(solemn music)
- [Teenager] No one will ever think you're beautiful.
- [Teenager] Go kill yourself.
- [Teenager] How to do you put up with yourself?
- [Teenager] You're so ugly and disgusting
- Hey you guys better lay off her.
Looks like she's gonna cry over there.
- She's a mess.
- [Blonde female Actor] Stop begging for attention. Geeze.
Don't come to school if you're just going to cry.
- [Actor] Helpless. You're helpless.
- [Actor] You're helpless.
- [Actor] Helpless.
- [Actor] Abnormal.
- [Actor] I'm glad I'm not you.
- [Actor] Glad I'm not you.
- [Actor] I'm glad I'm not you.
(solemn music)
- What we say has the power to give life
or has the power to give death.
So I wanna talk about that for a little bit this morning,
and I wanna challenge you to really ask yourself
what type of human are you gonna be.
- [Narrator] That question might seem
a little heavy for teens,
but this isn't just another school assembly.
It's "Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life"
A conference that brings thousands of youth
middle and high schoolers together
for a six hour conversation about
the toughest problems they face.
- [Actors] In the next 24 hours,
- [Female Actor] 15,006 teens use drug
and alcohol for the first time.
- [Female Actor] Excessive drinking is responsible
for more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year.
- [Actors] In the next 24 hours.
In the next, in the next, in the next.
- [Female Actor] How can we change this?
- [Narrator] Mental illness, drug and alcohol use,
cyber-bullying, self harm and suicide
are all up for discussion.
The idea is to inspire young people to speak out
about the pain and pressure in their lives,
and it started when three women,
a school superintendent, a business development manager
and a county prosecutor happened to cross paths
in a community leadership class in Phoenix's West Valley.
- Class 22, and that's a big rivalry thing, right,
so they're in their 24th class right now,
but we're the class 22, we're the best
and you all have your own secret handshakes.
I met Gena and Lily and it was like,
we just were magnets to each other.
- Well I think we're all type A personality,
so it was like the perfect match
for the three of us to come together.
- It's interesting because we're three generations almost.
We're about 10 year difference between all of us.
We're all parents, we're mothers.
When you talk about these issues,
it's close to all of our hearts
and that instantly allowed us to connect as well.
- And so the seating that you gave us in that original chart
were, that's like the exact number od seats, right,
because I think that's how we highlighted...
- There will be more than that.
- [Narrator] The catalyst for the conference
was a class conversation with local law enforcement.
- One of the things that had just happened
was a murder suicide on a West Valley campus
and Gina was the assigned prosecuting attorney to the case
and she asked them, she said
"You know there are threats that we see on social media
"Why aren't you guys seeing this?"
He goes "Why aren't you seeing it?"
- When we were discussing that, doctor Lily DeBlieux said
"We tell kids to speak up, but they just, they just don't."
And we thought well you know what?
Why don't we hold a conference?
And that kind of started a conversation where,
we have to do a project anyway,
let's hold a conference and see if we can inspire kids
and get them to speak up.
We knew that for it to be successful,
it had to come from the youth,
because the youth are gonna be the first ones
to know that their classmates are in trouble.
They're gonna be the ones to notice the warning signs,
because they're talking in their own code,
so we have to engage the kids
and we have to give the kids the courage to speak up,
but then on the same token you had to get the parents
and the teachers on the same page,
because if they speak up and you're not ready to respond,
they may never speak up again.
- [Narrator] Without any event planning experience,
the trio set out to design a conference
that would engage students and get them talking,
while also providing resources
for their teachers and parents.
- [Lily] We did emails.
I did calls.
I did flyers.
I just spoke to as many people who would listen
and say "Let me tell you what's going on,
"I'd love to invite you."
Now the first year, yes we had a lot of schools
and districts say no we're not interested.
You know, and some people said
"Eh, that's a touchy subject."
(crowd of students talking)
- [Narrator] Despite that resistance,
the word spread and interest grew.
And about 900 students took part in the very first
"Speak Up Stand Up Save a Life" conference in 2017.
Grace Martinez was there to share her own story
of recovery after years of intense bullying
led her into depression and self harm.
- Cutting made me numb to a world that
at the time I saw as gray, lifeless and bleak.
Instead of feeling the pain that they gave me,
I wanted to feel a different kind of pain.
That's how I dealt with it.
I made my own pain.
What inspired me to share my story was
that there is a lot of people like me
and most people don't make it out like I did.
There are young girls, like 10 or 9 years old
that are taking their lives,
because people don't have anything nice to say.
- [Narrator] This year, 16 year old Grace
shared her story again.
Words once hurt her deeply, but now she uses them to heal
and to encourage others to speak.
- My name is Grace and my story is just beginning,
because I care enough to speak up, stand up and save a life.
(audience claps)
- [Narrator] The second Speak Up Stand Up and Save a Life
conference drew 3500 students from all over Arizona.
They spent the day hearing from fellow students,
motivational speakers and performers
who played out common and painful scenarios.
- Is there anybody that I can talk to?
- [Narrator] Then they worked in small groups
to identify problems and potential solutions
in their own schools.
- The expressions on their faces.
- [Narrator] Their job is to be ambassadors,
and this is a train the trainer.
So their gonna roll out this message to their school
so we have the chance to impact 350,000 youth.
- Then the word gets out,
then kids start talking to other kids saying
"Oh my god that was absolutely fabulous.
"Look what I can do now."
Then they start implementing.
Then parents get the information and say
"Wow, I don't know what you did there.
But look at how my child is reacting."
We had adults crying on my shoulder,
saying "I needed this."
- [Narrator] First time attendees Mia, Nora
and Emma Romero say the conference helped them
put their experiences into a different perspective.
- It just kinda opened my eyes to how to help bullying.
And like kinda just say like if it happened to me,
what would I do, so I took that into consideration.
- I know a lot of people that have been bullied and stuff,
so it just was like, it was a powerful message.
- Thank you so much!
Now we want to tell you really quick before you get up.
Start talking about your project.
Use this time wisely, while you're pumped up.
- [Narrator] Jennifer, Gina and Lily hope to bring
that message to communities throughout Arizona and beyond.
- Our goal is hopefully that this will go nation-wide.
We would love to eliminate this bullying, this cutting.
We would love students to have such a great
self-esteem that there is no need
for harassment and bullying,
that they're accepting and that they're willing
to lend a hand to their fellow students.
That's what needs to happen.
- If more people got with their friends
and their coworkers and their thought groups
and said "Let's think of the solution.
"What can we do together with our network of people
"and make some energy around something positive.
"Imagine what this world would be."
- [Actor] Speak up, stand up, save a life.
- [Actors] Speak up, stand up, save a life.