“Alone, I can build a mound. Together, we can build a mountain.” This is the philosophy by which Wright State freshman, Thomas Dornbusch abides. Dornbusch is the president of a new student organization called Student Against Violent Acts (SAVA). This advocacy group seeks to educate individuals of all ages on the dangers and consequences of bullying, cyberbullying and harassment. Created just over a month ago, Dornbusch was inspired by his English professor, Richard Strader, to create this organization. After giving an emotional and powerful presentation in Strader’s English class on the detrimental effects of bullying in educational institutions, Dornbusch realized he was too emotionally invested in the subject not to take further action. After hearing that there weren’t any anti-bullying student organizations on campus and a little help and encouragement from his family and friends, Dornbusch began raising SAVA from the ground up. “SAVA’s mission is to promote awareness of and to then prevent actions that are harmful to another’s well being,” Dornbusch explained. “These actions can be as simple as forwarding an embarrassing text message or it can be to the extent of someone physically harassing or abusing another.” Since SAVA’s inception, momentum has been increasing on a daily basis; Dornbusch has been taking all of the right steps to promote this noble cause. In fact, SAVA has been working with school resource officers in various middle and high schools as well as police officers on college campuses. “We’re doing this so they can help us understand how bullying truly works and affects students,” said Dornbusch. “With their help, we can better advocate on behalf of bullied individuals.” Dornbusch could hardly contain his excitement when he explained SAVA’s projected plan next year. The organization will be making rounds in schools across the state, giving presentations and speeches on the harmful consequences of bullying. Dornbusch seemed confident that SAVA will be tremendously effective in getting their powerful message across to students in Ohio. “It’s one thing to hear an anti-bullying message from a police officer who’s been out of school for years, but it’s another thing to hear from students who are fresh out of high school. We’ve seen bullying first-hand.” Although SAVA will be speaking out against all forms of student-on-student aggression and bullying, one of their primary targets will be cyberbullying. Dornbusch says cyberbullying has become a recent epidemic that afflicts many students in our online-era. “SAVA is not a counselling agency of any sort, nor will we give advice.” He said, “However if you have a bullying incident, we are here to listen to you and openly discuss the issue.” SAVA’s goal is to eradicate the incessant issue of bullying through education, compassion, and understanding. They will provide an ear to anyone willing to discuss past, current, or possible future concerns with bullying. Through a powerful force of empathy, SAVA members will share bullying stories with students who currently feel ostracized by another individual. “By sharing past experiences,” Dornbusch explained, “students will hopefully understand that it does get better.” As Dornbusch adamantly concluded, “The pain ends now. The pain ends today.” If interested in joining SAVA, you can contact Dornbusch for more information at Dornbusch.4@wright.edu or check out their Facebook page (search SAVA). Meetings are held Thursday’s at 6 pm in the Student Union Atrium.
