The end of the quarter is a very busy time for all students, but even more so for the members of Piedmont For Consent (P4C), as they are in the midst of planning the expansion of their consent education program.

P4C is a student run club at PHS that organized a school wide assembly on consent last year. This year, the assembly will be presented to freshmen and seniors on Nov. 16 and previewed for parents on Nov. 14. The assembly consists of a series of true stories surrounding consent related issues, performed by a group of 35 PHS students, according to the P4C website. 

This year, P4C aims to expand the reach of their consent education program with new assemblies, each created with a specific student group in mind, said P4C President senior Anna Gotto. There will be four this year. 

Each assembly covers a different aspect of consent and is designed to resonate with a targeted age demographic, Gotto said. 

She also said that P4C takes into consideration not only the intensity of stories being told, but also how relevant and understandable consent is to students.

“Last year, every grade [attended] the assembly. We had two assemblies: one for freshmen and sophomores, and one for juniors and seniors,” Gotto said. “[This] was because no one had gotten the assembly the year before, so it was kind of like a [transition] year. This year we’re only doing freshmen and seniors.” 

Beginning next school year, freshmen will receive the same assembly each year and the upper grades will rotate through one of three other assemblies that P4C is currently creating. By the time they graduate, students will have seen all four. 

In addition to P4C’s work at PHS, many schools are looking to create their own consent education programs and are looking to Piedmont for inspiration, said junior P4C board member Eve Tellegen. 

“Last year, El Cerrito [High School] and Bishop O’Dowd reached out and we presented [our assembly] there,” said junior P4C board member Eve Tellegen. 

According to Tellegen, After seeing P4C’s consent assembly last year, O’Dowd created their own version.

Using momentum generated from positive responses and growing demand, the group also intends to create consent education programs for younger students. 

The club has an Elementary School Education Committee focused on teaching topics like how to establish boundaries with others without reference to any sexual or romantic activity, according to the P4C website.

“Last year we did a starter assembly at Wildwood in one of the fifth grade classes,” said P4C board member and sophomore Olivia Kaltner. “The response in the elementary school was really positive.”

This year, the goal is to present a modified version of the presentation given last year to every fifth grade class at Wildwood, said Kaltner.