VIDEO: Student Designs Anti-Bullying App for Schools
Driven by his personal experiences being bullied in eighth grade, 17-year-old Brandon Boynton has created a new app called The BullyBØx that aims to stop cyberbullying. According to WishTV, The BullyBØx is free for students at the schools where it is implemented, and allows them to anonymously report incidents and email screenshots directly to school administrators.
The anonymity of the app encourages students who report cyberbullying to feel like upstanders rather than “snitches.” Liberty Christian High School in Anderson, IN is the first school to implement The BullyBØx, and several schools are following suit. Superintendent Lynn Staley is excited for the new anti-bullying tool, stating, “It makes it simple. It’s easy to use. You can use it on all technology. It’s anonymous. Why wouldn’t we want to do that?”
Since creating The BullyBØx, Brandon has partnered with Pro-Claim, a nonprofit that works to encourage people to live without limits, and has set up an Indie GoGo fund to raise money for the app’s expansion.
cyberbullying
High school senior created Facebook compliments page to challenge bullying, spread positivityWe hear a lot about cyberbullying, but some students are using social media to encourage others as oppose to bringing them down.Wilson To, a high school senior in Nevada is one of those students. He launched a page called “Atech Compliments” so students could leave anonymous complimentarity messages about members of the student body.For the first year Wilson ran the page without revealing his identity. "A lot of quiet individuals don't think much of what they do, but when they get compliments for things they didn't realize about themselves, it helps to build self-esteem," he explained to The Huffington Post. The project has since become such a hit that Wilson taught administrators how to take over after graduation.
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A Clever and Informative Response to “That’s So Gay”
At Ignite Boulder, a night of presentations in Boulder, CO featuring speakers about their topic of choice, LGBTQ advocate Ash Beckham gave a hilarious and clever presentation about the proper usage of the phrase, “That’s so gay.” Ash creates a humorous flowchart depicting the proper situations to use the term “that’s so gay” in the hopes of creating a larger societal shift towards acceptance of the LGBTQ community. The overall message of her presentation is made even more clear when she says, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say, because the words that you choose matter.”
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“Make Me Asian” App Pulled From Google Apps
A Washington, D.C. pastor said he was pleased this week after Google pulled an app called “Make Me Asian,” which had been available for its smart phone users.
Pastor Peter Chin started the petition on Change.org this month to have the app removed, and almost 8,500 people responded in just a few weeks.
"I am deeply thankful to those who realized the danger of these stereotypes entering the mainstream and spoke out against this app," Chin said to NPR. "But I am also appreciative of Google, who listened to our concerns and acted accordingly."
18 Million Rising, an activist group for Asian Americans, started its own petition as well. The group was equally angered by the app’s depiction of Native Americans.
By Blair Campbell
Blair Campbell
When we began offering Safe and Secure Online in Canada last year, I lead a class of 120 students in which a young girl, following the cyberbullying video in the presentation, broke down crying and said, “If I report it, will it stop?” She struggled to regain her composure during the presentation.
A teacher afterward said that the school was aware of what she was dealing with and was the reason they brought Safe and Secure Online to their school. It was awful to watch this young girl – who couldn’t have been more than 13 – struggling so much when faced with a discussion about this painful experience, knowing some of the bullies were likely sitting in the room.
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ANTI-BULLYING
The Bully Project Launched with the film Bully, the Bully Project highlights solutions that both address immediate needs and lead to systemic change to combat bullying.
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network’s anti-bullying program, Stop Bullying: Speak Up, focuses on spreading the word about bullying awareness and prevention. Their website has educational videos and games for students, and useful guides and tips for educators and parents.