Pinecrest is the only school in Moore County that runs the Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise club. SAVE has also combined with the Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) club. With the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) developing, SAVE has helped provide topics and videos for the different weeks. Sixty-two Pinecrest students have joined SAVE this year. The club has multiple officers and ambassadors to help lead the club when their advisor, Pinecrest social worker Ms. Tabara Chamberlain, is unavailable.

 

“SAVE helped me realize that there’s more people out there that can need help. I want to motivate people to help other people,” sophmore Faith Chase said.

 

The idea of SAVE started after a student, Alex Orange, was killed at an anti-violence rally in 1989. After this, the movement against violence grew. SAVE started as a club in North Carolina, where Orange lived and died, but then the club grew to a nationwide organization. Recently, the Sandy Hook Promise joined SAVE and both organizations now  work together.

 

The Sandy Hook Promise was created after the school shooting in 2012. The parents of the victims started the organization to help prevent violence in schools. This organization also started the Say Something Campaign, which SAVE supported earlier this year. Say Something focuses on encouraging students to speak up when they see or hear suspicious behavior. The behaviors can vary between being harmful towards themselves or others. SAVE and PBIS collaborated to spread awareness about speaking up when students notice suspicious behavior.. This campaign reminds students that speaking up is the right thing to do. Students will not be punished for reporting suspicious behaviors.

 

SAVE works with many different communities in the area. SAVE works with the local Boys and Girls Club in Southern Pines.. They hope to start a SAVE Promise club at the Boys and Girls Club, so Pinecrest can collaborate with other SAVE organizations.

 

“As an advisor, empowering kids to use their voices in a positive way is a critical part of becoming an adult and independent,” Chamberlain said.

 

SAVE has more events planned for the future. There have been guest speakers arranged to speak to the students. February is Teen Dating and Sexual Violence Prevention and Awareness month. During that time, a speaker will be at Pinecrest to talk to the students about the topic. SAVE also wants to do a project during that month to help raise awareness.

 

Then in April, it is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Another speaker is planned to speak to the students about sexual assault and what to do when it happens.

 

One of SAVE’s most important messages is that students should feel comfortable reporting behaviors. Students will not get in trouble for coming to Chamberlain, Ms. Joy Stephens, the school’s At Risk Counselor, or Ms. Meg Coleman, the school’s psychologist.  The counselors do not have their own room numbers, but students can find their offices in the top of building 1 in the internal hallway.