FACING THE PROBLEM
After a sexual assault occurred on my high school's campus, I published a breaking news story and later a more in-depth news story about our school’s reaction to the incident. These stories, titled "Students Wear Black to Support Reported Sexual Assault Victim" and "A Spreading Movement", respectively, can be found under the 'Writing' tab.
Several weeks later, I decided we needed to do more, so I spearheaded a group to create an online package that would more fully address the problem of sexual assault. This project is the culmination of 40+ interviews, hours of brainstorming and designing, and multiple photo shoots. It aimed to give a fuller picture of the problem of sexual assault in high schools, and the efforts being made at prevention and awareness. The most difficult yet most necessary part was speaking with sexual assault survivors; our staff spoke with over 10, who had given us their contact information using an online form.
Because the original project was published on Wordpress, the information presented on this Wix site is not formatted correctly. Please take a look at the original format by clicking the link below.
AWARDS: 3RD PLACE DIGITAL INNOVATION RALLY AWARD, MULTIMEDIA STORY OF THE YEAR NSPA 2017, BEST IN-DEPTH STORY PACKAGE, BALL STATE UNIVERSITY MONTHLY CONTEST
Survivors Speak
We decided to showcase survivors’ stories on their own and scatter them throughout the entire piece (these are screenshots). I conducted two of the following five interviews. We had six in the entire package, but the editorial staff collected about thirteen interviews. Every editor that interviewed transcribed them entirely, omitting potential identifying details. I then edited each one again, omitting anything I thought might give away the sources’ anonymity.
An Organization that Enlightens
I wrote this piece to show the ‘aftershock’ the initial sexual assault had on our community. Our administration brought in the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault to speak to individual classes, where students reported they were well-received.
By Celia Hack
Beginning last month and continuing through January, the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA) is sending two representatives to talk individually to classes every other Friday. The presentation covers everything from sexual assault to bystander responsibilities to gender stereotypes. East teachers can coordinate with social worker Elizabeth Kennedy to allow a representative of MOCSA to visit their classroom for as many hours as they can give up.
Principal John McKinney feels he has a responsibility to educate his students on the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. After a sexual assault allegedly occurred at East in September, the opportunity for more education in this area arose.
“This year took on new meaning because of the incident that took place here early in the school year,” McKinney said. “With that, we realized that we needed to do more.”
In the past and throughout this year, MOCSA spoke with health classes, made up of mostly freshmen, where they covered sexual harassment, dating violence and consent. This is the first year that they’re visiting classes outside of health, and the curriculum is different.
Though Kennedy assists the MOCSA representatives by tailoring their presentations to the grade level and class size, the presentations usually address the issue of gender stereotypes and sexual violence, as well as the role media plays in creating these things.
“I’ve felt really good about the reception at Shawnee MIssion East,” said Victoria Pickering, MOCSA’s Coordinator of Education and Outreach Services. “I’ve done the health classes this semester, and then along with Becca [Anderson], she and I are doing all of the other presentations. I’ve had some fantastic classes — really engaged, really talkative.”
However, one piece the administration considered necessary was a straightforward approach to the discussion of sexual assault. According to McKinney, the student feedback he received after a schoolwide MOCSA presentation two years ago strongly suggested the subject be treated with more maturity.
“Use actual terms and descriptions, and don’t make it euphemistic with the pencil and the balloon,” McKinney said. “Say it the way it is. We heard that from every grade level. So we shared that information with MOCSA: we’re not going to sugarcoat this, it is what it is. This building has experienced it firsthand.”
Psychology teacher Brett Kramer was one of the first teachers to have MOCSA come speak to his all of his classes.
“I said wholeheartedly yes, they need to come speak to us,” Kramer said. “Their underlying message is something we all need to hear.”
One idea that he was excited he heard about, as well as his students, was the idea of bystander engagement, or others stepping in to prevent sexual assault from occurring.
Junior Grace Apodaca was in Kramer’s class when prevention specialist Becca Anderson gave her presentation. She felt that though she and many of her classmates knew a lot of the information already, she was glad it had happened and that a greater portion of the school would be exposed to it.
“I feel a little more safe here knowing that people are getting educated,” Apodaca said.
In addition to educating high schoolers, MOCSA has been working at Indian Hills Middle School since November. A program that will look at creating a more long-term, systemic change, Green Dot, will ensure there are more than the one-presentation-per-class visits at East.
They’re working on developing relationships with students and faculty there to create an environment in which violence and harassment between students is not considered acceptable.
“We are taking a really broad approach with our work at Indian Hills, not just talking specifically about sexual violence, but violence in general,” Pickering said.
For now at East, Pickering is just working on getting people talking about the problem she knows is there.
“I gauge my success on how many conversations we create outside of a classroom, and I think that in that sense it’s working [at East],” Pickering said.
The Global Progression
Another piece that I felt was important to include was the Feminist’s Club’s efforts to educate about rape and violence against women around the world. They brought in this speaker, Nyakio Kainu-Lake, who was the founder of the first battered women’s shelter in Kenya. I saw that the Feminist Club was facing the problem — head on, in fact — and realized their efforts needed to be shared.
By Celia Hack
SOCIAL MEDIA
