REBIRTH: The Anti-Bullying Committee resurrects as a club.
By Timothy Chen, Staff Writer
Founded by Thomas Podgorski and headed by Mike Brower, the Anti-Bullying Committee was a parent-student association attempting to raise bullying awareness and to recognize unacceptable behavior. “Like all schools, we needed to do something,” Podgorski said. The problem of bullying is relevant to every school, including Poly. Principal Dr. Michael Roe, Catherine Murray and Podgorski are working together to resurrect the former Anti-Bullying Committee as a club for this reason. “It’s a great source of community input, and we hope to have parents, staff and students represented in this group,” Podgorski said. He hopes for the club to meet once a month to discuss problems involving bullying.
This rebirth originates from a bullying presentation given by Podgorski. After viewing the presentation and the documentary film Bully, Murray became interested in the movement against bullying and offered to assist. Soon after, Podgorski turned the committee over to Murray, who gladly accepted the reins. Now under the leadership of Murray, the club is still in its infancy. “We’ll come up with ways to create more awareness about being kind and the issues that are around bullying,” Murray said. Though the new club is intended to be student-driven, Dr. Roe plans to further expand the new club to be an anti-bullying campus program. Dr. Roe’s program will involve a coalition of students, parents, teachers, community members and counselors working together to fight against bullying. Through multiple means, Murray and Dr. Roe hope to completely eradicate bullying and create a friendly campus.
Even though the Anti-Bullying Club was re-established just recently, students are already involved, foreshadowing future success. They will continue where Podgorski’s committee left off, further addressing and hopefully fixing the issue of bullying on campus. Bullies beware: there’s a new club in town.