St. Mary School students celebrated the start of October's anti-bullying month theme with a special guest speaker to help motivate them to make great…
Anti-Bullying Month
St. Mary School students celebrated the start of October’s anti-bullying month theme with a special guest speaker to help motivate them to make great choices. Nationally recognized speaker Jerry Ackerman paid a visit to the students in grades K-5 and junior high.
All groups started the presentation with a group dance and a special performance of “The Mower.” After laughing together and getting their energy out, students were captivated by what Jerry Ackerman had to say.
Elementary students learned about how to move from being a “bystander” to being a “defender” through story and demonstration. Junior high students covered items relevant to them including the use of social media in bullying and conflict through colorful and engaging stories.
St. Mary parent Jennifer Pyle Nieto said, “My boys loved this assembly. They talked about it a lot.”
In the evening, parents were treated to a free education night, “Parenting the Snapchat Generation.” Jerry quickly got parents’ attention when sharing statistics regarding the types of conflict students face these days.
Parents learned that over 25 percent of teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet and that seven hours per day is the amount of screen time for average young adults. The evening included topics from “what to know about your child’s social media” to “how to get to the heart of your child” as well as “examples we set as parents.”
Parents in attendance agreed it was a great reminder of what they are doing right, where they could make changes and how to keep up with the social media influx in our children’s culture.
St. Mary School continues to work to create a healthy and safe environment for all students through its S.T.A.N.D (Students Together and Not Divided) program and taking a pledge each day to be good to one another. The presen-tation allowed them to learn more techniques to be used when they find themselves in conflict or disagreement with their peers. The techniques and programs will be continued throughout the entire school year.
