On Wednesday, April 13th after watching a presentation at St. Olivier School Grade 1 through 6 students joined with Radville Regional High School students to make a statement.
They marched down Radville’s Main Street accompanied by teachers and a Town of Radville Fire Truck. The students were taking part in an Anti-Bullying Week walk.
Becky Tuchscherer shares with our readers how the walk came about: “The walk originated when representatives from all the schools in —
Weyburn came together to organize a way to involve the community in our campaign against bullying. We all felt that we do raise awareness within the school; however, when you gain community support the message becomes that much stronger. George Barker is with the Canadian Red Cross and he was able to network with us and connect us with community supports and resources.”
“Brenda Sehn and myself are the Student Services Counsellors for the Holy Family School Division and we organized activities such as “Bullying Stops Here” signs that were sent home with all the students to post in their homes, hearts that were decorated by the students and displayed in the schools to create the “Sea of Pink,” and of course dressing in the color pink to show our support.”
Pink Shirt day originated in Nova Scotia when a freshman was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. Travis Price and David Shepard went out and purchased pink shirts and wore them to school the next day. Others students joined in to show their support by wearing pink. The word spread to other communities and the tradition of celebrating Pink Shirt Day continues today.
Tuchscherer states, “Brenda and I visited each school in our Division and presented to the student body the message of ‘Acceptance: Just the Way You Are.’ We spoke with the students about embracing one another’s differences and looking at these differences as strengths. We talked to the children about how Jesus accepts us for who we are and how he is a very strong role model for each and every one of us as he stood up for those who were persecuted and made fun of. This is what each of us is called to do - to take a stand and do our part to not allow bullying in our homes, our schools and our community. The walk in Radville came to be when I was discussing with the school secretary, Mary Doud, our plans to try this in Weyburn. She made a few phone calls, put posters up around town, and invited the High School to join us.”
“I was very pleased to see all the students dressed in pink with their signs of support. It was also very nice to see all the community members come out of their homes and businesses to show their support as we marched by. I have hopes that this will become an annual event to raise awareness in our community.”
