CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive centre Dan Clark payed a visit to Nashwaaksis Middle School in Fredericton on Thursday to promote bullying awareness and prevention.
Clark, in his role as a ‘Respect Educator’ as part of the Canadian Red Cross and Roughriders partnership, spoke at the school in hopes of letting students know they aren’t alone.
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“It’s just about letting kids know that they aren’t alone, that they can talk to people about it, and for me it’s also about my little girl growing up in a community, in a world that has a better understanding how to deal with situations, especially bullying behaviour,” Clark said.
The school initially had the creator of Pink Shirt Day Travis Price booked to speak, but due to a family emergency he was unable to attend. The school was able to book Clark through the Red Cross. Clark is no stranger to the program, but said it’s his first time presenting in the Maritimes.
Clark said in 2017 out west, the school presentation program reached 37,000 students.
“The biggest thing that we want to do in the next year is have every child in Saskatchewan have some form of bullying prevention,” Clark said.
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Nashwaaksis student Kristen Simmons said she learned a lot from the presentation.
“I learned that bullying is a really bad and I learned more about it because I just thought it could be physical or verbal but there’s a lot more types of bullying that I didn’t know about,” Simmons said.
Simmons is one of many who wore a pink shirt to the assembly.
Grade 8 student Penny Wilson designed pink anti-bullying shirts for the school.
“Bullying is a really bad thing to have happen to somebody and it makes you feel really, really terrible and it’s just not something that shouldn’t happen to anyone,” Wilson said.
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The shirt has the words ‘Be a Hero’ on the front. Wilson said is sending a message to people to “just be a good person and stand up for things you believe in.”
Grade 6 student Payton Farrell said she wore pink to show she’s against bullying. She said she’s seen bullying occur and doesn’t like seeing anyone go through it.
“I really love the feeling, how a lot of people support this idea,” Farrell said.
Farrell said the biggest thing she learned was that even though someone might be different than their peers, it doesn’t mean they should ever be bullied.
“Bystanders, if they’re a good friend they’ll help you through it and they’ll stand up to the bully or get some help,” Farrell said.
Clark said he hopes the message conveyed lasts longer than just the school day.
“We want to let kids know it’s about not coming together for a cause, for one day. It’s about letting them know they can come together every day and make a decision to be able to affect someone’s life or affect someone’s life in a positive way,”Clark said.
“It’s about making a choice to stand up and speak out.”
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