By Alexandra Oliveira and Teagan Liphardt – Staff Reporters

The Jonathan Law SAVE Promise Club has completed several activities and is planning more to spread awareness about school safety and mental health.

The goal of SAVE Promise is to promote mental health well being, educate our school community on violence prevention and promote a community that takes care of each other. 

On Saturday, November 1, the club participated in the Vicki Soto 5K honoring the first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School who was killed in the 2012 shooting protecting her students.

“Participating in the Vicki Soto 5K honors Vicki’s legacy of kindness and safety, reminding us why our work matters,” Junior Co-Vice President Avery Oliveira said. 

Oliveira describes the importance of the event to the school community and what it means to SAVE as a whole.

“For the SAVE Promise club, it strengthens our commitment to creating a supportive, inclusive, and violence-free community,” Oliveira said. 

SAVE is spreading gratefulness around the school with Thankful Grams. 

“We did them because we wanted to spread kindness and happiness around school,” Senior President Sarah McCann said. “This time of year is always super stressful, and it helps to have friends send you notes telling you they are thankful for you. It also spreads some holiday cheer.”

These Thankful Grams are a way to tell someone in the school you are grateful for them with a note and a bag of candy.

Overall, SAVE Promise received a total of 57 Thankful Grams.

“We got a lot of responses this year, which is good to see,” McCann said. “I am glad people are participating in this activity. I also think it helps that we made them free so that more people were able to get them.”

Going into the holiday season, SAVE Promise is making Hand Trees to promote kindness and friendship. This year the club decided to write hello in different languages. 

“These activities promote kindness and connections by connecting everyone through something they have in common or learning something new,” Junior Co-Social Media Director Aislyn McKernan said. “Someone could start a conversation about their shared language or learn how to say hi in a new one!”

SAVE hopes students take away that Law is a very welcoming and respectful community. Everyone is happy to learn and connect. 

The overall goal of SAVE Promise is to promote positive mental health along with helping people feel included. 

“SAVE Promise can help students that may be struggling through our educational programs. We take time to teach about the warning signs and what a trusted adult is, because it matters and makes a difference to those who might need help,” Advisor Mrs. Bergoli said. “We also have a couple of fun events coming up that we encourage anyone to come and keep building on community.”

SAVE’S most successful event so far was their Start with Hello Week as they handed out hot chocolate, gave out name tags, and had Winston the therapy dog come visit.

“Changes we want to see in how our school handles mental health is for people to start taking it more seriously and recognizing the signs,” Senior Co-Vice President Melissa Servas said. “A lot of people tend to joke around about these situations without realizing how serious they may be.”

SAVE Promise wants the Law community to make sure everyone feels welcome and safe.

“I would like to see our community embody a sense of community and family feel,” ergoli said. “We should all be looking out for each other and helping a friend. In this way, we are proactively helping and no longer keeping a negative stigma with the idea of someone needing help.”