Dedicate a special day to celebrate all that your SAVE Promise Club does to educate, empower, encourage, and engage your school community to make school safety a priority!
Sandy Hook Promise invites all SAVE Promise Clubs to participate in National SAVE Day! This event occurs annually during the third full week in October during America’s Safe Schools Week. During this week, thousands of schools and youth organizations from across the United States will participate.
How can your Club participate?
Celebrate National SAVE Day on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, with these engaging activities!
- Dig into these activity ideas your SAVE Promise Club can do to celebrate National SAVE Day!
- Get graphics, sample posts, selfie frames, and more in your National SAVE Day Social Media Action Kit.
- Share out and celebrate the actions your SAVE Promise Club is taking to prevent violence. My #SAVEPromiseClub is taking action to……..
- Host a selfie station in the cafeteria or take and post pictures from home wearing orange to honor Alex Orange and students across the country affected by school violence. Use this selfie sign or create a poster. Share on social and tag your posts with #NationalSAVEDay and #SAVEPromiseClub. Sandy Hook Promise will help amplify your posts! Or, send us your pictures and selfies: [email protected].
- At a club meeting, read the story of Alex Orange, both in a news story and in the Monthly Activity Guide, page 2.
How did SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) Start?
In April of 1989, students from West Charlotte Senior High School in North Carolina gathered at a party, a “stop the violence” jam. A carload of young men from a rival school showed up armed and looking for trouble. As teens panicked, 17-year-old Alex Orange stepped forward. Alex, a fullback on the West Charlotte football team, was a young man who looked out for other people. Alex told the intruders this was no place for violence. Sadly, shots were fired, and Alex fell to the floor. Surrounded by shaken friends and schoolmates, Alex lost his life to gun violence.
The following week, students returned to school mourning yet another young life lost too soon to violence. Joining together in their grief, they formed Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE).
In 2017, SAVE and Sandy Hook Promise combined efforts to educate and empower young people to help prevent gun violence and other forms of violence and victimization through the SAVE Promise Clubs.
Annual Safe Schools Week: October 20-26, 2024
Activities conducted during America’s #SafeSchoolsWeek draw attention to the continuing problem of school violence and educate everyone about how schools can be made safer and more secure. National SAVE Day is on Wednesday of this week. Be sure to show your SAVE Promise Club spirit on that day! America’s Safe Schools Week offers an opportunity to address this very important issue and to take steps to ensure that schools offer students and teachers an environment in which they can perform to the best of their abilities.
Daily Anchor Activities for Safe Schools Week
Monday – Start with Hello and kick off Safe Schools Week
- Use the morning announcements, broadcasting system, and virtual learning environments to introduce your SAVE Promise Club and inform the community about what your club members are doing to prevent violence. Don’t forget to remind students about the three steps of the Start With Hello program!
Tuesday – Review the Say Something Steps
- Post the three Say Something steps in highly visible places: on social media channels, school websites, and posters around school campuses. Remind students to Say Something immediately to a trusted adult if they come across warning signs or threats. Use the plentiful resources on Sandy Hook Promise’s Digital Learning Center.
Wednesday – National SAVE Day
Wear Orange 4 Unity Day and in memory of Alex Orange
- At a club meeting, read the story of Alex Orange in the Monthly Activity Guide on page 2.
- Host a selfie station in the cafeteria or take and post pictures from home wearing orange to honor Alex Orange and students across the country affected by school violence. Share on social and tag your posts with #NationalSAVEDay and #SAVEPromiseClub. Sandy Hook Promise will help amplify your posts!
- Make your National SAVE Day an official annual community-wide event and declare October 23, 2024 as National SAVE Day using this proclamation template.
Thursday – Talk It Up Thursday!
Set-up information booths and schedule presentations throughout the day to teach your classmates about important school safety initiatives. For example:
- Organize and lead a Youth-Led Community Roundtable.
- Organize a Town Hall and invite Trusted Adults to hear about the school safety issues and solutions most important to your SAVE Promise Club members and classmates.
Friday – Stars for a Cause!
Create stars in the SAVE Promise Club colors – purple, orange, green, and blue – to commemorate those lost by school or gun violence in your community. Display the stars in the main lobby, courtyard, cafeteria, gym, or on a football field for an upcoming athletic event. Partner up with other local schools for the event to build bridges and unite to prevent violence.
