With bullying becoming a worldwide epidemic, the Southern Ute Community Action Programs (SUCAP) held a “Put a Stop to Bullying in our Community” event featuring Ron Shuali, an author of the book “Breaking the Bullying Circle”on Thursday, August 23 at the Ignacio High School auditorium in an effort to stop bullying in our community.
Shuali has been a pioneer in the fight against bullying for over half of his life. Once a bully, Shuali decided to make a change. He is now a top motivational speaker, best-selling author and presents in front of thousands of kids, ranging from preschool through high school, in addition to school assemblies for parents and teacher seeking professional development.
Shuali earned his blackbelt in American Freestyle Karate and started adventuring into yoga at age 25. Now, Shuali teaches a “Health and Wellness” mantra called Yogarate, a unique blend of both yoga and karate. In Yogarate, Shuali was the first Yensei (Yoga/Sensei).
“We have the power to create bullies, if you want to have an impact on the whole town, whole state, it’s got to start by having an impact on the kids in your lives, first,” Shuali said.
In Shuali’s book, he extensively goes over hard to discuss topics like, standing up to the bullying and why bullies bully, among other useful topics.
Most recently, in Colorado, a nine-year-old committed suicide after being bullied by his classmates, after coming out as gay, according to authorities in Denver, Colo., Jamel Myles had just started fourth grade and had just recently come out as gay to his mother and peers. “Four days is all it took at school, I could just imagine what they said to him,” said Myles mother, Leia Piece in an interview with Fox News.
According to bullyingstatistics.org, about 30 percent of students in the United States are involved in bullying on a regular basis as either a victim, bully or both. With bullying being at an all-time high, in a recent SAFE survey, teens in sixth through tenth grade are more likely to be in involved in activities related to bullying.
160,000 kids per day skip school for fear of being bullied according to the American Society for Positive Care of Children
Cyber bullying is on the rise, more so than any other type of bullying, rising 42 percent in the last couple of years. New research has shown that today’s kids are more likely to get bullied online or in school.
The evolution of social media and mobile communication may have made it easier than ever for young people to share, but they also create an environment that can make bullying “inescapable and even more threatening than ever before,” according to a new report by Child Helpline International (CHI).
Do you know what bullying is? Would you know if your child was being bullied or was the bully?
Unwanted aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance, where the behavior has the potential to be repeated…Bullying.
Ignacio School District offers a variety of ways to help with preventing bullying. One of those sources is Safe2Tell. You can call or text 1-877-542-7233 (SAFE) to anonymously report bullying, threats, sexual misconduct, harassment, stalking, suicidal behaviors are just among the few things you can report, again all reporting is anonymous and is protected by Colorado state law.