March 14th Meeting 6:30

Program and speaker information

“Stand Up! Speak OUt! Bullying Prevention & Intervention”

The most effective way to stop bullying is peer intervention. Helping students to understand feelings of empathy, self-esteem, and shame can start the process of lowering incidents of bullying, but adults also need to model anti-bullying behavior. Bullying has taken on new forms, especially, with social networking sites. In the past, students were able to leave school and ecape their bullies.
Today, parents and guardians need to become more involved in monitoring social networking sites and better communicating with their children about technology. When parents, teachers, and administrators do nothing to prevent these incidents of bullying it reinforces the belief that bullying behavior is acceptable. We must all understand how we are participationg in a bullying culture, in order for us to end it. We must change our attitudes of being passive bystanders, to active upstanders, so we can help create a safe learning environment for ALL students.

Speaker’s Bio:

Born in the Philippines, Vangie Castro emigrated to the United States with her family at age 3 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. She studied political science at the California State University, East Bay, and currently works at the Diversity Council as the Youth Education Program Manager. She is a member of Governor Dayton”s Task Force on the Prevention of School Bullying and has worked to educate the community on social justice, diversity, and inclusion. In addition, Vangie has worked with at-risk youth in various programs, both in California and Rochester, MN.

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