Kelly Clark shows how Nobody becomes
Somebody.
Photo: Nicole
Montreuil |
Anti-bullying program aims to help
students turn Nobody into Somebody through sharing
Nicole Montreuil
Local Features - Saturday,
October 21, 2006 @ 12:00
Who is Nobody?
Schools across the Niagara region are about to find
out, thanks to the NOTL Rotary Club and former NOTL resident
Kelly Clark’s anti-bullying education program.
Designed to encourage students to discover what makes
them unique by helping others, using the Service above Self
model, the program is almost deceptively simple.
A
cardboard box containing, among other things, a stylized blue
figure and an introduction that declares the doll “Nobody”.
The program works by asking students to take Nobody,
who lacks culture, cause, friends and experience, and infuse
it with pieces of themselves.
“Everybody helps Nobody
become Somebody,” Clark said.
Students are assigned a
week during the school year to take Nobody home, perform an
act of service to others, and add a three-dimensional momento
of their experiences. It’s meant to encourage mutual respect,
something Clark said she’s seen lacking in some classrooms.
Her experiences teaching at an exclusive school in Toronto
proved at-risk children aren’t necessarily children from
economically disadvantaged areas– they’re children too intent
on gaining acceptance from their peers for superficial things
without the security of mutual respect.
“Often when
you see kids at school trying to fit in, its gaining respect
for themselves for something that’s not earned or lasting,”
she said.
In her experience, students typically try to
fit in by ignoring the things that make them unique. The
program encourages them to find causes they feel passionately
about by examining what makes them special.
Previous
participants have used the experience to explain their
culture, collect eyeglasses or toys for children overseas,
spread awareness of environmental causes, and raise funds.
The program, sponsored by NOTL Rotary Club, will be in
Col. Butler and Laura Secord schools locally. The club has
also sponsored the program in six other schools.
Clark
said the schools will implement the program as they see fit,
but said the kits would arrive shortly.
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