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Sylvan schools celebrate Pink Shirt Day

On February 22, schools across Sylvan Lake celebrated National Pink Shirt Day - a national anti-bullying movement.
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SOCK HOP - Kindergarten teacher Lila Tighe lead EOLR in song and dance to commemorate Pink Shirt Day.

On February 22, schools across Sylvan Lake celebrated National Pink Shirt Day - a national anti-bullying movement that grew out New Brunswick students’ effort to protect one of their peers from bullying by wearing a pink shirt.

To commemorate the day Ecole Our Lady of the Rosary (EOLR) held a Sock Hop, where the entire school joined together to dance and to celebrate positive actions.

“We are having an awesome day,” Kindergarten teacher Lila Tighe said. “The whole school is in pink and that is great to see. The whole school really knows the definition behind why we are wearing these pink shirts.”

By spending the day in song and dance EOLR was able to turn a difficult topic like bullying, into a reason for celebrating positive relationships.

“We are all about it here at EOLR, we are having a great day celebrating and we are all about the movement,” Tighe said. “We don’t tolerate bullying and the kids have totally bought into that. At our school, we always instill Catholic values into any kind issue like this one.”

Tighe noted from her experience that bullying can begin at very young ages, making it important to instill positive messaging at young ages in order to avoid later issues.

“I am a kindergarten teacher and we can see issues of bullying as low as pre-k so it is important to make sure the message goes through right away,” she said. “We show the kids how it feels to be good to others and to make other kids smile and feel good. Bullying is a sad, sorry issue so if we turn it around - everyone will feel better. It is like a domino effect and the kids see that.”

Being able to lead a dance for the entire school also leaves Tighe and her school feeling joy at the end of the day.

“Celebrating the fact that we are against bullying and that we are a happy school with strong catholic values is just great. You see that on the kids faces,” she said, adding that anti-bullying messaging is something that goes far beyond just one day.

“We instill it throughout the whole year, right from when they get here,” she said. “We celebrate when we see the kids doing good things and we really make a big deal out of positive behaviour.”

Tighe was happy that people were able to recognize the growth her school has main in positive relationships

“Thank you for everyone who came out and saw how awesome it is at EOLR,” she said.

reporter@sylvanlakenews.com