Administrators, professors and students were united in singing “I Won’t Let Go” by Rascal Flatts, which wrapped up the emotional presentation on bullying and its effects on Tuesday.

“Bridging Voice in Our Community: the Bully Project” started off its series on bullying and ways to help decrease these incidents Tuesday with a presentation on bullying and the consequences by the Social and Emotional Development in Middle Grades class.

Mildred Pearson, an associate professor of education and the organizer of “Bridging Voices in Our Community,” said bullying is a national epidemic that needs to be talked about.

“Bullying can no longer be a silent topic,” Pearson said.

Diana Jackman, the dean of the college of education and professional studies, said bullying is not often talked about, but it is something that future teachers need to be aware of.

“It’s an issue you (future teachers) will have to face on a daily basis,” Jackman said. “I wish I could stand up here and tell you, you’re never going to have to face it, but you are.”

Jackman said it is a good thing that the students and speakers are talking about bullying.

“It’s a difficult topic to talk about,” Jackman said.

The speakers during the presentation included students that presented their research on bullying, students who have dealt with the situations of suicide and bullying, teachers, administrators and an officer from the Charleston Police Department.

There were six groups of students that presented topics about bullying such as cyberbullying, depression, suicide, empathy, parental and community involvement, and leadership development and gender differences.

The students have been researching their topics and finding ways to introduce the topics in their classrooms.

Some of the suggestions were games where students would take a paper bag and on the outside write things about their physical appearance and on the inside of the bag they would list things that make them feel beautiful on the inside.

Another idea was a word wall that has both negative and positive words that characterize men and women.

Clyde Self, a teacher at Mattoon Middle School, said it is important to teach these things to the students.

Self gave the example of his son making a mistake to illustrate his point that in order for children to know about bullying they have to be taught about bullying.

Self said his son, Ethan, was building a shelf for their Mac computer, but was having trouble with the screws. Ethan was using a regular flat head screwdriver rather than a Phillips screwdriver.

“He didn’t know he needed that screwdriver because I hadn’t taught him,” Self said. “When students have a problem, they don’t know how to handle it without being taught.”

Audience members also heard about the experiences of a student who was bullied, not only by other girls her age, but also their parents.

Paige Logan, a junior at Altamont High School, was bullied by girls in her school and by the girl’s parents online.

“We figured it was because I won Junior Miss,” Logan said.

Logan also told audience member about how a friend from the cheerleading team said some girls claimed they could drag her off campus to beat her up.

“I was scared to go to school,” Logan said. “My grades started slipping and I told my mom that I wanted to be homeschooled. I had to sit in the principal’s office until first period.”

Logan said that because of her bully experience she became a spokesperson for the “No Bull Challenge.”

“Lets put a stop to bullying and say no bull,” Logan said.

This challenge allows students to make a three to five minute video about bullying. For more information on the “No Bull Challenge” students can go to www.nobullchallenge.org.

Logan’s principal at Altamont High school, Todd Bean, also spoke.

Bean talked about the ways administrators could handle the problem of bullying.

Bean said the four steps to handle a bullying situation is to listen, evaluate and educate, take action, and drop it.

Bean said administrators have to listen before they take action to let students know that they care.

“The most important thing you can do is listen,” Bean said. “Listening is the first step to trust. Once one person has the guts to talk, others start coming forward.”

Bean said in order to change the level of bullying in a school, people have to come forward to talk.

Bean said this makes it seem like there are more problems than in other schools.

Bean said administrators of other schools tell him he has more problems in his school then in their schools, but he said that everyone has problems with bullying.

“The only difference is that I know where mine are and they don’t,” Bean said.

Bean said after punishment it is also important to drop it afterwards because if you call someone a bully over and over again, then they will become a bully.

Maureen Haneberg, a senior elementary education major and a member of the project, said the idea for the project started after the class saw a video on Youtube.

“We felt the need to get students, teachers and parents more involved,” Haneberg said.

Haneberg said the stories that the audience hears helps to show the real effects of bullying.

“When students are bullying, they don’t realized the real effects on a child’s life,” Haneberg said.

Joy Russell, the chair of the department of elementary and middle level education, said she learned a lot from the presentation.

“It really begins with me, getting rid of bullying starts with all of us,” Russell said.

Pearson said this is the first step in working to solve this problem.

“Our voice have to be heard in our community,” Pearson said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.