Girl Advocate’s addresses teen dating violence

Lilianna Moran | Copy Editor

Amidst the start of February, Girl Advocates (GA) has a variety of programs in place to bring attention to abusive teen relationships.

“Girl Advocates are actively advocating for healthier teen dating,” GA secretary Devin Nguyen said. “A lot of the time, teens are trying to figure themselves out and trying to pursue and maintain healthy relationships. That can be hard to figure out and understand sometimes, so we want to ensure greater safety for students and communication in our school.”

Throughout the month, the club will host their annual awareness campaign, Open Mic Night, and dating violence centered meetings along with a spirit week in order to inform students about healthy and toxic relationships and encourage more conversations over the subject.

“Their annual Coffee House and Open

Mic Night [will be] on Feb. 15th in the library after school with poetry and music that relates to the topic of healthy dating relationships,” Social worker Lori Carl said. “They’ll have announcements and a spirit week with a healthy relationship theme.”

GA president Melanie Garza stresses the importance of addressing teen dating violence awareness month and is hopeful these events will offer some benefits to students who choose to participate.

“It’s not something that’s widely talked about and sometimes is even forgotten. Which is why Girl Advocates like to focus more on building awareness, especially in the week of Valentine’s day,” Garza said.

“We help others become more informed about teen dating violence and with that, we also provide comfort and resources for victims of dating violence.”

TDVA Open Mic!

Wednesday 2/15 from 4:30-5:30 at the library

Theme: Healthy Relationships