100 Roxbury High School students have volunteered to become Ambassadors of
Kindness and in doing so, have committed to themselves, their school and their
community to do what is right and to make the Roxbury School District a better
place.
On March 16, 2004, these Roxbury High School students joined together with Mr. John Munro, Guardian Angels Educational consultant, Mr. Jeff Swanson – Principal of RHS, Mr. Jeff Swinson – Vice Principal of RHS, Officer Glenn Gordon – Resource Officer RHS, Officer Randy Brands – Resource Officer of Eisenhower Middle School and RHS teachers –Cosmo Laruso, Gary Irwin, Justin Renna, Derrick Christiano, Dr. Linda Upton, Beverly Klein, Jane Hopper, Nancy Rizzo and Allyson Nelson to launch the Roxbury Ambassadors of Kindness Academy, where these students and staff have pledged to do their part in order to ensure that Roxbury schools are a place where every student feels welcomed and respected.
“The goals of the first training session are to educate on bullying, harassment, intimidation and hazing laws and rules, as well as to create a sense of community,” stated Mr. Cosmo Laruso. To accomplish these goals, students were provided with methods and reasoning for ensuring that the climate in the Roxbury Schools is the best that it can be. After conducting icebreaker activities, the students shared with each other experiences from their life that involved bullying.
In small groups with a facilitator, the students offered ideas for the mission statement of the Ambassadors of Kindness. According to Mr. Swanson, “Our mission statement is our statement about what we want to accomplish together.”
The resulting statement highlighted the students’ awareness of their need to take responsibility for creating a safe environment in Roxbury schools. They agreed that in order for them to accomplish this, they need to treat others, as they would like to be treated. They also need to take a stand against gossip and rumors, to say positive things about others, to judge people by their character, to support and assist victims of bullying by standing up for them and to be a positive example for others in Roxbury Schools.
In order to accomplish this mission, the students reviewed definitions of bullying and harassment. They compared and contrasted between normal peer conflict and bullying. Various peer roles – bullying, victim, bystander: conformist, bystander: complier, peer conflict and rescuer, were highlighted, as well as ways to help victims and ways to prevent being bullied.
By signing an Anti-Bullying Pledge at the end of the session, these students agreed to do their part in order to eradicate bullying from the Roxbury schools. To recognize each student’s efforts, each student received a Guardian Angel pin to wear proudly. “You are an important part to improving RHS,” stated Mrs. Jane Hopper.
These students will reconvene in about a month to evaluate what they have done and what they need to do to continue their mission. Meetings will occur again in the 2004/2005 school year.