With the help of 220 students at Immaculate Conception school, National Victims and Survivors of Crime Week was kicked off Monday with the formation of a "human mandala."
They spread out on the school's soccer field to form a pattern that, from a bird's eye view, made for an eye-catching result and in keeping with the week's theme - "voices heard and unheard."
"The point of it was to symbolize that nobody is alone and that even if you are alone, you look around and there are a lot of people around you," said Krista Levar, RCMP Victim Services Coordinator.
Typically, mandalas are made out of sand by Buddhist monks during times of meditation and reflection.
"They do all this beautiful artwork and then they just wash it away," Levar said. "It's not about the finished product, per se, but about the process."
It fits in, Levar said, because the name has been changed of the week has been changed to add survivors.
"We at least want to touch on moving from being a victim to being a survivor," Levar said.
She said the students did a few rehearsals over the previous month.
"I think that if we plant those seeds in children when they're young - to be aware of people's emotions around them, to see if they can be of assistance - when they grow into adults they can carry on to be good citizens of our world," Levar said.
The event was a joint effort between the school and the three Prince George area victim services units from the Native Friendship Centre, Elizabeth Fry Society and the Prince George RCMP.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled mandala.
