La Quinta Students Discuss Bullying
The Anti-Defamation League helped students of La Quinta High School understand the power of name-calling and teasing Tuesday in an anti-bias training assembly.
Nearly 700 sophomore students attended the two-part assembly.
Leaders from the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and classmates helped students open up about when they’ve been bullied or been the bully.
Peter Zuniga said he has been both.
“I’m just like, ‘I’ve done that, too, without even realizing it.’ And, you feel really bad, so it’s definitely the awareness is definitely definitely there,” said Zuniga.
Other students like Zuniga shared their experiences.
It was a wake-up call for Kitaek Lee. The sophomore said he’s kept quiet when his classmates joke about his race.
“I kind of sat down and didn’t say anything, but what I learned from today is that I really got to step it up and tell them to stop, that it’s not the right thing,” said Lee.
The assembly was inspired after last summer’s “Beat the Jew” controversy, where a half dozen students played the part of Nazis and chased down one student labelled “the Jew.”
Those students faced disciplinary action and have since graduated. According to school officials, the school wanted to prevent similar games in the future.
Desert Sands Unified School District also plans to have training sessions for parents, to help them understand bullying issues, and how to listen to their children.
“The truth of the matter is sometimes youth don’t necessarily know how to reach or who to reach out to and the other truth is that sometimes we’re not listening carefully enough,” said Elana Wien, with the Anti-Defamation League.
Students said they’re proud their school took a stand and turned a controversial game into something their classmates and other schools can learn from.
“People don’t understand the effects of what happens to people, the long term. Things that happen, and I think it’s important that students hear that,” said senior Bri Stone.
“I think that this is a really good thing that this came here to show that our school is … our school shouldn’t be reflected by that game because that’s not how our school is,” said sophomore Raelynn Lopez.
