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CELEBRITIES
TALKBULLYING
“I’m incredibly
disturbed and
saddened
by the
overwhelming
number of
teen suicides
that have been reported
lately because of bullying.”
– Madonna
“There are so
many bullies.
It goes on
so much...
everybody
goes through
bullying...even
me.”
– Justin Bieber
“I was bullied
quite a lot
when I was
growing up ... I
allowed myself
to be bullied
because I was
scared and didn’t know
how to defend myself. I was
bullied until I prevented a
new student from being
bullied. By standing up for
him, I learned to stand up
for myself.”
– Jackie Chan
“Bullying
happens more
than you think.
I was bullied
in school and
it affected
me so much,
I decided to be home
schooled.”
– Demi Lovato
SPRING
2011
maskmatters.org
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recognition from celebrities and national
organizations. Entertainers such as
Madonna, Selena Gomez and Chris Colfer
from “Glee” have openly discussed the
destructive causes of cyberbullying, while
national organizations like Stop Bullying
Now, The Trevor Project and the National
Center for Bullying Prevention work hard
to put an end to the harassment. These
organizations offer resources to help
teens and parents not only understand
the problem, but also find solutions to
overcome it.
At the community level, students and
faculty at PHS are working to reverse the
negativity generated by cyberbullying. The
campus is home to multiple anti-bullying
clubs, including Project Students Against
Bullying, Peer Mediators, Freshman
Mentors and the Gay-Straight Alliance. The
school also hosts assemblies and events
that inspire students to put a stop to the
harassment. Students seeking guidance or
just someone to talk to have the opportunity
to do so with the help of supportive
teachers and programs on campus.
According to PHS assistant principal
Brenda Corte, Pinnacle follows up on
all anonymous phone calls made to the
bullying hotline. “Everything stops so that
we can solve it,” she says. And even if the
incident occurs off campus, Corte says,
“we step in,” so that all students feel safe at
school.
Bullying happens everywhere to people
of all ages. Whether it’s a co-worker, a
teammate, a boss, a stranger on the road or
a neighbor, schools aren’t the only place for
bullying. Today, criticism and judgment no
longer end when people leave home. Bullies
now have the ability to easily instigate
conflict through a computer screen or by
making a phone call.
Throughout the years, the reasons for
bullying have remained the same, but the
methods have evolved and escalated to
a whole new level. And although bullying
is still in our everyday lives, people are
beginning to bring attention to the issue
through personal stories that empower
society to change in the hopes that, one day,
it will.