Students who helped pilot the RespectED Program in their schools last school year gathered for a mini-reunion recently to discuss how the program went and what ideas they implemented.

Roughly 25 students from Radville, Gladmar, Ogema and Pangman gathered at Gladmar Regional School on Sept. 30 for their “reunion”, which had them participate in a number of RespectED activities and share stories of some of the successes and challenges each group faced in their school, while implementing and continuing these initiatives throughout the year.

RespectED is a program run by the Canadian Red Cross. According to the Red Cross website, “education is the key to prevention – of abuse, bullying, violence and sexual exploitation.

For 25 years, in communities across Canada, the Red Cross has been helping to break the cycle of hurt. “RespectED: Violence and Abuse Prevention” programs promote healthier relationships and safer communities through education and partnerships.

After talking with the other students about how successful they were in implementing the program in their schools, Brea N., a Grade 12 student from Pangman, stated the overall implementation went very well last year, including at her own school.

One of the big successes at Pangman School has been the near elimination of the word “gay” from most students’ vocabulary.

“We tried to get people to stop (saying that). We did presentations through Grades 6-12 last year and I think it went well. Most people paid attention to it and it worked well,” Brea said. “We did activities with the staff, and then they were on board with it.

“And then at our Christmas concert, we talked to all the parents and all the people who showed up and got (our RespectED message) across to the community.”

Brea explained she joined the RespectED group because she feels it’s important to get rid of bullying and harassment. It is sad and discouraging to hear about students taking their lives because of that bullying. She wants to help prevent that if she can.

Over in Radville, one of the initiatives the RespectED students were able to do was organize a “Pink Day,” which was very successful, explained Grade 12 student Brie L. Many of the junior students helped with making cupcakes, while others hung up posters with key messages. Some of those messages pertained to not using certain words or suggesting students be nicer to each other.

One of the benefits Brie sees of the RespectED program is it teaches the students how to help other students, as opposed to just the staff telling other students to show respect or not use certain language.

“For some students, (the program is) better for student-student interaction than staff-student,” Brie said. “If I say something to someone my age, I think it will go better than one of the staff saying it because they’re older and they don’t (always) understand.

“When I’m (another student’s age) I should understand (better).”

The Radville student joined the RespectED program at her school because she faced “a lot” of bullying when she was younger and continues to see it around her school. She is “very tired” of seeing it and wants to help make the school a better place so students want to go to school.

Both girls agreed the sharing of ideas between participating schools was extremely beneficial, because one interesting project or initiative at one school can be implemented at another. Both girls pointed to Ogema’s “Positive Ticketing” program as something they would like to start at their respective schools. Positive Tickets is a program where you can catch students doing good things and reward them with a voucher or coupon to some fun, free activity.