On Thursday, April 11, the seniors at Mercy High School took a break from their normal school day schedules for an important workshop. The workshop was a One Love Escalation Workshop that the Mercy seniors and the University of Detroit Jesuit seniors completed together. The objective of this workshop was to educate the seniors of both schools on the signs of unhealthy and healthy relationships and how to help those in need.

Social Studies teacher Mrs. Lisa Robinet is a moderator of One Love and shares the main objectives of the workshop this past Thursday.

“One of the hopes of having the One Love workshop is definitely building community among the senior class. We hoped that they could truthfully share what they know and feel about the topics, even though they were kind of heavy,” Robinet said.

Compared to a normal Mercy school day, the workshop was definitely different. The seniors did not learn in classrooms, but instead in small groups and through watching a short film.

“The small groups were meant to be the most beneficial part because they discussed the film, in addition to outside experiences they may have had,” Robinet said.

Throughout the workshop, the students watched videos and short films and then formed small groups of both U of D and Mercy students. In these small groups, there were two discussion leaders that would help to moderate the discussions about the material just covered.

“I think the group discussions were the most beneficial part,” Abby Slankster, Mercy senior and One Love leader, said. “They were coed groups with U of D and Mercy students, and so it gave a chance to hear opinions from both perspectives and there was a lot of good input. It gave students a chance to really think about the questions being asked and how they could help.”

Leaders and moderators worked hard on structuring these creative efforts to make the workshop more meaningful.

“I really believe that you get from it what you put into it,” Robinet said. “If you put in effort and really thought about the video to communicate your beliefs, you got the benefits of the workshop.”

With conversations ranging from ways to stay safe to building healthy relationships, One Love’s leaders worked hard to teach seniors important skills needed to protect themselves and others from potentially abusive situations in the future.

“I learned how to have a healthy relationship and the signs to look out for or red flags to be alert to,” said senior Maya Boertman.

However, One Love’s meeting not only taught students important skills but also further bonded the class with random group pairings. These groups sparked deep, meaningful conversations between seniors from all the school’s sectors, giving those who may have never spoken the opportunity to better understand each other before their time at Mercy comes to an end.

“I really enjoyed getting to know my leaders and the people in my small group,” Boertman said.

The benefits of this workshop are meant to resonate with Mercy students their whole lives. It is a staple event for seniors in order to instill in them healthy relationship skills before they graduate from Mercy.

This workshop’s importance cannot be underestimated. The increase in abuse within relationships has risen, and as the topic has gained more attention, it is more important than ever to educate students about the signs of these relationships.

“It starts to teach our seniors especially what those signs are and prepares them as they go into college on how to recognize these so we can hopefully save and educate more people,” Slankster said.

Furthermore, spreading awareness on the topic of domestic abuse is increasingly important in a female-only environment like Mercy as over one in four women experience some form of physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“I think it’s important to help other people become more aware of situations because it’s more prevalent in young women, and it helps everyone stay safe,” Boertman said.

The hope of students, leaders and moderators alike is that the One Love workshop will help the U of D and Mercy seniors as they graduate in a few short months and begin a life in the “real world”.