Senior Graduation Project

Bullying & Harassment In SchoolsBy Meghan Theisen

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“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Thesis

Personal RelevanceI decided to do this project because I’ve been in the situation where I’ve been teased and made fun of. I’ve

also been in the situation where I felt like suicide was the only way out of a

rough situation. Seeing the recent suicides, especially among gay students, sparked an anger and

concern within me. I want to leave my footprint in someway shape or

form.

What is Bullying?

• An aggressive behavior that involves unwanted negative actions

• Involves a pattern of behavior over a repeated time

• Involves an imbalance of power or strength

Why Do People Bully?

• To show they are in charge

• They’re insecure with themselves

• They’re victims of bullying or had once been a victim of bullying

• Jealously

Between 15% & 30% of students are bullies or victims of bullying

3.7 million youths engage in & 3.2 million are victims of moderate or serious bullying each year

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77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally and physically

8% of students say they missed 1 day of class a month for fear of bullies

87% of teenagers said shootings are motivated by a desire to “get back at those who have hurt them”

39% of middle schoolers &

36% of high schoolers say they don’t feel safe at school

The Types of Bullying

Physical Bullying

• Occurs most often at schools but can occur on the way to and from school

• Socially marginalized for reasons including weight, ethnicity, or other characteristics making it harder for them to fit in

• The bully or bullies intend to hurt, embarrass, or intimidate the victim

Emotional or Verbal Bullying

• Verbal bullying is just as harmful as physical bullying

• Can affect one’s self image

• Can affect someone in emotional and psychological ways

School Bullying

• Pack Bullying • Individual Bullying

Cyber Bullying

• Cyber bullying is when someone is harassed, humiliated, embarrassed, threatened or tormented using technology

• Text messages and cell phones are also used to harass a victim

• Cyber bullying like any other type of bullying is an attempt to make someone feel about him or herself

42% of kids have been bullied while online

1 in 4 have had it happen more then once

35% of kids have been threatened online

1 in 5 have had it happen more then once

Tips for Stopping a Cyberbully

• Don’t respond• Don’t retaliate or be a bully yourself• Save the evidence; Don’t erase the

messages• Talk to a trusted adult

Text Bullying• 9 out 10 teens have a cell phones

• Can happen 24 hours a day even at home; home is usually a place for a victim to get away from the bully

• • Text bullies are meaner because they don’t see there

victim

Tips if you run into a bully

• Ignore them

• Stand up for yourself; be brave and confident

• Don’t bully back; violence isn’t the solution

• Don’t show how your really feeling

• Tell an adult

Suicide

11th leading cause of death in the United States

8th leading cause of death for males

19th leading cause of death for females

Bullying and Suicide

• Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide then non-victims

• Bully-related suicide can be connected to any type of bullying

“Bullycide”

Corrine WilsonSeptember 30th, 1991- October 6th, 2004

• Moved to Rockdale, Texas in 2000

• She played softball on a team of girls who were already considerably good

• She would cry after every single practice

• They would tell her she was fat, ugly, and exclude her

• They told her she should go kill herself

Ryan HalliganDecember 18th, 1989- October

7th, 2003

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• The same group of boys taunted and teased him from 5th grade until 8th grade

• His first girlfriend called him a loser and told him she wanted nothing to do with him

• She copied and pasted the instant message between them to all her friends

• “Some call it bullycide or even cyber bullycide. I just call it a huge hole in my heart that will never heal.”

April HimesApril 27th, 1986- February 14th, 2000

• Enjoyed painting, singing, choir, gardening and spending time with her family and friends

• She missed 53 school days because of bullying

• She was called fat, ugly, and physically bullied daily

Kristina CalcoDecember 26th, 1989- December 4th, 20051

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• A 4.0 honor student who always strived for perfection

• She was very artistic

• Was part of the yearbook, newspaper, and broadcasting staff

• She played on the volleyball, swimming, and track teams

• Was constantly tormented and called ugly

Nicholas Kelo Jr. October 1st, 1997-February 23rd, 2011

• Had a second degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do

• Also held a red belt in Kumdo

• Loved inventing

• Played football in middle school

• Traded the sport for band in high school

• Taunted because “obviously someone who preferred to play a tenor sax rather then tossing a football is obviously gay”

The White House Fights Back

• President Obama and Michelle Obama held a conference on bullying prevention on March 10th , 2011

• Calling parents, teachers, students, and communities to address the problem together

• Congress introduced several LGBT-inclusive bills addressing bullying and harassment of students

Just Some of the Steps Our Government is Taking…

• Safe Schools Improvement Act

• The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act

• Student Nondiscrimination Act

• Seth’s Law

School Shootings Caused by Bullying

The Downfall of Seung-Hui Cho

On Monday April 16th 2007 he killed 32 people and wounded 25 people in the Virginia Tech

Massacre

• Born in South Korea

• Came home from school in the 1st grade crying throwing tantrums because he didn’t want to go

• Moved to America in the 2nd grade

• Diagnosed with an anxiety disorder which inhibited him from speaking

• Throughout high school he was teased for his shyness and inability to talk

• Was always alone

• They would tell him to “Go back to China”

• In 1999 after the Columbine massacre he was transfixed by the event

• He wrote on his binder “F you all I hope you all burn in hell.”

• In a school assignment he wrote that he wanted to “repeat Columbine”

In College…• Poet professor Nick Giovanni removed him from her class 6 weeks into the

semester • He intimidated female students by photographing their legs underneath the desk

• He wrote obscene and violent poetry

• Always wore sunglasses; even indoors

• Described as awkward, lonely and insecure

• He wouldn’t respond to someone if he was greeted

• He was involved in 3 different stalking incidents

The Morning of the Shooting

• He mailed a manifesto to NBC at 9:01 am the day of the shooting

• Contained 43 images of him with the weapons

• Contained 27 video clips of angry rants

The Victims

Ross Abdallah Alameddine Jamie Bishop

Brian Bluhm

Ryan Clark

Austin Cloyd Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

Daniel Perez Cueva Kevin Granata Matthew Gwaltney

Caitlin Hammaran Jeremy Herbstritt Rachael Hill

Emily Hilscher Jarrett Lane Matt La Porte Henry Lee

Liviu Librescu G.V. Loganathan Partahi LumbantoruanLauren Ashley McCain

Dan O’Neil Juan Ortiz Minal Panchal Erin PetersonMichael Steven Pohl Jr

Julia PrydeMary Karen ReadReema SamahWaleed ShaalanLeslie Sherman

Maxine Turner Nicole Regina White

Students Threatened or Injured With a Weapon at School

Rates of Bullying and other School Discipline Problems

Students Who Carried a Weapon to School

Alyssa’s Story

Colleen’s Story

The Anti-Bullying Project is dedicated to informing students about bullying, the effects bullying has on our student population, and what we can do to stop bullying before it’s too late.

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Class Activity

“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different

people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different

hopes, different dreams.”

-Jimmy Carter

Citations