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Creating a Culture of Kindness: Bullying Prevention & Community Building

October 25, 2024
By Ms. Kay

“One of my memories from my time at RAA that has really stuck with me and even become a bit of an inside joke with my friend and family group (My “framily” as we call it), was an activity we did on Music Tour. On that particular music tour, we stayed a bit closer to home, visiting San Diego and the area around it. Not only did we play music, but we also did some educational trips, one of which was to the WorldBeat Cultural Center. At the center, we were taught how to play traditional african instruments, learning to stay on beat and making fun rhythms together. You’d think that a group of musicians would excel at this, but we were less than stellar, driving our poor instructor to exclaim, “Togetder! You must be togetder! Togetderness is the key to liiiifeeee.”

While we all giggled at the time and even after, it’s a good bit of advice for life. If you keep together and stay intune with not only yourself, but also your neighbor, you will stay in rhythm and harmony, working together towards a common goal.” (Ms. Kay, RAA Graduating Class of 2011)

In a lot of ways this “togetderness” that the instructor spoke of can be seen in a strong, connected community. Such a community is a place where we are in tune with each other and understand that each one of us affects the others with the choices we make.

Some studies report that one in every five students experience bullying. Chances are that this is happening or could have happened to someone you know and care about. Students who are bullied may avoid school and experience a decreased ability to focus, loss of self-confidence, and an increase in anxiety and depression. As a school, we recognize that every student deserves to feel happy, safe, and engaged at school, and we strive to reach that goal by creating a culture of kindness and giving our students tools to make wise choices.

Unity Day is one of the ways we work towards that culture of kindness and connectedness. It’s a day to not only wear orange, but also, and more importantly, celebrate kindness, acceptance and inclusion, and building a community that holds those values to a high level of importance.

This year our celebration started when a flood of orange spilled onto our sports fields. Students, staff, and volunteers from grades Kindergarten all the way up to 12th Grade gathered together with their classes, eagerly awaiting instructions from Ms. Mazo. As upbeat music wound around us from the speakers, Ms. Mazo grabbed the microphone and began to explain instructions to our first game. The first thing she had us all do was partner up the older grades with the younger grades, folding the range in half by partnering 12th grade with Kindergarten, 11th grade with 1st grade and so on. You could see the younger students start looking up as the older, taller students approached, some of them tilting their heads all the way back to look at their buddies who were sometimes twice as tall as they were.

Once we were all settled and making friends, Ms. Mazo explained our game. We were, without hands, to partner up, one older student with one younger student to take our beach ball from one end of the relay course to the other and then back again. While some students followed the face-each-other example, others had more…inventive ways of meeting the challenge. One senior had his kindergarten buddy right next to him with the beach ball at the senior’s hip and the kindergartener, showing much gumption, had the beach ball smooshed up against his cheek. No way were they going to cheat to achieve their goal!

Up and back, up and back they ran-walked, with cheers and chants coming from every direction - “3rd Grade! 3rd Grade! 3rd Grade!” - until a winner was declared. The Seniors and kindergarteners had won! Cheers and high fives were exchanged and we were off to the next activity, a sort of hula hoop musical chairs…minus the chairs. Each of the younger and older partner groups headed toward the field for a bit of a dance break, smiling and jumping around together between hula hoops. While the joyful music played, the students danced and traveled around, sometimes hand in hand with their buddies and in a lot of cases, with their buddies on their backs like a smiling, giggling backpack. This went on until the music suddenly stopped and all the students ran to the nearest hula hoop, trying to fit two feet into the tiny circle with a group of other students. Anyone with a foot out of the circle was disqualified and went to hang out and sit in the shade.

During this whole process teachers, sponsors and staff alike were running around, determining who was in and out, and taking away hula hoops at each round, making it more and more difficult to fit people in the circles. As there became less options, some of the older students would get out on purpose so their buddies could keep playing. As there were more and more younger students without buddies, you’d find them tagging along with other older students. One of the high school students ran by with a piggy-back rider, a student holding their hand, and one trailing after. The high school student ran to the nearest hula hoop shouting, “I’m adopting!” And adopt they did. By the end of the game, each circle often had only a couple older students with younger students on their backs, woven in between legs, and being held in the circle by the older student’s larger wingspan.

As we reached the final round it was clear that students, K-12, would have continued to work together to fit as many students in the hula hoops as possible, making it impossible to declare a winner. So, instead of going on and on, we listened to the popsicles calling our names, and headed back to the shade to enjoy them together before heading back to class.

While Unity Day is one day, we continue to encourage our students to “Do Good on Purpose” because “Intentionality Matters.” We give them opportunities for mentorship and connection as well as giving them tools to make good decisions, aiming to make “togetderness” the key to life.
 

 

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