Point Break gives students an opportunity to open up
A group of sophomores preparing to participate in an activity for Point Break.
October 31, 2013
To most people a point break refers to the place where waves hit a point of land, but to anyone that has been through the Point Break program, it means a lot more than that.
Each year, sophomores participate in this program that shows them that they are not alone in the problems they face each day.
“It changed my perspective about a lot of people,” sophomore Isabelle Milburn said. “You learn things about people that you didn’t know before.”
Throughout the day, activities and games are played to make the students feel more comfortable with each other and open up.
For example, a giant inflatable volleyball was passed back and forth between the girls and boys in a friendly competitive game.
“It was a really fun game,” Milburn said. “It made us work together as a team to get the ball to the other side.”
Point Break provides a day to talk about feelings without the fear of anyone being judgmental.
“Our mission, as an organization, is to be a resource for parents, schools, courts, and community groups that help teenagers develop resiliency skills and overcome risky behavior,” Point Break staff member Joel Wurgler said. “I have worked with teenagers my whole life and would not want to do anything else.”
Students get to see that other people are going through the same things and they are not alone.
“Helping people to voice their feelings and let them know that they have someone to talk to is such a good feeling,” Point Break mentor Kimberly Paschal, a senior, said. “People might not always realize that they have someone to talk with about their feelings.”
After the first part of the day full of fun and games, the second part is when things became more serious.
Students separate in to smaller groups with their senior mentor and learn more in-depth about few of their classmates’ personal lives. Then an activity called cross the line takes place, which gives the students an opportunity to let each other know what is going on in each other’s lives without having to say anything about it.
“Cross the line was definitely the most intense,” Milburn said. “That was the point in time where you even learned a lot about yourself.”
At the end of a long day students are relieved about getting things off their shoulders.
“Many students express gratitude because they no longer feel alone,” Wurgler said. “And realize that they have a lot more in common with people than they thought.”
Point Break teaches students that they can never know what someone is going through just by looking at them.
