On April 25, about 30 students participated in a Day of Silence to bring awareness to and support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies who are silenced by bullying, harassment, and discrimination.

Students and faculty who participated remained silent through the entire class day, including lunchtime. Special exceptions were made if a teacher or other adult required a student to speak.

In Carney O’Brien’s ninth grade English class, students met in the computer lab for a silent blog conversation to discuss the following: “In Siddhartha Chapter 4, The Awakening, Siddhartha realizes he has changed. Describe this change, and relate Siddhartha’s realizations to the theme of the Day of Silence. Post your idea and respond to your classmates contributions.  Keep the conversation going.”

The students came up with some very thoughtful posts and responses about exploring, understanding, and embracing the Self and rejecting labels.

Ms. O’Brien also completed online vocabulary quiz games, which the kids played for about 15 minutes, in preparation for their vocabulary quiz on Friday.