Boxes Out Bullying & Drugs
This fall, two important prevention initiatives were celebrated as part of Manhasset SCA and CASA’s Red Ribbon Week at Munsey Park and Shelter Rock Schools; National Substance Abuse Prevention Month, which observes the role substance abuse prevention plays in promoting safe and healthy communities, and Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, which raises awareness about bullying as an important issue faced by our youth. Research indicates that bullying affects everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully and those who witness bullying, and it is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use and suicide (www.stopbullying.gov).
Munsey Park and Shelter Rock schools’ activities highlighted the theme Box Out Bullying & Drugs and featured the outstanding bullying prevention program, Box Out Bullying, for students, parents, teacher assistants and supervisory aides. Box Out Bullying is a national touring organization that specializes in combining research-based bullying prevention with dynamic live theater. Student presentations emphasized bullying prevention strategies that taught children the importance of respect and helped students become active agents in the prevention of bullying. Parent and faculty workshops provided practical tools to identify bullying, know how to help children respond and build children’s resiliency.
At the helm of the celebration were SCA Red Ribbon Week Committee cochairs Celeste Sforza and Miriam DiOrio (Shelter Rock) and Heidi Franchetti and Jennifer Johnston (Munsey Park). The committee worked diligently with parent volunteers and decorated the schools with red ribbons, provided all elementary students with Box Out Bullying take-home art projects and distributed educational materials to parents, as well as ribbons to decorate homes. In celebration, art projects were displayed throughout school hallways and students wore red and received themed armbands as a symbol of their commitment to make healthy choices and be kind to others.
This year, with the help of local Girl and Boy Scouts, Plandome Road businesses also displayed the Red Ribbon symbol in support of promoting a safe and healthy community. The Manhasset Girl Scout Daisy Troops #542 and #522 and Boy Scout Pack #101 worked together to adorn the exterior of Shelter Rock School with red ribbons in advance of Red Ribbon Week at the Manhasset Public Schools. The troops learned about the importance of Red Ribbon Week in reminding them to make healthy and responsible choices and to be kind to each other in line with the schools’ Box Out Bullying & Drugs campaign. As part of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Red Ribbon Patch Program, the children from each troop also signed pledges to “make the world a better place…and achieve their dreams and live their lives as they choose because of their pledge to stay drug-free.” The children will also earn a patch from the DEA for performing anti-drug awareness activities including the hanging of red ribbons, creating collages for the Box Out Bullying message (which were hung to line the halls of Shelter Rock School) and reaching out to local community merchants who agreed to display the red ribbon placard and “lock up your meds” stickers.
Red Ribbon Week outreach also noted the importance of parents talking with their teens about the dangers of prescription drugs. Manhasset CASA’s prevention mailing to secondary school parents provided parenting tips and resources. For additional information about prevention, go to www.manhassetcasa.org or Like them on Facebook. For more information about bullying prevention, go to www.stopbullying.gov.
—Submitted by Manhasset CASA
