“Ew. Jane is an ugly, worthless, piece of trash who we’d all be better off without having to look at every day,” Emily finishes and hits post without a second glance. We’d like to hope these kinds of actions don’t go beyond the movies. We’d like to think that our school is filled with a close, inclusive student body. We sometimes even believe that. Unfortunately statistics show differently; over 80% of students have been bullied or been the bully in some shape or form. Mrs. Strickland and several students in her classes and the Respect Club have come together to bring awareness to the issues of bullying right here in our own school.

International “Wear Pink” Day, which was held on April 24th this year, started about 12 years ago. “As a Special Education teacher, I have watched lots of my students be bullied and it wasn’t just an issue that affected the kids with disabilities. It touches everybody,” Strickland started off by saying. This year our school participated in this big day starting with a poster campaign and ending with everyone wearing pink.

There are an overwhelmingly large number of students who avoid or drop out of school to avoid it. Cyber bullying through social media to belittle is a huge form of bullying too. In the last year alone, 300 students across the U.S. have chosen to end their lives rather than living through the hurt. Several students in the classroom began to pipe up their thoughts on the issue. “It’s hard to come to school when you feel bullied constantly. It makes a lot of people feel relieved to see that it’s finally becoming known and that there is a whole campaign on it,” One student explained.

Bullying although always a problem, it had always been an “out of sight, out of mind” issue. “Last year, Obama passed a pretty significant bill that now requires by law to follow certain procedures in order to support the people that in the past, have felt like nothing’s been done,” Strickland said.

On April 24th, they showed a slideshow against bullying in all three lunches put together by a parent who’s child has been right in the middle of feeling bullied before. There will also be a poster up where people can pledge not to bully. Bullying issues is now at the forefront of my mind, and the hopes of many is that through encouraging this Pink Day, it will soon be present in many other’s who were previously unaware.