Learning how to build healthy relationships is the lesson plan at Lincoln County High School.  The curriculum is called “Love U-2: Relationship Smarts Plus”.

“It’s like they are in the dark and they don’t know how things should be,” said Samantha Sisemore, a senior at Lincoln County High School.

She believes the coursework will be good for the school because she knows all about some of the bad relationships that have sparked between students

“He was dating this girl and he had her completely brainwashed.  She was not allowed to talk to her friends because he was afraid they would convince her to break up with him,” said Sisemore. 

“You could go down the hallways and think I wish someone could help some of these people out,” said Savannah Phelps, a junior at Lincoln County High School.

The curriculum is part of Mission West Virginia’s Healthy Marriage Project.  A federal grant of $2 million is paying to have the curriculum for three years.

“Domestic violence does occur in teen relationships as well.  It may not occur as much on a physical level as it might on a cyber level like a lot of texting and a lot of problems occurring on facebook,” said Torri Childs, program coordinator for Mission West Virginia.

The course also talks about bullying and abuse and how to deal with it.  Organizers will meet with school leaders next week to put the course in place. 

Mission West Virginia also teaches the relationship curriculum in six other counties.