Students in a social entrepreneurship course at Northampton High School are leaving their mark on the school community in significant ways — and it has nothing to do with acing a test or completing a book assignment.

Over the course of several months last fall and winter, the students in the project-based learning class created an interactive virtual reality video that teaches peers about domestic abuse and stars student actors in key roles.

At the same time, the students are sharing their passion for social justice by starting a specific organization to promote ways to improve social issues in the Valley.

Students rarely learn these kinds of skills in textbooks, which is why teacher Jeromie Whalen finds this way of teaching exciting. The school’s technology educator for four years, Whalen says the team-based learning approach is a good model that boosts students’ confidence and creativity.

“It really changes the power dynamic in the class,” said Whalen, who leads the social entrepreneurship class. “Where I as an educator, it’s odd for me having to say … I won’t have the answer to a lot of the questions but we are going to solve these problems together and I can give you the tools.”

That’s exactly how the virtual reality video on domestic violence played out.

The students designed a “choose your own adventure” plot in which the outcome of the story is determined by decisions the user makes throughout the video.

A user sees the world through the eyes of “Madison” making decisions on how to respond to her best friend “Emma,” and trying to pick up on clues that her friend might need help. On the surface, Emma’s boyfriend “Kevin” is affectionate and caring, but it is up to the user to pick up on subtle cracks and respond accordingly.

To choose between two options, for example, like to question Emma about Kevin further or leave the matter alone, the user looks at one of two text boxes that appear on screen.

Meanwhile, facts and statistics appear, educating the user on domestic violence and better informing their decisions.

Sylvia Shread, an 18-year-old senior who serves on the class’s leadership committee, says students were careful not to romanticize domestic violence, so they focused more on conversations than any literal depictions of violence.

The class wrestled with different ideas before settling on the informative video on domestic violence. The goal, according to Shread, is to give the program to the school guidance department to use as an educational tool for years to come.

Student actors volunteered to star in the film, which was shot on 360-degree cameras and edited with Adobe Premiere Pro. The actors included Naomi Andrew, who played Emma, Nina Young, who played Madison, and Emmet Anderson, who played Kevin.

“All our actors were freshmen which was really great to see younger students stepping up to the plate because this is a primarily junior and senior class,” Shread said.

Social justice groupIn just one semester, students in the social entrepreneurship class not only created the video, but they also founded the Pioneer Valley Community Outreach Association, which describes itself as “an organization dedicated to the discussion and improvement of social issues affecting the Pioneer Valley.”

“I’m very focused on how do we bring people with privilege into social justice movement and not make them feel attacked or like they can’t be a part of it,” Shread said.

Project responsibilities divvied up into five different categories: marketing, leadership, technology, financial, and research. Students choose which they prefer and use their unique talents to each bring something different to the project.

“We learned a lot about not only how to create this virtual reality product, but how to engage with your local community and about domestic abuse as well,” said Whalen, who also teaches photography, video production and media communication. “I think its been kind of a multi-faceted educational experience.”

The organizers of the new association hope their organization creates a framework for more community-minded projects to come. They are sponsored by social justice groups like White Ribbon, a male activist organization focused on violence prevention, and Northampton High’s Feminist Collective, which has convened under several different names in its near six years in operation.

Originally, the class wanted to show their simulation at the Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage, another co-sponsor of the Pioneer Valley Community Outreach Association. Instead, the video was debuted at the conclusion of Northampton High’s Social Justice week, where each day was dedicated to different causes like race, gender equality, and environmental justice.

“I think we’ve all absorbed a lot,” said Ethan Lucey, a 17-year-old junior working on the technology committee.

New technologyTo run the program, the class purchased a headset and Galaxy 26 smartphone with a grant of about $750 from the school’s parent teacher organization. They also have access to various cameras and microphones from Northampton Community Television, located across the hall at the high school. Whalen serves as an NCTV board member.

“I think we don’t totally know the power of it because it’s such a new technology,” Whalen said. “We’re trying to navigate how powerful that is and part of that is experimenting with it.”

Lucey started researching ways to add an interactive element to the virtual reality story. After testing a free trial of the 3-D programming software Wonda, he emailed the company to ask if they could use the software for a class project. They obliged, and Lucey was able to create a scene map, add interactive elements, and construct a story with the software.

“It’s not really like anything I’ve used before so it was an interesting experience figuring that out,” Lucey said.

While Lucey worked on the technology, Shread spearheaded a campaign called #Nolonger33percent, aimed at raising awareness of domestic violence. The 33 percent refers to the portion of teens in a violent relationship who have ever told anyone about it. They put up flyers around school, and wrote statistics about domestic abuse on bathroom mirrors.

“There’s no homework, no tests and its really based on student engagement which I think is really great and how education should be,” Shread said.

Students are evaluated on progress made toward a common goal, and their ability to learn from mistakes. Video users are also asked to fill out Google forms before and after trying the simulation, which Whalen says they will use to gather data and help improve the experience.

“One of the biggest challenge was trying to convey to the students that we don’t operate in an ‘I’m going to tell you what to do way,’” Whalen said. “(It’s about) taking initiative, setting goals, managing tasks and timelines.”

Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com