LOWELL — A 54-year-old health teacher speaks to middle schoolers about bullying.
Within a couple minutes, those kids are thinking about the lunch menu.
But over in a neighboring community, the students hear from Red Sox superstar Mookie Betts and Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman. The anti-bullying program connects in that school. It’s now an exciting program that engages kids.
This successful anti-bullying program, Boston vs. Bullies, was launched in 2013. Since then, participating schools have seen a significant decrease in bullying among their student populations.
A recent Boston University study has backed up the effectiveness of the program, which has reached 85,000 students so far. The BU study revealed students reported there was less bullying in class after Boston vs. Bullies, the program made things better for bullied kids, the percentage of students who reported peer victimization decreased significantly, and more.
“Our program is the real deal,” said Rusty Sullivan, executive director of The Sports Museum in Boston. “We’ve seen our program help change cultures in school.
“It doesn’t completely eliminate bullying, no program will, but our program makes it cool to be against bullying,” he added.
The organization reached out to The Sun and Boston Herald after the newspapers’ joint series on teen suicide and bullying. Lowell’s Anna Aslanian, 16, took her own life after getting bullied in middle and high school.
Sullivan stressed that area schools can take advantage of the Boston vs. Bullies video-based educational program for free — which is key as many school districts don’t have extra money in the budget. The program is privately funded.
The Sports Museum launched the project in the wake of the state’s anti-bullying legislation in 2010. Officials continued to see the horrendous impact of bullying, including teenagers taking their own lives.
The organization felt that sports was the perfect platform to address bullying, and the youth participants have responded to the program, Sullivan said. The 30-minute educational video features athletes including Betts, Raisman, Patriots safety Patrick Chung, Celtics guard Terry Rozier and Bruins defenseman Torey Krug.
“We really believe that when it comes to issues like bullying, who’s delivering the message is just as important as what they’re seeing,” Sullivan said.
Elementary and middle schools in Lowell have participated in the program over the last five years: McAvinnue Elementary, Stoklosa Elementary, Wang Middle, Sullivan Middle, and Bartlett Community Partnership School.
The Sports Museum plans to reach a cumulative total of 200,000 students by 2023, as it continues to bring Boston vs. Bullies to schools and afterschool programs in Massachusetts and across New England.
“We want to help students before it’s too late,” Sullivan said.
The program teaches: what is bullying; how you can stop bullying; how you can respond to bullying; how you as a bystander can help; how to respond to cyberbullying; and more.
For schools, the organization provides a train-the-trainer program, lesson plans, activity worksheets and PowerPoint presentations.
They also bring wristbands, banners and posters.
“You want to engage your students, and this engages students for sure,” the executive director said.
Sullivan compared the program to a team with a playbook and a plan of attack for a sports contest.
Through Boston vs. Bullies, bystanders can come up with a plan if they’re seeing someone getting bullied.
“We want to inspire kids to be that active bystander who can diffuse the entire situation,” Sullivan said.
School officials can call to find out more and schedule Boston vs. Bullies sessions. If schools are interested, they should visit www.bostonvsbullies.org or call Michelle Gormley, director of education, at 617-624-1233.
Follow Rick Sobey on Twitter @rsobeyLSun.
