Benefield: The story behind Montgomery High's viral #thisiswhoweare Instagram campaign

At first, it was sadness.

Then, a loss of pride.

And then, anger. Or something close to it.

Montgomery High School coaches, people who literally cheer on students daily, said they felt the school they were looking at — on television screens, on social media and in the pages of the newspaper — was not the Montgomery they knew.

One month ago, the stabbing death of a 16-year-old student on campus — the worst incident of school violence in Sonoma County in at least a generation — rocked Santa Rosa’s second-oldest high school and deeply shook the wider community.

The death came just days after a scathing Press Democrat report on the Montgomery High School campus facilities, replete with descriptions of raw sewage running down walkways, broken toilets, and crumbling and leaking ceilings.

As days became weeks, news stories coming out of Montgomery High School in March were the stuff of nightmares: neglect, violence and death.

But for many who have called Montgomery their professional home for decades, the images didn’t ring entirely true. Or, perhaps more precisely: They did not tell the whole story.

Not even close.

Dean Haskins, the longtime Vikings athletic director, was sad at first. Then he got angry. And then, he got to work.

“I felt like this school was basically at ground zero with the community perception,” he said.

“It just dawned on me that there are so many things at this school that can be celebrated,” he said. “What if we can collectively get a message out there to people that this is not what Montgomery is all about. There are a lot of things going on that are fantastic.”

The #thisiswhoweare campaign was born.

Pictures, posted to Instagram of Vikings teams and coaches, parent volunteers and workout sessions, began appearing each Wednesday, all tagging one another with the #thisiswhoweare hashtag.

“It was, ‘Let’s remind people that there is more to this place than the tragic death and the decrepit facilities,’” said Jon Schwan, longtime boys soccer coach and Montgomery alum.

So strong is that message, that feeling, that many of the coaches and officials I talked to eased the conversation away from the things that focused such negative public attention on Montgomery.

Instead, they wanted to talk about their kids, their teams, their parent volunteers.

Haskins’ directive to his coaches was wide-ranging, but clear: “I told them to post small victories that you have within your program, things that you are proud of.”

Because to Haskins and other coaches, sports are “the front porch” of a school. It’s what passersby see from the street. For many, it’s the only sense of a school the community gets.

“It’s where people see their first impressions — what your facilities look like, how your coaches behave, how your stands behave,” he said.

And, in that, Montgomery has always shone.

Plus, this is in Haskins’ wheelhouse. He, like so many campus coaches, is a Monty alum.

But the campaign, the feeling behind it, grew beyond sports teams.

Soon, the Eco Vikes Club signed on and posted. And AVID. And the drama production class. And choir.

There are images of students making set designs, hosting Walk and Roll to School Day and doing campus cleanup.

One week, the volleyball team featured a smiling team mom pushing the popcorn machine with the caption: “We love our parents for helping!! Could not be possible without you guys.” It included two heart emoji.

Boys golf coach Tim O’Keefe captioned one team photo that he posted with: “Many times in golf, we can’t control what happens but we can ALWAYS control how we react to what happens!!”

Same is true around campus today, he said.

“Obviously, there is some underlying meaning there,” he said.

O’Keefe, in his first year at the helm of the team, is also a Montgomery grad.

To him, Haskins’ “small victories” push hits on sportsmanship, on kindness, on a certain kind of selflessness.

“All of those things are ways to endure when it’s hard,” he said.

“You gotta stay positive. You have to focus on the people around you and make sure that they are doing OK and make sure that they are able to process and handle the tough times.”

And times have certainly been tough.

“I’m feeling a lot of the same emotions and stresses that the kids are,” said swim coach and Montgomery alum Donita Flecker. “I wasn’t really expecting that.”

So celebrating athletes’ victories — whether it’s a win or a personal best, is uplifting for all, she said.

And she’s all for showing off her kids.

They need it. She needs it. We all need it.

“We do this thing called the Golden Hammer,’” she said. “It’s celebrating them for, ‘Hey, you went above and beyond and people are noticing those things.’ It’s team spirit and cheering, bringing each other up.”

That is who the swim team is, she said.

For boys basketball coach Steve Arrow, the campaign means a different way of thinking.

Sure, there are photos of the team in the gym, at games, during workouts. But now the 25-year coaching veteran says he is thinking about documenting other moments.

Moments that for years have lived behind the scenes, but which Montgomery folks have in recent weeks felt compelled to push out into the public sphere.

He knows who his kids are, but maybe now he has to go a little more public with it.

“We had open gym last Saturday morning and I took the group over to help the alumni association with the polenta feed,” Arrow said.

“Or the group of kids doing the Special Olympics basketball event. We have always done that type of event. We did it before, but now maybe we need to take some more photos and post that a little bit more.”

Softball coach Tami Axthelm’s parents went to Monty, so she did too. And her daughter is a graduate.

“Montgomery was an amazing place for me,” she said. “I had amazing experiences, amazing coaches, amazing friends. For something like this to happen, to tarnish what Montgomery is is heartbreaking to me.”

To that end, Axthelm believes the #thisiswhoweare message is for the wider community.

"I feel like students at Montgomery, the teachers at Montgomery, they know what is at Montgomery,“ she said. ”They know there are great students and great teachers here.“

Schwan, whose team account is robust with action, practice and celebratory shots, often posts captions touting family and the virtues of hard work.

His players sometimes shy away from it.

“Sometimes, they think this is cheesy,” he said. “No guys, it matters.”

So, it’s something he plans to do more of. It feels more important than ever.

“It’s a snapshot of what our program is, very diverse, extremely inclusive and full of hardworking kids, and I want people to see that,” he said.

“And the alumni, too. Kids that did great things at Montgomery and are still doing great things.

I’ve seen it because I have a son at Montgomery.

For Schwan and others, this is bigger and deeper than a job or a coaching gig. It’s about family.

His daughter Janae is a senior. Haskins’ kids went to Montgomery, so did Arrow’s and Axthelm’s.

“I have grown up at Montgomery,” Janae said. “It’s hard to hear the negative things and people bashing on my school. But I think we will rise from this and it will be better.”

In some ways, they already are, said senior Ari Molteni.

Just coming together to support and post on #thisiswhoweare points to a unified effort to show off what the school means to people, whether that’s a drama production or a badminton match.

“It really brought out different sides of campus that are not always seen,” she said. “We are united, we are Montgomery, we are together, and that’s the most important part.”

Agreed, said senior Owen Faustino. He was buoyed by the fact that #thisiswhoweare expanded beyond sports teams to include all manner of clubs and activities on campus.

Faustino, a multisport athlete, said while athletics are often at the fore of public conversation about the school, the students’ most recent drama production, “The 39 Steps,” was the first sold-out run in years.

“I know students feel strongly about sports, but they could also feel the same way about drama,” he said.

To that end, the photos that teams and groups are posting show the Montgomery they know. It’s the school they have always known.

“We can make this about the positives and there are a lot of them at our school. A lot of them,” Jon Schwan said.

Coaches say they know who and what Montgomery is, and always have.

It never occurred to them that anyone could need a reminder. But these past weeks have been hard, the most difficult in memory on campus.

So, maybe they need a reminder themselves.

Haskins describes those initial feelings as something akin to loss.

And feeling lost.

He dreamed up this campaign as a way back to remembering who they are and sharing it with the wider community: We are singers, swimmers, basketball players, golfers, thespians and students.

“It’s to tell a good story,” Arrow said. “To tell the right story.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.