Letting students open up and interact with people they never met before is the goal. This program’s intention is to help students become more social by participating in activities with their given partners, awkward or not. You can never really judge someone based on their appearance or behavior without knowing their story. Breaking Down the Walls is to prove just that. 

“The Breaking Down the Walls program is a unique opportunity for students and staff to connect, share their stories, and realize “it’s hard to hate someone whose story you know.” (BDTW Program) 

Roughly a hundred students spent the day learning from each other and engaged in multiple activities. For instance, a midpoint was set in the middle of the room, and questions were announced. People who had a connection or a relation to the question would take one step forward. 

Here are some of the questions students found interesting, “Do you wish your trusted adults knew what was going on in your life?”, “Do you feel like the people in your life aren’t supportive?” and something along the lines of “Do you know anyone who is under 25 who you think won’t make it to 30 due to substance abuse?”. 

Each step was secretly telling a story and looking around revealed how much you relate to one another. This program brought students together and unironically, broke down the wall that separated students from socializing. A sophomore mentioned, “I felt safe with so many people around me who have been going through the same thing I was. It doesn’t take much to get to know someone and their backstory and the program helped me to understand a lot.” 

With positive feedback from the students, BDTW served a bit more awareness, and students left with a bit more confidence. The little things make a big difference, even a compliment. Stickers were handed out to write compliments in which students had stuck onto shirts of their peers to put a smile on their faces. 

Those days ended with happy feelings and smiles were planted on the students who attended.