How are schools in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows standing up against bullying?

When we talk about High School, we talk about the fun times with friends, the activities, the cliques, but we also talk about bullying. So on the occasion of Pink Shirt Day, schools within School District 42 will be standing up for kindness and against bullying, through a variety of activities and events.

Pink Shirt day, which falls on the last Wednesday of February every year, will be held on Feb. 23 this year, and will be celebrated globally. Locally, many schools in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are going all out to bring awareness to the crucial anti-bullying message.

At Hammond Elementary, for the second year in a row, an assembly is being planned for Pink Shirt Day, and students and staff will share messages of kindness.

“For the days leading up to it, we are going to be collecting kindness messages submitted by staff and students,” said Megan Olynyk, vice-principal at Hammond Elementary. “We’ll draw messages out of a box, and students will read the messages during morning announcements and at our assembly.”

At Kanaka Creek, students will be starting the day with a special assembly put on by the WITS Foundation (Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help). Students will then go outside and hold up signs with positive messages for people passing along Kanaka Way.

Chad Raible, the principal of Kanaka Creek Elementary school explained that classes had already made pro-social signs that they would be displaying outside the school. “We will have RCMP support as up to four classes display their signs for 20 minutes each,” he said.

In the past too, the Ridge Meadows RCMP have participated in the Pink Shirt Day events with local schools, to spread the anti-bullying message.

At Yennadon Elementary however, Pink Shirt Day won’t just be one day, but is in fact part of a month-long Kindness Month. To kick things off, students were given a strip of paper where they could write or draw a message of kindness along with their name. Teachers stapled the slips together into a giant chain, which has been displayed in the school library.

Each day in February, a random act of kindness is read over the announcements, which students are encouraged to accomplish throughout the course of the day.

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Lisa Lawrance, the principal of Yennadon Elementary, said that at Yennadon, the entire month of February is Kindness Month.

“We are planning a variety of weekly themes to promote our theme of kindness and then end with Pink Shirt Day,” she said.

At Webster’s Corners Elementary, students have filled out a heart saying why they love Webster’s Corners, and principal Ramin Mehrassa said that the students were encouraged to write anything, from a single word, to a short sentence.

“Then once all students and staff have had a chance to share, we put the hearts on the big board by the foyer for the month to celebrate,” said Mehrassa.

Fairview Elementary students will be participating in a buddy-reading activity and plans for a mini-parade are currently being discussed by the staff, while at Alouette Elementary, students are invited to wear pink and the day will begin with a Zoom assembly.

Over at the private school, Meadowridge, Pink Shirt day will be celebrated with two virtual assemblies. Teachers would be acting out common conflicts and talk about ways of resolution. All students have also been invited to wear pink on the day and the cafeteria will display a big pink card where students will be invited to write messages of support.

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