You Matter: Campaign spreads to Sky View Middle School

It’s something lots of people would find terribly uncomfortable: telling someone, face to face, why they matter.

But it happened Wednesday at Sky View Middle School in Bend among the staff, and hugs were shared all around, encouraged by Lacy Kirkland of Bend, the creator of a clothing company called Matter Apparel.

“The hope for me is that it feels weird not to share how much people matter, and not to share how much you care about people — that that becomes the new norm,” Kirkland said.

Kirkland wants to spread the message that “you matter.”

“We’ve had customers that’ll say, even on a crummy day, ‘I’ll wear the shirt, because it helps me level up. It helps me to remember that things will be OK, and to remember who I am when things don’t look that great,'” Kirland said.

“And also to be a force for love and values, and promoting and pushing more of that out into the world,” she added.

And that’s why Sky View Middle School decided to take this message on as its own, according to teacher Dawn Roberts, who helped spur the campaign.

“They learn to be kind and listen, and it’s something that a lot of adults even forget to do,” Roberts said. “So when someone tells you you matter, you listen — and then you realize, I need to tell somebody else.”

The school’s leadership class actually started the campaign last year, Principal Scott Olszewski explained.

Since then, the staff has started recognizing students, telling them that they matter.

“It’s not just about, you did something good or followed the rules,” he said. “It’s about: You matter to me, I’m an adult who notices you, I see you, you’re important to me.”

The school believes it will boost confidence among students and staff and decrease negativity.

“I absolutely think that it would affect bullying harassment or even just prejudice or judgment in general, absolutely,” the principal said.

Between 2003 and 2012, 230 youth ages 10-19 died from suicide in Oregon.

This campaign hopes to make a slight dent in that.

You can check out the You Matter campaign here: http://youmatter.us/

And Matter Apparel here: https://matterapparel.com/