An initiative to put an end to cyber bullying became a clear goal after a survey of 337 students showed 71 percent of respondents citing cyber bullying as a problem at the school.
At Hannibal High School in Missouri, an overwhelming concern of the results of the survey were the 32 percent of students who said they had been a victim of cyber bullying, and the 15 percent who said they wanted to hurt themselves after derogatory comments about them were posted on social media. These were particularly disturbing to Linda Stinson and the 15 students in her Family, Career and Community Leaders of America chapter.
“I’ve seen mean comments on Facebook and been like, ‘That’s not cool,'” said sophomore Jessica Stinson, who is Linda’s daughter.
Jessica, her friend Jean Anderson, and others in the chapter decided to do something about raising awareness of the dangerous effects of cyber bullying.
Their response is called Pirate Positive, and the have aligned it with the national FCCLA Stop the Violence program. The effort started when motivational speaker Jeff Yelden spoke to the school about suicide prevention and mental health.
“I think hearing what Jeff had to say about suicide and bullying really impacted people,” Linda Stinson said.
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