Colton, CA—“Synergy” is the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

Yesterday, August 31, Link Crew held its first Synergy event of the 2022-23 school year in the Hubbs Gym. Students from ASB, Renaissance, and freshmen AVID all came together to participate. In total, the event hosted 220 students.

“Leadership gets a separate Synergy because we like to get them all together to remind them how important they are to our school and our community as a whole. We know that many of them are stressed and overworked, and we feel like they need a safe place to speak about those things with like-minded students.”

For some, Synergy is an event they look forward to, a time to get closer to each other at the start of the school year. For others, this was their first Synergy, or their first time working the event as a Link Crew leader. 

“It’s really fun,” first year Link Crew leader Leilani Durham-Perez said about working the event. “We get to bring new things to the freshmen and allow them to learn new things. And they also are actually pretty involved.” 

Participating students were assigned to family groups, each with a distinctive name, like The Powerpuffs, The Minions, or I ♥ Directioners. Throughout the day, Link Crew walked the participants through a number of interactive tasks and games, such “Hug Tag,” “I Love All My Peeps,” and “Redbox.” After each of the activities, the family groups got back together in intervention circles to reflect on what they learned through the activity. Students felt comfortable sharing what they learned and how they felt. 

These activities built trust and support within the family groups, with everything culminating in one of the day’s highlights, “Cross the Line.” Students were asked social questions, and given the opportunity to cross a physical line to represent their answer. The questions became more serious and personal as the activity progressed.

Michael Esquivel, Link Crew’s adviser puts the purpose of the activity simply: “By simply crossing crossing a piece of tape, You can find someone that has similar things as you.”

The event culminated with a series of “balloon stories,” in which Link Crew leaders shared a personal story. One leader, Julio Jauregui, shared about how switching to a new school made him a target for bullies. “It was important to share my story because I know that everyone goes through that,” Jauregui said. “I feel that by sharing my story, people will know they are not alone and at the end we are all sticking together.”

This first Synergy of the year was a successful event. And while the focus was on Colton High’s leadership and AVID students, an all-school Synergy event is planned for September 14.