Presenting Hazing Prevention Resources for High School Students and Parents

Forty-eight percent of high school students admit to participating in activities that would be considered hazing. Fifty-five percent of college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing.

These statistics show the importance of hazing prevention not only for fraternity and sorority members but also for high school students and students of any age, from grade school through college. Parents of students also play an important role in hazing prevention. During National Hazing Prevention Week, ZTA, in partnership with Evelyn and Jim Piazza and Rich Braham, is presenting hazing prevention resources to reach these important audiences.

Evelyn and Jim Piazza lost their son Tim, who experienced hazing and died in 2017. Rich Braham is the father of Marquise, who died due to fraternity hazing in 2014.

“I know it might seem a bit odd to be viewing a program about hazing for kids so young,” Rich Braham said. “But after losing my 18-year-old son, Marquise, to fraternity hazing as a college freshman, I’ve learned a lot—particularly that most kids are brutally hazed long before they set foot on a college campus. The hazing starts in high school— even middle school— and it can affect them psychologically, emotionally and physically for the rest of their lives.

Please pay attention to the dangers we uncovered in this program and listen to the experiences we share. Educate yourselves and protect the precious children in your care so they can avoid the fate that robbed me and my wife of our beautiful child forever.”

High school resources

To reach high school students, ZTA personalized the award-winning My Sister, My Responsibility® program to this new audience. Three Preventing and Confronting Hazing in High School workshops are available for teachers, counselors and administrators to facilitate in schools. The goal is to help students understand hazing and its impact earlier than college. Each workshop includes a facilitator guide and PowerPoint ready for the facilitator to present. The three workshop descriptions are below, and all workshops are available on ZTA’s website.

• Same Team Mentality – In this workshop, students will understand the importance of accountability and recognize when to intervene in certain situations. This workshop includes a video from Evelyn, Jim and Rich about losing their sons to hazing.
• Hidden Harm: What You Probably Haven’t Considered – In this workshop, students will gain an understanding of what hazing is, what qualifies an activity as hazing, and the detrimental impact hazing can have on a student’s academic life and their physical and mental well-being.
• Real-World Consequences – The purpose of this workshop is to help students understand the legal repercussions (criminal and civil) of hazing as well as student leaders’ accountability in preventing and stopping hazing.

Parent resource

Zeta Tau Alpha designed a short, online course for parents who have students of any age. Our goal is to provide information and education to help parents understand what hazing is and how to prevent it from happening. This course includes the video from Evelyn, Jim and Rich that appears in the Same Team Mentality workshop. ZTA believes no parent should have to experience this loss. This interactive course is available on ZTA’s website.

Updated collegiate workshop

As a part of ZTA’s ongoing commitment to hazing prevention, ZTA updated the collegiate My Sister, My Responsibility: Preventing and Confronting Hazing workshop, Same Team Mentality, to include the video from Evelyn, Jim and Rich. Zeta Tau Alpha does not condone any form of hazing from any member, new member or alumna. ZTA created these workshops in 2009 for ZTA chapters and has shared them with other fraternities and sororities and campus professionals. All My Sister, My Responsibility collegiate workshops are accessible on ZTA’s website.