No one likes a bully … especially the children at Happy Valley Middle School.
Monday was national “Anti-bullying” day and to celebrate, children at HVMS pledged to take a stand against bullying behavior.
“We’ve got an anti-bullying pledge they can sign,” said Tiffany Herrick, counselor at HVMS.
The pledge states: “I agree to be an anti-bully and take no part in any violent activities. I believe that everyone should be able to enjoy our school equally, feel safe, secure, and accepted regardless of ethnicity, gender, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, religion or nationality.”
Herrick said the pledge had been “tailored” to the school, which is apparent in the behaviors the children pledge to demonstrate – the first letters of those four promises spell out HVMS.
• Help others who are being bullied by reporting any suspicious behavior
• Value each other’s differences
• Model anti-bullying behavior by treating everyone with respect
• Show support to those who are being bullied or have been bullied.
According to Herrick, the anti-bullying event on Monday was the idea of students at the school.
“A lot of the 8th grade girls came to me and wanted to start an anti-bullying club,” Herrick said. “Instead of doing a club, we are going to do things throughout the school year.”
Many of the children at the school on Monday were wearing some article of blue clothing to show their stand against bullying.
Herrick said the color blue comes from an anti-bullying campaign by the deodorant brand Secret, which boldly states “Mean Stinks.”
“They chose the color blue so we are doing Blue Out Bullying,” Herrick said.
As part of the national campaign, students are encouraged to paint one fingernail blue to “represent that one person can stop bullying,” Herrick said.
On Monday, students signed up for the anti-bullying pledge, wore blue ribbons and many — both boys and girls — were sporting one blue fingernail to show they were willing to stand up against bullying.
Many of the students were excited about the event and even more excited sign their pledge.
Student Katelynn Smith said signing the pledge was important to her. “I’ve been bullied all my life, even on buses,” she said.
Corey Bean said he was signing “Just because I don’t like bullying.”
HVMS student Madison Britt said she wanted “to stop the bullying in the world. I do not like it at all.”
Katie Slone said she was signing to make a stand “to stop bullying.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, bullying is one type of youth violence that threatens young people’s well-being.
“Bullying can result in physical injuries, social and emotional difficulties, and academic problems,” the CDC said. “The harmful effects of bullying are frequently felt by others, including friends and families, and can hurt the overall health and safety of schools, neighborhoods, and society.”
The CDC defines bullying as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm.”
According to the CDC bullying can occur in-person and through technology. Electronic aggression or cyber-bullying is bullying that happens through e-mail, chat rooms, instant message, a website, text message, or social media.