It's controlled chaos on the grass behind Les Bois Junior High School in East Boise.
“All the students are taking their side with their, uh, bag of marshmallows,” said Justin Pickens, the Learning Coach at Les Bois.
Yes, he said marshmallows. And they're going to throw those marshmallows at each other. It's the world's largest marshmallow battle. Or at least that's the record that the kids are going for, according to JoBecka Thompson. She's the track coach and the Hope Squad advisor.
“So we have a Hope Squad class. And the whole goal is to bring awareness to mental health and just build community with our school. And so we're trying to find activity that included everybody and that was fun and focused on mental health. And so this was it.”
Sometimes it's the smallest acts, like a bag of marshmallows, that change the world.JoBecka Thompson, Hope Squad advisor at Les Boise Junior High School
Isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic helped to increase depression and thoughts of suicide in districts like Boise, and they've responded by adding social workers and counselors and adding Hope Squads as an elective class at their high schools and junior highs.
“COVID just really stopped a lot of connections,” said Thompson. “So I love that they created this … to do suicide prevention and just more good conversation about mental health awareness.”
The concept of the Hope Squad was the brainchild of a high school principal in Utah after a student died by suicide. It's a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program.
“We have a curriculum that we follow and we do lessons about… learning how to be empathetic, how to listen, how to build community,” said Thompson.
They're the culture setters of the school.Justin Pickens, Learning Coach at Les Bois Junior High School
The kids scramble to get in position by their tables as the student body streams out of the building to pick up their bags of marshmallows. There are more than 2,000 pounds of marshmallows on the two tables because the Hope Squad is hoping to break the world record.
“It's from the alternative book of World Records,” said Thompson. “In Taylorsville, Utah, this school broke a ton of world records. So this was one of them. And they had 2,009 pounds of marshmallows and they had 423 students. So we had to beat that. So we have 2,270 pounds of marshmallows.”
But it's about a lot more than just a marshmallow fight. It's about working together.
When we all come together, we can do great things.Justin Pickens, Learning Coach at Les Bois Junior High School
And finally, it's time for the marshmallow battle to begin. It's a snowstorm of marshmallows and everyone is hit by flying white blobs. The battle goes on for quite a while. Finally, the teachers have to wade in to get the kids to stop throwing marshmallows.
“It was pretty wild to see all those white, fluffy sugar balls being thrown across there. It was like a snowball fight,” said Pickens.
The students are incredibly happy and there's a gigantic sticky carpet of goo all over the practice field.
There's sticky fingers, sticky shoes and they had fun. Yeah. It'll be a memory.Justin Pickens, Learning Coach at Les Bois Junior High School
So, has the Hope Squad made a difference in Boise schools? Well, according to a wellness survey by the District, symptoms of depression have dropped by about 20% between 2022 and 2024. Thoughts of suicide in junior high kids have dropped from around 30% to 15%. And today, thanks to more than 2,000 pounds of marshmallows, a lot of those kids left the field happier than when they started.
“They care about each other. They take care of each other,” said Pickens.
The Boise School District provides Mental Health and Well-Being Services for their kids and their families, find out more here.
