LMK Students Work to Knock Out Bullying

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Harrison middle school students participated in the second “Mix-It-Up” Day of this school year with a focus on intolerance, bullying and situations where students might have been excluded for various reasons. 

More than 100 eighth graders worked with 6th grade peers who had been randomly assigned to sit at different lunch tables that day. They discussed why peers might be excluded from activities or bullied. Comments about appearance, personality, race and nationality were only a sampling of the many reasons.  

Ideas were written on “red bricks” and attached to the cafeteria walls, building a “wall of intolerance”.

“Unfortunately we live in a world where intolerance is a daily occurrence,” said Assistant Principal Brian Seligman.  “We have the power to change that in our school community.”

In extending learning periods, known as flex, students were asked to reflect on the day’s events and join discussions on how they have either been directly affected by intolerance and bias or witness to it. Students constructed “new” red bricks indicating how they might react to circumstances differently to enact change.  

In a ceremony during another lunch period, the “Wall of Intolerance” was torn down and replaced with bricks that reflected promises and aspirations.