Elizabeth Krupa,left, Sarah Williams, Isabella Bruns, Emily Schafer, Sydney Smith proudly display one of the projects they created during anti-bullying month illustrating ways bullying can damage, and things people can do to help others heal.
October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. The school counseling department at the New Lebanon Junior High School initiated several activities to promote bullying awareness to help ensure students feel safe, and can thrive both academically and socially.
“We’re trying to be proactive by providing our junior high school students with bullying prevention techniques now so that by the time they get to high school, it’s not an issue,” said School Counselor Meghan Pepe.
The school counseling department along with School Resource Deputy Todd Hyson visited 7th and 8th grade classrooms to talk about the various forms of bullying: verbal, social, cyber and physical. Students participated in activities that illustrate how labels can hurt, the long-term effects of bullying and what to do if it happens to them or to their peers.
“We’re promoting a positive school culture where students feel safe reaching out to us if there is ever a problem,” said Pepe. “We want them to enjoy coming to school.”
Students also created anti-bullying designs for a t-shirt contest, whereby all junior high school students, as well as staff, will receive the winning shirt to wear on a designated day. Congratulations to the winners: first place winner Isabelle Bruns; second place winner Taylor Robertson; and third place winner Alexis Benham.
A special thank you to Board of Education Vice President Michael Bienes for helping out with shirt design and production.
Isabella Brun’s winning t-shirt design.