Mount Si High School students fight school bullying at Railroad Days
August 24, 2010
By Sebastian Moraga
NEW — 7:00 a.m. Aug. 25, 2010
Off in a corner of Railroad Days, away from the commotion, two students from Mount Si High School were engineering change.
Amy Robles and Addison Brothers waited for people to trickle over to their spot at the United Methodist Church parking lot. In the meantime, they spoke about their alma mater and how they wanted it to shed its reputation as a nest of bullies.
Students and Supporters Against Bullying at the high school is still in its infancy, having been created in May, but Brothers said he believes it can help stop bullying at Mount Si.
“If not stop it, we want to put a serious dent on it and let everybody know we are not going to let it continue,” he said.
Brothers, a junior this coming school year, said he has bullied and been bullied during his time at Mount Si.
“My hair used to be longer, so kids would say how I looked like a girl. I had a lot of female friends, so I was called gay,” he said.
A self-described bookworm, Brothers said his lack of athleticism also made him a target.
But this is problem goes beyond just one boy. Mount Si, Brothers said, has become known among KingCo league schools as the “hick school,” and the violence problem just adds to it. Something needs to be done and students can’t do it alone, he said.
“We’re trying to see if the administration will work with us,” Brothers said. “Bellevue High School has a peer-mediation program and we want to see if we could implement that here.”
Other ideas include bringing experts on bullying prevention to talk to the students and train teachers.
Bullying is not just physical violence, said Shayne Allen, a senior and one of the founders of the anti-bullying group.
“It’s not the classic shoving some kids head down the toilet. It’s jokes and stuff like that by staff and children,” he said.
Teachers’ attitudes regarding bullying vary from student to student, Brothers said. If a student has a good grade point average or is a star athlete, and is doing the bullying, he or she gets treated differently, he said.
One teacher who swung by the booth applauded the students.
“I have a family member that is gay,” said Christine Kjenner, a math teacher at Mount Si High. “I don’t think he’d be welcome at the school by some of the population. We are trying to increase the awareness and this is a really positive step.”
Ron Stettler, a 67-year-old resident of North Bend, said students around here inherited an icy attitude toward people who are different from past generations.
“You got to get face to face with it,” he said of bullying. “You have to stand up and face the music.”
Brothers agreed.
“There’s a point where it’s part of high school, a part of life,” Brothers said. “But it’s gone too far.”
Allen echoed Brothers’ words.
“We know students who go home from school in tears,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to do that. High school should be the best time of your life, not the worst.”
The group encourages anyone in the community to join its page on Facebook. The group encourages anyone in the community to join its page on Facebook. Log on to Facebook, then type on the search bar “MSHS Bullying.” A link to the group’s page will appear. Click on “Join Group.”
If the school’s administrators keep their word and work on stopping bullies, the group will remain in an observing role, Allen said.
If they don’t keep their word, he added, “We will get loud again. This is for us, our younger brothers and sisters.”
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Kirsten Johnson: 392-6434 or isspress@isspress.com.
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