Yondr Program: We want your voice to matter

Founded in 2014 by former soccer player Graham Dugoni, Yondr has gained significant popularity over the last eight years. The idea for Yondr was sparked in 2012 when Dugoni attended the Treasure Island Festival in San Francisco Bay and witnessed an intoxicated man being filmed by onlookers for dancing. This raised initial concerns about how technology was affecting an individual’s freedom to express themselves in the moment and their privacy. As a result, Dugoni set out on a mission to create a brand that promoted “phone-free spaces for artists, comedians, teachers, organizations, and more.” The idea found its way into schools and now it made its way to ours. With the Yondr Program in full swing at Palmer High School, students and teachers alike are adjusting to a phone-free campus. But how do they feel about this change and do they believe it’s made a difference?

In 2024, 41 schools across the U.S, including our very own Palmer High School in Alaska, are participating in the Yondr Pouch Program. At the beginning of the 2024 school year, our Principal, David Booth, announced the implementation of the Yondr Program with a thorough plan of action to make Palmer a “phone-free school zone” by the start of September. Principal Booth believes the Yondr Program will help improve classroom engagement, academic performance, behavior, and students’ overall mental and emotional wellbeing. He explained this decision in an email sent to parents of attending students saying, “By implementing the Yondr Program, we aim to maintain high expectations for all students and provide parents and guardians with the tools and resources to be engaged in their student’s education.”.

He further supported his decision in a statement provided by Anchorage Daily News; “Cell Phones distract kids,” he said. “There’s no way around it.”. According to Yondr’s annual survey: over 1,200 of their school partners report that 83% saw a positive change in student engagement, 74% saw a positive change in student behavior, 65% saw a positive change in academic performance. It remains to be seen whether Palmer High will experience similar benefits, but the statistics appear to be promising.

But how do students feel about these changes? Are the benefits worth the adjustment so far? To explore the effect of this program on our school, I conducted a feature interview with two students from each grade level at Palmer High.

To start things off, I interviewed Gunther Polzin, a senior, lifeguard, and active member of our school’s Educators Rising, led by Mrs. Carla Swick. Having been part of the program for three years, Polzin intends to become a teacher himself and has a rigorous record of winning at the State level competition in the Public Speaking category, where he promotes the improvement of education across various sectors. His experience in advocating for better educational practices strengthens his belief in personal responsibility and values. As a vocal student at Palmer High, he shared his thoughts on the Yondr pouch program, expressing disagreement and even disappointment with the implementation of the Yondr program. He felt that the pouches were a “blanket standard” to a minor issue at Palmer High and that they assumed a certain level of immaturity amongst him and his peers. He stated that the Yondr pouches undermined him as a maturing young adult who was a trained lifeguard, expressing that: “I’m responsible enough for people’s lives but wasn’t responsible enough for my own phone.” when he walked onto campus. Next, I spoke with another senior, wishing to remain anonymous. This student echoed Gunther’s concerns, adding that the lack of strict enforcement amongst teachers had defeated the potential of the program’s benefits. “I can see for certain students who escape through their phone, if they enforced it more, those kids may engage socially but it's still a huge minority.” she explained. But a common theme and consensus throughout the student interviews was that the Yondr program did make sense to combat issues of student engagement and had potential to emphasize a message of being “in the moment” but could benefit more as a disciplinary action and incentive for students who didn’t respect the classroom rules. Students that were interviewed noted that they agreed that a shortening of screen time would benefit anyone, but that the individual should have the right to exercise self-discipline and demonstrate their responsibility for themselves. Among the anonymous underclassmen interviews, they all expressed a feeling that the sudden change showed a lack of respect and acknowledgement for the students of Palmer. The concerns and voice of the students is an important part of fully understanding the success of the Yondr program and so is the view of the teachers. To gain the perspectives of the educators here at Palmer High, I interviewed several teachers from an array of subjects on their observations and thoughts on the new phone-free school zone.

So have the teachers noticed a significant difference in the performance and behaviors of their students? Can these possible changes be factored into the success or failure of the Yondr Program so soon? Teachers at Palmer High play a vital role in the development of young minds, and policies such as Yondr have the potential to affect the teaching environment - either positively or negatively. Every teacher I interviewed emphasized the fact that their main motivation is the success of the students. For one teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, the Yondr program represented the opportunity to regain control over the classroom and recapture students’ attention. Reflecting on his own generation’s relationship with technology, he shared he was among the first to experience the rise of flip phones. Now as an adult and educator, he sees the advancements of the smartphone presenting a similar, but more pervasive distraction in the classroom. “I think the Yondr program is great” he said “but unfortunately it didn’t provide what I wanted as a teacher. I thought it was going to be something that took phones off my plate, there’s no denying that phones are a problem in the classroom, but it didn't because as a building, as an entire staff- student body, everybody together we didn’t enforce it well enough. And so now, the truth is Yondr’s not doing much. Every kid has an empty pouch in their backpack and a cellphone in their pocket. So we’re back to where we were last year,”. Throughout my many interviews and collected teacher statements, the initial reactions to the implementation of the Yondr pouches were mixed- some expressing agreement, others hesitation. One educator suggested that the program might be “the wrong answer to a legitimate problem”. She explained, “I see in a sense where they’re coming from, but I would go about it differently”. She proposed that the Yondr program could be used as a disciplinary tool for certain students who struggle with those standards and would allow the teacher to individually set the standard for their classrooms rather than it being a school-wide enforcement. She also notes that the lack of full-staff enforcement has contributed to her conclusion that “I definitely notice more engagement but as far as other changes in behavior and social aspects, not really.”. Similarly, another educator, Mr. Blake Livingston shared this initial reaction, describing the program to be an aggressive response to the issue of phone usage. However, over time, he has observed changes in classroom engagement. One clear advantage to him was that now, there was a final establishment of consistent policy on phones, noting that “I think now we have a really clear expectation when it comes to smartphones, so I think as a teacher I definitely am enjoying that schoolwide that they should put it away.”. To Mr. Livingston, one less distraction in the classroom has made it much easier for students to tune into the right opportunities to learn and focus on education. He humorously adds that now, he even sees his students learning how to read the analog clock in his classroom rather than relying on their phone. The shared hope among teachers is that any policy addressing phone use will foster a sharper and more productive learning environment for Palmer High Students.

While the opinions surrounding the Yondr program’s effectiveness varied, based on my several interviews, it has time and room to improve the lives of students. It has clearly underlined the challenges and opportunities of addressing phone usage. Students and teachers alike recognize the Yondr pouch’s potential to improve engagement, but inconsistent enforcement and the differing opinions reveal room for growth. As Palmer High adapts to its newest and biggest policy change, the program’s success will ultimately depend upon the willingness of the student body and continued efforts of the staff.

Maruko Fagaltinmad is a student at Palmer High School and a contributes to the Palmer Moose Tracks.