Bringing schools together IRL

• A scavenger hunt to connect peers: Students at Edgemont High School organized an in-person scavenger hunt with hopes that their peers would meet new friends and find ways to connect without devices.
• The Phone Free Fund: This year, the fund awarded grants to projects that will reach 17,000 kids across New York State and support healthy digital habits.
• Student-led, in-person projects: Other student-led projects supported by the fund include digital detox rooms for screen-free downtime; upcycling clubs that teach students hands-on skills; and craft carts that give students access to high-quality art supplies.

Lukas and Koko noticed a trend at Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, New York: Their classmates were together but not truly together—they were often heads down, focusing on social media instead of talking to each other. The two high school sophomores decided to do something about it, organizing a scavenger hunt to get their peers involved in an activity where they could connect IRL (in real life) and make new friends.

Lukas explains that the scavenger hunt was less about cutting screen time and more about spending time outside and being present in the moment. “I would define digital wellness as a healthy balance between using screens and not letting them take over your life,” he says. “It’s an aspect of your life. It’s not something that controls it.”

To fund the activity, Lukas and Koko applied for a mini-grant from The Phone-Free Fund, an initiative of the nonprofit organization #HalfTheStory, in partnership with the Verizon Digital Wellness initiative. #HalfTheStory helps students become empowered digital citizens through youth-led educational programs. Both Lukas and Koko are on the organization’s Teen Tech Council, which brings teen leaders together to design and implement solutions that foster real-world connection and community in their schools.

“This year, we awarded projects with grants that will reach 17,000 kids across New York State and create traditions in their school that will become fixed parts of their school communities,” says Daniella Ivanir, youth engagement lead at #HalfTheStory. “Verizon helped us build something that will shift the culture in New York schools’ digital wellness at large.”

Other student-led projects include digital detox rooms for screen-free downtime; upcycling clubs that teach students hands-on skills; and craft carts that give students access to high-quality art supplies. The aim, Ivanir says, is to help kids who came of age alongside screens during the pandemic to gain healthy digital habits, so they can “create more moments of focus and connection and preserve all the things that are critical to being human.”

For the scavenger hunt, Lukas and Koko grouped classmates into teams of five, pairing each student with one person they knew and several they didn’t. “Our hope was that they would connect, they would become friends and they would find that they could make these connections without devices,” Koko says.

Over two hours, the teenagers did just that, running around campus, behind school

buildings, down dirt paths and up a hill to the running track. The scavenger hunt challenges required them to solve riddles and hands-on puzzles while enjoying the thrills of working with a team toward a shared goal.

“I want people to leave this and say, ‘This person who I’ve never talked to is actually so cool. I think I could be friends with them,’ and we have a more connected community,” Lukas says. “This is something entirely new to our school. I hope it boosts school spirit and gives the community something to talk about.”