Caro students help raise awarenesss
By Bill Petzold
Editor
CARO — Caro High School seniors Rebekah Rodriguez and Kellie Lambie went the distance to bring the film “BULLY” and its anti-bullying message to their school.
They even popped the popcorn — a whole bunch of popcorn.
Rodriguez and Lambie said that the effort was part of a service learning project for teacher Jackie Lewtschanyn’s Senior Capstone class, but that the effects of the film went far beyond students receiving a letter grade.
“We worked with both Mrs. Lewtschanyn and (high school prinicpal Mike) Joslyn, and they kind of helped set us up,” Lambie said. “The athletic boosters donated the popcorn and all the materials for the kids and we popped the popcorn. Mr. Joslyn had a speech before he showed the movie and then the day after in our third hour classes we discussed what we thought.”
Both students said the movie generated some good discussion among their classmates.
“I think most kids have been bullied — at least a little bit — and most kids don’t realize what is and isn’t bullying, because really (any negative behavior) I think you could consider as bullying, it’s just to what extent,” Lambie said.
According to The Bully Project website (thebullyproject.com), 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, and the documentary shows the effect of bullying on five kids and their families.
“BULLY is a cinematic, character-driven documentary,” the website states. “At its heart are those with those with huge stakes in this issue whose stories each represent a different facet of America’s bullying crisis. Filmed over the course of the 2009-10 school year, BULLY opens a window onto the pained and often endangered lives of bullied kids, revealing a problem that transcends geographic, racial, ethnic and economic borders.”
Rodriguez said that perhaps the root of the film’s impact is its ability to generate strong emotions as students empathized with the film’s protagonists.
“Everyone was actually really into it and there were a lot of people who were bawling their eyes out,” Rodriguez said. “I thought it was cool, there is one part in the movie where (an authority figure doesn’t believe one of the kids is being bullied), and everyone was getting mad, and at the very end everyone started clapping. They really liked it and I thought that was awesome that people responded like that. They were quiet the whole time.”
“They took it so seriously, which I didn’t really expect because it’s hard to get high school kids engaged in something for that long, because it was like two hours long,” Lambie said. “To have kids sit for that long, I was kind of nervous like ‘Are people going to pay attention?’ But I didn’t hear any talking; everyone was glued to the screen.”
“I don’t think I heard a bad thing about it,” Rodriguez added.
The discussion carried on outside the school’s walls, showing that the film had a lasting impact on the students who watched it.
“I saw a lot of response to it on social media,” Lambie said. “People from our school were tweeting about it or posting statuses on Facebook, and then their were kids responding to what they said with comments.”
Rodriguez said after graduation she hopes to go to the University of Washington to study Marine Biology or Zoology, while Lambie is waiting to hear if she has been accepted to the University of Michigan with Grand Valley State University being her second choice to study pre-med with a focus in psychology.
Joslyn said that the cost to show the film was only $30 whereas an educational film typically costs as much as $300. The full cut of BULLY which was shown at the high school is rated PG-13 for rough language used by the students bullying the main characters, but that shorter cuts of the film are available without the language and the district plans to show that version at Schall Elementary.
“We watched it as a staff first, and the ISD watched it,” Joslyn said. “It’s on Netflix. It’s a well-done documentary, but it angers you.”
Joslyn said from his perspective as a high school principal and administrator, it was difficult for him to watch the administrator in the film dismiss the bullying claims and not take a more proactive approach to helping students who are being bullied. He said that for a long time we’ve been taught to “just ignore it” but that doesn’t cut it anymore. One of the challenges of trying to reduce bullying problems is the fact that most bullying goes unreported.
“It’s like chasing a ghost, and it’s tough,” Joslyn said. “I had a long conversation with a kid today, and I was talking to him about accountabliity. ‘Are you accountable for your actions?’ I think our kids are really good kids. You have bus talk or locker room talk, but when you walk inside these walls you have to understand that you’re going to treat people with respect.”
Joslyn said that he hopes students not only take accountability for their actions, but also to stand up for their classmates. He plans to recognize students who go from being bystanders to being “Upstanders,” and that after seeing 565 students engaged in the film, he is encouraged that students will help in the process of cracking down on bullying.
“When you have a project like this and the kids take ownership of it — I just have some wonderful kids here,” he said.