(Photo: psychotherapist.org)

By Makenzie Reyes-Schettini,

The ninth grade girls spent a day in the gymnasium in February, where we participated in an emotional intervention called Point Break. (Ninth grade boys participated in the same program on a different day.) Almost all of us were in tears by the end of the day.

When we came in there were chairs that formed a circle. We each took a seat. As we munched on donuts and sipped our water, the facilitators began to introduce themselves. This session was to be an opportunity for us to get things off our chests that we had been holding inside for too long. In the beginning, there was an awkward tension in the air, but it was soon replaced with a more calm and friendly feeling. We played games and listened to stories that were beneficial to both our lives and the lives of the people who told them.

As we got deeper into the day, we also got deeper into our emotions.We opened up to tell our personal stories that we hadn’t told anyone in years.We really conected to the people around us: those who we have known our whole life and those who we had just met. Point Break was not just an excuse to get out of class all day. Rather, it was an opportunity for us to express what we were really feeling inside.