Nan Nan

    there_sun@163.com

    The internationally recognized campaign Bullying Awareness Week was held in Shenzhen (Nanshan) Concord College of Sino Canada (SCCSC) from March 13 to 17.

    The Bullying Awareness Week has been held for the past five years, aiming to arouse student awareness of bullying and to reduce bullying in schools.

    Themed “Community,” the week highlighted small acts of kindness to make a safer community.

    To attract students, SCCSC arranged various events for each day.

    An interactive fair with games, crafts and informative booths was held on March 13, which was also called Get Educated Day, to provide information about all aspects of bullying, as well as about acts of kindness and community in a fun and hands-on environment. Zhang Yuehan, a Grade 12 student, said he enjoyed playing “Guess who?” where he learned how famous people deal with bullying and got snacks as he won.

    In order to understand different kinds of bullying, students and staff learned about cyberbullying on March 14 “Staying Safe in Cyberspace Day,” according to Eleanor Rao, director of Personal Development at SCCSC.

    As Canadian teenagers protested by wearing pink in support of a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. The movement is now celebrated around the world as a way to stand up to bullying. Students wore pink and took a group photo in the shape of heart on March 15 “Pink Shirt Day” to demonstrate their stand against bullying.

    At night, a collection of inspirational songs, dances and videos about bullying from various clubs were shown to demonstrate unique talents in a non-competitive, accepting and fun environment.

    School-wide team building activities were held on March 16 “Everyday Hero Day” to develop student teamwork and emphasize the importance of helping each other.

    The “Community Day” on March 17 presented awards to those who did an excellent job throughout the Bullying Awareness Week.

    As well, all students participated in an anonymous survey to help the school assess the current bullying climate in student community. “These statistics are helpful for our work in reducing bullying,” said Rao, adding that they found school bullying tends to happen more frequently in hallways and dormitories.

    Other activities such as a Chinese essay competition, theater competition and photography competition were also held during the week.