As students filed into the auditorium for the bullying assembly last month, they chatted with their friends, texted and prepared for another long assembly. Senior James Knudsen says he felt an “air of uncomfortableness” that he doesn’t normally get at assemblies. “We all knew what it was about,” he said.
As Grant High School classmates Hanna Olson and Giovanni McKenzie sat onstage in the auditorium, the crowd listened to the solemn stories of bullying and harassment their peers had endured.
When Olson recounted the vicious cycle of bullying and harassment that almost caused her to take her own life, students recognized the shocking realities about the prevalence of bullying at our school.
“I was crying because it was so emotional,” sophomore Grant Stone said. “And I saw a lot of other people crying, too.”
Grant’s Anti-Bullying Summit, sponsored by Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, was one of the most emotionally jarring events the school has ever had. At most assemblies, those who show up usually listen half-heartedly and immediately focus on the other things that consume students’ lives – homework, sports, weekend plans. But this assembly struck a different chord.
“Our kickoff to the school year addressed a critical issue for our community. I was so proud of how serious our students received the message,” Grant Principal Vivian Orlen said.
Smith and KGW’s Laural Porter led the event, and Porter took questions from the audience for a panel that included Grant faculty member Marty Williams, Neola Young of the Sexual and Minority Youth Resource Center, and seniors McKenzie and Olson.
For most students, it was the testimonials that resonated. “I haven’t experienced exactly what she’s been through, but I could feel it along with her,” freshman Gregory Wilson said of Olson, who is one of his senior mentors.
After the assembly, members of the student body rushed the stage to offer Olson and McKenzie support. “I realized how many people cared about me,” Olson said. “I figured there had to be other people like me who were silently suffering. I reminded everyone there are always people who love and care about them. Being mobbed, I realized there was even more truth behind that than I thought.”
Stone was one of the many students who stayed after to see Olson and sign the large anti-bullying canvas that will be hanging in the school’s front hall soon. “I’ve struggled with issues similar to Hanna’s,” Stone said. “So I could really relate. But it made me think twice before I make jokes to friends.”
Will the assembly change the hearts and minds of Grant students? Orlen hopes so. She wants to survey the student body in order to “better understand what students experience at school.”
Smith, the commissioner, challenges Grant students to “continue the discussion to actively prevent bullying. We all fail if we let intolerance and hate creep back in.”
Olson recommends periodic class discussions, similar to the ones English classes had after the hazing incident last year. She also thinks specialized training on how to handle extreme situations would better equip teachers and counselors.
Personally, Olson says she makes a point to talk to kids who seem withdrawn, and she feels a newfound sense of purpose now that she has been through the worst. In her eyes “people have been more sensitive” about what they say and how they say it.
