Encouraged to help keep their schools safe, students across Tempe have been promoting messages like these using chalk art, painted masks, gratitude walls, self-care workshops and other activities as part of the Sandy Hook Promise See Something, Say Something initiative.

Students are working alongside the city of Tempe’s CARE 7 Youth Specialists, in partnership with Tempe Union High School District and Tempe Elementary School District, to lead activities that encourage young people to take charge of keeping their friends, schools and communities safe, a city release explained.

Audrey, 16, a junior at Corona del Sol High School, said in the release that the See Something, Say Something program means “standing up for yourself and your friends as well as standing up for strangers when they are being bullied or feel unsafe.” 

Youth Specialists are part of the city’s Community Health and Human Services Department, which partners with both school districts to embed specialists at 12 campuses.

They provide social and emotional support to students who may be struggling with stress, anger, anxiety and more, and assist during crisis situations, the release explained.

They also connect students and their families with city resources such as low-cost counseling and job help to improve their quality of life. Last school year they assisted nearly 1,250 students in both districts. 

Youth Specialists work with SAVE Promise Clubs at elementary, middle and high school sites to elevate important messages: be an upstander rather than a bystander, identify trusted adults and be kind to one another. 

Activities this month run the gamut, from decorating masks as a way of discussing hidden feelings to exploring safety resource booths to filling the branches of a large paper tree with messages about reporting things that don’t feel right. 

Abigail, 8, a junior also at Corona del Sol, said in the release, “It is important because there will be people who you trust that sometimes misguide and advise you to keep it to yourself, so you should know that you need to stand up for yourself and others despite what they say.”

Sean McDonald, Tempe Union Assistant Superintendent of District Operations, Safety & Student Support, said in the release that it takes a concerted group effort to create safe schools, and the Say Something, See Something/Sandy Hook Promise program is another layer of safety.

“Over the last two years, this program has enabled us to learn so much from our students that ultimately helps us support the ongoing safety of our campuses,” McDonald said.