The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Last Friday, Wahkiakum High School students spent the entire day in the gym with nary a teacher in sight. None of their usual teachers, anyway.

The students were there to deal with each other and build community in a bullying prevention program called Make the Change, led by Mark Morris High School teacher Travis Rhuter. He was assisted by WHS Intervention/Prevention Specialist Karla Gates.

This is the second year that Rhuter has come to Cathlamet to put on this program, and students already recognize a change in the atmosphere and mood at the school.

"It was really eye opening. It's making school a lot happier," senior Joey Moore said. "I think it kind of changed people to make them look for the happy and the good in things. The whole environment changed. It changed me in a way. It made me feel better and made me see more positive."

The event was sponsored by a grant from the Kiwanis Club. Kiwanis President-elect Richard Swart was on hand for some of Friday morning's activity. He shared that the students started the event with a "high-energy warm-up of balloon volleyball, and quickly moved into a fast-paced series of exercises in which all present participated."

Then the students moved into smaller, safer groups where they were encouraged to open up and share.

"It was emotional," sophomore Zach Brown said, his comment echoed by several others who were interviewed on Monday. Some even admitted that they had cried.

"I liked the small groups," junior Savannah Burdick said. "The small groups kind of let everyone feel like everyone is listening to them and the people in your group are taking what you say into consideration and caring about what you have to say."

Swart listed several of the themes that the students discussed: achieving strength through vulnerability, committing to be "present" by respectfully listening and having open communication, and building trust. He also shared that the "intended outcomes include practicing the message of the program's themes in daily life at school and at home, while taking pride in moving the school towards a safe place to learn and grow."

One theme was an oft repeated phrase.

"The surface may be safe but don't be afraid to dive deeper," junior Makenzie Anderson, who was also one of the event's team leaders, shared.

The open mic was a hit for several students.

"It gave an opportunity for you to open up about how you feel and thank someone for what they've done for you," Moore said, "to get things off your chest. A lot of people talked."

Most students got a chance to talk to someone they didn't usually interact with. Junior Peyton Souvenir met someone new.

The students watched several thoughtful videos. Burdick described one that showed a guy who had been walking around the school judging everyone until he found and put on a pair of glasses that showed him what each person was going through.

"He could see what they were actually hiding and why they were the way they were," Burdick said.

The students also had an opportunity to compliment each other.

"I really liked the compliment thing," Moore said. "We had to say to someone, 'You're awesome because ___________'. It's nice to give and hear compliments come back to you."

"You hold that for a long time," WHS Principal Stephanie Leitz told him.

"It's good to hear things from people you don't really talk to," Anderson said. "I didn't realized that they thought of me that way."

"Someone said, 'I like it when you say hi to me. It seems like you really care,'" said junior Cheyenne Barton, who had been surprised at the time.

Several students remarked on a major change between last year's event and this year. During their first experience, a lot of participants were described as sarcastic and flippant.

"A lot of people just took it as a joke," Moore said.

"There was a wall where we listed stereotypes at our school and everything that was said to describe them was really negative," junior Peyton Souvenir said. "It was a vent session, how much we hated each other. This year it was more positive."

"More balanced," junior Savannah Burdick added.

"It was a very noticeable change," Leitz agreed.

Something had shifted and part of it may have had something to do with one student's challenge to them all last year.

Every student interviewed seemed struck by the girl who had gotten up during an open mic session last year and angrily told the other students to "prove it."

"She told everybody to prove it if they were really going to commit to change," senior Kirby Manginelli said. "That was really empowering to a lot of people. That was really big. A lot of people realized that this had become serious."

"There was a big difference of how much nicer people were this time around," Manginelli said. "Travis said of all seven schools he went to, we were one of the meanest ones and one of the smallest ones. He also said that from last year to this year it was a lot better and a lot nicer."

In the afternoon on Friday, the students fell back into the small groups and made a list of the changes to which they could commit. A representative from each group shared their list with the rest of the school.

"Stand out; be your true self was one," Manginelli said. "Most of them were to be nicer to everybody and be open minded."

"Everyone goes through stuff, everyone is human, everyone has feelings," Burdick said. "I just want everyone to treat people fairly because you don't know what happened in someone's life. It's just hard. Everybody is so judgy. But we're going to work on it."

"A lot of people say hi to me more often," Manginelli said. They are saying hi to other people or eating lunch with each other in bigger groups. A lot of people took it seriously."

"I'm looking forward to it next year," Anderson said.

Make the Change has been successfully offered in Cowlitz County, and was first rolled out at WHS last year.

"We are delighted to have received funding from the Kiwanis Club to build on last year's good experience," Leitz commented. "Without this grant, we did not know how we could budget it for the 2015-16 school year," she said.

Diana Zimmerman

An unidentified student describes ideas from his small group during the Make a Change program.

Leitz was referring to a $500 New Initiatives Mini Grant from the Kiwanis Club of Cathlamet.

"Our Kiwanis Club wanted to make its limited dollars have a broader impact on more children than we have have been able to do in the past," reported Kiwanis President-Elect Richard Swart.

"We have approved an upcoming Positive Reinforcement project for the John C. Thomas Middle School students, and are expecting a proposal from the St. James Family Center soon. It is our honor to help three schools which impact so many kids do something creative that otherwise would probably not happen."

The Kiwanis Club is part of Kiwanis International, a worldwide service organization dedicated to helping the children of the world, starting with our own community. Persons seeking to learn more about Kiwanis may call Swart at 360-261-8585 or Linda Barth at 360-795-3276.