The Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) club at Gar-Field High School designed and painted a mural to let their fellow students know about resources available to them if they need help. They also incorporated many of the languages used at the school, including Spanish, Vietnamese, and Farsi, in hopes of fostering a welcoming and inclusive community.

The mural highlights saysomething.net, an anonymous reporting system designed to allow individuals to securely and anonymously submit safety concerns, potentially preventing self-harm or harm to others. It aims to raise awareness about the mobile app and website, and also provides a telephone number for students to reach a local administrator.

Beyond the mural, the SAVE club is trying to make a difference to combat violence and bullying at their school in other ways.

“At Gar-Field, we created a system called Busy Bathrooms, where if a student witnesses someone vaping or a crowd gathering in there [the bathroom], they could scan a QR code on their phone and it would alert the teacher who is outside monitoring,” shared Jaci, a SAVE club member.

Scarlett, a member of SAVE Club, explained that the club is essentially a community focused on opposing gun violence. However, at Gar-Field, they’ve broadened their mission to address all forms of violence, including bullying and cyberbullying.

SAVE club is the youth leadership initiative of Sandy Hook Promise. Sandy Hook Promise is a national nonprofit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.