Today Frank and I spent the morning at the Dream Big! Leadership Conference. Co-hosted by Sport in Society and Dream Big! the conference was held in Northeastern’s Curry student center and brought middle and high school girls and their teachers/coaches from around Massachusetts, to meet one another, learn about career options from successful female athletes (including several former Olympians), and attend a bullying prevention training lead by Frank and myself (to learn more about the conference and the presenters click here).
Dream Big! Is a wonderful non-profit in the Boston area, founded by Linda Driscoll, that helps low-income and homeless girls participate in sports and physical activity. They do this though donations of equipment and scholarships, which cover things such as program fees and facility rental. Check out Dream Big! here.
Frank and I facilitated the Sport in Society Bullying prevention curriculum during three conference sessions and had a great experience. Although this may seem like it could become repetitive for us presenters…presenting the same material for almost an hour three times in a row… it was actually very interesting and engaging. Each new group of girls had different insights about bullying and shared different experiences about how it affects her community/school and how it has been addressed in her life. What each group did have in common was that bullying is clearly a problem, one which the girls are aware of and do not like it, but that they may not have all the tools to deal with effectively. Several students expressed frustration that adults in their communities/schools did not pay attention to bullying occurring between kids and one particularly engaged middle schooler asked Frank and I if we had ever been bullied in our lives. When we responded that we had she asked us how we handled it and what she and her peers are supposed to do when they are faced with situations of bullying. As it was coming to the end of our session time we were only able to discuss options for a few minutes. On the one hand the sessions today left me feeling that students today face much more drastic forms of bullying even than the forms that were in existence when I was in middle school ten years ago. The vast technology available to today’s youth means that bullying is always happening, occurring on a larger scale, and kids can’t get away from it. On the other hand, I left proud of the girls who we spoke with today because so many of them are strong leaders and are dedicated to being positive role models in their communities/schools.
I hope that each of the girls enjoyed their experience today and had fun, we certainly did!
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