Resilience through SAFER September
I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a very strange year. None of us expected it to be much different to a normal school year but instead it has been all about lockdowns, distance learning, mask-wearing, contact tracing apps… all terms and phrases that we hadn’t really thought about before! But along with these words and phrases, there are some positive ones that also stand out and are words that we can use in future years to remember 2020 by. Resilience. Adaptability. Positivity. These are strengths and traits that we at SADD have seen demonstrated by SADD leaders across New Zealand this month, even when faced with unexpected changes and challenges.
This month SADD has been celebrating SAFER September, our annual campaign where SADD students are encouraged to run activities and events, all to celebrate making safe choices and to raise awareness of road safety issues. We expected this year’s campaign to be a bit different as we know that many students and schools have been affected by COVID-19, lockdowns, distance learning and all the uncertainty that has come from that. Despite everything going on, we have still been blown away by the efforts of some students who have taken SAFER September and made it work for them and their schools.
The key thing that shines through in times like this is resilience.
Resilience is the ability to 'bounce back' during or after difficult times and the ability to adapt to difficult circumstances that you can't change. Being resilient doesn’t mean that tricky times don’t affect you, it means that you can learn to grow, adapt, develop and still come out succeeding.
In the context of SADD and SAFER September, we have seen some awesome examples of resilience:
Wellington High School had a full week of events planned for SAFER September at school. They were planning a fundraiser, NZ Police were going to bring in the booze bus and chat to students, and they were going to create a music video about the 6 principles to present in an assembly. When circumstances at school changed and they were told they weren’t able to run these events, they didn’t give up. Instead they came up with the idea of running some SADD activities in the community instead. The planning for this is now underway, including students going to meet with the Wellington City Council road safety team to talk about their ideas. How awesome is that?!
Mount Albert Grammar School had a bunch of plans for SAFER September but were not able to run it due to COVID-19. Instead of skipping it, they are working on plans to run activities and events in October instead. A great example of making things work!
Albany Senior High School had a huge calendar of events planned for SAFER September, including bringing in NZ Police with the booze bus as this was such a successful event in 2019. Knowing that things could change, they had a back up plan and extra ideas that they could use even if the lockdown continued and they couldn’t be at school. They have managed to pull off some awesome smaller activities and have used social media to share loads of great road safety information, memes and even a quiz!
Using social media to promote SADD is a fantastic idea, especially during a lockdown when student’s can’t be at school
ASHS have some great memes saved to their SADD highlight!
Running a quiz on Instagram is such a great way to reach heaps of people
These three schools are just a few examples out of many, there are heaps of schools out there who have changed their plans and made it work for them.
One thing we see from SADD students time and time again is this positive, can-do attitude. Our team are constantly impressed by our students who face barriers and disruptions yet they don’t give up – they look for ways they can adapt their activities or make changes to their plans so that they can still achieve great things. SAFER September is about giving it a go, standing up for safe roads and raising awareness in the way that works for you and your school. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big activity or a couple of small ones, whether it is run in person or over social media, whether it is done in September or running a belated event in October. The key thing is young leaders standing up for road safety and doing what they can to keep their peers safe!
If you are keen to take part in SAFER September, it’s not too late! Our team is here to support you this week and through into next term. Check out our SAFER September webpage or get in touch with us if you want some ideas.