East Baton Rouge students say they were ‘tricked’ into attending a quirky religious event

The East Baton Rouge, Louisiana school system has been accused of tricking hundreds of high school students into attending a religious event this week disguised as a college and job fair.

After the students arrived at the venue – a church called the Living Christian Living Faith Center – they said they had found something very different from the job fair called Hope Day. While many colleges had a presence at the event, students said the focus seemed to be on something else entirely.

Pupils were reportedly separated into two groups by gender, forced to register to vote for free, promoted food, and hear speakers share disturbing stories of rape, suicide and abstinence. A teacher claimed in a Facebook post that some transgender students were bullied by their peers at the event.

Now, a group called “Day of Nope” is seeking a lawsuit over the episode and is asking attendees to share their experiences via a new website. website. “This was supposed to be a college fair, but the girls were talked to about abstinence, bullying, and death. And the guys played games,” one student told ABC’s WBRZ, which mentioned On the latest backlash for this event.

Says GoFundMe for that litigation effort, which raised $75 as of Saturday. The speakers exposed the students to graphic tales and reenactments of suicide, which left some students at a prior loss to suicide, upset and upset without any emotional support to help them. The students were found in the bathroom crying.”

“In violation of federal law, lunch was conditioned on the completion of voter registration forms and other election-related materials were distributed to students,” adds the fundraising page, titled Fight Against Trauma Hope Day.

Britney Bryant, a biology teacher who complained about the event on Facebook, expressed outrage that “boys were instructed to go outside while girls were left in church for ‘girls talk.’ My transgender child was discriminated against for leaving.”

“I stayed and listened to the discussion,” Bryant added. They talked about rape, tolerance for the offender in life, suicide, prayer leadership, and many other controversial dark topics. We had females in the bathrooms crying because of the discussion topics.”

Meanwhile, Bryant claims, the boys’ discussion was called “real talk” and involved “male chauvinistic rivalries for financial reward,” including doing push-ups. “They have been amplified and motivated,” she wrote in her social media post.

A student named Alexis Budyach also took to Facebook to detail what she described as a “horrific experience” that began with “rap battles and singing competitions, harmless fun.”

Her mother, Bonnie Kirsch, said: Lawyer They had no idea about the College Fair to be held in the church. “I got tricked into thinking she was going to a college and career fair,” Kirsch told Baton Rouge. “She was preached and I prayed for her.”

Bodiach said in her letter that after breaking the ice, the male students were asked to leave the room. “As a sex-fluid person, I don’t identify myself as a boy or a girl, so this has been an upsetting situation for me,” Budach wrote. However, due to the nature of this program in the church, I immediately assumed that I would be discriminated against if I went with the boys, so I stayed seated and kept my mouth shut. Then, since the girls were alone, the host introduced three women intended to “guide us on our journey in that We become little queens.”

Bodiach said the first speaker was a pastor, who gave a lecture on being self-absorbed and not trying to fit in with the audience. “One of the examples I used for this was how she preserved her virginity during high school and college,” Bowdach wrote. Having announced it with pride, I expected an applause. She mentioned how everyone knew her as the “good Christian girl” and that she was so proud of her.”

The second spokeswoman, Bodiach, “was involved in the education sector in some way” and spoke of “how someone she met on a dating app ended up trying to kill her by strangling her.” The woman allegedly told the students that she kept their romance secret, so no one would know if he killed her. “I eventually used this to make the argument that if something should be kept a secret, it shouldn’t happen at all,” Bodiach wrote.

Following this domestic violence warning, Bodiach says, “The woman also asserted that if she had waited for the man that God meant for her, it wouldn’t have happened. She uses this to essentially disgrace the concept of ‘dating about’ and take a soul mate approach to the situation.”

“In addition, she made it clear that she forgave her ex-boyfriend for his attempted murder, even if he wasn’t sorry. Again, there may be a valuable message, but it’s missing in the shocking storytelling and religious imagery,” Bodiach wrote.

The third speaker, a nurse with a Ph.D., continued, “and gave a very detailed description of the morning she found her son’s body after he hanged himself.”

“She explained that this happened because her son was being bullied,” Bodiach claimed. “I used this story to say that people these days are very mean to each other and we should stay together. For the third time, perhaps there is a useful message hidden behind a very painful account of a day we had no warning or idea we were going to learn about.”

Bodiach said that when the two groups of students were called to the venue, a speaker named Dunk gave “the most fairy tale one can imagine.”

“He started by saying that at the age of nine he was shot in the stomach and saw his intestines fall into his hands. After that, he was paralyzed and in a wheelchair between the ages of 11 and 13 (I’m not sure what happened from 9 to 11). One day, according to Saying, he was with his grandmother who was snoring very loudly and started shaking his toes and was no longer paralyzed. After that, he started “messing with the wrong crowd” and ended up in prison with life imprisonment + 90 years for two counts of armed robbery and one murder. He said how sad he was In prison he tried to commit suicide with a bed sheet (which he showed with a prop sheet he was on stage), but somehow he changed his thinking and got out of prison,” Bodiach wrote.

‘At the end of it all, the host made the choice of the audience.’ He said, ‘If you want to eat, pizza is right in front of you outside those doors. If you choose to change, if you want to get better, come towards the podium towards me. At this point we haven’t eaten and frankly, I’ve I finished in shock, so I left the building.”

In a statement, the school district appeared to advocate for the field trip, which was conducted in partnership with 29:11 Guidance Families, a faith-based nonprofit organization for at-risk youth. (The group’s website says, “We believe by being inspiring, willful, and intimate that we are able to redirect our students to Jesus Christ who defines their future and changes the world.”)

“The East Baton Rouge Parish school system has partnered with providing additional support services to students in our district,” the school system said. One such initiative is the “Day of Hope” event. The event was organized to help students explore options after high school, as well as allow students to participate in breakout sessions, student-initiated activities and projects. Providing recreational activities with an educational focus, this event was an elevation of the traditional and functional college fair.

“Students were provided with lunch and the rare opportunity to mingle with peers from other high schools in one place. We look forward to seeing what the more than 2,100 students will continue to achieve through the resources and knowledge gained from this event.”

A Facebook video from August 31 promotes the event with Tremaine Stirling, founder of 29:11, standing next to School System Principal Dr. Sito Narcisse. “I am very excited about this partnership,” Narcisse says. in the video. “We have great things coming between EBR and 29:11 Academy. It will be where all seniors in all high schools will be involved. Just one of many partnerships to come.”

And Sterling adds: “So save the date, it would be great. Thousands come under one roof to grow and improve.”

Tree Holiday, the student who attended the event said Lawyer The college part of the event included outdoor tents for a few schools and programs.

“It kind of felt like a spiritual event more than a job fair and college,” he said.

If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by sending TALK to 741741.