New year, healthy habits

BONNERS FERRY — The students at Bonners Ferry High School came back from winter break and participated in an event that the Idaho Drug Free Youth (IDFY) and i2i program brought to the school. Each class participated as a whole in a three-hour session of what was not only team building exercises, but exercises that encouraged the classmates to communicate.

“It helps to make the kids feel welcome, and feel like they are more understood and connected with each other, which is the reason why we decided to do it now, even though school can be kinda crazy this time of year,” said Facilitator Jaycee Atkins. “Principal Kevin Dinning, School Resource Officer Mike Martinez, and I got together and talked about it, and these kids are coming back from break. Some kids don’t have great Christmases, but having them come back, and it being right between semesters, and the seniors getting ready to step out the door, having something like this will definitely help them and maybe boost them right before finals.”

A speaker from IDFY came to the high school on Jan. 10 and worked with the kids, utilizing activities to bring the kids together and allow them to step out of their normal groups of friends and get to know all of their classmates.

“Most of the time the kids are shy and standoffish, and the speaker tries to work them up and get them out of their comfort zones,” said Atkins. “It allows the kids to connect with each other.

“They also talk and have the kids talk about drug and alcohol abuse, and speak of ways to avoid addiction. The program is really fun. My seniors came in today for the three hour session and they were like this is stupid, three hours of this crap, but by the time they got back to class they were like that was so awesome!”

“IDFY and i2i really gets the students involved amongst each other and they get to know each other a little bit better, and involved, and to realize that they aren’t the only one with stuff going on,” said Martinez. “Either they have something going on at home, or have been exposed to something, they can realize they aren’t the only one. So they get together and they get to know each other a little bit more.”

Dinning, Atkins and Martinez teamed up and brought the IDFY program back to BFHS this school year. Along with their mentors, the students got excited and supported the program. The program is student governed with representatives from every class, as well as a board complete with a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and media advocate.

“My idea behind it was if we had a representative from each class, then when this class that is running it leaves, then the following classes will be able to move in and transition and already have an understanding on what IDFY is,” said Atkins.

President of the program, Kassy Skeen, was present when Dinning presented the idea to Atkins last year. The timing was not right to bring the program back last year, but with the help of everyone involved and the encouragement from the student body, they were able to continue the IDFY program.

“I really like it and I am really glad to bring it back,” said Skeen. “I like the idea of connecting and bringing everyone together.”

Speaking about the event in the gym and the seminar she had previously attended with Atkins, Skeen said, “It was really eye opening because you may think you know someone, but you don’t realize what they go through. It really makes you stop and think.”

The group held a Lularoe fundraiser during the holiday season and has plans to host more. The money goes to hosting events such as the one this past week as well as helping to pay for the students involved to attend camp at Camp Lutherhaven, located in the Coeur d’Alene area.

At camp, the attending students are grouped with kids from around the area and stay in cabins with people they may know, or those they have never met before. They participate in team exercises, swimming, attend lake activities, zip lining adventures, and many other activities.

“When I went to the camp, there was never a dry eye in the room,” said Atkins. “You would meet kids whose parents left them for drugs or alcohol, or going through tough times in their lives. There are also kids who have a good home life and wanted to participate because they saw their friends struggle. It’s really cool to see those kids see these kids struggling and it helps them want to go out and be advocates for those people that need help, or just need a friend. It’s not all about drugs and alcohol, its about bringing the kids together and helping them support one another.”

Bringing the IDFY and i2i program back the BFHS has been beneficial to all of the students and those involved.

“This is a really great opportunity for our students to grow as a community. As a whole, anything that we can do that is going to encourage healthy decisions for our students is necessary,” said Dinning. “There are so many things that is going to pressure them to make potentially unhealthy decisions, so anything that we can to get something or someone from outside of the school to come and talk to them and reinforce those things like making smart decisions, being knowledgeable of things that can affect your future, and showing them, hey, you guys need to help each other out, this is supportive of everything we are trying to do here.”

Not all of the students walked into the gym excited for the coming session, but they walked out realizing that the exercises brought them closer to their classmates in informative ways that were unexpected.

“The students that have done it today have really enjoyed it and it is good to see them all happy at the same time, laughing, and hanging,” said Dinning. “Making sure that they realize that it’s more than just coming to school that we do here, it’s about community and if we are going to achieve, we are going to do it together, so we have to help each other out.”

There are new students to BFHS and they told Atkins how they had never felt more welcome at a school before.

“It’s really cool to see these kids open up,” Atkins said. “My favorite is them asking me questions. In a small town like Bonners Ferry, there isn’t much to do, especially in the winter time, so temptations are higher.”

Bringing the student body closer by guiding them to break out of their comfort zones and shells and allowing them to get to know one another better, not only allows the students to find a common ground with someone they didn’t know very well, it opens a pathway for students that would not normally have talked, make a connection. The network of connections not only teaches the young adults to work together, it gives them someone to talk to when they need to get something off of their chest, or need help.

“It’s not your typical event where you sit down and listen to a person speak, it’s not someone telling them ‘hey don’t do drugs or drink alcohol underage’, its saying ‘hey we have a connection’, if I have issues then I know that I can open up to another fellow student,” said Martinez. ”They aren’t just getting to know each other, they are building a connection that can last.”