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Harmony Day
Posted: 3/20/2019
As part of their annual Harmony Day, students of Central Okanagan School District in British Columbia, Canada, created a video to remind their community to be mindful of the effect their actions have on others. The video calls on viewers to “rewind” racism, bullying, and hate and to “fast forward” acceptance, kindness, and love.
Every year, Harmony Day encourages the community of Central Okanaga to celebrate their culturally diverse society and renew their commitment to mutual respect and acceptance. Find out more about Harmony Day here: http://www.harmonyday.ca/.
Sew for SOS
Posted: 3/20/2019
While facing a frightening surgery on his arm, 12 year old Luke started thinking about the many other people in the world facing difficult life events, like illness or bullying. He decided he wanted to let them know that someone cared about them. So he started an initiative called SEW for SOS, where students spend some of the recess periods sewing miniature pillows with inspirational messages stuffed inside. Then they send these pillows to people they believe need support – patients, veterans, and other students.
Luke writes, “It is important to me because I want to express the fact that even though I am a kid, that I can make a positive change in my community. That desire to make a difference even at a young age is what pushes me to work extremely hard every day.”
Luke and the other members of SEW for SOS are living proof that you’re never too young to make a difference in your community!
Robert Lunt Elementary School Grades 2-3
Posted: 3/15/2019
The second through fifth grade students of Robert Lunt Elementary School in Nevada are committed to bullying prevention. To share their message with the world, they created videos to demonstrate the kind of positive, supportive environment they want for their school.
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Robert Lunt Elementary School Grades 4-5
Posted: 3/15/2019
The second through fifth grade students of Robert Lunt Elementary School in Nevada are committed to bullying prevention. To share their message with the world, they created videos to demonstrate the kind of positive, supportive environment they want for their school.
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The Fletcher School Unites
Posted: 3/15/2019
The Fletcher School in Charlotte, NC, celebrated Unity Day for the first time this year! Lessons on bullying have been a standard part of the social skills curriculum offered by the K-5 school counselor, but students, teachers and administrators were encouraged to wear orange in honor of Unity Day and bracelets were distributed for all to wear. The message was “Stand up to bullying!” Emphasis was placed on standing up to bullying rather than standing by and doing nothing.
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Cotaco School and Jordan Allena
Posted: 3/10/2019
Students at Cotaco School were so passionate about preventing bullying in their schools that they decided to survey their classmates about the state of bullying at their school. But their commitment didn’t end there. Students in the Talented and Gifted program got the chance to contribute to a song performed by country singer Jordan Allena about bullying called “It Ain’t Cool to be Cruel.” And they were rewarded for their efforts by hosting Jordan Allena for a full-blown concert at their school!
The students’ teacher writes:
Once the students heard their song on the radio they were passionate about meeting Jordan Allena and having her host a school-wide concert to kick off the anti-bullying campaign. Seth Sullivan with Sullivan’s Productions and WZYP’s Mojo turned the school into a smoked filled, lighting spectacular event to showcase the debut of the song, “It Ain’t Cool to be Cruel.” Students sang the lyrics and danced to the jamming country sound as the music video was shot. Cotaco School students had the opportunity to share their message on a national platform in hopes that their words may reach one person in need and make a difference. We have had the pleasure of hosting Jordan at all of our Morgan County Schools as students get on board to stamp out bullying. The TAG students believe that together they can make a difference…it is their passion!
Here’s what Jordan had to say about the project:
I took to this song because I have been bullied my entire life - mostly because I was always running against the grain - so to speak :) People are so cruel and sometimes without even realizing it! Those words really hit home to me - it's truly NOT cool to be cruel. It's actually small and lazy; it's harder to think about someone else first and what our actions can do to others...a challenge I want people to think about. Bullies are and will be in our lives always, but we can encourage a different way to think about life and others and a different way of reacting to them and their behavior. We should celebrate our differences and our uniqueness!
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Shrek the Musical
Posted: 3/10/2019
In May 2014, the students of VISTA Productions (the joint theater program of Visitation School and Saint Thomas Academy) put on Shrek The Musical! This vibrant, exciting show includes powerful bullying prevention messages such as embracing differences and being proud of who you are. The VISTA students collaborated with PACER to create a project that linked the show with bullying prevention themes. The students made an effort to really understand the issue and were deeply motivated to make a difference in their school. They created a beautiful display that celebrated the unique characteristics of the cast and crew; it declared “What makes us special makes us strong!” Bullying is an issue that affects students on a deeply personal level, but it has important implications for parents, teachers, schools, and communities as well.
One student writes, “Working with PACER added a depth to Shrek. It isn't just a show that made me laugh, it's a show that made me consider what it means to be comfortable with the 'fairy tale creature' I am, and not the manufactured citizen of Duloc that society asks me to be.”
Bullying prevention is a community effort, and the students of VISTA Productions have shown their compassion, talent, and creativity through this project.
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Believe in Better
Posted: 3/5/2019
When Olivia, Katie, and Brooke noticed bullying happening in their school, they knew they needed to take action to build a safe environment for their classmates. They wanted to provide a space where students could ask questions and tell stories about their experiences with bullying anonymously. They then respond to questions with advice about bullying with the support of their school psychologist. Through this project they’ve been able to offer support, solidarity, and advice to their fellow students who are affected by bullying.
Olivia, Katie, and Brooke write: “We care about bullying prevention because we don’t want anyone to feel alone and helpless in their situation. We know many other people who have gone to great lengths to stop the bullying, and we want to help support them. We believe our local website is a great action step towards the large goal of stopping bullying all together.”
Visit their website and learn more.
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Queen Anne’s County Public Schools Host Inaugural Unity Day Event
Posted: 3/5/2019
Queen Anne's County Public Schools hosted its inaugural Unity Day event on Wednesday, Oct. 9. During the day Ravens cheerleaders, super fans and Looney Tunes Characters visited each school to promote bullying prevention. At the start of the school day every student and school employee was given a "Bullying stops with me" T-shirt to help spread the message – about 10,000 shirts! The goal was to have all school employees demonstrate their commitment to bullying prevention to their students. The purchase of these shirts was made possible by the generous support of parents, community members and local businesses. Linda Austin, community member and owner of Rita's, was the force behind providing over 10,000 t-shirts for the students and staff of Queen Anne's County. She and her co-chair for the event Stephanie Jarrel from the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's office worked tirelessly to make the event successful.
Also during the day each elementary school revealed a Friendship Bench, a bench for those to sit on if they ever feel left out. After the students get into their new shirts, students from each school will be taken out to fields on school property and spell out “no bullying.” Visitors to county schools included Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders, Captain Dee-Fense, The Oriole Bird and various Looney Tunes characters from Six Flags.
The efforts of Queen Anne’s County aren’t limited to October 9th. District and school administrators have developed a plan to extend the Olweus bullying prevention program from the few schools it’s in now to every school in the county by 2014. Supervisor of Student Services Brad Engel also reached out to community members to create a committee to work in conjunction with the schools to prevent bullying.
For Engel, bullying is a personal issue. During his teen years he was a target of bullying and as a father; he has seen his own son go through the same thing. “I can tell you that there are a lot of parents all across the country who have had many a sleepless night worrying about their children becoming targets of bullying. We can greatly reduce the number of bullying incidents in our schools. I know we can…I have talked to many of our staff members and they feel just like I do. They want to make sure that every child in Queen Anne’s County is able to walk into their school each day with their heads held high and that all children in the Queen Anne’s County school system are treated with dignity and respect. We won’t rest until that goal is achieved.”
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Love Share Care
Posted: 3/1/2019
After watching her friend experience bullying, Azariah wanted to create a space for girls to interact online in a positive, friendly space free from bullying. And the idea for Love, Share, Care was born! LoveShareCare.com is a place for teen and tween girls to address cyberbullying through supportive and positive interaction. Girls can socialize, engage in online challenges to spread peace and prevent bullying, and even win prizes!
Azariah writes, “My idea to create a bully free social network came about after a close friend of mine experienced the torment of being bullied. My first thought was to create a group within my school for other girls who had gone through the same thing. I soon realized that the problem was much bigger than my school. I have always had a passion for helping others and bullying stands out the most to me, which made my desire to help not only my friend but girls everywhere. I want to inspire girls to be more positive not only on social media, but also through the interactions they have face to face. I want Love Share Care to be a social place that gives girls the freedom to share their ups and downs without the fear of being teased or bullied. I hope that my efforts show girls all over the world that we can make a difference by doing kind things for others, no matter how old you are.
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