Monroe students spreading awareness about the "R" word

Effort part of "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign

MONROE, Mich. – Monroe Middle School is coming together to participate in a national campaign aiming to put an end to a hurtful and offensive word for mentally or physically handicapped people.

Sponsored by the Special Olympics, the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign is asking people to stop using the "R" word.

"We want everyone to feel like they are part of our Monroe Middle School family," said teacher, Scott Hopper. "I guess you could consider it an anti-bullying campaign, unfortunately it's a word that's commonly used by kids."

The campaign asks people to pledge to stop saying the R-word as a starting point toward creating more accepting attitudes and communities for all people. Language affects attitudes and attitudes affect actions. Pledge today to use respectful, people-first language.

Over 500,000 people have taken the pledge online.
Take the pledge here: http://www.r-word.org/Default.aspx

Before school is even open, dozens of students who are members of the National Junior Honor Society will take hundreds of Post It Notes and plaster them all over the school and on students' lockers to ‘spread the word'. That way when students get to school they will get a message of tolerance and understanding.

But they aren't stopping there.

"We're going to try and set a world record by doing what teenagers do best, texting," said Hopper.

A Text-A-Thon will be held in the schools auditorium to see how many people they can text in five minutes while sharing that same message of tolerance and understanding

Other ways you can "Spread the Word to End the Word": http://www.r-word.org/r-word-take-action.aspx#.VPbkliyyI8A