Schools rallied against bullying on Unity Day

Last month, schools across the country celebrated Unity Day, the annual signature event of National Bullying Prevention Month.

Since the national event was established in 2011 by the Pacer Center in Bloomington, traditionally, celebrants wear orange to show solidarity with victims of bullying, create awareness, and promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.

Despite efforts to combat bullying, it continues to be a national problem. It has also evolved, with electronic or cyberbullying also on the rise, as highlighted in a 2023 report by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. In the report, Murthy cautioned that there is growing evidence that social media use can have harmful effects on young people’s mental health, including exposing them to bullying and harassment.

The 2022 Minnesota Student Survey backed this up, showing that cyberbullying increased among the lower grades from 2019 to 2022. In terms of overall bullying, 21% of students surveyed reported being bullied or harassed weekly in at least one way during the previous 30 days. About 40% of economically disadvantaged students and 31% of LGBTQ+ students reported higher rates of bullying. The report also showed that weekly bullying increased for students in all grades from 2019 to 2022.

‘We can define and defeat bullying’

At the International School of Minnesota (ISM), students and staff rallied on Unity Day, recognized on Oct. 16, to show their commitment to a safe and supportive environment.

Dima Nyzhnyk is a senior student at ISM and also the deputy head of the discipline department for the school’s student life organization, which works to create a safe school atmosphere conducive to learning.

Nyzhnyk said student involvement is crucial to bullying prevention. At ISM, student prefects monitor hallways, playgrounds, and other areas to help students manage their behavior, build good habits, obey school rules, resolve differences through mediation and peaceful means, and shield students from bullying.

“The more students that are involved, the more we can conquer bullying to promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion,” he said. “My department will be hosting a few bullying prevention efforts and we hope that as a school, we can define and defeat bullying.”

Building community and inclusion

Unity Day activities also took place at Eden Prairie High School (EPHS), led by the Peer Insights class. Taught by Liza Anderson and Dawn LaRue, Peer Insights is an inclusive course where special education and general education students partner together in learning.

“We wanted to really get students and staff involved and understanding what Unity Day means,” Anderson said. “The whole vision of Unity Day is to build community and inclusion, and prevent bullying. I thought this was a perfect project for my Peer Insights class, because this is kind of what we are, too.”

Anderson’s students worked together to design white T-shirts with orange lettering, which they sold to students, staff, and families to raise awareness. Profits of $115 were slated to be donated to the Pacer Center in the name of the EPHS Peer Insights Class.

The design on the front is the ASL sign for unity, and then inside those two hands, the word “unity” is written in different languages spoken in Eden Prairie schools and the wider community, Anderson said. “With inclusion and belonging, we want everybody to feel like they were part of our community,” she said.

The class also created three large posters displayed around the school. Students and staff signed the EPHS Unity Day banner that included the Pacer Center pledge to “build community to support and stand with others who have been hurt, treat others with kindness, accept people’s di­fferences, and include those who are left out to end bullying.”

Anderson said one reason it’s so important to talk about bullying is because students don’t necessarily understand what counts as bullying or realize that they are doing it to their peers or even teachers.

“We want to bring more awareness to the thoughtfulness of your actions,” she said, including electronic or cyberbullying. “These students are the first generation that have never known life without social media. I think they forget sometimes that online is still bullying and it isn’t just a physical act.”

She said it was also important to realize that excluding or ignoring behavior is also classified as bullying. As a result, she said she prefers to focus on promoting inclusion rather than simply stopping bullying.

“You just want to accept people for who they are and where they are,” she said.