Eisenhower Students Unite Against Bullying

Before Tytus Sally came to , bigger kids picked on him by pushing him into his locker. 

Sally is a confident seventh-grader, who seems to shrug off the incidents now. But from his own experiences, he learned a lesson in sticking up for others.

When he saw some other kids threatening to hit his younger brother on the school bus, he intervened. And he said he’d do the same for others, even if he didn’t know the bully’s victim.

“I’d tell them, ‘You’re better than that,’” Tytus said. 

Tytus is one of hundreds of EJH students who wore orange on Wednesday during the school’s first Unity Day against bullying.

Unity Day is a national event designed to bring students, teachers and staff together to show support for students who have been bullied — and demonstrate to bullies that they won’t tolerate that behavior.

EJH social worker Jen Stansbury coordinated the inaugural event to address an issue she sees as a universal problem in junior highs. 

“There’s been such an upswing in school violence, and students hurting each other or taking their own lives,” she said. “Bullying is definitely something that needs to be taken seriously.” 

School, she said, is a place where students should be able to feel safe.

In addition to wearing orange, students watched an anti-bullying video on Unity Day produced by neighboring and completed journaling assignments in class. 

The goal is to teach students that the best way to prevent bullying is for students to stand up for each other, Stansbury said. 

The message has made an impact on seventh-grader Will Wolfe.

“Since bullying is a serious thing we want to support each other and end it in our school,” he said.

Will said a bully called him a nasty word last year during science class. Quick-thinking Will responded loud enough that his teacher could hear: “What did you call me?”

The teacher reprimanded the bully, who was embarrassed that Will publicly revealed his bad behavior. Will hasn’t had a problem with him since.

Even though tattling has a bad reputation in junior high, students are also learning that it’s OK to get adults involved when it comes to bullying.

Seventh-grader Andrew Pawelczyk said that three years ago a student regularly kicked him in the hallways, and another bullied him on Facebook.

He told his mom, who went to the school’s principal. The incidents soon stopped.

Both through his own experiences and the Unity Day lessons, Will said that he felt even more empowered to stand up to bullies.

“If I saw someone bullying, I’d ask them, ‘Why are you doing that? There’s no point’” he said.