Valdosta/Lowndes Teens against Bullying students visit area 4th graders

On Tuesday, April 29, 2008 the Valdosta/Lowndes Teens Against Bullying students visited the city and county elementary schools to teach an anti-bullying curriculum to city and county 4th graders.  Fifty-two students from Lowndes and Valdosta High were trained to redeliver this curriculum at a retreat sponsored by Valdosta Technical College Continuing Education.

This community endeavor afforded these city and county high school students the opportunity to apply through an application process to show their dedication to stopping bullying. After being selected these students were trained to teach in heterogeneous teams mixing LHS and VHS students who were heterogeneously assigned to the city and county schools. The endeavor began three years ago out of a Skills USA project from the Lowndes High DCT program with support from city and county officials, city and county school counselors, Valdosta State University Sociology Department and Valdosta Technical College, The Haven, and area business partners. The program has been presented at Georgia School Counselors Association and American School Counselors Association Annual Conferences in Atlanta and Denver, Colorado. Many other schools that have city and county schools as well as larger districts with several high schools are adopting this model due to our initiation "to come together to defeat a common enemy- Bullying". On Tuesday these students were not Wildcats or Vikings, they were Teenagers from our community working together for a common cause.

Brian Law, School Counselor and Teens Against Bullying Team Adult stated, “This service learning, leadership program allowed our students at LHS and VHS to make a difference in our community. As parents, teachers, school counselors and administrators, we can talk to young children all day long about these dangers, but for some reason hearing it from these young teen leaders causes them to think about the issues and hopefully apply it in their everyday lives. The benefits of this endeavor will fill a ripple effect as the young children will take these valuable lessons home to their families and thus impact the whole community. By teaching the dangers of bullying and showing that students take a stand against bullying we can better our community to be a safer, more peaceful place to live and work.”

The following schools participated in the day: West Gordon Elementary, Southeast Elementary, Pine Grove Elementary, Hahira Elementary, Dewar Elementary, Clyattville Elementary, Lake Park Elementary, and Moulton-Branch Elementary. Valdosta/Lowndes Teens Against Bullying is a 501 (c ) 3 Non-Profit Community Based Program.