Pink shirts and kind messages
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 8 years, 2 months AGO
LISA JAMES/PressPost Falls 7th-graders from left, Aren Carlson, Quentin Foster and Keith Garvin eat lunch on national Pink T-Shirt Day at Post Falls Middle School Wednesday. Students supported anti-bullying by wearing pink to school, which became a national movement a few years ago after a male student was bullied for wearing pink to school.
Post Falls eighth-grader Kristen Roth, left, and classmate Hailey Howard share ideas on creating a Utopia.
LISA JAMES/PressPost Falls Middle School celebrated Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday to support anti-bullying, by wearing pink to school.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls Middle School celebrated Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday to support anti-bullying, by wearing pink to school.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls English teacher Jordan Ramsey talks to her 8th-grade class on national Pink T-Shirt Day at Post Falls Middle School Wednesday. Ramsey helped organize the school-wide effort for students to support anti-bullying by wearing pink.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls Principal Brad Harmon collects garbage as 7th-grader Trinity Chapin finishes lunch on national Pink T-Shirt Day at Post Falls Middle School Wednesday. Students wore pink to support anti-bullying, a gesture that became a national movement a few years ago.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls Middle School Parapros Tonya Finney, left, and Loyce Sumptor, got in on the spirit of Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday, a national day to support anti-bullying, by wearing pink.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls Middle School celebrated Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday to support anti-bullying, by wearing pink to school.
LISA JAMES/PressPost Falls 8th-grader Kristen Roth, center, shares ideas on creating a Utopia, with English classmate Hailey Howard on national Pink T-Shirt Day at Post Falls Middle School Wednesday. Students supported anti-bullying by wearing pink to school, a national movement that started a few years ago after a male student was bullied for wearing pink to school.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls Middle School 8th graders Alex Rivera, center, and Madison Pittelko leave their English class on Wednesday. Rivera’s idea of leaving positive notes under people’s desks as an anti-bullying method was chosen out of proposals for ways to recognize national Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday.
Photos by LISA JAMES/Press Post Falls seventh-graders from left, Aren Carlson, Quentin Foster and Keith Garvin eat lunch on national Pink T-Shirt Day at Post Falls Middle School Wednesday.
LISA JAMES/ PressPost Falls 8th-grader Shenoa Gosney stands other locker at Post Falls Middle School on Wednesday. Students celebrated Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday to support anti-bullying, by wearing pink to school.
By BETHANY BLITZ
Staff Writer
Lily Husk grinned ear to ear when she found the note under her desk Wednesday morning.
“Think positive and positive things will happen,” it read.
Her sixth-grade classmates, who were all wearing pink, found notes under their desks, too.
“Mine says ‘Be the reason someone smiles today,’” someone exclaimed.
Post Falls Middle School celebrated Pink T-Shirt Day Wednesday to support anti-bullying, and the eighth-graders
wanted to make everyone’s day extra special, so they left positive notes under all the desks.
“I think this is a good thing because bullying happens,” Husk said. “I know some of my friends get bullied, they just don’t really talk about it. This will help in that it’s a message to the bullies that it’s not OK.”
Last fall, all the school’s eighth-graders researched anti-bullying methods used at other schools and read stories from people who had been bullied. Then they each had to write an argumentative proposal for something their school should do to combat bullying.
Students who wanted to could participate in a class-wide vote of which ones should be implemented. Of the top 10 finalists, school administrators chose Alex Rivera’s idea of leaving positive notes under people’s desks.
Rivera’s idea was inspired by two incidents, she said. When she was in sixth grade, the eighth-graders left sticky notes with positive messages on them on everyone’s lockers. She said it made everyone’s day and the atmosphere of the school was noticeably happier.
And when she was in seventh grade, she was bullied. She didn’t know it at the time, but one of her friends sat at the same desk she did in a different class. One day, she found a note from her friend under her desk and it helped her get through a tough day.
“I hope people get a better feeling about themselves because of this,” Rivera said. “I hope people find inspiration to be a happier person.”
Wednesday morning, Rivera stood at the back of one of the sixth-grade classrooms. Her pink shirt ironically read ‘On Wednesdays we wear pink,’ — a quote from the movie ‘Mean Girls.’
“I loved watching their faces and reactions,” she said. “It’s hard just starting middle school, so it was nice to see they were stoked.”
Pink T-Shirt Day started in 2007 when two high school kids saw one of their peers getting bullied for wearing a pink T-shirt. The two students reached out to all their friends and the next day, hundreds of students wore pink T-shirts in support of the bullied students.
Jordan Ramsey, an eighth-grade English teacher at Post Falls Middle School, oversaw most of the Pink T-Shirt Day ongoings. She thought it would be a good idea to combine Pink T-Shirt Day with Rivera’s kind message idea.
She said so many student groups were excited to contribute to the ideas; The National Junior Honor Society wrote the notes and the school’s Leadership Students stayed late Tuesday night to put the notes and a piece of candy under each desk. The school’s media production group also contributed by making a promotional video for wearing pink T-shirts.
“I’m so proud of all these kids,” Ramsey said. “It’s easy for eighth-graders to be the bullies of the school, so when you show them they can actually be a leader and that sixth and seventh-graders look up to them, they embrace that role.”