Saint Mary’s basketball team to wear green in support of Green Dot and BAVO

The Belles Against Violence Office (BAVO) will offer an opportunity for students to learn about Green Dot at the Saint Mary’s basketball game against Hope College on Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. in the Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex.

BAVO offers a variety of resources for Saint Mary’s students, including violence prevention training and counseling services.

This upcoming event will focus on the Green Dot program, which educates students about bystander intervention. The program’s message of violence prevention is what sports information director Sarah Miesle said inspired her to become a certified Green Dot instructor in 2017.

“The message of Green Dot is just trying to make our community and our surroundings a safer, better place to be in — to be good members of those communities.” Miesle said. “It’s a bystander intervention training. … It teaches you that you always have some kind of opportunity to help people.”

The Green Dot program will be advertised throughout the upcoming basketball game as players on both teams will have green incorporated in their uniforms. An information table with a raffle will also be set up in gymnasium. Any of the supporters attending the game can visit the Green Dot table for more information about the program.

“We’ll share just a little blurb about what Green Dot is as a bystander intervention program, and give them attainable ways to intervene in potentially violent situations,” BAVO coordinator Liz Coulston said. “Along with that, we do have a drawing at our table for this really cute Saint Mary’s bag.”

This is an opportunity for students, parents, faculty and community members to engage with Green Dot, Coulston said.

“The goal is to just have conversations with people [so] that they understand what [Green Dot] is,” Coulston said. “… We really believe in teaching our student athletes and students as a whole about the resources they have and things that they can learn.”

Students can also learn more about ways to get involved with BAVO and how to spread their message through email updates and BAVO’s Instagram page, Miesle said.

Game attendees are encouraged to wear green in support of Green Dot.

“We know how great of a campus community we have,” Miesle said. “And it’s [because of] the strength of the students, it’s the strength of the faculty and staff showing up and being supportive [of] one another.”