On Thursday, April 7th during an extended convocation, juniors and seniors watched a film and participated in group discussions concerning relationship violence.

The film was produced by One Love, an organization founded in 2010 after the death of UVA student Yeardley Love at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend. One Love has traveled to more than 450 universities and schools to spread the message about relationship abuse and Bolles was proud to be one of them.

The entire convocation, called the Escalation Workshop, lasted for an hour and a half.

The convocation began with a short film depicting the journey of a deteriorating relationship between a girl, Paige, and a boy, Chase, in college. The movie started with several statistics, stating that more than 1 in 3 women and more than 1 in 4 men have been victims of relationship abuse.

As the movie transitioned to the story of Paige, it didn’t seem too serious at first; scenes consisted of flirts between Chase and Paige. Students would laugh quietly at awkward moments in the film.

Yet as signs began to show about Chase’s abuse, students grew quiet. The room was silent when the final scene dealt with Paige’s murder. Furthermore, victims of relationship violence were displayed at the end of the movie. All of them were between 16 and 28 when killed.

Following this intense and thought-provoking film, students were then split up into groups depending on their English classes. Lead by fellow students and teachers trained as facilitators by One Love, they discussed the film and the actions each character portrayed.

Upon sitting down, student leader Isabella Array (‘17) reaffirmed that despite the video showing the abuse within a white heterosexual couple, relationship abuse could happen in any relationship regardless of race, gender, or sexuality.

Everyone was silent after the first few questions asked by the student leaders Array and Desi Hambrock (‘17), but as they ask more questions, the students warmed up and gave thoughtful responses.

After Hambrock asked the students what they would do in a situation like Paige, Josie Teat (‘17) answered, “If I ever got uncomfortable texts, I’d tell my parents because they would help me in the situation. Just texting ‘stop texting me’ won’t work.”

Array and Hambrock listed some signs of a bad relationship, such as the victim spending all his or her time with their significant other or sacrificing things in order to please the abuser.

Array went even further by not only asking questions but giving more insight to the warning signs of abuse, saying, “There’s a line between ‘I’m excited to spend time with you’ and ‘I want you to spend all of your time with me’.”

Students nodded in agreement. Hambrock then pitched in a line, stating, “A simple ‘Why would you do that?’ to the abuser could be very impactful.”

Before the discussion came to a close, overseeing teacher Mr. Stam added a final observation and piece of advice to the students: “We always think someone else will act when something bad happens, but you can be the one to save someone if you decide to act.”

A link to an article by Journey Wise with extra resources for the One Love convocation: https://bollesbugleonline.com/student-life/2016/04/20/extra-resources-from-one-love/