MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office has implemented a competition for students to spread messages to their peers about school threats, violence, weapons and bullying.
Macomb County schools saw a record number of school threats in 2022, which can put teachers, students and their families on edge. The county prosecutor’s office is offering students a chance to join the battle against the violence and take home some cash too.
“The students themselves need to be the message,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido.
Lucido has said enough is enough with these threats and that it’s time to end violence in schools. “It seemed weekly, we were having one or two a week,” he said
It’s taking away from students’ education, affecting the whole county and costing taxpayers.
“We took away resources from the residences that would be police, fire, DPW, to go out and maintain a complaint that was made about a school, well guess what, it’s enforceable under state law, they have to, they have no choice, the police,” Lucido said.
Now the city official is calling on the students to enter the “Knocking Violence Out of My School” video competition.
“This is how a student communicates today, they text each other, they do a social media, they do a TikTok,” said Lucido. “Make it their own, it’s original, and it’s by them for the benefit of their school.”
Submitting a video up to two minutes long made by a group of students or an individual, possibly containing content about what happens to a student who makes a threat or how the threats affect everyone else.
“The creativity of a student -- it’s beyond my wildest dreams,” Lucido said. “They can go ahead and make that statement, that message, it’s their message, or a group of students to tell everybody, ‘hey, enough’s enough in our school, okay? I want to be proud of my school’.”
Winners can be proud of the prize too: $1,000 for first place, $750 for second and $500 for third. The video submission that takes home first won’t just receive a cash prize, but they will also be awarded a hero award from the prosecutor’s office.
The deadline for submissions is Feb. 17, 2023, and the winners and their schools will be announced on March 1, 2023.
Submissions should be emailed to Dawn Fraylick at the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office: Dawn.Fraylick@macombgov.org.
Here are the competition rules from the prosecutor’s office:
- Content should include at least one of the following: Anti-threats, anti-violence, anti-weapons, anti-bullying, how school violence makes you feel, what would you like to say to fellow students about school threats or violence
- Video should be no longer than 2 minutes
- Video can be created on any social media platform, a cell phone or any other equipment
- Prizes: First Place $1,000, Second Place $750 and Third Place $500
- Students must email their video or a link to their video to dawn.fraylick@macombgov.org and include their name, email, phone, school, school address, and grade by Friday, February 17, 2023 at 5pm. The winners and their schools will be announced Wednesday, March 1, 2023. For questions please call Dawn Fraylick at (586) 469-5737
For more information about the competition or for content ideas, visit the prosecutor’s website by clicking here.