About 40 kids participated in “Donut Bully,” an anti-bullying program hosted at the Mason County Intermediate School on Friday afternoon.
In fourth grade, Raegan Ross and Emery Moore started out as the original “Donut Bully Girls,” starting small and local with their impassioned efforts and anti-bullying philosophies. Later, Nataliee Miller and Karleigh Thomas were incorporated into the group the following year in fifth grade.
They took their project to state and won the STLP Championship out of 650 projects; the first in Mason County to win.
They didn’t stop there, however; and have since made a YouTube Channel, and are about to drop their own website.
The first Friday of every month, Donut Bully holds a monthly meeting. Before it began, the children from third, fourth and fifth grades, participated in an activity where they had to pick a friend — someone they didn’t know well, or at all — and learn about them. They would then present what they learned about each other to the group.
Afterward, Margie Henderson, the STLP coordinator and school librarian, who has been charged with leading this spearheaded effort since its inception, started the meeting.
“The Donut Bully girls always teach to stand up and to speak out,” she said.
Mason County Sheriff Patrick Boggs was present to speak, educating the group about bullying and how to identify and actions to take. He warmed up the crowd with a joke about him being there because of donuts; though there was a point to be made.
“What do people say about cops and donuts? They love them. Do you think maybe that could be bullying in any way?” he asked, to which the kids responded with excited nos. “If you keep giving somebody a hard time about it, in a not joking manner, do you think that might be bullying?” he asked again.
The kids unanimously shouted “yes.”
“Bullying can be anything, really. So it could be the color of your shoes. You know, we got up here and asked what everybody’s favorite color was — well, okay, [she’s] wearing green shoes today, so I don’t like those. So if you don’t like them, you can have your opinion, but when you keep repeating that you don’t like them to that person, and they’re starting to feel bad, don’t you think that could be bullying?” said Boggs. “We all know somebody that’s been bullied, so you know the best thing to do to help that person out? Go talk to them, go be their friend. You know, if you’re the last one picked in a sport, or when you’re playing in gym or recess, and you’re the last one picked, everybody might think that’s a form of bullying.”
What somebody says, or doesn’t do, or perform well, makes them better or worse than somebody else, said Boggs.
“So you have to include everybody, that’s how we get rid of bullying. We include everybody. Who cares what they look like, what color their hair bow is, what brand of jeans, what type of hair, anything like that,” he said.
Boggs said that the main thing he teaches his own daughter is to include everybody, and to reach out to those children she may think needs it. Boggs said that this program was important, because it introduces the children to others outside of their grade, and supports the ideal of inclusion.
Boggs then talked about cyber-bullying, which is something Boggs finds is the hardest thing to deal with right now, as it is also considered harassment and against the law.
“Why do you think kids might cyber bully instead of do it in person? They are scared to confront someone, or it might be that they’ve been bullied, so they feel like it may make them feel better if they bully somebody else,” said Boggs.
Henderson told the students it is important to know what bullying looks like.
“A bully doesn’t wear a T-shirt that says ‘I’m a bully,’ or wear all black and look like a bad guy. He looks just like you do, so it’s important for you to know what bullying looks like, and how to handle the situation. These meetings give you strategies and things that you can do,” said Henderson.
The Donut Bully Girls did a survey last year on where bullying was seen the most; it was never in a classroom, but usually on the playground, in the cafeteria, hallway, bus or restroom.
“It’s those places when you don’t have a teacher supervising every move,” Henderson said.
Boggs encouraged the students to speak out and tell an adult when they know bullying is occurring. The children were then invited to ask questions about bullying; how it starts, how to deal with it and how to prevent it.
After Boggs spoke, the children took a break and frosted their own donuts. During the break, a few children shared why they wanted to stay after school just to attend the program.
“I wanted to learn about how to stop bullying, because you see it a lot,” said MCIS fourth grader Maddie Stanfield.
MCIS fifth grader Hayley Allison said she participated because she wanted to know more about bullying.
“I wanted to learn more about bullying and how to stop it. I didn’t want to see someone bullying and then not know what do to,” said Allison.
MCIS fifth grader Logan Smith said he has witnessed acts of bullying and wants to be better prepared to stop it.
“I came because I see a lot of bullying, especially in the halls and restrooms, and I don’t know what to do about it. Like I try to help, but it doesn’t always turn out the best way, so I came to see how to stop it and prevent it,” he said.
After filling their bellies with sugary goodness, the children moved on to take the Donut Bully pledge, and signed the pledge banner.
Henderson then did an informative presentation on cyber-bullying as the meeting began to wrap up.
They also followed up with random acts of kindness where they wrote out notes and put them in random library books for other students to find.
