“An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure,” Annette Hackbarth-Onson, dean of students, said.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month and there’s no better way to bring awareness to it than with the help of the Liberal Area Rape Crisis and Domestic Violence Services center and students and faculty from Seward County Community College.

On April 24, LARC DVS on campus advocate Maria Munoz, dean of students Annette Hackbarth-Onson, transfer coordinator Janeth Vasquez and computer information systems instructor Tyler Parks teamed up to encourage students to take the pledge to prevent sexual assault and stand by survivors and victims.

SCCC brought the “It’s On Us” campaign to campus by producing a video that encompasses what the campaign is about. For the video, students and faculty were asked to put on a shirt that read “It’s On Us” and read a script which was edited by SCCC concurrent student, Hunter Thomas.

It’s On Us is a campaign that is geared towards putting a stop to sexual assault. Hackbarth-Onson said that multiple other colleges participate in this campaign as well, which is why SCCC got behind the movement.

“We were inspired by the campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness month and I think it’s a really cool idea to make it personal and modern. Students and everyone basically live online, so I couldn’t think of a better way than to educate people and spread this message,” the dean said.

Parks had mentioned that this project was for the Digital Video Editing II class, so everyone in that class was required to produce a larger project.

“By produce, I mean they are in charge of everything from the pre-production planning to the actual production, or filming of the project, and then the editing process,” Parks said.

Munoz and Parks partnered to make the video happen and the rest was up to Thomas, who was in charge of the video.  

“The whole class helped with the production as it required a whole team to shoot it the way we did. This was probably the largest scale project that was completed this semester and Hunter really hit it out of the park,” the computer systems instructor said.

The video was released in the student union from 9 a.m to 12 p.m. and a table was set up for students to write their names on a hexagon shaped card to place on the canvas to pledge to put an end to sexual assault. There were also mini informative pamphlets on what consent is and how to ask for consent in person and online or through text, some chapsticks, pencils and pins.

“I gave Hunter a few pointers at the beginning, towards the middle and at the end of the editing process, but this was completely her creation. In fact, one of the ideas I gave her for the end of the video wasn’t near as appealing as what she came up with,” Parks said.

More than 11% of students experience rape or sexual assault on college campuses, which is why Hackbarth-Onson feels like it’s very important to educate students on the dangers of sexual assault

“When things like sexual assault happen on campus or anywhere really, it’s hard. It’s hard for families and for the victims, so education is always a way to prevent most of these issues,” Hackbarth-Onson said.

Vazquez, who teamed up with Munoz, said that SCCC’s participation in this campaign could possibly serve as a model for other community colleges and universities to stop sexual assaults from happening.

“I’m just super proud of all of our students because I feel like they really took the leadership role in producing and helping out such a big event,” Vazquez added.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape or sexual assault, you can contact Maria Munoz in her office on campus in the student access center. LARC DVS is located at 111 E. 2nd Street in Liberal and their contact information is down below.

Business Direct: 620-624-2774

24 HR Hotline: 620-624-8818

Toll Free: 1-888-417-7273

Fax: 620-626-6041

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