Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Students started The Kindness Club in an effort to stop bullying at NR-S. They made posters like the one shown above to display at the school and spread the message that bullying is unacceptable. Photo by Lora Wobbema.
The Kindness Club meets every Thursday after school. Shown above are a group of students who were in attendance on April 26. Photo by Lora Wobbema.
Eddy County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Bittmann visited the school this April to talk about bullying. By the time he left, he had inspired a group of third graders (Karsyn Wetzel, Olivia Larson, Lily Whitley, Emmie Belquist and Jocee Lawrence) to start The Kindness Club. Since then about 15 more students have joined to help stop bullying.
The Kindness Club was started by these girls mostly because of the amount of bullying that goes on. The club founders know that bullying happens most often outside of school, at recess, in the bathroom, in the lunchroom or online-anywhere lacking adult supervision. They no longer want to see people cry after being bullied and they no longer want to witness bullies lashing out. They want to stop bullying.
The Kindness Club believes a little bit of kindness can go a long way. One of the easiest ways we can be kind is by choosing our words. In fact, the most common way a bully starts a conflict is verbally.
Ways that the group wants to advertise the idea of The Kindness Club are by making a video, posters, shirts and hats. Something nice you can do to make people feel good is leave a note for them saying something nice about that person. Something that I agree with that they said was do something nice for someone and they may do the same thing for someone else.
The Kindness Club also wants students to know that it is okay to talk to someone when they are being bullied. Some of the simplest and most effective ways to respond to being bullied include telling the bully to stop and telling a trusted adult. You can take a similar approach to cyberbullying attacks such as telling an adult, deleting or ignoring that person.
There will be lots more to come from The Kindness Club, this school year and the next.
Editor's Note: Lora Wobbema is a sixth grader at NR-S who was inspired by The Kindness Club so much that she wanted to write about the steps students are taking to stand up to bullying. In next week's paper, Amy Wobbema and Rachel Brazil will share some positive reinforcement strategies and resources available to adults who want to address bullying.
