Two Girls Bullied in Auburn Schools, Want to End Bullying – You Can Help

Kate and Bri are best friends in Auburn and both are bullied. They want it stopped and they are doing something about it!

Both stories resonated with our listeners...most who had been bullied themselves, or have kids in school who are dealing with bullying.

This is a campaign that has been started by Brianna Chabe and Caitlyn Theriault regarding Auburn Middle School.  They have bravely come forward to tell their stories of continued bullying at AMS. Because of this more and more parents/kids are also coming forward with their struggles with the same issues.

With your help, they want to create stickers and t-shirts that will help raise money  and more awareness. With the money raised they will  donate it  back towards the Stop Bullying Now Foundation.

• 60% of middle school students say that they have been bullied, while 16% of staff believes that students are bullied.
• 160,000 students stay home from school every day due to bullying. (NEA)
• 30% of students who reported they had been bullied said they had at times brought weapons to school.
• School violence and bullying takes 20 lives a day.
• In 2012 7000 children committed suicide because of bullying!

Hope from Maine, has a son in middle school. He has been significantly bullied for years. They organized a vigil for all victims of bullying. Her older son spoke at the vigil earlier this year.

"School is an environment for growth and understanding. It is our first taste of what it is like in the real world. School is where we develop reference points for what is, and is not acceptable social behavior. These critical moments in our lives should be made in an accepting and constructive setting.

Instead, 3.2 million students nationwide, are bullied each year. These victims all suffer in varying ways, but the results are consistent. Students are less willing to attend school. Not because they don’t enjoy learning, but because that joy is overshadowed by the fear of their bullies. How can the light of a child shine through and guide them to the success they deserve if there is a shadow of insecurity and fear looming over them?

1 in 10 students drop out of school because of bullying. Again, it’s not a lack of joy for learning that leads to this. Now for a look at the bullies. If the students guilty of bullying are not educated on the full

effects of their actions, then what good is any action against bullying. If children are taught to be empathetic toward their fellow classmates than maybe we can create not only better school environments but workplaces and communities as well. Children carry with them the habits and characteristics developed in the school setting into the real world. If those characteristics and habits are of ignorance and aggression, then the society we create is one of ignorance and aggression. However, if we can find a way to instill in children the value of compassion and understanding then we will create a society of compassion and understanding.

It’ll take more than a school wide curriculum. A child’s first teacher is his parents, and witnessing their parents gossip or degrade other adults is all it takes for those values to be passed on to their impressionable children. By behaving in a bully like manner, a parent teaches to their child that it is acceptable to behave in a way that will later have them labeled as a bully. It's a cycle that’s hard to break. However, if parents are deliberate in displaying positive characteristics to their children, then the school will slowly become an inclusive learning environment conducive to promoting the values we hope to see in our communities, workplaces and governments"