October 9, 2013 at 4:58 p.m.
Acceptance is the name of the game
Acceptance is the name of the game
Entering its second year of existence, the Rhinelander High School Diversity Club is recognizing Bullying Prevention Month with activities planned throughout October.
School counselor and club advisor Susan Hampton said the club started small but increased participation this term has allowed for greater visibility.
"We had a very small group last year (and then we) worked with a couple of teachers to create a diversity panel in the spring. We had people come in and present to the students about being a minority and stuff like that. We're hoping to do that again this year," she said. "We did some other things last year as well, but not as much as we wanted. We had a few lessons in the classroom advisories on bullying and we did the panel that talked about what it's like to be a minority and answered questions that the kids came up with."
The club now includes 15 members who are focused on creating a more tolerant school environment.
"This year, we're jumping in with more (activities)," Hampton said. "With October being Bullying Prevention Month nationwide, we wanted to do some different things. We've made an acceptance banner that we're going to have kids sign if they agree to try and put an end to bullying, kind of like a pledge banner. We have wristbands that say 'acceptance' that we're selling for a buck a piece to try and raise some money for the cause."
The group is also organizing a lunchtime activity meant to promote socialization among students who might not normally interact.
"It's a tolerance thing. It's called 'mix it up at lunch.' If they choose to participate - they don't have to - but if they choose to, they'll sit at designated tables and discuss different quotes from civil rights speeches or anti-bullying quotes or things like that to get a conversation started," Hampton said.
These conversations are important, Hampton said, because the face of bullying is constantly changing.
Rather than a bigger or older kid taking lunch money from a younger, smaller child, bullying these days often involves ugly whispers in the hallway or rumors posted on Facebook or Twitter.
"I've known that bullying has been a problem in our schools for a long time, but we did a survey here last year and it showed that between 30 to 50 percent of all students acknowledge that there's bullying going on in our building," Hampton said.
"Most of them talked about it being rumor spreading or cyber-bullying of some type - texting, Facebook, whatever. That's the most prevalent, but they also said that it happens most of the time in the hallways during passing time."
The survey outlined what Hampton said can be a common misconception about bullying, that it's more physical than mental.
"There's still a little bit of the pushing and shoving but not as much as there is verbal and emotional kinds of abuse. That's what we're finding, that there's more verbal and emotional bullying now," she said. "Because of the survey, we said there's got to be something we can do about this. We've got to change the climate, change the atmosphere. That's our goal, to work on the bullying aspect to change the school climate."
Hampton said the Diversity Club is focused on outreach and support.
"I wanted to find a way to best serve the kids that are in need of assistance with this kind of stuff. We decided we'd form a club and call it the Diversity Club. It's open to everybody but it's specifically geared toward anyone who has ever been bullied because they're different with their sexual orientation or they're different in the way they look or their socioeconomic class or race, color, whatever. It's geared as a support system for them as well as anybody who just doesn't want to tolerate bullying anymore and wants to be a supporter," she explained.
Senior Annastacia Kemp joined the club at the end of last year. She said she's optimistic it will help students relate to each other in a more positive way.
"Everybody is so different and there's always bullying and people who don't like other people just because they look different or they act different, so it's good to help people get more used to each other," she said. "I think we're definitely going to make a difference."
Community Education Coordinator Mike Cheslock said he's already heard great things about the club.
"We've gotten nothing but good feedback about the club. We've heard nothing but positive things about what they're doing," he said. "Things are changing. You don't have to touch someone to bully them. These kids are doing a great job raising awareness about the issue so we can try and curb it and hopefully eliminate it."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.