LHS student hosts anti-bullying assembly for senior project

Lexi Whitaker, a senior at Lind High School, plans to host an anti-bullying assembly in the high school gym on Jan. 26. Whitaker decided to create the assembly for her senior project after witnessing firsthand the effect that bullying can have on an individual.

Whitaker’s younger brother became victim to bullying because of his stutter, creating an unfortunate opportunity for his peers to tease him. Whitaker saw how the teasing and bullying hurt her younger brother and refused for bullying to go unnoticed.

“It really hurt to see the pain my brother went through. Bullying is an issue. I want to bring awareness and help kids to realize when they’re bullying; even teasing people can hurt,” said Whitaker.

Whitaker knows that in many instances, students and kids think that sarcastic comments are not bullying because they think what they are saying is not serious. But the person at the other end of that comment is taking every word to heart, and generally sees the sarcasm as an insult and finds it to be demeaning.

Whitaker started the project in August, determined to make the assembly engaging and relatable for the students. The guest speakers for the event are individuals who have directly seen the tragic effect of bullying through their children and other young adults.

During the assembly, Whitaker intends to play a video from Jody Phillips about Barry Loukaitis, the 14-year-old who shot and killed his algebra teacher and two students at Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake in 1996.

It is believed that Loukaitis experienced severe bullying at the school, leading Loukaitis to seek revenge on one particular student and accidently killing others in the process. Loukaitis also suffered from clinical depression, and the physical and psychological bullying that Loukaitis endured worsened his condition.

The other guest speaker for the assembly is Brenda High: a well-known, anti-bully advocate who began speaking out against bullying when her 13-year-old son, Jared, committed suicide. Jared died in 1998 after suffering many vicious bullying attacks at his school that caused him to become depressed and eventually take his own life.

Earlier in the school year, Whitaker handed out a personality quiz to students from fourth grade to seniors to determine what type of personality category the students are in. The staff in Lind also took the personality quiz.

There are four categories on the personality quiz and each student and staff member received a color after completing the quiz. During the assembly, the students and staff will be seated by color, allowing each color group to see what other individuals have the same personality type.

Whitaker hopes that by separating the students and staff by the color and personality, the students can recognize who they might relate to best. It also allows the students to see which staff member has a similar personality and could potentially be the best staff member to talk too.

“Brenda High will show the different personalities for the colors. I hope that people will find out who they relate too,” said Whitaker. “By grouping them by color, I hope that the students will look at a teacher and think ‘Hey, they’re just like me’ and reach out to that teacher.”

Whitaker admits to knowing about bullying occurring at the school, but it is never physical bullying, usually teasing or taunting. The assembly’s purpose is to open the students’ eyes to all forms of bullying, and to realize that bullying needs to end.

In preparation for the event, Whitaker is selling “Stomp out bullying” t-shirts to help raise awareness about bullying. The t-shirts are part of the Dr. Phil Show anti-bully campaign that first aired in October, which is National Anti-Bullying Awareness month.

The t-shirts are $6 each and range from small to 4X-large, with the majority of shirts currently not sold being size small, or 4X-large. The shirts can be purchased from Whitaker and will be available for purchase at the assembly.

Whitaker does not intend for her anti-bullying campaign to end at the assembly. Later in the year, Whitaker plans to work with the junior high and grade school students to create posters to learn about bullying and how to prevent it.

Whitaker is also part of a leadership group and hopes that the group continues to bring awareness to bullying even after Whitaker graduates this spring.

After graduation, Whitaker intends on joining the Air Force as a military police officer. Whitaker plans on eventually attending college to earn a degree criminal law.

The assembly start time is still to be announced, but is expected to last about two hours. The assembly is open to the public and Whitaker encourages community members and parents to attend.