Lincoln High School Works to Black Out Bullying - ABC5 News Des Moines, IA

Lincoln High School Works to Black Out Bullying

By Addie Olson

aolson@myabc5.com

@addieolson

A lot of people have been talking about bullying lately and the damage that it causes students.

Now, Lincoln High School is taking a stand.

They're calling it Black Out Bullying week, and the main goal is to raise awareness

 "A lot of bullying happens in this school so we thought we might as well do something like this," said student Nicole Arby.

The walls are plastered with papers — each of them, telling a story. They are the stories of students who have been bullied, and even some of those who have done the bullying themselves.

"I think pretty much everyone's been bullied," Arby said.

Student leaders at Lincoln High School planned Black Out Bullying week because it is a problem that comes in many different forms.

"There's verbal, physical, cyber," said Arby. "People get in fights."

"There's a lot of cyber bullying," said student Monica Jock.

Regardless of how it's done, anti–bullying speaker Jim Jelinkse believes it needs to be recognized for what it is.

"A put down is a put down, and a put down can lead to violence," Jelinske said.  "And we need to recognize that, and stop that behavior so that it doesn't become something traumatic — as a suicide, as a shooting — those kinds of things."

In addition to today's speaker, students will carry out anti–bullying events through the rest of the week.

On Thursday, for example, students will all sit with someone new at lunch.