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All schools must deal with the issue of bullying and Mount Carmel Area School District has taken proactive steps to stop and prevent bullying by adopting the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. This research-based school wide “systems-change” program has been used successfully in schools all over the country and around the world with positive results.The program is not a once and done lesson but rather a coordinated effort by all adults in the school to supervise and intervene when bullying occurs. As part of the program, students participate in regular homeroom meetings to learn about the effects of bullying, what they can do about it, and how they can work with adults at school to put a stop to it, even as bystanders. The homeroom meetings also help instill a sense of community among teachers and students. If students become more tolerant of differences and empathetic to others, there is less likely to be teasing, name calling and exclusion.
To end the first year of the Olweus program’s implementation, Mount Carmel Area High School homerooms were asked to participate in a service project of their choosing to reinforce the message of a caring community. Nineteen homeroom teachers and students participated in projects helping in various ways throughout Mount Carmel and beyond.
Wednesday May 27, 2009, a culminating motivational assembly themed, “ Small things make a BIG Difference,” took place in the high school auditorium to celebrate the completion of the first year of implementation. Students were commended for their efforts and asked to continue the good work into the 2009-2010 school year. A power point presentation highlighting many of the service projects was shown and Ms. Suzie Nestico’s 9th grade civics class presented an anti-bullying commercial addressing cyber-bullying students filmed and produced, “Think before you Click.”
Next, representatives of homerooms were called to the stage and honored for their service project efforts.
Finally, more than fifty random drawing winners nominated by teachers for demonstrating positive behavior were called to the stage and given prizes such as water bottles, T shirts, and food coupons donated by the Soda Club, the Interact Club, Track Team, NRG, the Cheerleading program, Burger King, and McDonalds.
This Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is about changing the whole school climate to make it a safer and more positive place to learn and a place where students will want to come every day. Implementing the program is a long-term commitment toward making Mount Carmel Area School District a safer, more positive place to be. Small things truly do make a BIG difference.
The following are homerooms at the high school that participated in service projects and the many projects they did:
Mrs. Nestico’s HR 202, created a puzzle piece activity to share with the elementary students and her
9th grade Civics class created the bullying prevention video Think before you Click; Mrs. Candelora’s HR 300, Mrs. Mudry’s HR 302, Mrs. Michaels’ HR 304, and Mr. Lepley’s, HR 308 collected food for the Good Shepard Food Pantry; Mrs. Rhoads’ HR 203 created Mother’s Day cards for the female residents of the Mount Carmel Nursing Center; Mrs. Lyash’s HR 129 seniors collected dress-code clothing to stock the MCA clothing closet; Mrs. Kogut’s HR 244 collected soda tabs to donate to the Geisinger Children’s Hospital; Miss Nahodil’s HR 237 collected items for the Jared’s Box project designed to lift the spirits of chronically ill children; Miss Rosato’s HR 219, organized a clothing collection to benefit Goodwill Industries; Miss Skavery’s HR 209 collected soda tabs and magazines to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in Danville; Mrs. Stametz’s HR 227 created ABC’s of Life books with Mrs. Szuler’s first grade class and also visited Serenity Gardens and made American flags with Alzheimer patients; Mr. Varano’s HR 121, Mrs. Domanski’s HR 123, and Mrs. Jones’ HR 114 along with the help of Mr. Domanski and Mr Woytowich teamed up for a community clean-up picking litter from all the major streets of Mount Carmel, Town Park, the area behind Boyer’s Market and around the Silver Bowl; Mrs. Hollenbush’s HR 109 held a bake sale to benefit the children’s hospital; Mrs. Rumbel’s HR 106, and Mrs. Sierdzinski’s HR 110 collected personal care items and made a visit to the Mount Carmel Nursing center where they shared in an ice cream social with the residents and finally Miss Harner’s HR 113 held a series of bake sales to benefit elementary student Amanda Smith and the MCA’s Relay for Life.