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Local youth take
anti-bullying message to schools "Their message is that bullying is about power and it's wrong and very harmful," says Gail Forrest, a child and youth worker at James Strath Elementary School. "Through the skits, these youth are saying, we want it [the bullying] to stop," says Gail, the adult supervisor for the project. The skits have been "very, very effective," and "very powerful," according to Gail. After the presentation at each school, a lot of time was spent in question-and-answer sessions between audience members and the student actors. "We had a lot of wonderful questions asked, and wonderful answers given by those who had done the drama." "Everyone in the skits admitted that they had in fact bullied, and also been bullied." A lot of talk also centred on the impact of bullying on a person, and how extremely damaging it can be, even years down the road. The skits were particularly effective, Gail says, because they were presented by youth to youth. "It's a kids for kids program, which makes it very powerful. Like we all should know, we can't underestimate the power of youth." Gail says it's important that adults hear the message of the youth that they want the bullying to stop and provide all the support they can to help make that happen. The drama project began with 11 Grade 8 girls at James Strath. As a group, they decided to focus on bullying and to use drama to present their message. Gail heard that Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School is renowned for its integrated arts program, so she contacted the co-ordinator for the program to ask if her students could develop an anti-bullying drama. The result was that both the PCVS students and the Grade 8 students presented anti-bullying skits at a Celebrate Character event at James Strath. The community liaison officer for James Strath felt that other local schools needed to hear the message as well, so arrangements were made for the entire group to tour several other elementary schools. |
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