A community of HOPE
(Courtesy photo) Nine Washington Elementary sixth-graders made up the winning Design For Change team this year for their work on prevention of teen suicide. The group will represent the United States at the global DFC conference in Spain in November. From left, Gage Ramsay, Breckin Nevarez, Ayiana Prevost, Arika Alward, Sean Gallaher and Evan Dickinson. Team members not pictured, Kora Converse, Ezra Tomlinson, and Josh Read.
(Courtesy photo) Washington Elementary sixth-graders use their “Think Tank,” which was their tool for brainstorming problems and solutions which they revisited throughout the year as they worked on their Design for Change project. As this year’s top team, the group will represent the United States at the global DFC conference in Spain to present their work on preventing teen suicide.
(Courtesy Photo) A group of Washington Elementary sixth-graders were named Design for Change USA's top team this year for their work on preventing teen suicide. Throughout the year, the group met serveral times with their principal, Dr. Sandy Maras, left, to discuss ideas.
SANDPOINT — A group of local sixth-graders found a cause they are so passionate about, they plan to continue their effort as they head into middle school.
The group of nine Washington Elementary students set out on a mission last fall to create an environment of hope among their peers when they learned how often the community had been devastated by teen suicide.
“We learned there had been six suicides committed by teenagers in our community in the past two years,” said sixth-grader Ayiana Prevost. “We decided we wanted to do something about that.”.
For their project H.O.P.E. — Have Only Positive Expectations— those sixth-graders were chosen as the top Design for Change team in the country. In November, the group will represent the United States at this year’s “Be the Change” conference in Spain.
In Ann Dickinson’s Design for Change elective, the kids were tasked with finding and attempting to solve a problem within the community. After “a lot” of brainstorming with their think tank, Ayiana said, she and her classmates came up with a few ideas. The community issues the sixth-graders found ranged from off-leash dogs, to bullying and suicide prevention.
Dickinson said when the students first began the project, there had been five suicides — one as the school year started, and then the sixth a couple months into the year. When that happened, she said, the group really felt a sense of urgency.
“When we noticed that was a real problem in our community, we started researching and found a bunch of factors that led up to suicide,” said sixth-grader Gage Ramsay. “We just thought people did it for one or two reasons, but there is a whole giant list of reasons people might commit suicide.”
Breckin Nevarez, another member of the group, said bullying was one of the biggest reasons on that list, and Gage said people need resilience to “bounce back” from things like bullies. Lack of feeling valued and lack of self-esteem, the kids said, are two main reasons why some people lack resilience.
In the midst of their research, Breckin, along with Evan Dickinson who is also a group member and Ann Dickinson’s son, attended a screening of “Resilience” at the Panida where they learned about “toxic stress.” Breckin and Evan said toxic stress is a “shock feeling,” like when someone feels they will get hit by a truck if you walk into the street, or they are going to be shot simply by walking outside.
“One thing (the movie) said was you are not born with resilience, you have to build it over time,” Breckin said. “So we tried to think of things we could do for our next idea. One was to target the younger ones to create a new generation of resilience going through.”
Breckin and Evan decided to go to the kindergartners at their school and read “Hey Little Ant” to teach the kids not to pick on those smaller than them and not to hurt others. The boys connected with the younger kids, not just when they read to them, but Dickinson said she noticed it outside the classroom on the playground as well.
“They look up to us,” Breckin said.
The entire group, though, embarked on several tasks this year, using a community support network, to make a difference by making others feel valued. They launched a YouTube channel that explores topics of resiliency and strength, created a "catching compliments" board at the school, became mentors to younger kids by spending one-on-one time with them, implemented school wide assemblies on hope and friendship, and implemented a "buddy bench" on the playground for anyone who was feeling sad or lonely during recess. The group also held two "random acts of kindness" challenges.
"One submission may have helped a girl who was having suicidal thoughts," Ayiana said.
The student had contacted a friend in high school and "encouraged" her, Ayiana said, and the high schooler told the student it "made her day."
“It’s not just one day you should be kind, you should be kind everyday,” Ayiana said.
Throughout their project, the kids worked with a support network, including organizations like 7B Drug Free, and individuals like school resource officer Spencer Smith and their principal, Sandy Maras.
"These kids are wonderful," Maras said. "They are some of the best."
Sanjli Gidwaney, director of Design for Change USA, describes Design for Change as a global movement empowering young people to solve the world's most pressing problems. Through simple framework rooted in design thinking, students tackle relevant and timely issues that bring about positive community change.
Each year, only one team is selected from each of the more than 50 countries to attend the global conference. The Washington Elementary team was one of hundreds of groups from across the country who submitted a Design for Change project this year, Maras said. A couple of teams they were up against included a high school team from Seattle who worked on human trafficking, a social justice group out of Raleigh, North Carolina, and hundreds of others, Maras said.
Dickinson said she saw the kids change, going from a surface-level understanding of, "well, you just need to be nice to each other," to a much deeper understanding of why some people don't have resilience, why they need to target younger kids, and to "give people their 15 minutes," and not just saying something nice.
"It was so interesting and amazing to watch them go through that," Dickinson said.
Also, a company has been assigned to do a documentary on the kids, from their process and progress as they worked through the project, all the way to their trip to Spain.
Five of the team members get an all-expense-paid trip to Spain through Design for Change, so the group is fundraising for teammates and chaperones to go as well. Dickinson said they need to raise about $21,000 to get everyone to Spain. To donate, visit designforchange.us/dfcusa/pages/donate.
Watch the students' winning submission at designforchange.us/pages/stories.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.