POTSDAM -- Potsdam High School students will be observing a "Day of Silence" Friday, April 8 at the school to draw attention to the bullying and harassment faced by students everywhere.

Organized by the high school Gay-Straight Alliance, students wanted to open up the event to all students and all types of bullying. Silence is used as a tactic to provide a space for personal reflections about the consequences of being silent and silenced, organizers say.

For the past several weeks, students have written on a mural that reads “What Will You Do To End The Silence” and attached Post-It notes to it, describing the "reason" they were bullied.

“Day of Silence” was started in 1996 at the University of Virginia. In 2001, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network became the official sponsor of the event. GLSEN reports that hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools.