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DAVID APONTE: As far as what’s being done, positive examples, this may be a little bias
to what I’ve had experience with, but the best one I’ve had is with the Anti-Defamation
League World of Difference Institute, I was part of that since sixth grade. And that really
was what turned me around when I was being bullied and when I was depressed and suicidal.
If not for the World of Difference Institute I might not be here, certainly I wouldn’t
be in the position I am today.
And what they do with that program is they train student leaders all over the country
to further go out and train their fellow students. So I know when I was part of the program we
would get trained by somebody from the Anti-Defamation League, which is the role that I now serve,
and then we would take that knowledge and go into freshman classrooms and teach them
about what we heard and how to respect their students and how to create a safer school
environment.
GLSEN student leadership is also a positive example. And what’s great about this is
that they have national and local teams. So for GLSEN Northern Virginia we have a team
that this year will be about 20 students that go around and make sure that schools are safer
for LGBT students as we saw earlier. There is a higher risk for LGBT students. And there’s
also a national team. And what that does is it creates a support network for students
and lets them know that they have a place to go to if they do need support.
Also, the Trevor Project, which provides a variety of resources for students and adults
alike and provides a suicide hotline, also for immediate help if a student needs it;
and what’s really important about the Trevor Project is that they have student employees
and interns. So this is going back to earlier where you see students in leadership positions
and it’s a conversation amongst peers instead of having to talk to adults, which leads to
better conversations. Next slide.
So also on a federal level I had the wonderful opportunity and some students that are part
of my GLESN chapter also had the opportunity to go to some White House conferences as well
as a couple of the Department of Education conferences focus on bullying. And what was
really great to see at this event were the student role models that were there. I know
myself I’m a college student, but I learned a lot from the high school students and actually
we had middle school students there as well, and I learned a lot from them. And it was
amazing as always to see students as the leaders there.
Also Day of Action, I mentioned the Day of Silence earlier, which is usually held in
April by GLESN and is widely participated in. And it’s a day to build awareness among
students for LGBT issues. And it’s something that mostly students organize. Suicide Prevention
Day, which was just started actually a few weeks ago, is a completely student run event
where students wear a certain color, I believe this year it was purple, and it’s a simple
way that students can organize to build awareness around the issue of suicide. And what this
does is it really puts students at the forefront and shows their peers that they can organize
as well. And also student organizations, so gay straight alliances or student run clubs
that are forums for other students and act as again support networks students can join.
Next slide, please.
So personal takeaways. Definitely these are some things that I thought were very important
that whenever you have a bullying program or whenever you have an issue of bullying
these are some things that in my opinion must be done and are certainly encouraged to do
when dealing with an issue of bullying. So firstly student opinion, bringing students
to the table whenever possible, making sure that their voice is not left out, if you’re
going to talk about youth and talk about bullying amongst adolescents then adolescents need
to be a part of that discussion. And then leadership opportunities, letting students
take ownership of the problem. So if you sit down with a good team of students and let
them know, hey, bullying is a problem at our school, what can you guys do about it as students,
putting them in that leadership position and giving them some of the, part of the task.
Also resources, making sure that students have the right tools to lead, so if they need
basic materials or if they need contacts or a method to contact other people about the
issue, then giving them those tools.
Also encouragement, so taking a step back from whatever the situation is, reassuring
the student that they’re doing a good job as long as they are doing a good job. Of course,
you don’t want to tell them something that’s false. And the supporting them in whatever
it is that they’re trying to do and making sure that they’re successful. Next slide.
Also attending events. I know within Northern Virginia we’re happy to have several student
run events throughout the year. And it’s always great to see adult presence at those
events, that they’re learning and making themselves more aware of what’s going on
within the school community and within the student community. And it’s a great way
to gain knowledge about that. Talking to the Anti-Defamation League. Again a little bit
of bias here, but I have seen several situations where the Anti-Defamation League has turned
a school around as far as bullying goes. And if it’s an immediate problem the Anti-Defamation
League, certainly a huge organization and they can respond very quickly to whatever
that need is.
Also taking individual experience seriously, acknowledging each experience and what it
brings. So not just thinking that one student’s bullying experience is like everybody else’s.
And that student comes into your office or wherever it may be, take it seriously and
acknowledge that it’s their experience and what you can do about that experience, not
necessarily everybody else. And prioritizing, so recognizing when as an adult or supporter
to step up and take the leadership role within an event or within an organization and then
step back as well and letting students take the lead. Next slide.
So understanding the role. This is just a little bit more basic of the last one, but
just understanding whether a student or an adult should be involved. In some cases if
the students are having a good discussion about issues that they may think are sensitive
than maybe adults shouldn’t be in the room at all, maybe students should just be able
to talk it out, understanding when your role is appropriate.
And then building a student task force. This goes back to earlier, also letting students
make the decision, putting them in a leadership position and developing a strong team of students
to help out the entire school community, but make them also aware that they need to build
on the experiences of their fellow peers. Remaining aware, keeping the relationship
well maintained and up to date; so I know for me, again I’m 20, I’m in college,
but my experiences in high school are very different than the experiences of students
who are currently in high school. Things change very rapidly, especially with the technology
world. So making sure that you keep that relationship well maintained and up to date and constantly
asking the students questions, what’s going on in school, tell me what’s going on. I
know I’ve heard a lot from hearing high school students, current high school students
speak.
Also spreading the wealth, recognizing unique abilities and using them, so making sure that
everyone is involved in some way, if somebody’s not the best public speaker in the world that
doesn’t mean that they can’t be involved, you can put them in a creative role where
they’re designing fliers or some sort of poster, something like that. But recognizing
that everybody has different abilities and using them to the advantage of whatever you’re
trying to do. Next slide.
Also, the innovative approach. We’ve mentioned several times about bullying on the Internet
being a problem. If you’re going to tackle an issue you have to get to where the students
are, which nowadays is online mostly, when they go home, they go online. And unfortunate,
it’s not enough to just do something in school anymore. For those who are using Facebook
if you put something out on Facebook or if you follow the lead of Facebook and some other
technology companies that has built ways to report bullying, that certainly helps, and
getting on Twitter and other venues that students use to talk to each other is definitely helpful
in a bullying prevention program.
Also remembering that this is prevention, not intervention, obviously we need to intervene
whenever bullying happens, but our ultimate goal is to prevent and stop bullying all together,
so we no longer have to intervene when it happens because it doesn’t happen. We’re
trying to make sure that it completely stops. Constant evolution, making sure that you have
fresh ideas and people, always going through and making sure that you’re coming up with
ideas that are good for students and that are current and that are not tired ideas that
the students are no longer getting something from.
And then of course last, but certainly not least, is listening. And this is the most
important thing is genuine listening to students and all leaders. In order for our community
programs to work, in order for everybody to have positive experiences, everyone has to
feel like they’re listened to. And genuine listening where you count everybody’s opinions,
treat them all as individuals is going to be what’s best. Instead of just listening
to some, listen to everybody, that may sound long, but it’s a lot easier, and making
sure that those people who see themselves as leaders within the community are listened
to as well.