Written By: Reanna Fomby Reporter
In the year of 2010 bullying is not how it used to be, with the big huge guy who beats people up for their lunch money or stuffs people in a random locker. Today it is more of a silent game that people play on each other. Cyberbullying is done online where not many adults can see its dirty text messages or violent messages. Or that traditional bullying, talking about somebody because of their clothes that they wear and instead of one bully it might be a clique of girls or cool guys. Bullying is something that is happening every day. But many choose not to listen.
It starts early.
We know that bullying is not just happening on the movies or in high school, but it is also happening in local elementary schools.
Waynesboro SGA (Student Government Association) was asked to talk to students at Westwood Elementary School about the bullying that was going on in their school. They happily accepted.
“I was approached by Julie King, the guidance counselor at Westwood. She said there were some issues with bullying at the school with fourth and fifth graders and wondered if we would help out,” said Ms. Katie Mays, SGA adviser.
On March 31, the SGA students made their way to the elementary school with plays that attacked the problem of bullying.
“It is separated between boys and girls. The boys will do things to intimidate the other students and also force people to do things that they don’t want to do. The girls would just exclude the students, saying hurtful things.” said Mays.
The female SGA students performed a play, attacking the basics of bullying in a girl group. For example, one girl is mean to all of the girls and she loses her friend throughout the play. At the end of the play she was alone and decided to get rid of her mean schemes and be nice to her friend. The play ended with an apology and the exchanging of phone numbers for a sleepover. During the interactive play the teacher in the play, Lori Ailstock, would say “Freeze!” and ask the elementary students questions about the situation.
The male students based the play on their bullies whom everyone in the school fears. During the play the boys would be picked on by the school bullies and would be threatened not to tell. During the play the students who had to be picked on would decide whether to tell the teacher or not. At the end of the play the boys were asked to state the problems they were facing with the bullies.
After the plays were finished the students sat on the stages and answered the questions that the elementary students prepared to ask. The students were pretty shy at first but with one question their curiosity came into play. The elementary students asked questions like “Does your head get flushed in the toilet,” “Do you get stuffed in the lockers in middle school,” and “Does bullying happen the same way like in your skits?” The SGA students answered all the questions truthfully.
“No it doesn’t. It’s more of a silent bullying like making fun of somebody’s appearance or how they walk. Really silly stuff,” said Martez Anderson.
“The elementary students see that bullying is a problem everywhere. They see that high schoolers know more about the situation.” Mays said.
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