2014-2015: Anti-Bullying Committee

The Anti-Bullying Committee of Cedar Lane School consists of a school psychologist, a school social worker, and a small group of students. The students currently on the committee are seniors, Kate Auld, Nick Esquela, and Daniel Martin, and juniors, Lauren Abell and Meghan Randolph. All the students have been active in this anti-bullying effort for at least a year.

This committee works throughout the year to identify and combat bullying. They also join forces with the school’s Broadcast Journalism class to write, produce, and appear in a series of short and entertaining public service videos for the Cedar Lane Morning News Show (closed-circuit student news). These videos are shown throughout the year to bring awareness to the problem of bullying, how to prevent it, and what can be done to address it constructively. Students are encouraged to be “Upstanders” – someone who is not just another bystander but, instead, stands up to a bully or seeks adult assistance to help the student who is being bullied.

The Anti-Bullying Committee members plan and coordinate all activities for Anti-Bullying Week. Assisted by the Broadcast Journalism class, they design and present informational sessions to student groups. Each day has a different theme, supported by educational and entertaining events. Many of the activities bring staff and students together in team-building exercises to help them to learn about one another and to understand the other’s perspectives.

School Psychologist Jen Min says, “The impact that these few students were able to have on the rest of the student body was far greater than what we as staff could ever have accomplished.”

2015-2016: Anti-Bullying Committee

The Anti-Bullying Committee, which is supervised by two school psychologists, works throughout the year to address and combat bullying behaviors within the school in the hope of establishing a culture that finds these behaviors unacceptable.

With adult assistance, the Committee members organize all activities for Anti-Bullying Week each year. Each day has a different theme, accompanied by educational and entertaining activities. Many of the events bring staff and students together in team-building exercises designed to encourage them to learn more about one another and to understand others’ perspectives. This year they held a school assembly where students worked in groups to look at various scenarios of bullying and student conflict and offered ways to address the problems. This activity introduced many new ideas and constructive responses to address bullying. As a side benefit, the activity itself brought together groups of students who might not normally spend time together, resulting in an increased atmosphere of connection among diverse students.

The Committee also works with the school’s Broadcast Journalism class to write, produce, and appear in short public service videos for the Cedar Lane Morning News Show (closed-circuit student news) which are shown throughout the year. The goal of these videos is to raise awareness of the problem of bullying, describe ways to address it constructively, and suggest methods to prevent it. The videos encourage students to be “Upstanders” – described as someone who, instead of being just another bystander, stands up to a bully or seeks adult assistance to assist the student being bullied.

Members of the Anti-Bullying Committee are seniors Drew Dean, Jake Geyer, Lauren Propst, Meghan Randolph, and Justice Tapp, and sophomores Arnaz Carter-Newman, Sarah Dakin, and Ethan Mirani.

2016-2017: Ethan Mirani, Junior

The members of the Cedar Lane Anti-Bullying Committee and their faculty advisor work throughout the year to address and combat bullying behaviors within the school in the hope of maintaining a culture that finds these behaviors unacceptable. The committee members organize all activities for the annual Anti-Bullying Week. Each day has a different theme, accompanied by educational and entertaining activities. Many of the events bring staff and students together to learn more about one another and to understand others’ perspectives.

School Psychologist Jennifer Min says, “This year, there were a number of students who helped in small ways; however, one student – Ethan Mirani – was the driving force. Ethan was a member of the committee for two years and felt very strongly that the week be organized by the students and highlight the importance of treating all students with respect, regardless of race, religion and gender identity. Ethan was the one who prompted the faculty advisor to schedule planning meetings and took the initiative to invite and encourage others to join the group. He attended every meeting and was the primary planner for the week’s activities, soliciting feedback from other students to ensure that what was planned would be relevant and interesting. He showed strong leadership skills, such as staying after school to prepare for activities and making sure that the daily activities went smoothly. Without his leadership and enthusiasm, the week would not have happened.”

Ethan explains his involvement by saying, “I have seen others being bullied, and it happened to me when I was younger. I want to keep it from happening at Cedar Lane.”

2017-2018: Khalil Anderson and Arnaz Carter-Newman, Seniors

Khalil Anderson and Arnaz Carter-Newman are the student leaders of the Cedar Lane Positivity Project. A growing nationwide movement, the Positivity Project helps students to build strong relationships by seeing the good in themselves and others, thus creating citizens and leaders by internalizing the belief that “Other People Matter”. This is the first year that Cedar Lane School has participated in this project, and Khalil and Arnaz agreed to lead the committee. They have been working throughout the school year to inspire strong relationships and to cultivate a school-wide #OtherPeopleMatter mindset. They also planned and coordinated activities for Positivity Week, held the last week in January.

2018-2019: Nick Price, Junior

According to School Counselor Karen Williams, Nick Price helps to promote peace at Cedar Lane by being a peer example and an “upstander” – someone who stands up for students needing help. She says that, although Nick is ordinarily quiet and soft-spoken, he speaks up with “Hey, that’s not cool!” when he hears a student verbally bullying others. When asked what motivates him to do this, despite his shy nature, he replied, “Well, I just know that if someone said those things about me, I would wish that someone would speak up for me. So I want to be that person for someone else.”

Nick’s mathematics teacher, Andrea Blakeman, says that Nick “is always the voice of reason.” She noted that, when a student loudly argues with the teacher or other students during class, Nick weighs in calmly to help defuse the situation, talking to the student as a peer, but guiding him to relax and calm down. She says she has a “kudos award” for Nick on the wall which says, “For being flexible and keeping the peace.”

Karen Williams adds, “Nick goes outside his comfort zone to help others, and he is an excellent example to both teachers and peers of the power of supporting and defending others.”

2019-2020: Samantha (Sage) Quick, Senior and William (Will) LaWalt, Junior

Sage Quick and Will LaWalt volunteered to serve as “PD Peers” in a Personal Development (PD) class which teaches social skills, decision-making, and coping strategies for difficult or confusing situations. PD Peers model communication skills as they listen to students talk about their interests and concerns. They then help the students in the PD class remain calm and focused when something has happened to upset them, or when they are anxious that something negative is going to happen. PD Teacher Diane Garoni says, “Sage and Will provide something just as important and relevant as I can in my lessons, and in some ways they are more powerful, because they are peers.”

Ms. Garoni cites a specific example when Will and a student in the PD class worked together to make potato pancakes. This activity required the student to listen and take turns talking, stay calm when he didn’t understand something, agree on tasks, and organize materials and time – all important skills to practice.

Ms. Garoni says that Sage works particularly well with students who require extra personal attention. She says, “Sage has a kind and soothing tone, shows real interest in what the students want to talk about, and helps to model (and praise) appropriate conversational skills.” PD instructional assistant, Dory Olea, adds that Sage and Will work well with vulnerable students to “redirect their behavior and help them walk a different path.”

Principal Tom Lundy says Sage and Will are respected by all segments of the 100-student Cedar Lane community. School Counselor Karen Williams notes, “Sage and Will provide a measure of peace because they help avert potentially volatile situations before they can even start.”