Major
Political Science
Second Major
Public Relations
Advisor
Kelley Ryan
Date
12-2024
Abstract
Bringing in the Bystander is a program designed to teach people how to intervene safely in sexual violence and domestic violence situations. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. Working with the Violence Prevention Advocacy Services on campus, I educated URI students on how to make Kingston a safer place for everyone. I went through bystander intervention training and created a URI specific slideshow with scenarios to work through with attendees. Then, I hosted educational events for both Greek life and non-Greek life groups, creating a dialogue about protecting both friends and strangers. Afterwards, I designed a poster placed in Health Services and other buildings with large student traffic. This experience reinforced that I want to lead a career in public service, helping others through education and communications. Additionally, it taught me the trials and tribulations of event planning. Engaging with your target audience and ensuring they show up is much more challenging than it seems. However, I was able to learn from my first event and alter my public relations campaign to increase attend