Lake Zurich Middle School students support each other through anti-bullying blog

Students at Lake Zurich Middle School South are taking advantage of a unique anti-bullying program that provides a safe place to talk, share experiences, seek advice and, if necessary, report incidents to the administration.

The “Bullying Blog” was created last school year under the advisement of seventh grade teacher Cynthia Milone, who was inspired by the struggles her own son had with bullying.

“My son was bullied online when he was a senior in high school. I didn’t know about it at the time. It caused him a great deal of depression and anxiety. I wanted to start this program here to teach the kids that words do hurt,” she said.

Initially, student leaders suggested having a box at the principal’s office to report incidents anonymously, but given they all have an iPad, they decided to create an online bullying blog. In its first month, the blog had over 1,500 posts from sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

The blog was so popular, student leaders began introducing new discussion topics and participants started posting their own scenarios and asking their peers what they would do in various situations.

“We had to open several new tags because the old ones would take forever to load because there were so many replies,” said Camila Swiatlowski, eighth grade student leader.

The blog is introduced to incoming sixth graders at the beginning of the school year, said Nina Guarisco, eighth grade student leader.

“We go through a slide show and tell them what the bullying blog is all about. It’s definitely created more awareness. We work together to bring down the bullies and rise each other up.”

An anti-bullying bulletin board is also located outside the cafeteria to empower students through slogans they’ve created such as “Be a buddy, not a bully;” “Pulling someone down will never help you reach the top;” and “Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.”

With students regularly engaged in social media including Facebook and Instagram, cyber bullying has become a significant problem for many young people.

“It’s the hardest and worst type of bullying because people can be anonymous,” said Sarah Shannon, eighth grade student leader. “It could be someone across the world or your best friend who’s talking behind your back.”

It can be hard to say something to a teacher or principal about being bullied, said Shannon, so sharing on the blog is a way for students to get the support they need, and realize they’re not alone.

A recent question on the blog was, “Is there such a thing as an innocent bystander?”

Milone said the students were passionate in their responses that if you see or hear someone being bullied, you should try to help stop it.

“The bystanders are now speaking up and not allowing it to happen,” Principal David Gardner said. “It’s a wonderful thing that the kids kind of police themselves. The incidences of bullying have gone down.”

Unfortunately, social media makes it easy to be mean, said Demie Panousis, eighth grade student leader. “I’ve spoken up for other people who are too scared to say something.”

“It’s great to know someone has your back,” Guarisco said. “You know someone is going to stand up for you.”

The blog has also helped school staff become more aware of bullying issues, so they can intervene earlier.

“This has done a lot for our school,” Gardner said. “It’s given us an insight into what goes on. It’s educated the adults and the kids at the same time.”