Living in a society where people suppress their emotions, stresses and struggles to fit into the perfect idea of being a teenager, it is essential that students know when to speak up and say something. After the numerous cases of school shootings, Say Something week emphasizes the need for people to be aware of each other’s struggles and say something.

As a community, we need to be more accountable with our friends and those around us because often times we are the first ones to notice, but not necessarily the first ones to be saying something to someone who can help or to the person directly.

“It’s about being concerned and accountable for each other’s mental health and awareness of what is going in each other’s lives,” ASB President Claire Crafts said.

The Sandy Hope Promise project was created after an impactful school shooting and encourages schools across the country to become more aware of gun violence and when it’s appropriate to step in and say something to save lives. Here is a link to Sandy Hope Promise https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/.

“We are currently implementing it for the first time this year through putting posters up around the school, playing the promotional video and some students were able to sign the pledge to say something [on the white] board at lunch time,” Crafts said.

ASB implemented Start with Hello week in the first semester to focus on starting a conversation with people in the hallways. A simple smile at someone encourages students to be more friendly and familiar with one another, thus creating an overall positive and healthy environment.

Say Something week and Start with Hello week go hand and hand to help create a safe environment on campus. Say Something week in second semester, is all about taking the next step to actually say something to someone or reporting it to an adult.

“We are definitely starting that conversation and spreading materials to the teachers and faculty as long with the counselors at our school,” Crafts said. “We partnered with Seize the Awkward program, which is about how to start those uncomfortable conversations around mental health, gun violence and other controversial, but important, topics that are coming up in our generation’s age.”

Sandy Hope recognizes that it’s not easy to know exactly what to say or if you are saying the right thing, so the purpose of this week is for students to know that it is important to speak up, because just saying one thing could save a life.

“We all sometimes recognize if someone is struggling or going through something difficult but it can really be hard to know when it’s my place to be involved, my place to say something. [We think that] maybe one of their other friends is handling it, maybe they don’t want to say something to me, ” Crafts said. “I think it’s that realization that if you don’t say something, there’s no guarantee that someone else will.”