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    My group found a great website for a non-profit organization called SAVE (students against violence everywhere).  This is a student-led organization that seeks is fighting for a decrease of violence in schools and communities by promoting meaningful student involvement.  86% of its revenues go to different types of programs promoting safety in schools.  I think that this program is wonderful because it empowers youth to work to prevent crime and work for better and safer schools.  There are over 230,000 members in over 2,000 schools across the U.S.   It just one great example of what students can do to take a stand in the act of violence that they potentially face in schools. 

            Some of the programs that they run focus on crime prevention against gangs and weapon safety.  The website also lists different types of service learning projects that you can run at your school.  People can sponsor a crime prevention programs through SAVE if they want to.  They have a whole list of available service learning projects that can be done on their website.  SAVE The goal of this program is to educate, encourage, engage and empower students against violence.

            To take action in the fight to make our schools safer I made a small donation to the SAVE program.  I think that it is important that as a future teacher I become aware of the available programs there is out there that I could potentially have my students become a part of.  I feel really good knowing that my donation will help fund another SAVE chapter program at a school and community that may really benefit from it.  It’s 100 dollars to sponsor a SAVE program at your local school and if the school system where I end up teaching at can afford the to fund it I think it would be a great program for the kids.

            This program teaches students and children that they can make a difference and that violence is a big issue. Violence is a very broad term and the more that students are aware of what really is violence and how it can negativity affect them and their peers the more action they can take against it.  As a future educator I think it is important to teach our students more than just language arts, math, science etc.  We need to teach them how to be positive members of the community. 

            I think that school violence and school safety are very large issues and we are always trying to make sure that our students are safe but then sometimes, unfortunately it’s not enough.  Schools try to make our schools as safe as possible but sometimes like in school shootings in Newton CT its not enough.  The more our students are aware of the issues on school violence I think the more likely that they will learn to take a stand and act against it. 

            I have learned that there are many different ideas of how we can make our schools safer and there’s no real one solution.  Even after interviewing a teacher and hearing what she thinks that teachers should not be carrying firearms I still stand firm that I think it should be allowed.  Like the police officer I interviewed said that we are supposed to be protecting these kids and we are not given the means to actually protect them.  I do believe that teachers should be able to carry a firearm if they chose to but I do not think it should be a requirement.  Janitors and Custodians should be armed because really who knows the school better than them.  While some argue that having teachers carry firearms is only going to lead to curious students and they may have a negative effect I still believe that there are more positive to carrying a firearm than there are negative.

            Teaching students about current events is very important because it is life.  They should be aware of the issues and topics that are current and be able to develop an opinion on where they stand.  We want our students to be independent thinkers and by discussing current events with them they can pick a side and not just listen to what they are told about it.  They should know about all sides to current issues because it will definitely lead to better contributing citizens.   

-Pam