In a gym on Houston Avenue, across the court and up the stairs, a group of kids met for homework help and a fresh meal.
Some of the teens there had something specific to talk about, thanks to Mercer University junior Elliza Guta.
"It's definitely been eye-opening in the sense of, you know, that it exists," said Guta. "It's one thing to see statistics, and it's another thing to hear people's stories."
Those stories were about unhealthy relationships. One of them came from Central High School 9th grader Mikayla Meadows. She says she's never been in one herself, but it's something she sees around her.
"It's frustrating. It's like when you try to give them advice, sometimes they do want to take it or they don't want to take it, but sometimes they just don't use it, so it feels like it's a waste of your time," said Meadows.
Statistics show she's not alone. According to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, among high school students who dated, 21 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys across the country experienced physical or sexual dating violence.
And in 2016, Georgia was home to 121 domestic violence-related deaths.
Amidst all that, Guta's goal was to highlight what relationships can be.
She says "a healthy relationship looks like compromise, looks like trust, looks like respect."
A group of roughly nine female teens met once a week at the Street to Success building in south Macon for five weeks.Guta and her team used activities and discussion to help the girls distinguish between healthy and unhealthy relationships, establish boundaries, learn how to effectively intervene in unhealthy relationships around them and dispel myths about sexual violence.
By the end of the program, Mikayla was ready to share what she'd learned with her peers.
"If you're having like relationship problems and all that stuff, just don't sit there," she said. "Find somebody you trust and talk to them."