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Newtown High School students
pledge to stand up to cyberbullying
BY CARLOTTA
MOHAMED
Students at Newtown
High School in
Elmhurst are pledging
to stand up against
cyberbullying.
AT&T, the Tyler
Clementi Foundation
and Siena College teamed
up with Newtown High
School Feb. 6 to host
the AT&T and Siena
Upstander Program,
a cyberbullying peerto
peer prevention
program expanding to
public schools across
New York in 2019.
“Newtown is excited
to work with AT&T and
Siena college on this
project. Our students
are active on the internet
and we firmly believe
that this training will
help to keep them safe,”
said Pablo Ocampo,
assistant principal of
Security at Newtown
High School. “We are
training students from
our six Small Learning
Communities and
expect them to work
with peers to promote
internet safety and
prevent cyberbullying.”
Six Siena students
worked with 40
selected student
leaders during two
workshop sessions at
Newtown High School
— located 48-01 90th
St. — to train them on
how to be Upstander
ambassadors to speak
up against the negative
behavior.
Students discussed
the use of social media,
past cyberbullying
experiences, and
participated in an
active workshop,
before a screening of
a student-created film
produced by AT&T
for its Cyberbullying
Newtown High School students participate in workshops and role playing exercises to gain skills and
confidence to stand up to online bullying and keep their peers safe. Photo by Carlotta Mohamed
Film Invitational to
showcase unique and
personal experiences
with cyberbullying
and its devastating
aftermath.
“A bystander is
someone who just
sits and watches the
bullying take place,
but an upstander really
steps in and stops it,”
said Rebecca Goldstein,
student coordinator of
the Siena Upstander
Program.
“As technology
grows more and more,
it really becomes a
thing in high schools
and in middle schools,
and even now we’re
seeing it in elementary
schools, and I think for
us to address it would
be a way to hopefully
stop it and at least help
some of the students
who are experiencing
it,” Goldstein added.
This is the second
ambassadors program
in New York City to
date and the first in
Queens. The program
brings Siena students
to schools to help
educate students,
teachers and school
administrators about
online safety and
provide workshops,
tools and resources to
combat cyberbullying.
Created in 2017 in
reaction to the results
of a study which
revealed that one in two
students have been a
victim of cyberbullying
in New York City, the
program’s goal is to
empower students to
stand up to negative
online behavior, combat
cyberbullying and
become Upstander
ambassadors within
their schools and
communities.
“The one thing that
is really easy to do is
changing the culture
within schools,” said
Benjamin Roberts,
director of Public Affairs
at AT&T. “Most students
want to be bystanders
or are bystanders, and
that’s not any fault by
themselves…they just
don’t want to be the
next victim or don’t
know what to do. If you
change, more people
would be upstanders…
those are the ones
that will interact,
console, and report the
cyberbullying.”
Newtown High
School student Anil
Maihepat, who was
bullied in middle
school, said the youth
have the ability and
opportunity to speak
up against bullying.
“When I was
younger, I went
through depression
and I use to harm
myself a lot and I
received help,” said
Maihepat. “I got a lot
better from that, like
when people tell me
something mean I don’t
take it on anymore.”
Another Newtown
High School student
Nyeisha Telfer, says
she feels the need to
help others who may
be experiencing some
form of bullying.
“No matter what
someone tells you,
you should always
have an open mind
that nothing is wrong
with you. You may be
different, but your
made different,”
said Telfer. “Your
specifically picked and
chosen and created
the way you are for a
reason, and you should
never doubt yourself
or feel like there’s
something wrong
with you personally
because you’re not like
everyone else because
in anyway you’re still
beautiful just like
everybody else.”
The Upstander
ambassador peer-topeer
training program
joins a first-of-its-kind
online safety pilot
program, ScreenReady,
that AT&T launched
in New York City in
late 2018 after a new
study found children
and teens are spending
more time than ever
online and on their
mobile devices – and
engaging in risky
behaviors without their
parents’ knowledge.
TIMESLEDGER,28 FEB. 15-21, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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