Guilford High School (GHS) kicked off the 10th year of its annual End the R Word campaign early on March 2, leading a push for inclusion and an end to the usage of harmful words and language that serve to divide communities and hurt people from vulnerable groups.

The campaign is a global effort founded in 2009 that has partnered with schools and organizations around the world, including the Special Olympics, according to its website.

In the past, the initiative, which asks participants to pledge to remove certain words from their everyday speech, has focused on one word: “retard” or “retarded.” Now, according to Jaye Carlson, one of the campaign’s organizers and co-founders in Guilford, they are pushing to spread awareness and push back against words that target gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, race, and religion.

“It makes awareness for our individuals who can’t speak for themselves,” Carlson said. “But it brings awareness to all derogatory words.”

The campaign has rebranded from “End the R Word” to “Spread the Word Inclusion” and has changed the pledge it asks participants to sign as well with more inclusive language.

Carlson’s daughter Stebbie Carlson, who is taking part in the campaign, said that she has seen real progress at GHS of people being aware of the use of these words and removing them from their vocabularies, though there is still work to be done.

“It’s definitely a lot more for a focus than it was in prior years,” she said, “and there’s been a change for sure that’s noticeable. But it’s still high school—can’t...get everybody on board.”

Jaye Carlson said she expects between 60 and 80 students to participate this year by handing out bracelets, asking their classmates and teachers to sign the pledge, and generally reaching out to peers and community members to educate on the harmful effects of these words.

Local politicians and leaders, including State Senator Christine Cohen (D-12), State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98), and Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey, were all on hand to sign the pledge early Monday morning.

Sebastian Espejo, a former GHS student who now lives in Miami, joined his former classmates and peers this week in the hallways of the school. Espejo said that since moving away from Guilford, he has seen more and more the importance of this kind of advocacy work.

“It’s not very inclusive [in Miami],” Espejo said. “The ‘R’ word is used like the back of my hand. So it’s important for me to be here today.”

Espejo said he hopes to combat that lack of awareness by bringing the “Spread the Word” campaign to his new school. He said he keeps cards in his wallet to hand out to people who use these harmful, discriminatory words.

Both Espejo and Stebbie Carlson said among their peers, the best way to make changes is to speak to those who you trust, and who trust you.

“It’s kind of like a ripple effect,” Espejo said. “Soon enough, those people are going to tell other people. I was having a conversation the other day in the class, and someone said [the ‘R’ word], and I said something, and my friend said…’He’s convinced me, you should really listen to what he’s walking about.’”

“People definitely don’t use [those words] around me,” Carlson said. “People are scared to do that. We’ll say something.”

For more information on the campaign or to sign a pledge, visit www.spreadtheword.global.