Carson High freshmen realize that students in cliques are really just their classmates

It was a lesson about being in someone else's shoes.

For Kevin Peck, an outgoing joke-cracking freshman, it meant looking down at his skate sneakers, keeping his arms across his black Volcom T-shirt and making no eye contact - the role assigned to him by the upperclass LINK students visiting his freshman science class.

The other four students in his group played their specific roles - being super-touchy, overly obnoxious, talking solely about food or hardly talking at all. When the assignment ended, students returned to their seats, Peck becoming his expressive smiling self.

LINK, a program new to Carson High during the 2004-05 school year, is meant to bridge gaps between lower and upper classmen and promote school spirit and acceptance of others.

LINK leaders Donald McMurtrey and Ashley Cusimano, both Carson High seniors, asked students how they felt in their roles.

"Does it frustrate you or make you feel mad when someone doesn't look at you when you're talking?" Cusimano said.

"I like eye contact, McMurtrey said. "So I know when I'm talking people aren't doing something else, that they're paying attention to what I'm saying."

Freshman Trevor Voight learned that lesson Friday. Typically the center of attention, he played the role of someone who could only talk after seven seconds lapsed from the last person to speak.

"I couldn't say anything," he said. "Do you know how weird it was? I never got to talk at all, but I did listen better. I listened a lot because I wasn't being the center of attention. I really heard what (the others) were saying."

Also during Friday's LINK session, students talked about cliques and the primary groups they identified themselves with. Responses varied - Hispanic, ROTC, band, jocks, snowboarder, soccer, even gangster skateboard - and were surprised that only a few students in the class belonged to the same groups at all.

"I learned there are a lot more people who are different than I realized in a single class," freshman Shantell Depuy said. "I knew there were a lot of different cliques, but I didn't realize how many."

Depuy, who hangs out with people from many walks of life, realized she still categorized people.

"I'll treat people a lot different," she said. "I've been stereotypical, thinking jocks were all football players, when a lot of people enjoy sports. This has shown me how different everyone is."

Friday's LINK presentation is the fifth this school year. Previous presentations focused on setting goals, becoming involved and working together for success.

"All the freshmen teachers have told us this (program) makes a difference," McMurtrey said. "We have had nothing but positive comments about it."

- Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.