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A show of hands for peaceful relationships
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
The almost 200 hands are stamped with the word "Stop" and send a strong message that no one should participate in or condone any form of sexual violence including date rape. The many hands, displayed on a wall at Nantucket High School, represent a project by the junior class in participation with A Safe Place that began in April, which is national Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
 | | ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Almost 200 hands decorate the high school walls as testimony to pledges not to participate in or condone sexual violence. The project to collect pledges was conceived by 11th graders who were urged to create their own way to raise awareness of sexual violence by Jennifer Gross, the Sexual Assault Program Coordinator for A Safe Place. |
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"I helped them brainstorm ideas, but I wanted them to decide how to best teach their peers about dating and sexual violence," said Jennifer Gross, the Sexual Assault Program Coordinator for A Safe Place. "They got 190 pledges. The theme was Stop the Violence and they wanted to make it a week-long event."
The students began by collecting pledges from other students, faculty and staff. Everyone who made a pledge received a hand-painted t-shirt the students created with the same hand symbol and late last week they sold rubber bracelets printed with the words "Stop the Violence."
A Safe Place bought the shirts and bracelets for the program and funds raised from the bracelet sales are to go to the island's domestic violence prevention agency. The students also handed out teal ribbons at the high school last Friday. Teal is the color that represents sexual assault awareness. The youth wanted to time the program so that it continued until prom week. Prom night is May 10. "It's very powerful," Gross said of the students' idea.
Gross had been working with the 11th grade health class in January teaching them about healthy relationships and asked if they wanted to engage in a project to promote that concept. The students will receive documented volunteer hours from A Safe Place for their work, which falls under the heading of community service and may be included on their college applications.
The juniors who led the project are Melissa Holdgate, Kiri Mullen, Lauren Kelly, Amanda Levy, Katherine
Horyn, Natalie Kaschuluk and Adelle Beaumont. I
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