Be the Change – Student Empowerment

About Be the Change

Be The Change is a student-led group who work together, get involved in the community, and spread awareness of the David’s Legacy Foundation mission.

Interested in starting your own Be The Change group at your high school? We would love to add you to this great community. Please read through the resources below and download the template provided to get started today.

Have questions about Be The Change? We are here to support in any way we can and are happy to put you in touch with a current Be The Change member to talk through details and hear from a peer what this process is truly like. Reach out to our office at any time.

Be The Change Toolkit

Start Your Own Campaign

When you decide to start a campaign in your school, community or town you should set some goals for what you are trying to do.

  • Why do you want to do this?
  • What are you hoping to accomplish?
  • Are you looking to change the rules in your school or community?
  • Are you looking to support friends or peers in dealing with the issue of being bullied?

Once you know what you are trying to accomplish you can focus on the following steps to launch your campaign.

Have a focus for your campaign

There are many issues that are a part of bullying and cyberbullying so you really need to find something to focus on and center your campaign around it. This will allow you to be most effective with your campaign and you can always expand the campaign as you gain success.

Select people that can help

You don’t have to go it alone. You have a great idea and now you need to find like-minded people that want to help and can contribute to your campaign.  Reach out to your friends, teachers and parents that you know can help and have the time to make your campaign successful.

Do your research

You have your campaign idea and a group of people to help now do your research to make sure it’s a solid idea and that there are not other people currently doing the same thing. If there are you could always assist them or maybe rethink your initial idea for your campaign to focus on something that complements the other group.

Lay the campaign out

With all of the above completed it is now time to really get moving.Use your group and their resources to plan out a campaign that will raise awareness and drive change in your school, community or state.  A few ideas to start with:

  • Create your own posters to spread the word
  • Work with your school resource officer on calling out bullies
  • Look for local groups or hotlines that might need assistance
  • Help change the laws in your region to protect the victims

Find some sponsors

This isn’t a requirement but it sure can help you grow your campaign by providing some funds, food, or locations for meetings.Many local organizations are happy to help with donations or services that could aid your cause.  Maybe the local church has space to host support groups. Or maybe the local printer can help you print posters or flyers to drive awareness.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Hold an event

A great way to drive home your message is to hold some sort of event to garner more awareness for the cause. The event could be something simple in the school gym after school or more formal like raising and donating funds.  A few ideas are:

  • Raise funds to help someone or a supportive charity
  • Host support group to help those affected
  • Hold a rally if you are trying to change school rules or perhaps state laws