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The annual Start With Hello Week took place at LT during the week of Sept 18 this year, spreading a sense of community throughout LT and encouraging students and staff to reach out and make connections. Though sometimes dismissed as a meaningless effort for students to get to know one another, organizers believe it has a truly crucial and invaluable purpose at school.
“It’s a great way of encouraging kids to connect and talk with each other,” Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Club founder and co-sponsor Patricia Callahan said. “It’s a way of saying, ‘This stuff is important. These little acts that you do, where you reach out and make connections with people, can save your life or the life of somebody else.’”
SAVE Promise Club runs Start With Hello week as well as Say Something Week. Affiliated with Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization formed in 2012 by families who had lost children in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, this club has a goal of preventing violence within schools. SAVE clubs are present nationwide at middle and high schools, generally student-run, and continuously pushing for change.
“This club is really big on making people aware that we are more vulnerable than we think, and that the stuff that we see happening in schools everyday, it can happen to us too,” Student Executive Board member Sean Connolly ‘24 said. “[Being involved] has been a really positive experience, and I’m glad to be making a big difference.”
Start With Hello week takes place during mid-September at schools throughout the country each year. The week is dedicated to encouraging students and staff to promote inclusivity by teaching three simple steps to connect: 1. See someone alone 2. Reach out and help and 3. Start with hello. This years’ events included the traditional informational slideshows playing in the cafeterias during lunch, as well as a lemonade giveaway before school at both campuses on Sept 19, and a “meet and greet” event during lunch periods, giving students a chance to enjoy free pizza and soda, and talk with new people.
Studies have shown that by reaching out to someone who appears isolated or alone, the chances that they will cause harm to themselves or others are greatly reduced, Callahan said. Ending others’ isolation can truly save lives, and that is what Start With Hello week is all about.
“The week is meant to simply encourage people to talk with each other and interact with each other,” SAVE club member Luci Mini ‘26 said. “We’re all getting a bit outside of our comfort zones and meeting new people, not just sticking to those we already know. We’re helping people to engage more with one another, and I think that is so important.”
Since 2018, the club and its members have been pushing to integrate SAVE programs into the fabric of the school, and to make a difference in the future of LT, Callahan said. Both the club and the event have had an incredible impact on the community, and aim to only improve moving forward.
“Just reach out,” Mini said. “I try to say hello to at least one random person every day. It helps you gain confidence in talking to people you might not be as familiar with. You’re just going up and saying hi. And that makes all the difference.”
To get involved and play a part in spreading awareness about violence within schools, visit the club’s page on the LT website or sandyhookpromise.org for more information. With hard work and dedication, LT can become a safer and more inclusive place for everyone.
