and care.
• Warning signs — changes in what a person says or does that show they may be thinking about suicide and need help now.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help.
• Crisis counselor — a trained counselor who answers 988 or the Crisis Text Line, listens, and connects people to help.
• Help-seeking — reaching out to a person, counselor, or service for support; strength, never weakness.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — the free, confidential service you reach by calling or texting 988, any time, for yourself or for a friend.
• Crisis Text Line — the free service you reach by texting HOME to 741741, to type with a trained counselor instead of talking.
• Safety secret — a secret about someone's safety; the kind of secret that is never kept — you tell a trusted adult.

Myths vs facts — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

• Myth: Talking about suicide plants the idea. Fact: Asking directly does not plant anything. It opens the door to help.
• Myth: Keeping a friend's secret proves loyalty. Fact: Safety secrets are never kept. Telling a trusted adult is the loyalty that matters.
• Myth: People who talk about suicide just want attention. Fact: Talking about it is a warning sign. Take every mention seriously.
• Myth: 988 is only for the very worst moment. Fact: You can call 988 any time you feel overwhelmed, hopeless, or worried about a friend.
• Myth: A crisis lasts forever. Fact: A crisis is a state that can pass — support, time, and care help people through it.

Think it through — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

The situation: Your friend Maya has gone quiet for two weeks — out of the group chat, off the team. Last night she texted you: "Everyone's better off without me messing things up. Promise you won't tell anyone." This morning she sent you her favorite hoodie with a note: "Want you to have this."

Walk it through: (1) Name the signs (Part 2): pulling away, talking about being a burden, and giving away something that matters — several signs together means act today. (2) Break the promise (Part 3): safety secrets are never kept. Tell a trusted adult immediately and show them the texts. (3) Help directly (Part 4): call Maya, ask the direct question, listen, stay on the line, and call or text 988 together if she will. If she might act right now, call 911. (4) Keep telling (Part 3): if the first adult does not act, tell the next one. That is not betrayal. That is friendship with its sleeves rolled up.

One more real-life story — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

Jordan's friend Sam stopped answering texts, then posted lyrics about disappearing and deleted his accounts. Jordan felt sick about "telling on" him — then remembered this unit's rule and showed the posts to the school counselor that morning. The counselor reached Sam's family the same day, and Sam got support over the following weeks. Months later, Sam said what Jordan needed to hear: "I'm glad you didn't keep that secret."

Takeaway: A friend's anger fades. Telling fast, to an adult who acts, is something you never have to regret.

Cases & codes to study — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

This youth unit teaches no court cases, on purpose — the skills here are helping skills, and they do not need a case. There is one piece of law behind the number you have been learning: a federal law made 988 the one national number for suicide and crisis help, so anyone, anywhere in the country, can reach trained counselors by dialing three digits. That is all you need to know about the law here: 988 works, it is free, and it is answered day and night.

Try this — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

• ☐ Save 988 in your phone, and start a text thread with the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) so it is there if you need it.
• ☐ Name three trusted adults, in order, and save them in your phone.
• ☐ Practice saying the direct question out loud: "Are you thinking about suicide?"
• ☐ Tell a friend the one rule: safety secrets are never kept — we tell an adult.
• ☐ Learn the warning signs list in Part 2 well enough to say it without looking.

Resources to keep — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

• 988 (call or text) — free, confidential help any time, for you or for a friend you are worried about.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• 911 — if someone might act right now, or is in danger.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• SAMHSA — samhsa.gov — suicide prevention information written for families and young people.

What you earned / what's next — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

✅ Suicide and Suicide Prevention complete (test score 80% or higher): You can spot the warning signs in a friend, state the one rule about safety secrets, ask the direct question, and connect a friend — or yourself — to a trusted adult and to 988 fast.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned the signs, the rule, and the numbers — and that telling fast is what real friends do. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Preventing Suicide — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov) (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/prevention/index.html) — warning signs, protective connections, and the prevention frame used in Parts 1–2.
• Suicide Prevention — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (samhsa.gov) (http://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/suicidal-behavior/prevention) — helping steps, including that asking directly does not put the idea in a person's head, used in Part 4.

Course Record — Suicide and Suicide Prevention

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• explain the difference between hard feelings and a crisis, and why a crisis can pass with support;
• list the warning signs of suicide in a friend;
• state the rule that a friend's secret about safety is never kept, and name how to tell a trusted adult;
• ask a friend directly about suicide, listen, stay, and connect them to 988 or the Crisis Text Line;
• correct the common myths that keep people silent.
• Study time: Approximately 30 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you download it and write your own name on it after.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. You can retake the test as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit teaches a skill that protects you everywhere: checking a story before you believe it. It works on scams, rumors, dares, and strangers — and on nice people too, because checking is not accusing.

The lesson

Part 1. Nobody can spot every lie — and that is not your fault

Here is a fact scientists have proven again and again: no body-language trick reveals a lie. Not eye contact, not fidgeting, not a shaky voice. When researchers test people — even police officers and judges — at telling truth from lies by watching, people score about 54 out of 100, barely better than flipping a coin.

So if someone has fooled you, you are not foolish — you are human. The good news: you do not need to read faces. You need to check stories, and checking is a skill anyone can learn.

Part 2. How tricksters work

People who trick others usually rush you. Watch for three moves:

• Hurry. "Decide right now." "Send it before midnight." Real things can almost always wait until tomorrow; a story that cannot survive one night of thinking fears the light.
• Big authority. "I am from the bank." "This is the school office." A title is a costume anyone can wear in a message.
• Secrecy. "Do not tell your parents." "This stays between us." Secrecy stops you from doing the one thing that defeats tricks: asking somebody else.

A person can use all three moves and sound kind, calm, and completely sure. Sounding sure is not being truthful.

Part 3. Check the story — four moves that work

1. Ask what the proof is. "How do you know that?" is a fair question to anyone — even an adult, even a friend.
2. Check a detail. Stories contain checkable pieces — a name, a place, a time, a rule. Check one somewhere the storyteller does not control: the real website, the real office, the official page.
3. Wait and ask again. True stories stay steady in their main facts. If the big facts keep changing, that is information.
4. Tell a trusted adult and compare. Two checkers catch what one alone would miss.

Checking works on rumors too: repetition is not proof — a hundred shares of a false story are still a false story.

Part 4. Special traps for young people

• Fake emergencies. "Your friend is in trouble, send gift cards / money / codes now." Real help starts with a trusted adult and a call to a known number — never gift cards.
• Too-good offers. Free game currency, free phones, prizes you never entered for. A gift from a stranger is bait.
• "Everyone is doing it." Pressure dressed as popularity. Ask: everyone who? Name three real people.
• Moving the conversation. Someone pushing to move from a public app to a private one, or asking you to keep the friendship secret, is using Part 2's secrecy move. That is a stop sign — tell a trusted adult today.

Part 5. If someone in authority questions you

Sometimes you are the one being questioned. You have rights in that room. In J.D.B. v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court said a young person's age counts when deciding whether they were really free to leave questioning — kids feel pressure from authority differently than adults do.

Your protections: you can ask, "Am I free to leave?" You can say, "I want my parent or guardian here," "I want a lawyer," and "I am going to stay silent." Saying these calmly is allowed — not rude, and not an admission of anything. Then tell a trusted adult everything that happened.

Words to know — Recognizing Lies and Truth

• Deception — trying to make someone believe something that is not true.
• Verification — checking a claim against proof outside the claim itself, like a document or another source.
• Independent source — a place you check that does not just repeat the first story, so it can confirm or disprove it.
• Consistency check — comparing a story over time to see whether its main facts stay the same.
• Rumor — a story passed person to person without proof; repeating it does not make it true.
• Trusted adult — a grown-up who will listen and help keep you safe — a parent, guardian, family member, teacher, or counselor.
• Pressure tactic — a trick that pushes you to decide fast or stay silent — hurry, big authority, or secrecy — so you will not check.
• Custody — being held by police so a reasonable person would not feel free to leave.

Myths vs facts — Recognizing Lies and Truth

• Myth: You can tell a liar by their eyes. Fact: Science has tested this for decades. No look, gesture, or voice change reliably reveals a lie.
• Myth: If five people say it, it must be true. Fact: Repetition is not proof. Five people can repeat one person's false story.
• Myth: Only little kids get tricked. Fact: Adults, including trained professionals, score barely better than chance at spotting lies by watching. Everyone needs checking habits.
• Myth: Checking a story means calling someone a liar. Fact: Checking is respect for the truth, not an accusation — honest people welcome it.
• Myth: If an adult says keep a secret from your parents, you should. Fact: Safe adults never ask kids to keep secrets from their parents or guardians. That request is itself a warning sign — tell a trusted adult.

Think it through — Recognizing Lies and Truth

A message arrives from an account using your friend's photo: "I'm locked out of my real account. I entered us in a contest and we WON — I just need the login code texted to your phone. Send it quick, it expires in 10 minutes!!"

Walk it through:

1. Spot the moves from Part 2. Hurry ("10 minutes"), a story you cannot see, and a request aimed at your account — three flags before you have checked anything.
2. Check a detail the storyteller does not control (Part 3). Message your friend on the app or number you already use. If the real friend says "not me," the story is over.
3. Remember what the code really is. A login code sent to your phone is a key to your account; handing it over gives away the key (Part 4).
4. Tell a trusted adult (Part 3). The adult can help report the fake account.

One more real-life story — Recognizing Lies and Truth

Two students heard a teacher had been fired "for sure — everybody knows." One repeated it all day. The other asked, "How do we know?" She checked the school newsletter (nothing), asked the office (she was at a training), and noticed the story started from one post by someone absent for days. The "fired" teacher returned Monday with training photos. The second student was not smarter about faces — she just checked one detail first.

Takeaway: You cannot control what stories reach you — only whether they pass through you unchecked. Part 3's four moves make you the person rumors stop at.

Cases & codes to study — Recognizing Lies and Truth

J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. 261 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2011)

• The facts: A 13-year-old student was taken from his classroom by a uniformed officer to a closed-door room at school and questioned for about half an hour by police and administrators about two break-ins. Nobody told him he could leave, nobody called his grandmother, his legal guardian, and he was not read his rights before he confessed.
• The question: When deciding whether a young person was in custody — and so should have been read their rights — may courts consider their age?
• The ruling and the outcome: Yes. A child's age properly counts when the officer knew it or it would have been obvious, because children experience police pressure differently from adults. The state decision was reversed, and the case sent back to be decided again with his age taken into account.
• Why it matters to you: Your age is not a weakness in that room — the law says it changes what pressure means. Asking for your guardian, asking if you are free to leave, and asking for a lawyer are rights the highest court protects at your age.
• 📄 Court document: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-564/pdf/USREPORTS-564-261.pdf (the official opinion, U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Where to read the real thing, free: CourtListener (courtlistener.com), Google Scholar case law (scholar.google.com), and the U.S. Supreme Court (supremecourt.gov).

Try this — Recognizing Lies and Truth

• ☐ Find one rumor or viral claim this week and run Part 3 on it: ask for proof, check one detail the poster does not control.
• ☐ Write down Part 2's three trickster moves and one example of each from a message, ad, or video.
• ☐ Practice saying these out loud until they feel easy: "Am I free to leave?" "I want my parent or guardian here." "I am going to stay silent."
• ☐ Choose your trusted adults now — name two, and save how to reach them.

Resources to keep — Recognizing Lies and Truth

• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 — free, day or night.
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 — if anything feels wrong or unsafe with an adult.

What you earned / what's next — Recognizing Lies and Truth

✅ Recognizing Lies and Truth complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can explain why nobody can spot lies reliably from body language, name the three trickster moves, check any story four ways, recognize traps set for young people, and state your rights if questioned.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Recognizing Lies and Truth

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. You learned the checker's habit: believe carefully, verify kindly, and never let hurry make your decisions. It will guard you in every classroom and every inbox. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• Bond & DePaulo, "Accuracy of Deception Judgments" — Personality and Social Psychology Review (2006) — average truth/lie accuracy of about 54 percent.
• OpenStax, Psychology 2e — OpenStax, Rice University (openstax.org) (https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/preface) — research and social-psychology framing used to check this unit's concepts.
• J.D.B. v. North Carolina, 564 U.S. 261 (U.S. Supreme Court 2011) — a child's age informs the Miranda custody analysis.

Course Record — Recognizing Lies and Truth

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• state the research on spotting lies from behavior: no body-language trick is reliable;
• name the three trickster moves — hurry, big authority, secrecy;
• check a story four ways: ask for proof, check a detail independently, wait and compare, involve a trusted adult;
• identify traps aimed at young people — fake emergencies, too-good offers, secrecy requests;
• state their protections if questioned, including asking for a guardian.
• Study time: Approximately 0.5 hours — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after downloading.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit teaches what personal information is, why some of it is powerful, and what to never share. It builds on the Cyber Security Awareness unit: that one taught passwords; this one teaches the information itself.

The lesson

Part 1. What personal information is

Personal information — grown-ups shorten it to PII — is any information that can point to one specific person: you. Your full name, birth date, home address, school, a photo of your face, and the number on an ID card all count.

Some pieces point to you all by themselves. Others point to you only when put together. Your first name alone could be a thousand people. Your first name plus your school plus your team photo is exactly one person: you. That is the most important idea in this unit: pieces combine. A game, a form, or a stranger in a chat rarely asks for everything at once. They collect a piece here and a piece there — until the pieces build a picture of a real person who can be found or impersonated.

Part 2. The most powerful pieces — what to never share

Some information is so powerful that you should never share it online, in a game, in a chat, or with anyone who asks by message:

• Your full name together with where you live or go to school — that combination can locate you.
• Your exact birth date, home address, and phone number.
• Any ID number — from a school ID, a passport, or any card with a long number.
• Passwords and the codes sent to your phone. Codes are for your eyes only.
• Photos of documents — report cards with ID numbers, letters with your address.
• Your live location. Keep location sharing off except, if your family uses it, with a parent or caregiver.

Why so strict? This information does not expire. A password can be changed; your birth date cannot. What is shared at twelve can be used at twenty.

Part 3. Where your information lives — and who holds it

Your information does not live only in your phone. Your school holds records about you. A doctor's office holds health records. A team, a club, a game company, and every app on your phone hold pieces too. The grown-ups who run those places are supposed to protect what they hold — the law requires many of them to guard it carefully and to tell your family if it is ever lost or stolen. The Data Breaches unit explains what that kind of letter means.

Your part is simpler: notice what you hand over. When a game asks for your birth date, ask whether a game needs it. When an app asks for your location, contacts, or photos, that is a request for personal information — and "no" is a complete answer. Asking a parent or caregiver before a new form or account is not babyish; it is what careful adults do with contracts.

Part 4. Tricks that collect information

People who want your information dress the request up:

• Quizzes and "find out" games that ask your birth date, your first pet, your street — questions that are also password-reset questions.
• Fake giveaways that need your address and phone number "to send your prize."
• A friendly new contact who asks, one small question at a time, where you go to school, when practice ends, and whether your parents are home. Together the answers are a map (Part 1).
• Messages claiming to be your school, a game, or a delivery company asking you to "confirm" personal details. Real organizations do not collect information this way — stop, do not click, verify with a trusted adult.

The pattern to recognize is pressure plus pieces: anything rushing you to hand over information before you can think.

Part 5. Your rules — and what to do when something goes wrong

Keep these rules where you can see them:

1. Never share the Part 2 list. Not for a prize, not for a game, not because someone says everyone does.
2. Pieces combine. Before answering any question about yourself, ask what it adds to the picture.
3. Ask before you fill. New account, new form, new app permission — check with a trusted adult first.
4. Private accounts, known people only. Accept contacts you know in real life.
5. If you already shared something, tell a trusted adult today. Sharing by accident is fixable fastest when adults know early, and you will not be in trouble for telling. Adults can change passwords, tighten accounts, and ask what a school or company holds.

If someone keeps pushing for your information or makes you feel unsafe, that is an adult problem now: tell a trusted adult, block and report, and call 911 if you are in danger. Text HOME to 741741 or call or text 988 any time.

Words to know — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

• Personally identifiable information (PII) — information that can identify one specific person, alone or combined.
• Direct identifier — information that points to one person on its own, such as an ID number.
• Sensitive personal information — identifying information whose misuse can do serious harm, such as ID numbers and passwords.
• Private information — facts like your school, address, routine, and live location that others do not need.
• Location sharing — an app feature showing others where your phone is; a map of your life.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Data minimization — collecting only the information a purpose needs.
• Phishing — a fake message impersonating a real organization to trick you into revealing information.

Myths vs facts — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

• Myth: One small fact about me cannot hurt anything. Fact: Pieces combine. A name plus a school plus a schedule is a map to one person.
• Myth: A quiz game asking fun questions is harmless. Fact: Quiz questions often match password-reset questions exactly.
• Myth: A private account means nothing I share can spread. Fact: Screenshots travel. Anything you send can be copied in a second.
• Myth: Only strangers want my information. Fact: Requests also come dressed as games, giveaways, and delivery messages. The costume proves nothing.
• Myth: If I shared something, I should hide it. Fact: Telling a trusted adult early is how sharing gets fixed. You will not be in trouble for telling.

Think it through — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

The situation: Milo, 13, gets a message from an account with a game logo: he "won" a rare item, and the account needs his full name, home address, birth date, and a photo of his school ID "to verify age." The offer expires in one hour.

Walk it through: (1) Name the pieces (Part 1): name, address, birth date, and an ID photo combine into a complete identification of one child — and the ID photo alone is on the never-share list (Part 2). (2) Name the trick (Part 4): a fake giveaway plus a deadline; the pressure exists so Milo cannot stop and think. (3) Milo's moves (Part 5): do not reply or send anything, screenshot the message, block and report, and tell a trusted adult today. A real prize never requires an ID photo from a child in a chat.

One more real-life story — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

Sofia loved a "what's your superhero name" quiz going around her class: first pet's name plus the street you live on. She almost posted hers — then remembered Part 4: those are password-reset questions wearing a costume. She skipped the quiz and told two friends why. One friend had already posted hers publicly; with her mother's help she changed her security answers that evening to answers that were not true facts about her at all.

Takeaway: The quiz was never measuring fun. It was collecting pieces (Part 1). Sofia's pause — and telling her friend — is the whole skill.

Cases & codes to study — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

The law itself — read the real words

• 5 U.S.C. § 552a (U.S. Code) — the Privacy Act: rules federal agencies follow for records about people, including your right to see records about yourself and ask for corrections. Read it: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=prelim&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title5-section552a
• 201 CMR 17.00 (Massachusetts regulation) — requires holders of Massachusetts residents' personal information to protect it under a written security plan. Read it: https://www.mass.gov/regulations/201-CMR-1700-standards-for-the-protection-of-personal-information-of-ma-residents

Where to read the real thing, free: The U.S. Code at uscode.house.gov (https://uscode.house.gov); Massachusetts regulations and laws at mass.gov (https://www.mass.gov) and malegislature.gov (https://malegislature.gov).

Try this — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

• ☐ Location sharing is off in my apps, except with a parent or caregiver if my family uses it.
• ☐ I can list the never-share pieces from memory: full name with school or address, birth date, address, phone, ID numbers, passwords and codes, photos of documents, live location.
• ☐ I checked one app's permissions and turned off access it does not need.
• ☐ I know which trusted adult I would tell first if I shared something by accident.

Resources to keep — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

• 911 — in danger now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring you for information or hurting you.

What you earned / what's next — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

✅ PII — Personally Identifiable Information complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can say what personal information is, explain how pieces combine, list what to never share, spot information-collecting tricks, and work the steps when something is shared by accident.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. Your information belongs to you. You know which pieces are powerful and how to keep them in your own hands. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• CS406: Information Security — Saylor Academy (https://learn.saylor.org/mod/page/view.php?id=29839) — open courseware checked for information-security and access-control basics.
• Foundations of Information Systems, Chapter 6 — OpenStax (https://openstax.org/books/foundations-information-systems/pages/6-summary) — open textbook checked for data privacy and data security concepts.
• 201 CMR 17.00 — Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of Residents of the Commonwealth — Mass.gov (https://www.mass.gov/regulations/201-CMR-1700-standards-for-the-protection-of-personal-information-of-ma-residents) — the Massachusetts rule requiring holders of personal information to protect it.
• Title 5 § 552a (U.S. Code) — the Privacy Act: agency duties and individual access and amendment rights for federal records.

Course Record — PII — Personally Identifiable Information

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• define personal information (PII) and explain how separate pieces combine to identify one person;
• list the pieces of information that should never be shared online or by message;
• name where personal information is held and what the holders are supposed to do;
• recognize quizzes, giveaways, friendly questioning, and fake messages as information-collecting tricks;
• state the steps to take when information has been shared by accident.
• Study time: Approximately 45 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after downloading.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retake it as many times as you need. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time.
• This unit explains the letter families receive when information is taken in a "data breach" — what it means, and what happens next. It builds on the PII and Cyber Security Awareness units.

The lesson

Part 1. What a data breach is

A data breach is when information an organization was holding — a company, a school, a game, a doctor's office — gets taken, copied, or seen by someone never supposed to have it.

Picture a locked filing cabinet. Sometimes someone picks the lock. Sometimes it was left open by mistake. Sometimes a person who worked there opened it without permission. Either way, information that was supposed to stay inside is now outside — and cannot be taken back.

Notice two things. A breach is about information, not computers breaking — computers can look fine while copies travel anywhere. And a breach is not your fault. Protecting information you trusted an organization with was their job.

Part 2. How a breach happens, in simple shapes

• Someone breaks in. A criminal tricks an employee with a fake message, guesses a weak password, or slips through a part of the system that was never fixed, then copies information.
• Something is left open. A file is set up so anyone can see it, or an email with everyone's information goes to the wrong person. No break-in — the door was open.
• Someone inside misuses it. A worker takes information they had no job reason to touch.
• A device is lost or stolen. A laptop or drive with information disappears.

Whichever way it happens, the organization must find out what happened, close the opening, and tell the people involved. That telling is Part 3.

Part 3. The breach letter — what it means when one arrives

When a breach involves certain personal information, Massachusetts law requires the organization to send notice — to state officials and to the people affected. So a letter arrives saying the organization "experienced a data security incident," naming what information was involved, and offering steps or services.

Read it with a parent or caregiver, and look for the most important line: what information was involved. A name with an email address is one level of problem. A name with a birth date, an ID number, or health information is far more serious — those are the powerful pieces from the PII unit, the ones that do not expire and can be used to pretend to be you.

Two warnings. First, fake breach letters exist — criminals imitate them, hoping you will click a link or call a fake number in a panic. Reach the organization through its real website or a number you already have, never only through the letter. Second, the letter cannot tell you whether your information has been misused yet — only that it was in the group taken. What happens next is Part 4.

Part 4. What your family does — and your part in it

Adults run most of these steps, but understand every one — the information is yours:

1. Read and check the letter together (Part 3), and keep it safe. It is a document, not junk mail.
2. Watch the accounts. Adults check statements carefully for months. Charges nobody recognizes — even tiny ones — get reported.
3. Lock the credit file. Adults can place a security freeze, stopping new accounts from being opened in a name. For children, a parent can ask about a protected freeze for a minor — children's information is targeted because nobody checks it for years.
4. Change passwords on accounts connected to the breach, make each one different, and turn on two-factor authentication.
5. Be extra suspicious afterward. Fake "breach support" messages often follow a breach. Stop, do not click, verify with an adult.

Your own jobs: tell a parent or caregiver immediately if a breach letter is addressed to you; never answer one by yourself; and if anything strange appears — an account you did not make, a bill with your name — bring it to an adult the same day. Strange paperwork is a smoke alarm, never something to hide.

Part 5. Your rights, and who to tell

You have rights in this, even as a young person: the right to the notice itself, to ask what information was involved and what the organization is doing, and to the protective steps the letter describes — including, in Massachusetts, being told how to place a free security freeze.

And the oldest rule in this school still runs everything: tell a trusted adult, and keep telling until an adult acts. A letter in your backpack helps nobody; read together, it starts every protection in Part 4. If a breach message frightens you, call 911 in danger, text HOME to 741741, or call or text 988.

Words to know — Data Breaches

• Data breach — when information an organization held is taken, copied, or seen by someone never supposed to have it.
• Breach notification — the notice an organization must send to officials and affected people after a breach.
• Security freeze — a free lock on a credit file so new accounts cannot be opened in that name until lifted.
• Personally identifiable information (PII) — information that can identify one specific person, alone or combined.
• Sensitive personal information — identifying information whose misuse can do serious harm, such as ID numbers and birth dates.
• Trusted adult — an adult who believes you, does not hurt you, and will act to help you stay safe.
• Two-factor authentication — a second proof of identity after the password, such as a code on your own device.
• Phishing — a fake message impersonating a real organization to trick you into revealing information.

Myths vs facts — Data Breaches

• Myth: A breach letter means it is too late. Fact: The letter starts the protection. Freezes, password changes, and watching accounts all work after a breach.
• Myth: A big company's breach has nothing to do with me. Fact: If your information was in their files, it does. Size does not change whose name and birth date were taken.
• Myth: The letter's links are the fastest safe way to respond. Fact: Fake letters copy real ones. Reach the organization through its real website or a trusted number.
• Myth: Kids need not worry because kids have no credit. Fact: A child's unused information is valuable exactly because no one checks it for years. Families can ask about a protected freeze for a minor.
• Myth: A breach letter is junk mail. Fact: It is a legal notice. Keep it and read it with an adult.

Think it through — Data Breaches

The situation: A letter to Ana's mother says the billing company for Ana's dentist had a data breach; the information involved included names, birth dates, and health insurance details — including Ana's, age 11. Ana reads it, panics, wonders if she did something wrong, and thinks about putting it back and saying nothing.

Walk it through: (1) Fault first (Part 1): Ana did nothing wrong; protecting the information was the billing company's job. (2) Read the key line (Part 3): birth dates and health insurance details are the serious pieces — this letter matters. (3) The family's steps (Part 4): keep the letter; verify it through the dentist's real number; watch insurance paperwork for care Ana never received; change the portal password to a unique one with two-factor authentication; ask about a protected freeze for a minor. (4) Ana's part (Part 5): she already did it — she brought the letter to an adult.

One more real-life story — Data Breaches

After a breach at a store chain, Mr. Okafor read the family's letter out loud with his two teenagers — what was taken, what the store offered, what it did not. The teens changed passwords that night, the parents froze their credit, and everyone agreed: any strange charge or "breach support" call got shown to a parent first. Twice, fake support messages arrived; twice, the rule caught them.

Takeaway: A breach letter read together becomes a family plan (Part 4).

Cases & codes to study — Data Breaches

The law itself — read the real words

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93H, § 3 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — requires organizations to notify state officials and affected residents without unreasonable delay when personal information is breached; the resident's letter must explain the right to a police report and how to request a free security freeze. Read it: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXV/Chapter93H/Section3
• 45 C.F.R. §§ 164.400–414 (Code of Federal Regulations) — the health breach notification rules. Read it: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/renderer/v1/content/enhanced/2024-04-10/title-45?subtitle=A&subchapter=C&part=164

Where to read the real thing, free: Massachusetts law at malegislature.gov (https://malegislature.gov); federal regulations at ecfr.gov (https://www.ecfr.gov).

Try this — Data Breaches

• ☐ I can explain a data breach in one sentence without using the word "hacked."
• ☐ I know the first move when a breach letter arrives: read it with a parent or caregiver, and keep it.
• ☐ I know to reach an organization through its real website or a trusted number — never only through the letter.
• ☐ I know children's information needs protection too, and that a parent can ask about a protected freeze for a minor.

Resources to keep — Data Breaches

• 911 — in danger now.
• 988 (call or text) — support any time.
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 — if you would rather type than talk.
• Childhelp: 1-800-422-4453 — help if an adult is pressuring or hurting you.
• mass.gov — Massachusetts breach information for families.

What you earned / what's next — Data Breaches

✅ Data Breaches complete (quiz score 80% or higher): You can say what a data breach is, name the ways one happens, read a breach letter for its key line, work your family's response steps, and state who to tell.

Your certificate

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Certificate of Completion — Data Breaches

This certificate is presented by Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

Awarded to: ______________________________ (write your name here after you download — your name is never collected or stored by this school)

Date completed: ______________

Congratulations. A frightening letter is now a readable one. You know what it means, what your family does next, and that none of it was your fault. — Minister Destiny Marie Morgan

This is a certificate of educational completion from Minister Destiny Testimony Schools. It is not a state license, a government certification, or legal training for representing anyone.

What's next: Return to the Topic Library for your next Year 1 Foundations unit.

Sources

• CS406: Information Security — Saylor Academy (https://learn.saylor.org/mod/page/view.php?id=29839) — open courseware checked for security basics.
• Foundations of Information Systems, Chapter 6 — OpenStax (https://openstax.org/books/foundations-information-systems/pages/6-summary) — open textbook checked for breach and privacy concepts.
• Report a data breach — Mass.gov (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/report-a-data-breach) — the notification law summarized.
• Chapter 93H § 3 (Mass. Gen. Laws) — the Massachusetts duty to report a known security breach and what a resident's notice must contain.
• Part 164, §§ 164.400–414 (Code of Federal Regulations) — HIPAA breach notification duties for unsecured protected health information.

Course Record — Data Breaches

• Learning outcomes: On completing this unit, the student can:
• define a data breach and describe the common ways one happens;
• read a breach letter, identify what information was involved, and explain why it must be verified through the organization's real channels;
• list the steps a family takes after a breach, including a security freeze and a protected freeze for a minor;
• state who to tell when a breach letter or strange paperwork arrives.
• Study time: Approximately 45 minutes — an estimate covering reading, activities, and the test. Students move at their own pace.
• Assessment: A 10-question test drawn only from this unit's lesson. 80% or higher passes and earns the unit certificate. Answers and scores stay on the student's own device; retakes are allowed.
• Level: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) · Youth school · working rank on completion path: Freshman → Sophomore.
• Version: Version 1.0 — October 2026.

Minister Destiny Testimony Schools — Youth. Educational information only, not legal advice. Help lines: 911 · 988 (call or text) · Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) · Childhelp 1-800-422-4453.

School: Minister Destiny Testimony Schools Track: Youth Class: Topic Library — Year 1 (Foundations) Founded and presented by: Minister Destiny Marie Morgan, Minister

This lesson is educational information, Massachusetts-first, and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state. If you are in danger right now, call 911.

Before you start

• This space is private. Nobody sees what you read or answer. Your progress stays on your device.
• We never ask your name. Not here, not on the test, not on the certificate. If you earn a certificate, you write your own name on it after you download it.
• Pass the test at 80% or higher to earn this unit's certificate. Retakes are allowed anytime. Answers are not shown: go back and find what you missed.
• If you are in danger right now: call 911. If you cannot talk out loud, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) or call or text 988 any time, day or night.
• This unit covers your online footprint, your first records, and how gifts, secrets, and fake jobs are used as traps — and how telling defeats them.

The lesson

Part 1. Your digital footprint — deleting is not gone

Every post, photo, message, comment, and location tag leaves a trace. Together they are your digital footprint. Some you make on purpose; some are made for you — a tag, a team photo, an app's location record.

The key fact: anything on a screen can be copied in a second — screenshot, saved photo, forwarded message — before you ever press delete. A removed post can live on in someone else's phone; public traces can surface later for a school, team, coach, or employer.

This is not about fear or shame. It is about ownership: your story belongs to you. The habit is a pause before posting. Ask: Would I show this to a coach? To a grandmother? To a future boss? If not, it does not go up — or it goes only to the small, trusted circle it was meant for, location tags off.

Part 2. Your first record — and how the law protects it

A footprint is informal. A record is formal: something an institution writes down and keeps — a school's discipline record, a police record, a juvenile court record.

In Massachusetts, juvenile court records are generally not public the way adult records are. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 119, § 60A says delinquency records are withheld from public inspection, and ch. 276, § 100B (see Cases & Codes) lets many be sealed: closed off, reported as "no record" to most who ask. A mistake at 14 is not supposed to run a whole life.

But "it all disappears automatically" is a myth in both directions. Protection is not always automatic, school consequences are separate from court ones, and some situations need a lawyer, asked early — nobody can promise a specific outcome for a specific case. Live as if your choices matter: prevention is easier than repair.

Part 3. Grooming — gifts, secrets, and promises

Some adults — sometimes using older teens — build a secret hold over a young person. Experts call the slow build-up grooming. Polaris and the Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign teach these warning signs:

• Showering with gifts, money, a phone, or a place to stay.
• Wanting secrecy — "don't tell your parents," "just between us."
• A fast, too-close relationship with someone much older, or known only online.
• Promises of fame or easy money — a "modeling" offer, an influencer deal, a dream job.

One sign alone might be innocent. A pattern of them is a trap being built. Hear this clearly: if someone grooms or traps you, it is never your fault — not if you accepted a gift, kept a secret, or liked the attention at first. Grooming is designed by the adult to work, and telling breaks the design. The Kidnapping Awareness and Stalking units teach the matching skills.

Part 4. Job offers that are not jobs

A common trap wears a job costume, arriving through social media, games, group chats, or a friend recruited first. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's youth page and Polaris list the red flags:

• Pay too good for no experience — or quick promises of becoming a star, model, or influencer.
• A stranger reached out online instead of you applying to a real business.
• Pressure to decide right now, or fees to start.
• Travel arranged by them, being asked to carry packages, or secrecy from family.
• Evasive answers about the workplace, the boss, or the work itself.