Bullying has been a popular issue to tackle in many schools around the country, and Jill Penn is helping Sand Creek Middle School take the effort a little further by joining the Zip-It campaign.
The campaign is organized by Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course and has partners with members of the media such as WTEN and Fly 92.3 and has also partnered up with Stewarts Shops. Penn, a teacher at Sand Creek, said the program is basically a pledge taken by parents, students and teachers to help prevent bullying in their schools.
“It’s a visible reminder to a commitment to zipping our mouths if we don’t have anything nice to say,” Penn said. “It’s just getting the word out but it’s how kids can make that commitment and follow through.”
Several students have offered to lend their creative talents to the campaign in the school, Penn said. One seventh-grader offered to design a drawing for a drawstring bag that will be handed out at the school. It will feature the words “Zip-It” with the words looking like they are made out of a zipper.
The South Colonie Central School District has started focusing on the anti-bullying issue. At least once a month, classes are be delayed 25 minutes in the morning to discuss with students what they would like to do on the topic of anti-bullying.
The idea to get involved in the Zip-It campaign was first brought up by math teacher Chis Balkwell. She had heard about the campaign on Fly 92.3 a few times and felt it would be a good idea to bring it up to Penn. It was then put to the students.
“I asked the kids during our meeting, ‘Is this something you think you can do?’ and they all said ‘Absolutely, I think we can do that,’” Balkwell said. “Why? Because we’re already doing it. The school is trying to get rid of bullying and hopefully the kids can do it.”
Penn said there are other things the school is trying to implement to help combat bullying. On Oct. 18, students will be asked at lunch to sit with kids they may not usually sit with. It is an idea that was brought up by the student council as a way to promote tolerance. Penn said one of the ways it will be done is by sitting people born in the same month with one another.
“It’s funny, because one of the conversations we had with the kids was: ‘Well, what if we sit with these people and don’t have anything to talk about or have nothing in common?’” Penn said. “So we asked, ‘How do you know you don’t have things in common?’ You have to step back and rethink your beliefs about people you don’t know.”
Balkwell said Fly 92.3 has been running a new ad for the campaign that features pop star Selena Gomez encouraging kids to get involved in the program. It is something she feels will help students connect with the message. Some teachers have been trying to come up with an incentive to get kids to sign up, Balkwell said, but she said they’ve mainly been putting it in fliers and sending them home on the school’s newsletter, “The Sand Pebble.”
She hopes that students and parents don’t just see the campaign as just a piece of paper, she hopes people treat it as an oath.
“Hopefully the kids will take it seriously and see it can be an effective thing,” Balkwell said. “It’s not just in our school. A lot of schools have had people signing up.
