Friday, April 25th 117 students at Windham Tech pledged to be silent as part of the National Day of Silence. This initiative was begun by GLSEN as a means of bringing awareness to anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender) name calling, harassment and bullying that happens in schools. Windham tech’s GSA and MOSAIC groups collaborated together to plan and implement this first ever event in our school. As a group they decided to include all targets of bullying, harassment, and name calling, due to one’s race, religion, ethnicity and/or sexual orientation.
For three days prior to the event students had the opportunity to sign up as participants in the day of silence. A list of participants was distributed to the staff so that teachers had an understanding of who was participating and could adjust their lesson plans accordingly. “When we began this initiative we thought maybe we would get 20 to 25 students” says Mrs. Scheff, advisor to both groups. “We never thought we would get 117!” Each student was given a name tag that they wore throughout the day. Many students wanted to sign up but could not do so as they had production duties or clinical rotations that required them to speak when necessary. What they were unable to say with their silence they were able to say with their support.
At the end of the day a student led “Break of the Silence” was held for all students who participated. Some members of GSA and Mosaic shared their prepared thoughts and experiences with harassment. This was followed by the ending of the silence in which each of the 117 student held a balloon, and at the same time, popped it with their name tag pins. The break of Silence ended with music and fun as those students who kept silent throughout the day took the opportunity to talk to their friends and share their experiences.
“It was so hard to be silent” said a sophomore student. “So many students tried to coax us into talking and teased us about it” said another participating student. While a majority of the student body was tolerant and understanding of the silent protest there were those who found it annoying or inappropriate. This did not deter the Mosaic and GSA groups from feeling inspired and proud. “We will definitely do this again next year” said Casey Watson, a junior in the GSA. It was truly inspirational and the message that harassment, bullying and name calling affects everyone was heard loud and clear. |
