Madonna Hanna knew her idea was going to be a success when nearly 1,000 students signed up within the first two weeks of her program. Hanna, a teacher of Advanced Fashion Marketing at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, gave her students a final project to survey students, parents, and teachers about what could be done to improve the school. The survey asked questions in three areas – responsibility, respect, and safety. The results of the surveys showed that the top two issues of concern were swearing and attendance. So Hanna and her students decided to come up with a way to tackle the swearing problem in the school.
The campaign was launched in 2006 using information students gathered from the results of the survey. Materials were created with the slogan “Dare Not to Swear,” a slogan that had been tested with focus groups of students at the school. Using a 15-minute presentation given to the superintendent of schools and the BNS principal, the students were able to practice their communication skills and persuasion about their cause in describing the campaign. They asked for and were granted $1000 to use to purchase customized yellow and blue wristbands sporting the claim “I dare not to swear!” In their presentation they explained that the bands would be a visual reminder to all students, as well as a public relations tool to inform the community and parents that the school had launched the campaign against swearing.
All the promotional materials for the campaign – banners, t-shirts, informational flyers, pledge sign-up sheets – were designed by the students using the merchandising skills they learned in Hanna’s Beginning Fashion Marketing class. Student groups were invited to sign up, and letters were sent to coaches and athletic advisors encouraging their participation. Groups and teams were asked to wear gold and blue clothing on the launch day of the campaign. Press releases were issued to local newspapers and media outlets, and both the mayor of Bremerton as well as the governor proclaimed October 26th to be “BHS Dare Not to Swear Day.” The campaign was kicked off during a lunch hour with a three students manning a sign-up table and two more students roaming around the cafeteria with sign-up sheets on clipboards.
The project was a rousing success, gaining recognition in both state and national media coverage. Local businesses helped out by providing promotional shirts and donating moneys for incentives for students. Even Laura Bush, the First Lady at that time, sent the students a letter of encouragement hoping that the campaign for better manners would sweep the nation. The Milken Family Foundation provided Hanna with a $6000 grant for youth community service, which Hanna used to keep the program running and expand it to students in elementary and middle schools.
The BHS “Dare Not to Swear” campaign was awarded the Washington Education Association’s Human & Civil Rights Student Involvement Award during its first year of operation, and the Milken grant provided the funds necessary to keep the program afloat. The success of the program, combined with its popularity among students, made Hanna a local hero and firmly planted the seeds of teaching students the value of good manners and civilized speaking. Swearing at BHS has not stopped completely, but there is now a raised awareness of the impropriety of swearing, and the better options that are available for good communication.
