Oct 5, 2015 2 min read

Waynesburg Central High School began the second year of its Olweus Anti-Bullying program called “Strike Out Bullying” on Monday with students piling into the gym for a teachers vs. students wiffle ball game and mini-games between innings to foster goodwill and friendships.

Chris MCcabe, a physical education teacher and member of the anti-bullying committee, said the program has helped bring awareness to the issue over the past two years.

“It seems to be effective,” McCabe said. “It helps make sure students know how to report it and gets everybody on the same page.”

Seniors Jake Tretinik and Lauren Tustin agreed the Olweus program has positive effects on their school.

“Bullying really has never been a big problem here,” Tretinik said. “It’s spoken about all the time, so students know what to do if it ever does happen.”

Tustin said kickoff events such as the wiffle ball game help get students more interested in the program.

“It was a lot more fun than just having someone come and talk,” Tustin said. “It got everyone engaged and excited for the program.”

The Olweus program gives schools a curriculum to follow that presents students with the different kinds of bullying. It also contains a step-by-step process on how and what the best way is to report the problem. The instructions hang in every classroom of the school.

During the kickoff, students got to watch some of their classmates take on faculty members in a wiffle ball game.

They also got involved during inning breaks with mini-games. Winners of the those games received gift cards from organizations that sponsored the event.

“Usually the kids will meet in teams in their homerooms once a month and discuss a different topic within bullying,” physical education teacher Donna Clarke said.

“But we decided to do something fun to get them interested for the first event.”