The Nov. 8 editorial, “Ounce of Prevention: Local school districts take steps to help troubled students before tragedy strikes,” was great. Realizing that our voices as seniors can hold a lot of clout, we created a project in our DECA club to go into middle schools and encourage students to raise the bar on respect, compassion and other areas. Our main focus is to break the barriers that students have that keep them from socializing. We want to develop unity of the students in school.
Originally, we wanted to help the students in our school, Heritage High School, then we decided to expand to our feeder middle schools. We have talked to eighth-graders and addressed the areas of bullying, isolation and judging their peers. It was a great time for them to reflect on how to improve before they enter high school. With some students, it made an instant impact on their next lunch, as they ate with kids who were eating alone. For others, we will continue to keep reaching out.
To keep the concept going, we created an event, “Breaking the Barriers,” for eighth-graders to attend at Heritage High School. We are encouraging respectful behavior in our schools. Our hope is to avoid future tragedies and develop bright futures.
Victor Duran and Alyssa Ferguson
Vancouver
