AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
When a group of student-athletes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was confronted with violence in their community, they wanted a place to talk about their feelings. They asked if their school could give them a space to gather and cope. As Amy Diaz from member station WFDD reports, they've created what's called The Restoration Room.
AHMAD ARNOLD: We're going to breathe in through our nose, hold it for four seconds and then we're going to breathe out...
AMY DIAZ, BYLINE: Seventeen-year-old Ahmad Arnold (ph) stands in the center of a big open classroom, leading a group of nine teenage boys in breathing exercises. The students are sitting cross-legged on yoga mats in a circle around him. They all inhale and exhale together.
ARNOLD: Breathe out.
(EXHALING)
DIAZ: This is The Restoration Room at Carver High School. The chalkboard walls are filled with quotes from the teens, like no judgment, positivity in our progress and just breathe. The school serves a neighborhood with some of the highest levels of poverty in Winston-Salem. But after the students' third exhale, Principal Thyais Maxwell has them travel somewhere else.
THYAIS MAXWELL: You're going to close your eyes and you're going to envision your peaceful place.
DIAZ: One student imagined a warm cabin that smelled like cinnamon. Another was on a boat floating along calm, cool waters. This has been a hard year for Carver. Three students died between July and October. Another three were shot, including a basketball player who returned to school with a colostomy bag. And in the city as a whole, a quarter of last year's homicide victims were teenagers. Meeting in this room with his peers has made a difference, says Senior Jaydan Gause-Hughes (ph).
JAYDAN GAUSE-HUGHES: When I'm stressed or anything, I breathe. But that's helped a lot. And I know that I can talk to y'all. I know y'all just there.
DIAZ: Since the creation of the space in November, the school social worker, James Transou, says the students have come a long way. He remembers them before The Restoration Room.
JAMES TRANSOU: They were slamming doors, walking out of the building, punching lockers.
DIAZ: Now he says they talk about their feelings and know how to ask for support. Ahmad Arnold, who led the breathing exercise, says the sessions have even helped them on the football field.
ARNOLD: You can see the chemistry in some games where, like, some plays, usually we would have picked up on, but because we communicated, they helped us out a lot.
DIAZ: Most of the students in the group are graduating this year, a reality that had the lone sophomore, Tristan Morehouse (ph), tearing up toward the end of the session.
TRISTAN MOREHOUSE: As soon as I got here, they were there for me. But now they're just leaving.
DIAZ: His words hung in the air for just a moment. Then the seniors chimed in, saying next year, it'll be his turn to take some underclassmen under his wing, just like they did for him. Then Principal Maxwell gave an order.
MAXWELL: Y'all go give Tristan some love.
(CROSSTALK)
DIAZ: The students ran over to Morehouse and tackled him to the floor, laughing and cheering. Soon, he began to wipe his tears. They might still be nervous about the future, but they know if they need to, they can take some deep breaths, envision a peaceful place, or call any one of their friends from this group. They'll understand.
For NPR News, I'm Amy Diaz in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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