While some BHS clubs are focused on academics or competition, one group of students meets monthly to help their peers make positive decisions.

“It stands for social advocates for youth,” SAY club Co-President Sydney Eisenberg explained. Students from Cleveland come together at Bellefaire to form a larger version of the club, the SAY Student Leadership Council.”

According to the organization’s pamphlet, the SAY Student Leadership Council is an interactive student group for 9th to 12th grade students who want to learn leadership skills, meet and work with fellow teens, and help promote positive teen behavior.

They meet one to two times per month in the evening at Bellefaire JCB to develop campaigns on a variety of topics affecting teens today, including awareness on teen dating violence, anti-bullying, distracted driving, prescription drug abuse and underage drinking.

“[Young people] have the power to really make a difference,” SAY club advisor Mallory Molls said. “They hold the key to make changes because the message is most powerful when it comes from your peers.”

Co-President Brianna Weisman’s brother, Brandon Weisman, started the Beachwood branch of the club in when he was a BHS junior in 2011.

“Brandon was really involved with the SAY Student Leadership Council at Bellefaire and he kickstarted it here,” Weisman said. “He brought the concept to Beachwood and decided to bring his out-of-school club in-school to share it with his classmates and raise awareness about important issues.”

SAY services are also offered by Bellefaire in Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Mayfield, Orange, Shaker Heights, Solon and South Euclid-Lyndhurst school districts.

“One event that the SAY Student Leadership Council does is the Mocktail Party, ” Eisenberg said. “It’s a fundraiser that advocates for having fun without drinking alcohol. And that’s just one of the many things they do.”

The Beachwood SAY Club teams up with The SAY Student Leadership Council for other events too.

Eisenberg describes a fundraiser this past year.

“We did a t-shirt project at Legacy Village with the SAY Student Leadership Council where we designed t-shirts and hung them near Tropical Smoothie Cafe,” she said. “Each shirt color had a different meaning whether it represented a rape survivor or a victim of domestic violence. On the shirts we painted inspirational pictures and messages to show our support for people who had been through those traumas.”

“We also do our own fundraisers,” Eisenberg said, “In the past we’ve sold pins and made blankets that we’ve donated to Bellefaire and we’re going to do a winter fundraiser to collect items for homeless youth in Cleveland such as hats, gloves, scarves or care packages.”

“It’s really good for kids at Beachwood to put things in perspective because we’re so privileged here to have amazing resources, faculty, and overall support for everything we do,” Weisman said. “It’s really important to take a step back and see other kids in Cleveland who aren’t privileged to have the same resources. The club as a whole does a really good job of doing that.”

“These issues are very prevalent in today’s society,” Eisenberg said. “A lot of people at Beachwood can be relatively sheltered from these issues that teens face all over the world. It’s so important to realize that there are suicide problems, drug abuse problems, and dating violence problems right here in Cleveland.”

If interested in joining, email Ms. Molls at [email protected], Sydney Eisenberg at [email protected], or Brianna Weisman at [email protected].