'Think before you speak'
<p>Lakeland Jr. High School seventh grade students Steele Hull, left, and Derek Larson run, with arms locked, under a large rope Monday as part of a teamwork exercise during an anti-bullying campaign at the Rathdrum school.</p>
<p>Emily Thomas is emotional when sharing her experience with bullying from a classmate during a girl’s classroom exercise.</p>
RATHDRUM - Brittany Sawicki said she has never looked back from helping a classmate who was picked on during the first day of school.
"She's now one of my best friends," the Lakeland Junior High seventh-grader said.
Lakeland students participated Monday in a Character Campaign Day aimed at reducing bullying.
Separate boys' and girls' programs included guest speakers, group discussions and interactive activities that spread messages on unity and helping others. Girls focused on kindness and how females treat each other; the boys honed in on character-building and integrity.
The "Finding Kind" documentary about bringing positive change to female relationships was shown to the girls, and at Lakeland High for the entire community on Monday night.
Sawicki and her classmates passed around a teddy bear while discussing emotional personal stories about how they or people they know were bullied.
One classmate cried while speaking about how she had been called names. Another had a relative who committed suicide after being bullied. Real people, real stories.
But they learned that they're not alone with their hurt feelings.
"I still remember things from when I went to junior high," Jeni Nelson, a teacher at the school and program organizer told the girls. "We all have scars. I know where you're coming from."
The group also spoke about how to improve the climate at school and how those actions could spread to families and the community.
"Think before you speak," Sawicki said.
Others said it's good to help those in need and stick up for yourself.
Students took 'kind pledges' about how they intend to make a positive difference each day in others' lives. Those, along with notes of apologies, will be posted around the school for students and staff to read.
Seventh-grader Cody Wieding said he believes most of the bullying involving students at his school is done on the Internet or with texting.
"Every week there's a girl who cries about being called names," he said. "We're trying to influence students that it's not OK to do that."
Among the boys' activities was learning to work together with a jumping rope exercise. If one participant didn't do his part, it had a ripple effect.
"This is not about you," Greg Sommers, Idaho Drug Free Youth executive director told the boys. "It's about us. When we get it, we're all more successful."
Matt Brown, a teacher at the school, said even communities the size of Rathdrum aren't immune to bullying.
"There's always cyber-bullying, people being picked on and cliques," Brown said. "The hope is that programs like this will strengthen our future generation."