It’s A Great Day To Change The World: Student leaders from Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School form a No More Club to bring awareness to teen dating violence.
I started my journey with the Domestic Violence Network in October 2014 with the primary role of educating Indianapolis Public Schools’ (IPS) faculty and students about healthy relationships and teen dating violence. I was also given the task of supporting students in starting NO MORE Clubs (you can learn more about the NO MORE campaign here). After presenting to 55 IPS social workers and counselors in November 2014, I started reaching out to the schools with the intention of building rapport and scheduling times to present to the students and faculty. I was blown away by the response from Kim Baker, social worker at Crispus Attucks.
Ms. Baker was passionate about bringing awareness to her school, and she was eager to support student leaders in her school who were passionate, too. I will never forget my first meeting with the student leaders and Ms. Baker. The student leaders were honored to be picked by Ms. Baker to participate, and they showed genuine interest in spreading the word about teen dating violence. The student leaders brought so many awesome ideas to the table on how to bring awareness to their school, and they set a goal of not only being leaders in their school but for the entire district.
After the first meeting, the student leaders and Ms. Baker made it official – they became the NO MORE Club. The student leaders decided their first assignment would be to make NO MORE grams in honor of Valentine’s Day, and they wanted to pass them out during all the lunch periods the day before Valentine’s Day. The NO MORE grams were completely designed by the leaders, and they had a picture, inspirational quote, teen dating violence fact, and resources on them.
The student leaders did an EXCEPTIONAL job! Watching the student leaders get on the microphone during the lunch periods explaining what NO MORE means and why this topic is so important made me feel incredibly proud to be among such remarkable, compassionate, and hardworking students. Since their first school debut, the NO MORE Club is hard at work developing new ideas and projects to continue the conversation. I believe Ms. Baker and the student leaders are well on their way to accomplishing their goals!
Stay tuned to hear about the AMAZING ways the NO MORE Club will continue to bring awareness to their school and district!