Lupe, a 12th grader from Brooklyn, talks about why she decided to become a Circle Keeper and the impact it has had on her interactions with other students.
I chose to do this because I wanted to grow as a person, and I knew that this would help me a lot. So I feel more confident, and I feel I can reach people more easily. I feel I can plan out a circle and I can go through a circle and I can work with people better.
I feel like we've gotten closer with our classmates. Our relationship with them is stronger. When I do circles with people, I always keep in mind that people hold back. People don't like to show those 'bad' emotions. Feeling sad, feeling scared... People will show it when they're mad, but the reason behind why they're mad, they won't say. So I keep that in mind. I say, Well okay, what's behind this? What's the story behind this person? Why are they saying this? I try to go more in depth.