Your classes may have seemed a bit less noisy on March 20.

That’s because that particular Friday was the National Day of Silence, a nation-wide youth movement to raise awareness about the issue of anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) bullying in schools. Students took part by taking a vow of silence for the school day, in order to mirror the silence forced upon bullied LGBT students, and to show solidarity with those lost to suicide because of the issue.

“I heard about the Day of Silence on the school announcements, as well as through Facebook statuses,” participant Kathryn Maisch said. “I thought the amount of support from participants all around the world was pretty awesome, and really just thought it was a great cause that I wanted to be a part of.”

Participation in the movement was higher than ever in Massapequa, with dozens of students having pledges signed stating their cause. On the Ames campus alone, over 35 freshmen participated in the Day of Silence, a sharp contrast to the whopping reported number of participants there last year, 0.

“We had a lot of support for the movement this year, both at the main campus and at Ames,” Ms. Eilleen Lind, one of the supervisors of Massapequa’s Gay-Straight Alliance club said.  “It turned out really well; maybe in the future we could get an assembly for it.”

E-mails were sent out to the staff of the high school in order to prevent any confusion as to why certain students would not be talking that day. In the past, there had been some controversy over the issue, but from most reports the movement went off without a hitch. In fact, many teachers were proud of participating students.

While being unable to talk for the day was an inconvenience, the silence of participating students produced a resonating effect throughout the school, starting discussions and prompting questions in many classes. The ensuing discussions, coupled with the effect on seeing others remain silent for the entire day, accomplished the movement’s goal of raising awareness to the plaguing issue of anti-LGBT bullying and hate in schools.