Creating a school community where every student feels connected and cared about and has a sense of belonging takes consistent effort. It is important for each student to recognize his or her role and responsibility in creating a school where bullying is not tolerated. For the past nine years, the Coalition has addressed this need with students, school administrators, faculty, and parents, with their annual Summit on School Violence. This year, over 900 middle and high school students were in attendance to hear the phenomenal keynote speaker, Keith Hawkins, reinforce this idea through his presentation and workshops, in which he shared with students how to have the courage to speak out for themselves and others, among other things.

The theme of the summit, POWER IN YOUth, was selected because it reflects students’ power as individuals and their power collectively to make changes– for the better.

One of the primary goals of the summit is for students to gain the knowledge, motivation, and confidence to improve the culture of their schools and communities, which will allow each student to perform at their best. To assist in this regard, each student and adult who attend the summit received a binder full of information to help them work independently and together to build leadership skills and affect change. Armed with great new ideas and the binders, students and advisors developed an action plan, an activity or idea, which they will implement throughout the year to improve their school’s climate. The Coalition follows each school’s progress during the year and highlights their exciting work in its monthly Kids2Kids newsletter, which is distributed to each middle school