Bullying Prevention Blues at McCombs Middle School

Students at McCombs Middle School dressed for Blue Shirt Day, raising awareness about bullying prevention.

They’ve got the bullying prevention blues at McCombs Middle School – and that’s a good thing.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month and Monday morning it began with a burst of the color blue at McCombs because October 3rd was designated as the 8th annual Blue Shirt Day across the country.

Students filled the bleachers in the school gym for a group photo coordinated by science teacher Ann Echelmeyer that vividly demonstrated the extent of anti-bullying solidarity at McCombs where the regular school colors are maroon and gold and the student leadership group is called the Golden Eagles.

Two students spearheading the spread of kindness are 8th graders JaeLyn Roberts and Sayann Rasavong who lead an afterschool club called the Justice Project. Members meet weekly and have done outreach projects like visits to Lovejoy Elementary where they speak to younger students about getting in the habit of behaving supportively towards one another.

“We’re discussing ways that maybe we could expand the group to the other middle schools too,” said JaeLyn. The pair think Justice Project has had a positive impact at McCombs.

“More people are coming to our meetings now,” said Sayann. “We will sponsor activities this month like encouraging kids to sit with different people at lunchtime than they usually do.”

The group has also written letters to state lawmakers on behalf of an anti-bullying legislative agenda.

JaeLyn was red-faced when she realized that she was out of uniform on Blue Shirt Day. But that oops is far outweighed by her year round leadership of a friendly cause that gets a special emphasis this month. And one day in particular when the blues have an upbeat feel.