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‘Kids have the power to stop bullying’ Jeanne White Ginder told 350 local students at the Stand Up Against Bullying Summit on Monday.
November 4, 2013. Since White Ginder’s bullied teenage son, Ryan, lost his battle with HIV/AIDS in 1990, her life has been devoted to HIV/AIDS and anti-bullying education. “You need to treat others like you want to be treated. If you don’t want to be bullied, don’t bully,” said White Ginder.
Ryan’s mother and The Children’s Museum partnered to help students from public, private and charter schools understand how they can stand up against bullying by starting or reinvigorating anti-bullying programs. Aero Give Inc., the corporate foundation of Aéropostale, Inc., donated money to help get things going. The 5th-8th grade students enthusiastically responded by vowing to lead the anti-bullying charge within each of their schools.
Holy Spirit Catholic School 8th grader Taylor Brown called White Ginder’s emotional address a ‘wake-up call’ to stop bullying. “We can’t just stand by and let it happen! We have to stop it,” said Brown. Ryan’s mother talked about the taunting, hate mail and even a bullet shot through their home as the family fought a lengthy legal battle for Ryan to attend school. Through it all, she said it was Ryan who understood that people lash out when they are uneducated or frightened by differences. It concerns her that several decades later, too many people still do not accept differences in people.
The Stand Up Against Bullying Summit gave students and teachers with additional knowledge, resources and tools to take back to their schools to aggressively fight bullying. A variety of break-out sessions provided information through interactive engagement. In one session, called Conflict Resolution Techniques, students were given clickers to answer multiple choice questions and received immediate results. Students saw data that showed what most peers would do in the case of bullying. The session focused on the difference between snitching or tattle-telling versus doing the responsible thing and informing an adult.
An acting troupe called Act Out challenged students to analyze different bullying situations through interactive skits.
“It is our hope they will walk out of here with the message that it is okay to be different. Our ‘Upstanders’ will leave being empathetic” said Jennifer Pace Robinson, vice president of experience development and family learning at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
A wide range of post-visit activities encourage teachers to debrief with students following the summit and help them design anti-bullying programs and community service projects.
For more information, please see The Children’s Museum’s Storify on the summit.
Also, Peace Learning Center’s Tim Nation’s 5 Takeaways from Stand Up Against Bullying Summit.
