On March 5, 2015, Ware Junior Senior High School took part in the White Ribbon Campaign that was facilitated by the Domestic Violence Task Force advisory group. A tremendous amount of students from grade 7 to 12 all pledged to never commit, condone, or remain silent about domestic abuse. Each individual read aloud the pledge and then signed their name on a piece of paper that was shaped as a handprint. Within the next few days, our school’s task force will create a display of all the handprints in the shape of the white ribbon, which symbolizes a stance against domestic violence, in the main lobby of our high school.
This is not the first year that we, as a group, have taken part in this campaign and it will not be the last. We believe it is very important to express this ongoing issue to our school and be the voices of our community. Over the years we have successfully presented our peers with informative material that has opened their minds to want to help. On this day, it wasn’t just Ware who participated in campaign. More than 500 men from the military, high schools, colleges, and community groups all became allies at the State House for the 8th Annual Statewide Proclamation Event. The White Ribbon Campaign has become worldwide in 60 countries and is still growing.
We have finally accepted that this problem surrounds all of us and we are ready to take charge and be the solution. Domestic violence is a matter that is no longer ignored and the White Ribbon Campaign has been a large component of getting people around the world to realize this.
~ Julianna Vadnais: Ware High School Domestic Violence Task Force