Joining in at Sakku
Coral students take part in national anti-bullying day
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
CORAL HARBOUR
Students at Sakku School joined the national anti-bullying movement in a big way this past month in Coral Harbour.
Students, staff members and elders form a heart on Pink Shirt Day to show their support against bullying at Sakku School in Coral Harbour. - photo courtesy of Rhoda Paliak Angootealuk |
A full school assembly of around 200 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 was held to address bullying for the first time at Sakku.
The linchpin for the assembly was national Pink Shirt Day (anti-bullying day) which was held across Canada on Feb. 24.
The original anti-bullying day was held in 2007, when male Grade 9 student Jadrien Cota was bullied in Nova Scotia for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.
Shortly afterwards, teenage students David Shepherd and Travis Price of Berwick, N.S., purchased and distributed 50 pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school in support of Cota.
Sakku Grades 10 to 12 teacher Rhoda Paliak-Angootealuk said bullying is a problem everywhere and Coral Harbour is no exception.
She said she expects the student body to become more involved in anti-bullying campaigns in the future, following the success of this past month's assembly.
"We asked the students to wear pink for the assembly, and we were very happy with the number who did," said Paliak-Angootealuk.
"It wasn't all the students because not all of them had a pink shirt, especially among our high school male students.
"We've had people from the RCMP and the health centre come in and speak to the kids about bullying previously, but that was done by individual classes," she said.
"Having all the students together in the assembly had a much bigger impact and helped increase overall awareness of bullying among the students, as did members of the school administration talking to them about the significance of the day and the ongoing efforts to stop bullying in our schools."
Paliak-Angootealuk said it's important for students of all ages at Sakku School to understand that bullying, in any form, is totally unacceptable.
She said increasing awareness among both students and staff is the first step in achieving that goal.
"The kids were quite proud to be wearing their pink shirts during the assembly, especially the elementary-aged students who participated.
"They were happy to be taking part in Pink T-shirt Day, and they were quite anxious for a picture to be taken of everyone forming the heart.
"I'd like to see more anti-bullying programs at the school, and I'm pretty sure the assembly was a good start toward seeing that happen."
