In 2025, approximately one in five high school students reported being bullied at school, and one in six students reported being cyber bullied in the past year, according to ‘pacer.org.’ At Potomac Falls, two juniors wanted to make a change by creating a new club called Pawsitive Falls.

At many schools, bullying happens almost every day. According to pacer.org, some students being bullied report their situation to trusted peers, but most of the kids being bullied stay silent because they’re too embarrassed or because they don’t have a trusted peer who they can confide in. “Repeated acts of peer aggression can negatively affect school attendance due to feelings of lack of safety and school connection, negatively impacting student academic performance,” Pacer, 25 February 2025, https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/stats/. 

This year, juniors Sara Azhar and Meklit Tesfaye, decided to make a positivity club called Pawsitive Falls to combat bullying and promote positivity amongst students and the community. “We saw lots of new clubs form last year, and we decided it would be a good idea to start one of our own,” said club officer, Meklit Tesfaye.

Each time the club has a meeting, they start with eating snacks and talking to their peers, and then the officers present in front of the club to talk about bullying and what they can do to prevent it. The club also does some sort of activity that helps foster bullying awareness. “At our last meeting on Dec. 10, we made paper chains, ate snacks, and presented presentations with inspirational quotes to promote positivity,” said club officer, Sara Azhar. 

The paper chains had quotes on the outside and inside of the chain, and they had sayings including “be nice” and “spread positivity.” They were put in the main hallway where everyone could see them. “We put the chains up to promote positivity and to remind everyone to have a good day and remember to spread kindness,” said Azhar.

Since the club is new this year, there’s a lot of ideas the officers have for the future. “This is my first year starting a new club; I wanted to do it for fun, and I got really into it. For the future, we want to make sticky notes of affirmation, and we want to pass them around to students to spread kindness,” said Azhar.