The organization SpeakUp! brings together students, parents, and educators to have honest conversations about issues affecting young people. SpeakUp does just that on Malvern’s campus. Various student leaders participate in the organization by attending student leader meetings throughout February and March. SpeakUp was founded in 2002, and the group works with middle school communities in the area; this year, Malvern, Notre Dame, and St. Pats have all worked together to plan the final event, which was be held at St. Pats on March 12th. This program and the main event allow students to share their experiences about many topics such as peer pressure, mental health, and others. The organization equips students to get parents to understand them and also to receive feedback from a parent perspective. Overall, this organization gives students a great opportunity to become more comfortable talking to adults about their struggles.

The Middle School SpeakUp facilitator at Malvern, Mrs. Trainor, explains all of the key details about SpeakUp and what it is like being behind the scenes of an event that holds over 150 people. Mrs. Trainor highlights that SpeakUp is a very important organization that allows student leaders to choose topics that relate closely to their everyday lives. Those topics are later discussed at the main event, which comes almost four weeks after the whole group of students gets together. Similarly, Mrs. Trainor clarifies why the students choosing these topics and eventually speaking on them is so important: “Research shows that the most significant protective factor in a young person’s life is nurturing relationships with trusted adults.” This event provides a great foundation for a student, helping them develop strong relationships with adults, as during the main SpeakUp event, each student is in a breakout room with parents, other students, and faculty. This experience allows students to gain confidence and know that talking to a parent when something seems hard is a smart thing to do. The event was a huge success, but Mrs. Trainor outlined what could be improved for next year. Trainor highlighted that there was a lack of advertisement for the event and stated that better educating students about SpeakUp will boost the number of students who participate in SpeakUp.

SpeakUp is an important program that helps students, parents, and teachers have real conversations about issues that matter to middle schoolers. It gives students a chance to talk about topics like peer pressure and mental health in a safe environment and helps them feel more comfortable speaking to adults. With the help of student leaders and facilitators like Mrs. Trainor, the program also builds stronger relationships between students and trusted adults. Even though there are some aspects of the event that could be improved, like getting the word out more, SpeakUp still makes an impact in the school community, not just in the local Malvern area, but in the entire tristate region.