To start off Valentine’s Week this year, S.A.D.D Club (Students Against Destructive Decisions) presented their campaign on healthy relationships. With fliers plastered through the halls, on lockers and even inside bathroom stalls, the club is offering advice to help students build healthier friendships and relationships. To further promote the campaign and its goals, S.A.D.D club also ran their annual “Send a Crush to Your Crush” sale.

“The goal of the campaign is to promote healthy relationships because there are a lot of people in unhealthy relationships. When I think of an unhealthy relationship in high school, I think of someone trying to control what you do and what you wear, because that’s not really a relationship, it’s more of a dictatorship. If you can’t express yourself in a relationship, then it’s unhealthy,” senior and S.A.D.D club member Imani Lawrence said.

Included in the fliers distributed around the school are signs of unhealthy relationships, as well as ways to build better ones. After reflecting on her friendships and relationships, senior Nikolina Jambrusic recognized some of her own values in a healthy relationship.

“I believe communication, trust and loyalty are some key components of a healthy relationship because you should always be upfront and honest with your partner. By being able to communicate with each other, it allows the couple to build a stronger connection,” Jambrusic said.

S.A.D.D. Club hopes to reinforce the benefits of open communication through their Crush sales. After purchasing a Crush can and writing a nice note to that special someone, members of the club later send out the cans to the recipients’ homerooms on Valentine’s Day.

Despite not sending a crush himself, senior Kivaun Jahad appreciates S.A.D.D. Club’s idea of promoting healthy relationships, as he too has witnessed concerning signs in high school relationships.

“You may be in a bad relationship at the moment and you might not even know it. Knowing the factors that lead into these things can really open your eyes and possibly point you towards a happier lifestyle. Less worrying, less stress. Self care is something we [high school students] don’t really do anymore and I still struggle with it even after moving on from my past relationships and being in one now, ” Jahad said.

With Valentine’s Day being tomorrow, show a little extra love by promoting kindness through your words and actions. One doesn’t need to be in a relationship in order to make a positive impact on someone.