“A sea of pink.”
That’s what the leadership class at Lake City Secondary is hoping to achieve at this year’s Pink Shirt Day on Feb. 28.
The day is an annual event around the country, started by a pair of students in Nova Scotia who purchased and distributed 50 pink shirts after they saw a classmate bullied for the colour of his shirt.
This year’s theme is “nice needs no filter.” It’s commentary on role social media plays in bullying in 2018.
“I think bullying goes on behind closed doors, over texts or on social media,” said Spencer Blois, while he was prepping posters for the event. “You just hear about it from what they tell you, but you never know the full truth or the full story.”
The goal of Pink Shirt Day, he said, is to bring it out into the open.
“It brings it into the light, makes it more public. It’s not something that just happens behind closed doors that you don’t talk about,” he said. “It shows that they are not alone, and they have other people that are against bullying.”
The goal, says leadership teacher Caitlin Sabatino, is to see high participation in the school.
“This is a topic that myself and the leadership class feel very strongly about and we are aiming to have high participation and 100 per cent participation by staff,” she said.
“If the staff don’t show it’s an important issue then the students aren’t going to follow.”
She has a variety of pink items prepped for the day.
“If you don’t wear pink I will appoint pink to you and I will not be held responsible if it is a pink boa.”
Sabatino is no stranger to bullying, having seen it as a teacher and as a student, herself, when she experienced cyberbullying in high school.
“I experienced bullying when I was in high school and I see how it affects these kids’ self esteem and their desire to come to school if it is a prolific problem. They don’t want to be here.”
Students in the leadership class were preparing the school for the day, making posters, designing banners, buying their own pink shirts and just generally spreading awareness.
“We want to bring more awareness,” said Ashley Benedet. “It might bring it to the front so it is more obvious so people can try to do something.”
“You are going to always have those people who bully, but you need to teach people to know how to be able to defend each other and to teach people what to say and what to do,” said Blois.
The students have taken bystander intervention training on how to help people who they see being bullied, but in the meantime, they hope everyone supports the day.
“It would be pretty cool if everyone wore pink,” said Bronwyn Pocock. “It hasn’t happened yet, but you never know.”
