According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

I would just like to take a moment to thank everyone who actively took part in the "No Bull! Be Noble!" Anti-Bullying Coalition Community Day:

Tony Bartoli

Jean Plante

Patricia Gainey

Curtis Swisher

And to all of my student volunteers and participants:

Whitley Carpenter

Zach Gignac

Landy Fink

Lydia Fink

Jeff and Leisa Fink

Caroline Babyak

Francis Fiore

Sherry Bray

and many, many more....

I would also like to thank the Media that covered our event:

WXII 12

Fox 8

WFMY News 2

99.5 WMAG

88.5 WPNN, NPR

WSJS

The Winston Salem Journal

The Kernersville Journal

The Kernersville News

The Forsyth County Website

The East Forsyth Talon

and K-12 News

I would also like to thank the WSFCS System, The Riley Institute at Furman University, and all of the students and staff at East Forsyth High School!

According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

Event Photos

"No Bull! Be Noble!" Anti-Bullying Coalition Community Day!

"According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!"

Thursday, January 18, 2007
East student tackles bullying issue
Seasoned volunteer helps bring well-known speaker to school; open forum held
By Monica Young
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
KERNERSVILLE
Lorna Fink, a senior at East Forsyth High School, organized the first "No Bull! Be Noble!" anti-bullying event, which was held Jan. 13 at the school.
Fink said she felt compelled to tackle bullying because she feels that it is something that happens to everyone. She said that she has been on both ends of bullying. She has been the recipient, and she has doled some of it out, too. "To some extent, there isn't someone who hasn't been bullied," she said.
She decided that it would be an interesting project to do at East Forsyth after graffiti with a bullying message caused fear among some students for a few days earlier in this school year.
Tony Bartoli, who speaks out against bullying, traveled from Orlando, Fla., to be the guest speaker at the first event. Bartoli suffered extreme bullying as a child, mainly because he had cerebral palsy. He talked about his personal experiences.
After the program, Fink said she was pleased that 100 students had turned out for the event. One of the most enlightening parts of the program was the open forum at the end. Bartoli, Fink and school officials moderated a discussion about bullying.
"One of the best things to come out of it was parents talking about Internet bullying," Fink said. "As a result, we're going to have a parents' night as a spinoff to address that topic."
Fink began planning the event after she heard a challenge issued during an Emerging Public Leaders forum at Furman University last summer. Fink, who plans to study political science, said she is interested in attending Furman this fall.
The forum provided a $500 grant through the Riley Institute for a community-service project. The participants were told to create a program and return in March.
Projects will be presented to a panel of judges. The winning project will receive $2,000 to be given to the charity of the winner's choice.
Fink said she decided to hold an event to discourage bullying.
Fink said she wants the program to become an annual event, to help stop bullying from being a common occurrence.
Principal Patricia Gainey of East Forsyth said that Fink's maturity and willingness to start a campaign against bullying impressed her.
Fink said that the weeks leading up to the event were tiring but worth it. When the event was over, Fink turned to her next project - completing college applications.
Last year, Fink participated in the YMCA Youth and Government program in Raleigh. That gives North Carolina high-school students an opportunity to participate in the legislative process and understand democracy by learning the art of debate through parliamentary procedure.
In 2005, Fink was honored as a distinguished finalist in the Prudential Spirit Community Awards program, which honors outstanding youth volunteers.
Fink was honored for undergoing training over the past year to raise seeing-eye guide dogs for Guiding Eyes for the Blind.
She also helped to care for abandoned animals until they could be adopted.
• Monica Young can be reached at cyoung9@triad.rr.com.


*According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!*

Here is an article that ran in the Winston-Salem Journal on January 12, 2007 by jounalist Monica Young:

Friday, January 12, 2007
Anti-bullying speaker planned at program led by East Forsyth senior
By Monica Young

Tony Bartoli, an anti-bullying advocate, will speak Saturday at East Forsyth High School. A student there recruited him to participate in an effort to reduce bullying.
Bartoli, who lives in Orlando, Fla., will be at East Forsyth from 9 a.m. to noon. He will participate in the "No Bull! Be Noble!" event.
Bartoli suffered bullying as a child, mainly because he has cerebral palsy. His personal experience is part of his presentation. Bartoli has worked with teenagers since 1993 - as a substitute teacher, youth pastor and motivational speaker, according to his Web site.
Bullying happens to girls in middle school and high school, It may be a sly remark about one's clothes or hair. It also occurs when one group of girls shuns and isolates another group of girls.
For boys, bullying tends to be more physical than social ostracism. Ganging up on someone perceived as weaker or different or intimidating someone defines the typical bully.
Lorna Fink, a senior at East Forsyth High School, is calling for no more bullying. She said she has been on both ends of bullying. She has been the recipient, and she doled some of it out, too.
"To some extent, there isn't someone who hasn't been bullied," Fink said. "There was even a movie, Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan, about it. That movie is not really exaggerated. Every school, I've ever been to, I've seen it," Fink said.
A challenge during an Emerging Public Leaders forum at Furman University last summer inspired Fink to do more than just shake her head at bullying. The program provided a $500 grant for a community-service project. The participants were told to create a program and return in March.
Projects will be presented to a panel of judges. The winning project will receive $2,000 to be given to the charity of the winner's choice.
Lorna decided to hold an anti-bullying program at East Forsyth.
Fink heard about Bartoli through the Dave Ramsey radio-talk show and called Bartoli, who agreed to speak in Kernersville.
News of Bartoli's talk spread throughout Forsyth County, and many high-school teachers are offering extra credit to their students who attend his talk. It also is open to middle-school students.
Fink said she hopes her "No Bull! Be Noble!" campaign will win. If it does, she will put the winnings into making the program an annual one. "The Bureau of Justice statistics say that one of every four kids have been bullied. That's just not right," Fink said.
Principal Patricia Gainey of East Forsyth said she supports Fink's vision.
"My hat is off to Lorna Fink for writing a grant and inviting Tony Bartoli to the East campus and the Kernersville community," Gainey said. "Lorna's passion for 'Stomping Out Bullying' is amazing. Her vision goes way beyond her years."
• More information can be found at www.forsyth.cc/CES.




According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

NEWS UPDATE!!!
Here are links to web articles and videos that have featured the "No Bull! Be Noble!" Anti-Bullying Coalition Story!

http://www.wfmynews2.com/search/article.aspx?storyid=79393

www.co.forsyth.nc.us/Documents/4H_jan_feb07.pdf

http://www.wfmynews2.com/search/article.aspx?storyid=77987


http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192700439

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192617486


*According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!*

"NO BULL! BE NOBLE!" ANTI-BULLYING COMMUNITY DAY

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13TH 2007

9 AM TO 12 PM

EAST FORSYTH HIGH SCHOOL

2500 W. MOUNTAIN ST.

KERNERSVILLE, NC 27285

WITH GUEST SPEAKER

TONY BARTOLI

Idea

According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

Having experienced myself the horrible effects of bullying, I am now working with the Riley Institute at Furman University and their Emerging Public Leaders program and also with the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System to implement a no tolerance policy towards bullying. My hope is to address the problem through three steps: identification, exploration, and implementation. I hope to explore the problem through a series of presentations targeted towards 5th through 8th graders in my school system and then to implement the changes through a book and a curriculum guide to help teacher implement the anti-bullying policies in their classrooms.

Bullying

According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

PROJECT VISION

According to a recent survey, 1 out of every 4 children have been bullied and 77% of America's youth have personally experienced bullying!

TO CREATE AN AWARENESS OF THE MULTIPLICITY OF BULLYING MODES AND TO IMPLEMENT A COURSE OF ACTION WHICH UNDERSCORES CHANGE.

The startling statistic that every 7 minutes a child is bullied ignited a family discussion about bullying. We shared our personal stories and accounts regarding bullying whether or not we were the bully or the bullied. The end result was equally as startling as the national statistic itself.-

From kindergarten into adulthood, an inability to handle conflict gives power to the bully. Physical bullying is visible but the subtleties of bullying are equally as distractive. Knowing what to do and when to do it becomes a building process. Putting new tools in a students tool box can help to build an insulation against bullying.

• TO IDENTIFY
• TO EXPLORE
• TO IMPLEMENT
  

THE STATISTICS

According to the American Justice Department, 1 out of every 4 kids will be abused by another youth. 100,000 students carry a gun to school. 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month. On a public school playground every 7 minutes a child is bullied. 85% percent of the bullying occurences have no intervention either by peers or adults.

"Bullying is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homocide and suicide. Case studies of the shooting at Colombine High School and other U.S. schools have suggested that bullying was a factor in many of the incidents." -The Bureau of Justice Statistics.