Spread the Word to End the Word is an international campaign whose mission is to encourage inclusion and put an end to the use of the R-word. Special education teacher Megan Riege and her colleagues decided to help spread awareness for this movement at Westside by passing out wristbands.

“Spread the word to end the word is a campaign, and it’s just trying to bring people in the community to be more aware and conscious of when they use this word,” Riege said.

Riege said that many individuals do not realize how hurtful this word can be.

“The bracelets are to spread awareness to stop using the R-word,” Riege said. “It’s kind of like a pledge you would take for stopping texting and driving, it’s a similar pledge to stop using the R-word.”

Riege said that she is a big supporter of this campaign, because when the R-word is used as a synonym for “dumb” or “stupid,” then it is calling the kids she works within her classroom that as well, which is hurtful.

“Some of the kids that I work with are smarter than me in ways, and that’s something I’m really passionate about,” Riege said.

Senior Margot Ruff, president of Project Unify, also helped organize this school event. She joined Project Unify and Sparkles Cheer as a freshman and has volunteered at Autism Society and Special Olympics, so Ruff said this is something she has always been passionate about.

“[The goal for the bracelets was to] mostly just bring awareness to the topic and just make people more conscious of what they’re doing,” Ruff said. “When you are using that word, a lot of people think it’s cool or they just don’t really even know what they’re saying, and it’s actually really hurtful. So to just bring it to attention that that is the improper use of that word, there are many other words you could choose in your vocabulary instead of using the R-word.”