Sandy Rogers, currently a Counselor and Life Coach and formerly with the Department of Juvenile Justice, and Paul Gasque, a former pastor with the United Methodist Church, were invited to Latta Middle School to present an educational program on the nature and consequences of bullying during National Bullying Awareness Month.  
At the outset, the students were given two questions to consider for themselves – two questions which go to the heart of what drives some to bully others and what causes anguish in the lives of those who are being bullied.
The questions were: “Do I really know who I am?’ and “What is my perception of myself based on?” Some of the perceptions discussed were “What others say about me; how I look or how attractive I am to others; how well I perform academically or athletically; who my friends are or where I live.”
These and other concerns are issues that a bully deals with in her or her own life and in order to validate themselves, they need to have a sense of control or superiority over others. They do this by targeting those who are weaker than themselves.
The presentation also related that bullying can be physical, verbal, social/relational, or cyber. Rogers shared how text messages sent over the internet by computer or cell phone can not only be devastating to the recipient of the message, but can result in serious consequences for the sender. Even when deleted, such messages can still be recovered if circumstances dictate punitive or corrective action. The differences in how boys and girls bully others were also pointed out.
Bullying in whatever form can often result in significant issues for the school as it creates a fearful environment for the bullied student at school and at school functions. It also seriously impacts the learning experience and a student’s potential in life. Those who are victims of bullying and who feel unaccepted by other students often seek a sense of belonging in gangs, cultures and other negative associations. Victimizations have many times led to psychological disorders, teen pregnancies and even suicide.
The presentation was participatory in nature with the students being asked to share their honest feelings about their own experience.  The students were also asked during the presentation if any had ever been bullied or had bullied others.
At the close of the presentation the students were asked to name three positive characteristics about themselves and to consider how they could use these characteristics to develop life traits that they would like to have.
This exercise was for the purpose of helping each student to understand the truth about her/himself and the person he or she could become.
For more information, contact Sandy Rogers at s2rogers@bop.gov or Paul Gasque at p.gasque@yahoo.com.