Pink Shirt Day unites students to stand up to bullying

“It’s so important. This day is just a reminder, we remind kids every day to be kind, to think of others and themselves, and take care of themselves and their classmates. It’s nice to have a big flashy day with pink, big symbols and reminders to be kind every day, not just today.”

Gough notes how important it is to raise awareness of bullying in a school.

“We’re always trying to get them prepared to be Canadian citizens, to be citizens of the world, to go out and into the world after school and be the best they can be. We want to create these wonderful citizens,” she says. “If we don’t talk about it, we put these kids out into the world without that background. We want them to go out and not only be intelligent and do the best they can academically, but we want them to also just be well rounded, kind people.”

Students say they have felt that impact and received the message.

“Today is a really important day to our school because it’s a day where everyone is allowed to be them and it’s a day that means a lot to schools because it means that we wear the shirts to stop bullying,” says Grade 7 student, Emma Ross.

Gough wants this message to be spread by the students.

“I hope they pass it on. Honestly part of the photo booth thing is to take a picture and share it because social media is so huge. The kids pass the message onto the whole community.”

Grade 7 student, Hayden Wylson laid out the message quite simply.

“Be kind, be with people you like and spread the word.”

Other schools across Red Deer have participated in Pink Shirt Day, including St. Teresa of Avila School who on February 20th created videos on the topic, spread kind messages on lockers and learned how to develop kindness as a character trait.

Pink Shirt Day started at a school in Nova Scotia in 2007 and has since grown into a worldwide event.

by Stephen Moore and Sheldon Spackman

Pink Shirt Day unites students to stand up to bullying

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