Teacher Emily Price woke up two days after the election and, per usual, flipped on her morning news. Stories centered around hatred and negativity quickly overwhelmed her and she only found more aggression on her Facebook page.

Price was disturbed by what she saw: posts filled with hateful rhetoric, friends and family turning on each other because of their beliefs, and an overall feeling of turbulence and divisiveness that seemed to be all encompassing. This has to be a teachable moment, Price thought.

When students walked in to Price’s 4th period AP Environmental Science class that day, many were surprised to see the single word “respect” projected on the screen in the front of the class. The bell rang and Price quieted her students, asking them for a few minutes of their undivided attention.

She told them that, political beliefs aside, it is imperative to maintain respectful and spread positivity and kindness. She reminded students that we are not different people because this happened; we are the same people we were before the election results were announced.

“I wanted to validate whatever anyone was feeling. Whether they were feeling anger or exultation or fear, I wanted them to know that it was okay to have those feelings,” said Price. “I don’t know how it is on campus anywhere else, but it’s going to be safe in here. This has to be a safe space.”

She passed out white slips of paper and asked her students to each write an anonymous positive word or phrase, which she subsequently collected and read aloud to the class. Then she had students work together to create a poster to spread a message of positivity. At the end of the project, her students hung the poster outside on the door.

“We kind of all came together and the process was very therapeutic,” said senior Jenna Bowman. “People were all contributing at once to create something beautiful.”

Like Bowman, many students expressed that this experience had a positive effect on them as well.

“Negativity has been at an all time high and people have been really on edge with each other. I have been [negative] too and that’s not something I’m proud of,” said Paige Koritz. “So just coming into class and having this experience has been really soothing in a way. It’s nice to see that it’s not the apocalypse like so many people are saying because we can come together and make a cute little poster.”

Price said that she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do once she got to class, but felt strongly that she had to do something. “I came here like ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,’ and I mentioned something to another teacher. They were like ‘oh, I don’t know,’ and I was like ‘I don’t care because it’s not about politics.’ That’s not what this is about,” she said.

“One of the other teachers had posted something and he was admonishing some of his former students saying ‘Hey, we need to stop perpetuating the negativity.’ I [was] like ‘yeah, it was really tough yesterday,’” Price added. “When I looked out in my room yesterday, there was some very aggressive language and boasting. I was just thinking this is so inappropriate when you know that probably half the people in the room right now feel totally opposite of how you feel. It was very, very insensitive.”

Seeing an authority figure deliver an emotional and politically relevant message was surprising for some students, and gave many a new perspective.

“I have a lot more respect for her [Price] now because a lot of teachers have been really quiet about it and some of them are like ‘What went wrong? What happened?’ and others are kind of just ignoring it,” Koritz commented. “To see Mrs. Price be so passionate, it’s something that makes me value her more as a teacher.”

Price commented that she was happy with the overall experience. “I absolutely do [think it was effective]. I would hope that it was valuable for everybody. Now we just have to keep going; it will get better,” Price said.