LAKELAND - On Feb. 28, Pink Shirt Day will be celebrated across Alberta, and particularly in school classrooms.
Student leaders in schools across the Lakeland will play an active role in determining activities in their schools for this year’s Pink Shirt Day on Feb. 28.
The origins of this day, which is recognized annually around the world as an anti-bullying initiative, date back to 2007, when a Nova Scotia student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school.
At Lac La Biche’s Aurora Middle School this year, principal Carolina Franke says students typically hold different in-class activities as well as school-wide events.
The whole school activities, she says, are usually decided by the student leadership teams, which are comprised of students from grades 4-8. According to Franke, there is a junior leadership and a senior leadership group that comes up with some of the activities that the school will be doing.
“I’m really curious to see what they want to do this year,” she said.
Activities vary from year to year. Last year, the school did a ‘kindness blitz.’ Pink shirts were worn throughout the day and students received individual classroom education on kindness and bullying.
No matter what the students decide, the message is always the important part, Franke said.
“The big significance of this day for us is bringing awareness to bullying and building empathy and kindness in our students at all times.”
Carmen Semeniuk, the principal of Light of Christ Catholic School in Lac La Biche, said Pink Shirt Day will be celebrated at the school in Feb. 28 along with the rest of the province.
According to Sememiuk, some of the events that take place at Light of Christ on Pink Shirt Day include teachers leading classroom activities, videos and read-alouds that allow for positive conversations to happen amongst students and staff, who are also encouraged to wear the colour that signifies this day of anti-bullying awareness.
“We ask all students and staff to wear pink in support and to bring awareness to stand up against bullying,” she stated.
Why Pink Shirts?
Pink Shirt Day is recognized across Canada. It came about after a Grade 9 student from Nova Scotia arrived to class wearing a pink polo shirt in 2007.
The student was harassed by some students for his choice in clothing.
Following the incident, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price encouraged classmates to wear pink and bought dozens of pink shirts to hand out in a stance against the bullying that took place.
To their surprise, the message caught on and when they arrived at school the majority of their peers were dressed in pink.
Shepherd and Price had dubbed the movement “sea of pink,” but what would eventually catch on was the colour of the shirt and the meaning behind the message – be kind to each other and put a stop to bullying.
