The high school students had the opportunity to listen to the Day of Change presentations drafted by the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP), which gave presentations during B and C-block on Thursday, March 19. During one of the junior presentations, the students watched the video “The Hunting Ground” during C-block, which educates on sexual assault on college campuses. “The Hunting Ground” was part of the Inciting Change program initiated by SHARP, with various presentations and programs offered by grade level.
SHARP is a student-led group that meets during teacher collaboration time to work on projects and foster support and safety within the high school community. SHARP was founded in 2020 in response to student discontent following violations of consent in the community.
The presentation was geared specifically towards juniors to prepare them for staying safe on a college campus.
One of the C-block presentations was led by senior Cedar Alcott, a member of SHARP. Alcott said she decided to join SHARP because she was inspired by previous presentations and hopes to ensure other students take sexual assault seriously.
“I was really affected by the presentation last year, and a lot of it was because some of the kids in my class weren’t taking it very seriously, and I reflected a lot on that,” Alcott said. “I understand that it’s because of the discomfort, but I really wanted to be a facilitator so that I could make it easier for kids to take it seriously.”
The presentation began with a slide including resources students could contact if they felt like talking to an adult, and Alcott went over community norms and goals for the lesson. Alcott said that this year, students followed the norms, in contrast to her previous experiences with the presentation.
“I’m really happy with this class because everyone was super attentive, and that felt really good to me. I just want people to get better at talking about it and thinking about it,” Alcott said.
Students then watched a 30-minute video from the documentary “The Hunting Ground,” filmed in 2015, which described how prevalent sexual assault incidents at colleges throughout the country are, and how they are rarely addressed by faculty. Junior Sean Kennedy, a student who watched the documentary, said that the documentary made him realize how prevalent issues with sexual assault are on school campuses.
“I think the documentary helped a lot because it showed people who have been through it and also how easy it is to not realize it’s even happening in your school,” Kennedy said.
After the video, students were asked to participate in a discussion, if they wanted to, about the documentary. Students throughout the classroom were very responsive during the discussion, highlighting challenges they faced and how the administration responded. Alcott said that many students have been impacted by the lesson, which motivates her to continue them throughout classrooms in the future.
“I’ve been told that a lot of the lessons we’re having have been very powerful, so we’re going to keep a lot of them and [also make some] edits and changes,” Alcott said.
At the end of the presentation, students were asked how schools can work together to create safe environments. Kennedy said that making the reporting process easier for victims could potentially achieve this goal.
“I think creating a safer environment would be possible if we made an easy way to report sexual assault, as well as making sure it gets the attention it needs,” Kennedy said.
Although the high school has made strides in creating a safe and consensual environment, World Languages Curriculum Coordinator and Japanese teacher Rachel Eio, who also participated in the presentation, said the school could do more to educate teens regarding consent and navigating relationships.
“Do we do enough education about it at school? Probably not,” Eio said. “Is a ninth-grade health experience enough? Because when you’re a junior or senior, and you’re sort of navigating that world, are you thinking back to my ninth-grade health lesson? Any opportunity, I think, that we can do to educate students more, is beneficial.”
