At Lake Stevens High School, a diverse group of nearly 800 students participated in a nationwide event called Breaking Down the Walls (BDTW) during the week of Sept. 24, 2024 through Sept. 27, 2024, to allow as many students as possible to engage in this eye-opening experience.
This event aims to unite people, be inclusive and spread empathy around our campus. Students can create connections and relationships with people with similar interests and experiences.
Social, emotional and problem solving skills are not only enhanced but encouraged in students when connections are built amongst peers. This is one of the reasons Lake Stevens High School has held BDTW since December of 2019.
Like many other students at Lake Stevens, sophomore Evelyn Bracenas Zamorano said it was an “eye-opening” event. This program allows students to see others from different perspectives and to be more empathetic to one another.
“It’s hard to hate somebody when you know their story,” Athletic Director of Lake Stevens High School Jason Pearson said. BDTW’s’ motto reiterates the purpose of togetherness, inclusivity and empathy that can better our community here at the high school.
During the early school year, Lake Stevens High School had the opportunity to participate in BDTW over five school days.
The interactive aspect of BDTW encourages students to break out of their comfort zones and meet new people.
“New students gain the confidence to talk to other people and students,” senior Jacob Bravo Gomez said.
BDTW provides a safe environment for students to open up and create new comfortable friendships. The connections formed during BDTW were shaped by the event’s structure.
It began with all the students selected to participate that day, sitting in the bleachers of Lake Stevens High School’s gym, which were filled from left to right and top to bottom. The staff and director, Chetan Munsell, were introduced to the participants.
After this, students moved to the gym floor, where they formed two circles—an outer and an inner circle. They faced new peers and had 30 seconds to introduce themselves before rotating to meet someone else.
Eventually, they paired up with a new partner for some collaborative games. Each student received a name tag earlier in the day, with a number, which helped organize them into smaller groups of 6-8 with a student leader, who guided them through activities and lunch.
At BDTW, students shared their stories and gave a new perspective of a student’s life outside of school.
“It has helped me understand other people and connect with other people,” Bravo said.
This program reassures students that they have people to talk to.
“You’re never alone in what you’re going through,” senior Brianna Revell said. “There’s at least one other person besides you.”
School culture improves when people feel like they belong; BDTW does just that. It removes first impressions and stereotypes from the mix and strengthens the student-body bond.
Sophomore Harshita Sinha participated in BDTW and enjoyed communicating with her peers.
Some activities that the students were involved in were fun icebreakers and games like the shoe game. In this game, you look at your shoes, and when you look up at the first person you lock eyes with, you yell as loud as you can, “OH YEAH!” Many students also enjoyed creating their own handshakes with their partners and sharing some of them during their time at BDTW.
Another activity that students took part in was public apologies and gratitude. Students got to apologize to, or thank people in the room in front of everyone. The vulnerability that this takes shows the impact of BDTW. Following these public announcements, students were given ten blank stickers. These were meant for expressing support and gratitude for others privately. Students filled out these stickers and stuck them to people.
The event came close to end with the “Cross the Line” activity, where students who felt comfortable to do so, stepped forward if they related to a prompted situation, allowing them to share experiences and emotions.
As Munsell asked questions, the students and staff were quiet and attentive. This is where sharing personal stories became important. Students shared aspects of their stories simultaneously by crossing the line if the statement applied to them. By this time, participants trusted that judgment was out the door and left behind, and people could see that they weren’t alone with their experiences.
By the end of the day, as the final school bell rang, students walked away with new connections and valuable skills.
