Throughout the school year, faculty members and students organized two very important projects that took place between March 16th and March 23rd, the Forgiveness Tree and Mean Stinks, which correlated with Colonia High School’s production of Carrie the Musical.
The projects were mainly a collaboration between Colonia’s theatre department and the school’s safety team and was an overall success. Throughout the week prior to the school’s production of Carrie, the school had a Week of Respect. On each day, classes were given paper that they had to fill out according to the instructions given. The first day, first blocks were given three pieces of paper and classes had to come up with three positive quotes that got them through the day. The next day, second blocks were given three colorful leaves and students had to come up with three positive statements that made an impact on the person that they had said them to. The third day, third block students each wrote an anonymous thank-you to someone who was influential to them or an anonymous apology to someone that they hurt. Thursday, the final day, fourth blocks received a leaf and were then asked what they could do to prevent bullying. Together, the students were able to create a tree of inspiring sayings and hopeful advice to those who walked through the lobby.
To go along with Carrie the Musical’s theme of bullying, the Forgiveness Tree was created to spread awareness and to put an end to bullying.
Although the Forgiveness Tree was a project created specifically for Carrie the Musical, it impacted every member of the school. Since the production focuses mainly on bullying, it was decided to use it as a message to emphasize positivity, create more awareness for how people treat one another, and to prevent bullying overall. “During the Week of Respect, I feel that the projects showed the students that they can easily take two minutes out of their day to be nice,” commented senior Samantha Girod.
The Wall of Nice was a product of the deodorant company Secret and their campaign, Mean Stinks. Colonia High School’s Safety Team, a group of selected teachers and parents that work together to ensure the school is safe, heard of the campaign and decided to get the school and the community involved with it. On Monday, March 23rd the students began writing positive phrases, sayings, and advice on the Wall of Nice. The Wall consisted of four sheets of blue paper and students were asked to write on it during first and fourth block classes; it was such a success that once every sheet was filled, students were still asking to write more. Teachers also played videos from Secret and their campaign during the Week of Respect. The week continued until Friday 27th when students and faculty got their pinkies painted blue to show their support against bullying. Schools nationally are participating in the Mean Stinks Campaign in attempt to become the Nicest School in America and in order to win they have to document their participation in each event by using #meanstinks on their social media accounts. Miss Danielle Simkovich, Social Media correspondent and teacher, and Mrs. Ann DiNicola, Colonia’s Anti-Bullying Specialist feel that the blue pinkie painting should extend beyond the high school and into the community. “Wouldn’t it be great to see how many businesses in town would be will to support our efforts to end bullying. Then, we can truly say we made a difference,” suggested Simkovich.
Students were able to get involved in something that is overall extremely important and something that will impact and influence the environment of school. The students and faculty came together to make these projects happen and showed that they truly cared about the cause.“It was comforting to know that our students came together to create something so powerful,” commented Candida Montalvo, who was one of two educational coordinators for Carrie the Musical.
These projects are just a few of many that Colonia High School has done in regards to bullying, and there are plans for more projects to come in the future. The Safety Team, as well as a majority of the students and faculty members, will continue raising awareness for bullying throughout the remainder of the school year.
Show your support for the mean stinks campaign to end bullying by painting your pinkie nail blue and sending a selfie with your blue pinkie to @ColoniaHigh on Twitter. And don’t forget to #meanstinks.
