"Building Hope" Assembly Well Received at Bridgeport High School
By Julie Perine on October 03, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
Making fun of someone is not cool. Making fun of someone because of things such as his or her looks, hair or skin color is not only not cool; it’s senseless because those things are predisposed and genetic.
Bridgeport High School freshmen let that and many other truths sink in Tuesday as the “Building Hope” assembly was presented. Members of Bridgeport Police and several volunteers helped to facilitate the program, brought to Harrison County by Bear Contracting and endorsed by the Harrison County Board of Education. The program focuses on breaking down stereotypical barriers, discourage bullying and helping students recognize and deal with fears and anxieties.
A trio of youth counselors presented a “step out of the crowd/cross the line” activity during which students and adult volunteers listened to various scenarios, stepping out and walking across the line if it applied to them.Those scenarios ranged from being tasked with adult responsibilities as children to being victim to social media abuse to passing up opportunities to help others.
BHS freshman Emma McNally said she thought the program was a valuable experience. She’s glad she and her classmates were able to share it together. She said the cross the line activity particularly touched her.
“It was eye-opening to see all the things that my peers are going through and how there wasn’t one person that isn’t going through something in their own life,” she said.
The background stories of presenting counselors Josh, Wilson and Jenn also made her really think.
“You look at them and think they have lived a perfect life,” she said. “But as they told us, you only see 10 percent of a person unless the other 90 percent is shared – like they did.”
Bridgeport Police Officer Bart Sayers said activities were effective and that it is ideal to target young students during their first year of high school.
“I don’t think these kids have had a chance to see each other’s flaws and positives. They are really putting it out there,” he said.
After telling the students a story about a suicide that took place due to unbearable bullying (see video below), Josh told the students that people are looking to them every day to forgive, be kind, generous and reach out to them. Opportunities are all around them.
“You have the power to encourage or destroy people,” he said. “Don’t take that power lightly.”
Pete Bryant of Change Point Learning, the Cincinatti-based company that started the program, said “Building Hope” has been presented since 2001.
“We have probably spoken to 125,000 students over those years,” he said. “We do about 70 programs a year.”
Bryant said he doesn’t claim the program is a fix-all, but it is a great catalyst to eventual change. The reason he believes it works is because it is interactive.
“We built this so that kids, hopefully, will engage and part of that starts with small groups,” he said. “We have enough adult volunteers, so we can have five or six students in a group and the day is designed where they get to experience that dynamic where we’re asking them to give their input and interact with what’s going on throughout the day.”
Starting off with games lowers the students’ guards.
“The first group activity is something non-threatening and that helps to begin building over the course of the day, then we take it a little farther and deeper and through that progression, I’d say not every kid, but the vast majority of kids, really choose to engage. It’s like positive peer pressure. They see other people engaging and stepping out and they feel more comfortable to do it themselves.”
Although professional counselors and adult volunteers facilitate the 
program, it’s really the kids who follow one another’s leads and provide momentum for engagement, Bryant said.
program, it’s really the kids who follow one another’s leads and provide momentum for engagement, Bryant said.
One of the two primary reasons that bullying and harassment take place, he said, is that people tend to judge a book by its cover – making assumptions based on what they see on the outside. Another reason often behind bullying and harassment is that hurt people hurt other people.
“Someone goes through some rough stuff or they are not treated properly and it boils on the inside, then people nearby get the brunt of it,” Bryant said.
For those reasons, “Building Hope” helps students get to know their peers below the surface and helps them develop a check system about the way they interact and speak to others.
Building Hope basically has three goals: For kids to learn while having a good time, to get to know their peers better and to let their peers know them better.
Vist the Change Point Learning Web site HERE.
“Building Hope” was presented at Robert C. Byrd High School last school year as a pilot program. It was well received and this year has been presented at South Harrison, Notre Dame, Robert C. Byrd, Lincoln and Bridgeport High School. Today, the program is being presented at Liberty High School.
The program encompasses an entire school day, starting with the orientation of adult volunteers and student activities, followed by small group discussions, ice breaker games, the “cross the line" activity and open mic session.
