Dating violence is a hard subject to broach, especially at an all-girls school whose community has been devastated by it in the past. Still, this past Wednesday, the senior class gathered in the auditorium before the school day started to learn about relationship violence and discuss what can be done to prevent it.

The presentation began with a short speech from One Love, the foundation that honors Yeardley Love’s memory and helps to educate students about relationship violence. Yeardley, an NDP graduate and a senior at University of Virginia, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010. Today, the One Love foundation reaches out to students, both male and female, in efforts to eradicate the dating violence problem. To start the presentation, an NDP classmate of Yeardley’s spoke about Love and explained how she was working for One Love in hopes that no other person would have to lose a friend like she lost Yeardley.

After the introduction, the class of 2017 watched a film called Escalation, which presented a college dating violence scenario and how it escalated to the point of murder. The film was both intense and personal, as it followed the story of an abused Towson student and her unaware best friends.

To process the powerful themes in the movie, the senior class moved into advisories and discussed everybody’s different reactions with a faculty moderator. Although everyone was shocked by the movie, solutions were presented to educate students about dating violence and how to avoid such situations in college. Conversations especially focused on the friends of the abused girlfriend in Escalation, as they failed to notice the warning signs of violence and did not take the necessary steps to keep their friend out of danger. “This workshop helped me to realize how vital of a role friends play in protecting each other from violence,” explained senior Claire Fitzgerald. Her classmate, Emma Wilson, added, “I will definitely use what I learned in this workshop to help my friends in college and ensure that they are not victims of dating violence.”

Overall, the Escalation film and workshop helped to show NDP seniors the dangers of dating violence and the ways in which it can be avoided, especially at college. “It was really important to know about this because it could happen to anyone,” noted Eleni Chakales. “I want to honor the memories of all those who have died from relationship violence by being aware of the problem and helping others to avoid dying in such an awful way.”