Students Share at ‘Get Real Day’

By Jacob Derkosh, Reporter
November 19, 2019

The yearly tradition for the sophomores, “Get Real Day,” is back again. On Nov. 6 students had their first day of emotion and cooperation.

Juniors Hanna Bertholdt and Lana Cotton prepare for the day by taking attendance for their group. While they do this, everyone attempts to learn each other’s names. “Get Real Day” took place on Nov. 6, 14 and 20. Each member of the sophomore class attended one of the sessions.
Leaders Luke Immel and Livia Haines help discuss with their students about each other and what they can do. After learning a bit about each other, they prepare for the first activity of the day. “[Get Real Day] allows them to empathize and understand they are not alone,” said Immel.
Senior peer leader Jacob Barnhart leads his group during the lesson of the hour. Students were divided into ten small groups to facilitate closer connections.
School Counselor Matthew Shervington leads everyone to their next task of the day. His hopes of everyone adjusting to the day continues throughout each specific activity.
Leader Jordan Carrier has readied up most of the people in his group in the correct order. The objective of this activity was to organize everyone by their height.
Shervington listens in as a group gives feedback during an activity. Shervington typically sees the apprehension of students lessen throughout the day. “In an ideal world, it should impact every student, especially those sophomores that are going through something,” said Shervington.
Junior peer leader Sammy McQuaid helps guide another group with the organization of the activity. McQuaid is one of more than 25 peer leaders for “Get Real Day.” Select junior and senior students serve as peer leaders, helping to guide students throughout the activities and lead discussions. The peer leaders spend a day in training prior to the event.
Sophomore Scott Denis is looking at the specifics for the next activity. This activity addresses stereotypes. Students are given a list of three people and what students think people look like based on their list of qualities.
Leaders Luke Immel and Livia Haines lead a discussion about stereotypes. This stereotypes activity had three different people listed on the papers and their qualities and attributes. Students used the information on the papers to draw conclusions about those people.  The goal of these activity was to point of out the errors in making snap judgments and stereotypes about others based on limited information.
Several students put stickers on the personal experience chart. One of the newest activities is called “A Stroll Around Susky”, where there are numerous posters labeled with various controversial topics, and each student put on a sticker relating to the issue they’ve experienced.
Groups take a “Stroll Around Susky.” At each station group members stick on specifically colored stickers as they converse about the topic before moving to the next.
A sophomore student puts a sticker on one of the most populated boards of the entire gymnasium. The stickers shown are based on their personal experiences of the topic listed. If they had been the victim of bullying from such they put down a green sticker. If they had witnessed the act of it, put down a yellow sticker. If they were the harasser, put down a red sticker.
Sophomore Blake Romjue walks through the presentation about “A Stroll Around Susky.” Even though sticker placements are anonymous, students seem to realize they are not alone when facing problems.
Sophomore Fallou Cisse participates in an interactive activity. Students were asked to form two lines based on their sensitivity to laughing. A student would walk down the middle of the two lines and if the other students could make them laugh, the walking student would go left, and if they don’t, they go right. This goal of this activity is to assess how well students know themselves.
Shervington and other school counselors address the various groups following the laughing activity. Everyone in the groups reflected on their reactions and if they misjudged themselves and their sensitivity to laughing. Some students changed lines during the activity, differing from what they originally expected.
Peer leaders John Kroh and Sam Timlin, along with the other peer leaders, discuss how they thought the day went.