From the start of March 11 to the end of March 22, students in the Office of Residential and Commuter Life hosted the event, Respond to Acts of Violence Effectively, or R.A.V.E. as it is more commonly known.
This year, the event involved a two week social media process where students could submit tweets, YouTube videos or other kinds of media in order to raise awareness of bullying.
In 2012, the first annual R.A.V.E. event was held out of doors and was a one-day event where around 100 to 200 students showed up sporadically to sign a pledge stating that they will “Step Up & Say Something,” according to the Longwood University website.
Alyson Brackin, a graduate student of the Office of Residential and Commuter Life, stated, “They could make videos or make photos or use their Twitter accounts or whatever kind of social media [that] they like to just spread the word about different kinds of bullying that they know about and about different ways [that] they could make changes to their campus. ”
She further stated, “The purpose [of R.A.V.E.] is to spread awareness throughout Longwood’s campus about different types of bullying that takes place and how to prevent it. This year, we wanted to use social media to spread awareness to students on campus.”
However, the R.A.V.E. event is not just for students at Longwood. It’s for the schools in the surrounding community as well.
Brackin explained, “Basically it’s for faculty, staff and students and friends of the school. It’s important to know that bullying doesn’t just happen in middle and high school, but [that] it also happens in college.”
“It’s a good way to learn the different kinds and how it impacts different age groups and things like that,” she stated.
For this year’s event, Brackin explained that she believed altering the event from a one-day event to a two-week online campaign would allow more students to participate.
There were around 100 people participating on their Facebook event, making it viewed as being pretty successful, despite its novelty.
She said, “We are looking to just spread the word and maybe next year we’ll get twice as many people.”
“[While] there wasn’t a physical event for students to go to, in some respects it was attended more online ... It was just interesting to see the different formats and we’re just seeing how to reach the students the best way,” commented Brackin.
There are plans in the making for another event for next year in the spring. Whether the type of the event will be unique from this and last year’s is also still under discussion.
To further raise awareness of bullying, create tweet out #LUstandsup and #RAVE, get wristbands and sign a pledge to "Stand Up & Say Something," participate in random acts of kindness or create an online YouTube video.
While the original scheduled deadline for the contest was March 22, submissions for the R.A.V.E. Social Media Campaign are still being accepted for the contest.
