Revere High School will host an all-girls assembly for students in grades nine through twelve to focus on topics such as domestic violence and female empowerment.

Bonnie Simonelli, the school’s At-Risk Student Coordinator, facilitated the presentation, which will feature local female speakers. She described the focus of the assembly.

“It will be an all-girl assembly, and all the female students will be attending. It is going to be a forum; there will be four or five different speakers and topics covered in that time. It will definitely highlight domestic violence and female empowerment, but it is going to cover the general ‘high-school-girl experience,’” Simonelli said.

Simonelli discussed the main spokeswoman for the assembly, Gabriella Kreuz, as well as other speakers for the day. The assembly will start with slam poetry to energize the crowd before delving into more substantial topics.

“We’re going to have empowerment poetry by a former student of mine. [Then] we are going to have Amy Ellis of the Richfield Police speaking. She is really good at her job and she is going to speak to [struggles she has faced as a female in a male field]. I am going to talk about ‘mean-girl stuff.’ Our highlighted speaker, though, is [Kreuz] from Love Doesn’t Shove. She started this [organization] at John Carroll University after she herself was in an abusive relationship. She decided to start this whole movement called Love Doesn’t Shove to make sure that people understand that it doesn’t have to hurt to be in love with somebody and that abusive relationships often start during the dating stage,” Simonelli said.

Kreuz, founder of Love Doesn’t Shove, discussed the focus of the organization and what inspired her to start it. The program aims to educate people on healthy relationship dynamics to help end teen dating violence and promote a safer, happier society.

“I go to schools and institutions mostly in the northeast Ohio area and start educational discussions with students as well as share parts of my experience in an abusive relationship. The goal is to have open, educational conversation to build awareness and establish appropriate behavior in the context of a healthy relationship. My personal experience in a physically abusive relationship ultimately moved me to start Love Doesn’t Shove, but the intentions of the organization is to [create] an educational platform and open the floor for other voices, not just mine,” Kreuz said.

Superintendent Matthew Montgomery voiced the importance of this open discussion. He emphasized how available resources are for students and how this presentation could show students how their relationships may meet some of the thresholds of dating violence.

“I think awareness is important for these types of topics that are outside of the regular curriculum. We are trying to provide a foundation for young adults to go out and be successful members of society. Unfortunately, unless you have some of these candid conversations and bring this topic to the forefront, things are not acknowledged that it is a reality for some people,” Montgomery said.

For all those concerned, the administration is looking into a similar presentation geared toward boys. Simonelli explained her reasoning behind making this assembly exclusively for girls.

“I think that a male student could benefit from the same message from a different angle. They can be the abusers, but they can also be victimized. What inspired this was just the knowledge that it is more of a female problem. It is not exclusively female, but we are going to start there,” Simonelli said.

The assembly is scheduled for February 24, and the day’s schedule will run as usual. Girls will be excused from fifth period while boys will remain in their regular classes.