Not In Our School is proud of the multi-year work at Soledad High School in Soledad, CA. In this profile, two NIOS leaders reflect on the anti-bullying work they continue to push in their school district—Aidee Aldaco, a staff member at Soledad High, and Robert, a student who helped found Soledad NIOS with his older brother Alex, a current NIOS intern.
Soledad
Soledad High School in Soledad, CA is in its second year of implementing its Not In Our School campaign. We are happy to give the first NIOS club seniors “Not In Our School” sashes to proudly wear at their graduation ceremony.
NIOS Director Becki Cohn-Vargas recently interviewed NIOS Club members Alex, Robert, Daisy and Ivan. In this interview, these students share how taking a leadership stance against bullying on their campus has helped them grow personally and what they have learned since starting a NIOS club.
Becki: When you guys started the cyberbullying club, you gathered some data. What did you find out?
Alex: What we found out was it seemed like people were more willing to allow bullying to happen, people just didn’t care. It’s funny, people often say that they will stand up to others, and they won’t let anyone encroach on their territory, but from what we saw through the surveys is that people just don’t care. They’ll let other people get shoved.
Soledad High School students come together to pledge against bullying. Photo Courtesy of Monterey County Office of Education.Soledad High School Assistant Principal Laura Eras and Intervention Specialist Myra Chavez called us from Soledad, CA, a small farming community located 25 miles southeast of Salinas. Using Not In Our School materials, they launched a weeklong anti-bullying campaign.