Whether you are a student or faculty member, it can be challenging to figure out how to get your high school involved in Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). It can be a tough issue to talk about but trust me it's worth talking about on your campus.
It's estimated that as many as 10 million teenagers are exposed to parental violence every year.
Source: Edleson, J.L. (1999). Children’s witnessing of adult domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 14(8), 839-870.
There is probably at least one student, if not many more, on your campus who has witnessed domestic violence at home. When you get your school involved with DVAM in October you are letting that student know that people are here for them and care about them.
So how do you start? First, it's probably good to know that purple is the official color for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Now that you've got that down, here are some ideas:
#GoPurple for DVAM school assembly/pep rally
#GoPurple for DVAM color spirit day
#GoPurple for DVAM student section theme for varsity football games
Selling DVAM awareness shirts during lunch or after school
Ask your teachers to give extra credit to encourage students to wear purple
Have a purple ribbon-making party at your school
Have Domestic Violence Awareness-themed games at lunch and giveaway prizes
Create #GoPurple for DVAM banners to hang around your school reminding people to wear the awareness color
Create class wars where grades compete against each other and the grade that has the greatest number of people wearing purple wins a prize
Throw a Domestic Violence Awareness Month event like powder puff, relay races, or a talent show
Encourage other clubs on campus to get involved in the #GoPurple campaigns
Encourage administration and teachers to wear purple
Announce the Domestic Violence Awareness campaign on your school announcements
Want to start taking action on your social media now? Check out our DVAM Action Kit.