Students Team Up To Fight Bullying
Belmont Elementary School in Olney
Older Kids Teaching Younger Ones About Dangers Of Bullying
February 24, 2006
OLNEY, Md. — Students of all ages are picked on, teased, and harassed at school. This kind of bullying is often dismissed as child’s play. But health experts say it’s a dangerous problem.
Now older students are reaching out to their younger peers to help put a stop to bullying.
Middle and high school students have been stopping by Belmont Elementary School in Olney to talk about the problem.
The students have started an anti-bullying mentor program called ‘You have the Power.’ The program has also developed a series of Public Service Announcements to explain the serious consequences of bullying.
“This is the type of program that empowers not only the students, but also the teachers to stand up to the bullying problem that they just told us is very prevalent in their school,” said 11th-grader Jeremy Lent.
“Students see the bullying, they know what’s going on and students hide the bullying from teachers,” said one Belmont student.
The mentors said it is important for victims and witnesses of bullying to take a stand or find help. Many of the students said they know this from experience.
“It makes you feel really bad, like no one cares about you and stuff like that, but what really helped me was friends, talking about them. I had a lot of friends that stuck up for me, that helped me too,” said eighth-grader Cindy Uruburo.
“If a bystander feels uncomfortable talking to a bully, which certainly happens a lot, they can always talk to the victim to tell them what the victim can do next time to prevent the bullying,” said Lent.
Many of the elementary school students said they fear being shoved into lockers, picked on and excluded. They also said they don’t want to be a victim of a nasty rumor spread by a bully.
Students also said it is not just up to kids to intervene; parents and teachers have to be more vigilant to recognize bullies and their victims.
Copyright 2006 by nbc4.com.
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