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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Angelina Campose shares the secret message with Brandon Fuller during a game of telephone on Nov. 16 as Alicia Fortin and Dalton Kleinert wait their turn. While telephone is a game youths tend to enjoy, Bonnie Dickison of the Aroostook Mental Health Center used the activity during Limestone’s Anti-Bullying Carnival to convey how a message can get distorted as it passes from one youth to another. |
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Sharing cookies, stickers and positive messages, students of the Limestone Community School had a fun time on Nov. 16 participating in the Anti-Bullying Carnival.
With time blocks set aside for students to participate in mini-workshops with officials of the Aroostook Mental Health Center and the Hope and Justice Project, students also had a block of time to visit the various Anti-Bullying booths set up to share uniquely positive messages.
The booths were Guidance Councilor Rani Belanger’s initial favorite facet of the carnival, but after thinking harder about the significance each anti-bullying area contributed to the success of the day, she decided that the entire event was her favorite part of the carnival.
“Everybody that was here today and participated will take something away, and we’ve already heard a lot of positive feedback from the students and staff,” Belanger said. “The kids are already commenting on things they’ve learned, and it’s not even the end of the day,” she added. “That’s a good thing.”
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Alyssa Sinclair secures a well-signed anti-bullying banner organized by the Limestone Community School Civil Rights Team. |
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Colin Biggs shows off his hula-hoop skills to Wyatt Fulton during the Anti-Bullying Carnival at the Limestone Community School on Nov. 16. |
While a school-wide event at Limestone includes grades K-12, every presenter geared their message toward the three levels youths were broken down into — elementary, middle, and high school.
Bonnie Dickison, an advocate with AMHC sexual assault services, says that the overall message her group brought to the carnival was prevention as well as bystander information; she explained that the message was geared differently toward the age groups.
Dickison explained that if the students only took one thing away from the AMHC presentations, it would be “that they are responsible for their own actions, their own space and their own safety,” she said.
While the day was centered on teaching youths positive messages, Dickison explained how the lessons learned throughout the event are important to everyone.
Elementary students learned about personal space, or their personal bubble, and how they’re in control of that bubble. They learned what to do if someone is in their space as well as how to respect another person’s bubble.
Middle-level students learned about text messaging and a bit about online interactions, focusing on how the message can be misconstrued and repeated in a hurtful way with a hurtful slant, even though that may or may not have been how it was intended.
High school students focused on online interaction — particularly on how what might be funny to one person can be really hurtful to another.
Students assisting with the carnival were members of the Loring Job Corps Honor Guard and Limestone students from the Civil Rights Team as well as the Anti Bullying Group.
While this was Limestone’s first Anti-Bullying Carnival, Belanger explained that the idea came from an Anti-Bullying Carnival held in Mars Hill last year by the school’s social worker, Tammy Deveau, whom Belanger interned under. Coupled with a student-survey earlier this year which stated that the youths wanted an anti-bullying event, the Carnival was planned.
Belanger explained that first Anti-Bullying Carnival in Mars Hill definitely created awareness, and that was the goal for the Limestone Community School.
“Bullying can come in all forms; it’s not all face-to-face bullying or schoolyard bullying — there’s cyber bullying and with all the technology and phone calls, there’s many different ways to bully,” she explained. “I don’t know if I can say it’s better or worse in a small school, but I think it’s a problem in any school or community.
During her time with the students dating violence educator at the Hope and Justice Project Julie French spoke with youths about empathy and really asked them to make a choice and decide what kind of person they wanted to be.
French focused with the students on creating a sense of ownership for their actions, “And to think about how their actions are affecting other people, and using that sense of empathy to put themselves in [the other person’s shoes],” she said.
