H.O.P.E Leadership hosts “Chill at the Hill”

H.O.P.E+Leadership+hosts+Chill+at+the+Hill

Kim Chi Dang, Guest Columnist

To raise awareness of teen violence for the students of Hillcrest High School, the H.O.P.E. Leadership Program at Hillcrest  hosted an event called “Chill at the Hill” every year. This event was developed by a group of students who felt that our community has been impacted by teen violence, and would like to encourage their peers to make good choices and find alternatives to violence.

This year, the event was on Friday, April 17, 2015, from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.; the cost was ten dollars, at Hillcrest High School, which included food, activities, entertainments and prizes. Although the event was advertised mostly for freshmen, upperclassmen were also welcome to attend. The theme this year was to advocate for peace.

Unlike the previous “Chill at the Hill,” there was also a group called “Young Life” who organized activities at the beginning of the event to connect students, underclassmen and upperclassmen, together. The first activity was to have everyone stand up and dance in a circle. The second activity was to give everyone a piece of paper that had boxes on them; the goal was to have students interact with other students to see if there was a common interest. The third activity was to have everyone come into a huge circle where students would come out of the circle if they were the oldest child or the youngest child, then to come out if their favorite subjects were called out; the purpose was to further help students find people with similar interests and traits. The final activity from “Young Life” was a show and tell; a person would come up to the mike to either rap or recite a poem. Based on my observation, the first and second activities were the most popular among the students.

After the “Young Life” activities, there were stations for a basketball tournament,  a place for board games, movies, gaming, open gym, volleyball, singing, socializing, and eating. After a time, skates were placed out for roller skating in the gym following the basketball tournament. Personally, I had a difficult time because there wasn’t a single skate that was my size, so I had to compromise for a six, but even getting a size six was difficult. Also, it was quite hilarious watching the tall basketball players attempting to skate in front of me. By the time everything started slowing down, everyone seemed ready to go home, but the excitement was still in the air when I left.

Although it was tiring, I had a wonderful time at the event, and I can honestly say that I connected with people that I usually don’t talk to, so I believe that the event was successful for me as well as it was for many others.