At South Allegheny High School, a team of student leaders in the Expect Respect program undertook a nonstop campaign during February to get the word out about dating violence. Among other things, they set up a display with life-sized silhouettes of teens, accompanied by stories of abusive relationships; they broadcast public service messages during morning announcements; they held a T-Shirt contest, created a “Clothesline” project; staged a mock dating dispute; and capped their efforts with a school-wide assembly.

Like other student leadership teams for the program, which now operates in six high schools, their goal was to get peers to think about telltale signs that a relationship has become unhealthy during a month that was set aside nationally as “Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.” Abusive dating relationships have garnered national attention because of tragic stories, including some locally, and grim statistics indicating that one in four female high school students has experienced some form of dating abuse. Other schools participating in Expect Respect include: Gateway, Clairton City, Elizabeth Forward, McKeesport Area, and West Mifflin Area high schools.

The Expect Respect program offers a curriculum that helps students build healthy relationships and recognize abusive behavior and supports student teams in leading cultural changes to serve those ends. The focus on activities in February drew widened student participation and struck chords, according to advisors in the program.