STEPup is a bystander awareness and prevention program that educates other people in the community about what they can do to prevent sexual assault and rape in the area. STEPup also provides presentations to people on what consent is and what are the rights and wrongs about how to get proper consent from someone. STEPup is a club that also helps raise awareness for warning signs of sexual harassment and abuse and how to educate the masses on how to prevent it. 

STEPup is a club full of leaders that not only just want to prevent sexual assault, but also do things about like it changes the state laws to improve consent education, train teachers at Buford and Walker, and do things like hosting documentaries like The Mask You Live In.

They have been training teachers for the last few years to improve how things are in middle school and high school health classes. By teaching teachers what sexual harassment and abuse might look like in the classroom and what they should do if they see it happening.  

One member of STEPup, Adela Cervantes, comments about her experiences being apart of something great like STEPup says “It’s been a good experience it feels rewarding to do things that you know can make a difference towards someone else and help create a more positive experience for them when it comes to school and social settings in general.” 

Another member of STEPup, 12th grader Elodie Micheal Price says this about “STEPup to me is about making school safer for my little sister and all future students by changing the culture of Charlottesville city schools in terms of sexual harassment and abuse.”

STEPup is a club at school that meets once a week, so if you’re looking to join the club please contact [email protected]. There is also a one year membership training that could educate you about what STEPup does and if you’re interested in programs like STEPup there is also a club called Green Dot that you can join. Green Dot is a school-wide initiative program that improves bystander intervention. Green Dot also provides training to students on how to intervene when they see signs of sexual harassment, sexual assault, racial discrimination, and child abuse. Jada Cox, a Bystander Empowerment Specialist, says that “Green Dot is not necessarily about these problems, but more so about the SOLUTIONS to these problems and how we, as a community, can step in and stop these abuses from happening.”