A club at Summerland Secondary School is working under the umbrella of the social enterprise organization, Me to We.
Members say the club’s focus is on trying to help the problems they see in the world, such as poverty, unclean water, hunger, homelessness and bullying.
Several members of this local club recently held an awareness campaign on Anti-Bullying Day, also known as Pink Shirt Day.
“We made a big poster that said to stop the hate and take the pledge to not be a bystander,” said Dan Nixon. “Every time a person made a pledge on the wall, we gave them a pink cookie.”
The club members had baked 400 cookies for the event.
“We didn’t do any of the baking for money,” said Kaitlyn Nightingale. “We were giving out the cookies, trying to spread kindness which is opposite to the bullying.”
Many people wonder whether such anti-bullying initiatives have made any difference in the actual number of incidences of bullying.
According to Teagen Kew they have.
“I think kids are more aware now,” she said. “When there wasn’t an anti-bullying day, bullying was seen as a problem that wasn’t real and not a problem you could talk about. Now since there is a day that actually recognizes it, people feel they can come out and talk about it more than they use to do.”
The club members explained that the form bullying takes has changed over the years. Physical bullying, the type that can be seen, has become a thing of the past. Cyber bullying is much more common now. Essentially this is done by making mean comments on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Bullies are able to even remain anonymous by creating a false user name and profile.
Me to We members say social media sites also make it easier for the victims, since if they are embarrassed they are being bullied, they can hide it more easily.
There is reluctance among the young people to block or delete bullies from their list of friends, because the bully or others may find out they have taken this action.
The fear is that this could lead to further repercussions from the bully.
There is also a sense of curiosity in that the victim wants to know what the bully may be saying, rather than not knowing at all.
In the minds of these young people, the best way to deal with this kind of bullying is to empower the victim.
“To control cyber bullying what we really need to do is to encourage people to talk about it,” Teagen said. “We need to encourage people who see it on line to step in and encourage the person who is being bullied and to encourage them to feel better about themselves.”
Mary Nightingale said the club’s main message was if they saw bullying to not stand by.
“If you don’t feel the courage to directly stop it, there are other ways, like telling an adult or anonymously getting help for the person,” she said.
Mary also said she likes being in the Me to We club because she can directly see the changes they are making in the world and she can be a part of that change.
Last year the club helped to make quilts to send to Tanzania and when she saw the pictures of the children who received the quilts it made her feel good.
Her sister Alicia expressed much the same sentiment.
“What the club means to me is getting the opportunity to help people less fortunate than me and it’s good to do it with a group of people that want the same thing.”
Although this club is mostly self-directed it is not without leadership at the school.
“Miss [Jane] Stead and I are there to support their ideas and get them the resources they need,” explained French teacher Lindsay Anderson.
“We give them advice when they seek it, but most often just assist rather than tell them what to do. They are awesome, awesome kids,” she said.