Start with Hello is a club that has been at Buzz Aldrin Middle School for the past four years. It was was inspired by Sandy Hook Promise, a national, nonprofit organization led by several individuals who lost loved ones in 2012 during the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Its mission now has become to educate and empower parents, schools, and community organizations on how to prevent gun violence before it happens.
At Buzz Aldrin Middle School, the Start with Hello club continues to support that mission. Each year the club consists of about 80-120 students. This year it is being led by Special Education teacher Jennifer Kosuda, Social Studies teacher Joseph Turner, Special Education teacher Charles Poris, and Special Education teacher Juliana Anselmini. Students work together with the main missions of eliminating isolation and promoting positivity. They want to do what they can to ensure that no one in school and in the community feels isolated. They work together to make sure that everyone is included as they teach the community that kindness is important, healthy, brave and fun! In addition to this, they promote awareness for the signs of isolation and find ways to eliminate it.
One way is during the week of Say Something. This is a week that they join thousands of schools and youth organizations across the United States to help educate others and encourage them to become upstanders. An upstander is a person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.
Screen shots of the video created by the Start With Hello students.
To do this in the past, they have created advisories, led competitions to promote team building while supporting the community, decorated every locker with positive post-its and much more. To prepare this year, the students sent in a video for Sandy Hook Promise’s first ever virtual pep rally, which was held on February 25 to build momentum for Say Something Week (March 1-5). “Our students truly want people to know that their voices matter,” said Kosuda. “We are all called to do our part in making the world a better place, and one way that we can do this is becoming upstanders and standing up for what is right. Therefore, when we see something, we must say something!”