ANDERSON -- McDonald County High School DECA students Emma Huckabey and Ashleigh Dornon worked in conjunction with their DECA teacher, Christine Ellis, to host the school's first domestic violence awareness assemblies.
On Nov. 18, Huckabey and Dornon conducted two different domestic violence awareness assemblies, one for underclassmen and one for upperclassmen. The two, in addition to Ellis, spoke briefly about domestic violence and offered the stage to domestic violence survivor Allie Stephens, a student at the University of Oklahoma.
In the Performing Arts Center, the stage was lined with purple flowers, candles and balloons. Stephens, Dornon, Huckabey and Ellis wore purple blouses as they spoke about the seriousness of domestic violence awareness. Stephens shared her testimony, as well as signs and outlets for individuals experiencing or witnessing domestic violence.
Huckabey and Dornon have worked on organizing the assemblies for a year, completing required DECA project paperwork along the way.
Ellis said the assemblies are the first of their kind at the high school. Ellis added that the assemblies may be more useful now than ever, with domestic violence reports spiking during covid-19.
"We did realize this was a prime opportunity because of covid and the different things that happen because of the way that people were cooped up in different situations at home," Ellis said.
Ellis said she wants students who are experiencing or witnessing domestic violence to know how to identify it, what to do, and know that they're not alone and help is available.
Ellis added Huckabey and Dornon's project is not only a project for DECA competitions, but that the project is influential to student lives.
"Just knowing that they're gaining so much from this, I don't think that they realize that they could do something to this magnitude," Ellis said.
Emma Huckabey, a junior at MCHS and second-year DECA student, was in charge of initial introductions at the assemblies, as well as finding a domestic violence survivor. Huckabey said this project is important to her as she's had close friends experience domestic violence.
"I had a friend who was in a really, really tough relationship and she would call me crying because he was following her and she thought he was going to kill her," Huckabey said. "The same guy was with another person I'm friends with, and she came to school one day with bruises all over her."
Huckabey said she wants to raise awareness of domestic violence and wants to offer help through MCHS for any students who may be experiencing domestic violence of any type. Huckabey added that she wanted domestic violence cases to be taken more seriously for all victims, not just victims in the public sphere, as she referenced the Gabby Petito case.
"I hope that they [students] learn that speaking up about it is more important than keeping it private," Huckabey said.
Ashleigh Dornon, a junior and first-year DECA student at MCHS, was in charge of offering concluding statements at the assemblies and offering a moment of silence for domestic violence victims that are no longer with us. Dornon said she wanted to offer the student body more knowledge about domestic violence.
"I feel like people don't know much about it, I feel like they think it's just something to scrape under the rug," Dornon said. "I hope next year I can lead it [the assemblies] again for the upcoming freshmen."
Dornon said at the assemblies as a domestic violence survivor spoke, counselors were available in the PAC lobby for any students that needed assistance or someone to talk to.
At the assemblies, Stephens shared statistics on domestic violence, types of domestic violence, points on how to recognize abuse, and points on how to support those who live within abusive relationships. Counselors were on standby for students in need and hotlines were shared with the student body should they need them.
"Some people are so in love that they don't realize what is happening to them is wrong," Huckabey said at the podium, her face tightening.