“I thought [Santa Fe Prep Anonymo/us Project] was beautiful. It made me miss Prep so much, and it made me realize how much time we have missed because of the COVID-19 virus, and even before that, how much we took the school and our friends for granted.” – Santa Fe Prep Student

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Santa Fe Prep Anonymo/us Project was adapted to the screen. The 95-minute film premiered on Friday, May 8th at 7pm and ran until July 1, 2020.

A note from the student leaders of Anonymo/us Project at Santa Fe Prep:

“We began working on this project with Chloe back in the early Fall, when we constructed a series of questions aimed at addressing widely-asked but often silenced topics. From personal relationships to the broader social climate, we wanted to hear what Prep students had to say; we wanted to know their truths. We sent a survey with these questions out to the Upper School student body and students were given the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences completely anonymously. After receiving almost 70 student responses, we got to work creating a script made entirely of these anonymous voices of Prep. 

The script is an anthology of sorts; the common themes we feel as students and as people. Although the script was intended to be performed live on stage, due to the COVID-19 outbreak we chose to adapt the project to the screen. This shift enabled us to broaden the number of people involved and to create opportunities for us to try out all sorts of creative storytelling techniques that we could attempt at safe social distances. ”

Santa Fe Prep is the second high school to participate in this pilot program.

Feedback From The Prep Community:

“It was really nice for me to have a commitment and a creative outlet when I was adjusting to the lockdown. I felt like the project kept me sane in a time that would have otherwise been a lot harder and stranger. It was also really nice to connect with people during the meetings, seeing as I wasn't interacting with them at school.”

– Cast Member

“Seeing Prep throughout the film made me sad yet also gave me hope — the cast managed to put together an amazing production despite all the disruption in the world.”

– Student

“One really important part of the experience was that in performing [a] monologue I had written, I was able to process some pretty un-fun feelings I still had about a certain person. A little while after the show, she and I ended up having a really long talk over the phone, which was really nice. I feel like I wouldn't have been able to do that, had I not processed my thoughts in working on the project.”

– Cast Member

“It breaks my heart that it seems young people have to keep going through the same experiences year after year. All the voices were the same voices either inside me or inside my friends during our high school experience. How can we pass on earlier to our kids what we learned, and how we survived and thrived? I remember the light switch that happened after graduation when I realized that all that pain and stress were not my truth.”

– Parent

“I gained insight into my child's experiences, into the universality of hearing her voice echoed through others' voices.”

– Parent

“Watching with my daughter, we had incredible conversation and discussion, there was no holding back.”

– Parent

“It confirms my notion that the most important thing I can do to the students of prep is give them unconditional love exactly as they are.”

– Faculty/Staff Member

Questions Asked on the Survey:

• Would you rather: only get grades lower than C+ or never listen to music again?

• Do you prefer hook-up culture or relationships? Why?

• Share any “firsts” stories (kiss/hand holding/date/crush/other).

• Do you use any dating apps?

• What is your opinion on or experience with dating apps?

• Write a letter to your crush

• Write a poem about your experience with breakups. Example below:

• When do you feel most attractive/confident/desirable?

• Discuss something you feel self-conscious about.

• If your mental health were a pet animal, what kind would it be and why? What would you name it? How do you care for it?    

• Write a letter of advice to your younger self.

• What is your "guilty pleasure"?

• Write down one thought that keeps you up at night.

• Share something that terrifies you. How do you deal with the fear?

• Write down something you’d like to tell your parent(s) but have never done so.

• Name one song that helped you through a difficult time. How did it help you? What does it feel like to listen to it now?

• What is something that you said over text / social media / a screen to someone that you would have never said in person (be aware of concealing identities)

• Have you ever been scared at school or in a public place that a mass shooting might occur?

• What is something you wish our generation would focus more on?

• What's one thing you wish you could tell the Prep community?

• Do you think sexuality is a spectrum or a hard line? 

• How do you currently identify?

• Have you always identified as you currently do? If not, what made you feel differently?

• How much did you enjoy this survey?

• Did the survey help or hurt you in any way? If so, how?

• What's one thing you learned about yourself from this?

• Any questions you wish we had asked?

• Finally, use this space to jot down any remaining thoughts or add any other writings that you would like to submit to the project. Thank you!

“[It] felt good to get it out. I just want to be heard.”

– Student Respondent, writing about the process of answering Anonymo/us Project’s fall survey