Featured Club
Laura's House HEART School Club Featured Interview

From our interview with Vanessa of El Toro High School
Thank you for leading the Laura’s House HEART School Club at your high school. Through your leadership, your club is building a base of support for addressing and preventing teen dating abuse, domestic violence and bullying. We want to recognize your efforts by featuring you and your club on our teen website. Please respond to the following questions.
Tell us a little bit about your club. What is your club name? What is your mission?
My club is named Break The Silence, our mission is to educate our club members about domestic violence and dating abuse. The club has been around 6 years, the person who started the club at El Toro, Gabby Hernandez asked me to continue the club after she graduated and I gladly accepted. This is my second year running the club and I love it!
Why did you want to lead the club at your school?
During my freshmen year on the day of club rush, Break the Silence was the one club that I was very interested in joining because of their mission statement. During the meetings I was so intrigued with the fact that Laura's House provided Gabby with all of these resources to educate her club members. I also had guest speakers from Laura's House come into my health class and give us a presentation which was very interesting to me. I eventually became very active in the club and I gained a love and respect for the club! Gabby then contacted me to ask if I was interested in continuing the club and I happily accepted. I was so excited to continue this amazing club at my school and to work with Laura's House.
What are your goals for the club on your campus?
Some of the goals I have for the club are making sure my club members learn at least one new about domestic violence after each meeting, my club members becoming aware and educated about teen dating violence, and making sure that what i'm doing at school can help at least one person.
What are some of your club’s achievements on campus?
My club hasn't had any major achievement on campus, but last year I was really proud when my club members filled lipstick tubes with resources inside of them, they enjoyed doing this and that made me happy because they were helping out Laura's House! We also had Molly Delbridge come in and do a H.E.A.R.T presentation which was very exciting!
What do you hope to do when you graduate from school?
When I graduate, I want to go to a 4 year university, I'm not sure what I want to do career wise, but I've always wanted to be a teacher, I love helping people, it's one of my passions. I also hope to continue working with Laura's House in the future, I absolutely love this organization.