Counting down from 10, Culver City High Students released over 300 bright yellow balloons at the school on Thursday, to signify freeing the evils of bullying.
Wearing anti-bullying bright yellow wrist bands with the statement "It's Time to Take a Stand" the kids made their way to the quad after watching a screening of the critically-acclaimed documentary - Bully - that sparked a movement - www.thebullyproject.com - that rallied people to stand up to bullying, hate and intolerance.
Directed by Lee Hirsch, Bully follows the lives of five students who have stories represent a different facet of the bullying crisis.The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 12.
The event at the school was coordinated by Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company and Sue Procko Public Relations, and some of the startling facts about bullying include:
- Thirteen million kids will be bullied in the U.S. this year, making bullying the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the nation.
- Three million students will be absent each month because they feel unsafe at school.
- Thirty percent of children who reported being bullied said they sometimes brought weapons to school.
- School personnel are reported to notice or intervene in only one out of every twenty-five incidents.
- Fifty percent of the time, when an upstander intervenes in bullying, the bullying stops within ten seconds.
- Bullying is a serious problem, and the solutions belong to us all.
Student Jacky Jung – known to her friends as JJ – stood up and spoke bravely about how she used to be a bully herself but thanks to the help and understanding she received is now one of those passing on the message of love, peace and tolerance. Click on the second video to the right of this story to hear Jacky's remarks.
Special guest host was Cartoon Network teen star Shauna Case who is also part of Cartoon Network's own bullying prevention campaign, ‘Stop Bullying Speak Up!’
You can also visit www.thebullyproject.com
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