Students Stand Against Bullying

WAITSBURG - Orange is the traditional color of fall, adorning everything from pumpkins to the turn­ing leaves. Last Wednesday, the halls of Waitsburg High School and Preston Hall Middle School were filled with orange as well - but it had nothing to do with fall or Halloween.

Waitsburg students, as part of a month-long aware­ness campaign sponsored by the high school ASB offi­cers, wore orange to demon­strate a united stand against bullying. ASB members decided to participate in Na­tional Bullying Prevention Month at their leadership training session last August.

"I knew it was something I wanted to address when I was elected," said 2013- 14 ASB President Nick Pearson. The other 2013-14 ASB officers are: senior Kyle Dozier, vice president; junior Devin Acevedo, sec­retary; and senior Kendra Roberts, treasurer.

The Officers chose four types of bullying they want­ed to address: physical bul­lying, verbal bullying, cyber bullying, and sexual bully­ing. On October 3, school Counselor Rosy Nechedom addressed the High School and Middle School student bodies in an assembly where she defined bullying.

"Bullying is not the same thing as someone having a bad day," said Nechedom. "Bullying is a repeated ac­tion and/or abuse of power against a specific person."

Nechedom, accompanied by an ASB member, visits high school classrooms each week to speak about one of the four types of bully­ing. Then one of the ASB Officers, accompanied by Nechedom, gives the same talk to the middle school. Acevedo spoke on physical bullying Oct. 7 and Roberts spoke on verbal bullying on Oct. 14. "I think it went well," said Acevedo who has a sister in middle school. "My sister heard some kids saying it really helped."

Dozier will address sex­ual bullying on Oct. 21 and Pearson will speak about cyber bullying on Oct. 28. "I wanted to address cyber bullying because my sister set up a Facebook account and we had a situation where her feelings were really hurt. It's easier to be mean when you're not face-to-face," said Pearson.

While the group doesn't see bullying as a major prob­lem in Waitsburg, they ac­knowledge that it is always something that happens. "We just wanted to make sure that students understand the different types of bully­ing and how to handle them when and if they happen," said Pearson.

Overall, response has been positive. Roberts, who made orange ribbons for students who didn't have orange clothing to wear, said 50% to 75% of students, between the two schools, par­ticipated in the Oct. 9 Take-a- Stand Day.

"There are always those kids - usually less mature freshman and Jr. High kids - who will take things over­board and not take it seri­ously," said Acevedo.

The program will wrap up with a second large as­sembly where students will watch a video on how words affect people's lives. Students will then be invited to take a pledge and sign an anti- bullying banner that will be displayed in the High School common area.

Coming at things from a somewhat different angle, the senior class - three of whom are ASB officers - have com­mitted to making the school more friendly and inclusive. At last year's class BBQ the class asked themselves what they could do to leave a good mark on the school.

Meara Baker noted that incoming students were often confused and unsure how things worked when enter­ing high school, so the class came up with some ways to improve that situation.

"This year we each 'ad­opted' a freshman," said Kimmie Hamman. "Both the freshman and senior filled out a questionnaire to get to know one another better. Then we showed them around the school and let them know we were available to answer any questions they might have."

Class advisor Roseanne Groom is proud of the group. "I don't think the school has done anything like this since the FFA had a Big Sis, Little Sis program. That was about 20 years ago and wasn't school-wide," said Groom.

"We're also making some changes to how we run home­coming," said Heidi Miller. "Usually, the freshmen have to go first in all the contests, which isn't really fair, since they don't know what's going on. This year the seniors are going to go first, so they have an example to follow."

The intent of the senior class is to welcome the new­comers to the school in the hopes that the rest of their year will go well and be a positive experience. "We want them to feel like they can ask for help," said Rob­erts.

The class says they feel they have helped set a good tone for the school and al­ready see their leadership example trickling down to the other classes. One exam­ple is junior Owen Lanning has initiated Spirit Days for the home volleyball games, choosing a theme and en­couraging students to support the team each week. "We want to set a good leadership example and pass the torch to the classes below us," said Pearson.