Students Take a Stand Against Teen Dating Abuse

PHOTO CAPTION: Student leaders from Delbarton School hang an awareness banner for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month with their winning slogan. Pictured from l-r are: Patrick Ryan, Elio Rodriguez, Derek Lattmann, and Lucas Acocella.

(Morristown, NJ) “There’s No Excuse for Abuse” is the winning campaign slogan for this February’s Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in Morris County. Created by student leaders from Delbarton School, the slogan was selected by professionals from Marketsmith at the Teens for Healthy Relationships Leadership Conference held on November 8, 2017, at Randolph High School. Seventeen high schools and 102 student leaders attended the Jersey Battered Women’s Service (JBWS) sponsored sixth annual conference.

With the creative support from Marketsmith of Cedar Knolls, NJ and a generous $1,000 contribution from the Randolph Municipal Alliance, the campaign is being brought to life through large bright yellow banners that are distributed to high schools throughout the county.

“The banner looks wonderful,” says Kevin Conn of Delbarton School. “It catches students’ eyes and reminds them of the urgency of the issue. The youth conference is a great opportunity for our students to learn about this important topic, to develop their leadership, and create ways to spread the word among their peers. We are proud to hang the banner in our school.”

“We really enjoyed working with the students at the youth conference,” remarks Larry Durst, Executive Creative Director of Marketsmith. “They were very creative and came up with terrific ideas for how to promote awareness of teen dating violence. It was difficult to choose the best campaign slogan. But in the end, Delbarton was the winner.”

JBWS’ vice president of community relations Regina Braham explains why engaging youth leaders is so important in combatting this issue. “Teen dating violence is very prevalent among adolescents but they rarely seek help from adults. Instead, they talk to their peers. Therefore, we need to equip adolescents with the tools to recognize it and engage youth leaders in creating a school culture that won’t tolerate it.”

According to a recent research study on adolescent patients seeking healthcare, more than 15% of the adolescents reported dating violence in the past year—almost one in five females and one in eight males.

For more information about teen dating violence and to learn about the education and counseling resources for teens and parents at JBWS, go to www.jbws.org, email anase@jbws.org or call 973-267-7520 Ext. 136.