The Purple Project, founded last school year, made its comeback the week of Sept. 18 and there are some changes to look for with the starting events.

The head coordinator of the Purple Project this year is Sophomore Sarah Ocampo.

“The purple project is a coalition founded by Elisa Edgar and Maddy Bailey last year. The essential point of the Purple Project is to bring awareness and support to State High students specifically, or Delta students, who are undergoing sexual abuse, sexual assault, or sexual harassment at State High.” Ocampo shared. “There were obviously a lot of changes within summer, with graduating founding members, and I guess now it’s kind of an introduction to those changes. The initial intention is still there though, I cannot stress that enough. The initial intent of, ‘these people will get support no matter what, no matter how hard it is,’ etc.” 

It’s important for students to understand why State High needs the Purple Project and how significant it actually is.

One student, Shanone Geraty, a junior at Delta, voiced, “I see a lot of different examples of sexual assault not being taken seriously in State College, It was just something I felt that I could really get behind since I’ve seen first hand how not taken seriously the issue is.”

Many students have spoken about the lack of attention that combating sexual assault and rape culture faces, so what is the Purple Project doing about it? 

The kickoff event(s) for the Purple Project took place this week, Monday, Sept 18 through Friday, Sept 22.

“The opener event will essentially be having posters around the school, saying the Purple Project is here to support or we believe you, stuff like that that we don’t necessarily see in real life. We see it on social media, but it’s something that you don’t really see in the real world.” Ocampo said. “Now we’re gonna have posters around the school, I’ll be having tables during lunch blocks selling the bracelets again, taking donations, handing out candy, basically bring awareness to the ongoing issue of rape culture in our school as well.” 

There were booths during all lunch blocks by the cafeteria on Wednesday and Friday, where members handed out purple flowers and information regarding the Purple Project and its future initiatives. 

One of the Purple Projects future possible initiatives is code purple.

“Code purple is something that students can go to the counseling office for, cause it’s gonna be based in the counseling office. They can say, ‘I have a code purple problem’ and the counselor and the student will be in agreement of, ‘hey, I’m not gonna elaborate more but this is an issue, a severe issue, that will probably require for more leniency when it comes to classroom deadlines, homework deadlines, etc,'” Ocampo said. The counselor can communicate that with a teacher and basically say ‘yeah this can be a center for you’ and, ‘you need time so we’re going to give you that.’ Same thing with class schedules if it comes to that. If it comes to that, students would be moved or separated with someone in the room making sure nothing goes on to ensure the students safety.” 

Since sexual assault and rape culture is a very sensitive topic, the school counselors have a major role in the Purple Project. State High counselor Beth Burnham explained, “When a student comes in, it’s the counselors job to assist the student and help with their reporting issues and making decisions of what they want their next step to be.”

School counseling and the Purple Project members are putting immense amounts of effort to make State High a safer place for students. 

Every newfound organization has things they work towards, or goals that will help improve what their organization stands for. Some students voiced their opinion on what they would like to see happen.

“I’d like to see a lot more official delegation within the school about the rape culture at State High. I think for peers, donations would be very helpful, also I feel like just taking it seriously, I think a lot of people at State High still like to make a lot of jokes and comments regarding such a serious issue, and I feel that my peers should be taking it seriously. I’d say the purple project is progressing a large issue within the school.” Geraty said. 

Even though rape culture is still a very prevalent issue, the Purple Project is working hard to fight against it and provide a safe space for the students of State High.

Editor’s Note: Sarah is a part of the Little Lions Yearbook Team