DODEA School’s Anti-Bullying Walk encourages students to stand up for others

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – Dressed in orange clothing and signs, more than 100 high school students, staff and community members gathered this week to deliver an anti-bullying message at this airlift hub in western Tokyo.

Some signs were whimsical: “Donut bully,” read one with the image of an orange donut covered in white sprinkles. Others, more seriously: “Let us stand in unity.”

“The anti-bullying drive was something we started last year in October because it’s anti-bullying month, and we wanted to get everyone together and wear orange, the color that represents anti-bullying,” Yokota Middle School said director Hilary Simmons. Stars and Stripes during the half-hour event on the track at nearby Yokota High.

“We want to raise awareness of the importance of being in a place where it feels safe and where the children feel valued,” she added.

Bullying is not common at Yokota Middle School, said Simmons, who attributes that to being part of a military community. But bullying is a recognized problem in American schools.

“You never know where our students are going to go, so it’s important that the events of the month make this very clear and raise a lot of awareness so that the children feel empowered to take a stand against bullying,” she said.

One in five U.S. students reported being bullied in some way during the 2016-2017 school year, according to survey results released by the Department of Education two years later.

One in four eighth-grade students reported being bullied, the largest share of all students between sixth and 12th grades, the report said. In the Midwest, one in four of all students reported being bullied, the highest rate of the four regions in the report.

According to the report’s data, bullying can range from being excluded from activities, insults via text message to being pushed or spit on.

Yokota Middle is one of several Department of Defense education operations that hosted anti-bullying month events. The message is not lost on the students.

“Anti-Bullying Month is important to our school because every time new students come in and out, they should feel welcome,” seventh-grader Macy Hawkins told Stars and Stripes after the walk.

Fellow 7th grader Lelle Avellan said she is happy to show her support for such an important message.

“This makes me feel like my school really cares and accepts people, and that participating is actually a lot of fun,” she said.

Several DODEA schools in the Pacific celebrated World Bullying Prevention Day on October 7, and Anti-Bullying Unity Day on October 16, and held assemblies and spirit weeks throughout the month.

“I think it’s very important, especially at the middle and high school level, because sometimes students aren’t fully aware of what bullying looks and sounds like. So teaching them can encourage the kids to really be advocates anti-bullying,” Simmons said. .

National Bullying Awareness Month was originally a weeklong event started in 2006 by the National Center for Bullying Prevention. In 2010 it was expanded to the entire month of October.