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Mahurangi College staff made a special effort for Pink Shirt Day this year.
A Zumba dance class got a little pinker than usual.
The College’s peer mediation team helps students resolve issues related to bullying.
Strong support from staff and better promotion saw hundreds of students get behind the Pink Shirt Day anti-bullying campaign at Mahurangi College on May 21.
Prefect organisers Sage Lee, 17, and Alex Paule, 17, say students were encouraged to wear pink and could participate in a number of fun activities to celebrate the ongoing effort to combat bullying.
These included a pink bake sale – raising funds for the Pink Shirt Day organisation, a Zumba dance class, and games in the library.
The library games were organised by the school’s Solace club, set up for students who sometimes feel they don’t fit in anywhere else.
Sage says there was especially strong support from younger and older students.
She says there is a small group between these ages that often feel “I’m too cool for that”, but overall the response was encouraging.
She says older students often get involved because they want to be a good role model for younger ones.
Sage says while bullying is not a huge problem at Mahurangi College, it exists everywhere.
“There’s always going to be people who feel the need to put other people down to make themselves feel better or for whatever other reason,” she says.
Alex says a lot of bullying that does occur centres around race and sexual orientation.
“As soon as they express that orientation to other people, they get knocked down,” she says.
The prefects say most forms of bullying at the school consist of verbal put-downs, insulting behaviour and talking behind a student’s back.
Alex leads a student peer mediation team at the College, which helps students understand the root causes of bullying and gives them help to find a resolution when it occurs.
