October is bullying prevention month. It’s a good time to share tips on how to prevent bullying.

“In general, I would consider bullying to have become a bigger problem. It has definitely grown, especially with the rise of social media,” Guidance Counselor Mr. David Kelley said.

Social media has become the most common way for bullying to happen. According to dosomething.org, nearly 43 percent of kids worldwide have been bullied online and about one-fourth of them say it has happened more than once.

“Now, even when kids go home, the bullying doesn’t stop. It’s on their phones and computers,” Kelley stated.

Everyday about 160,000 teens skip school due to bullying, according to dosomething.org. “We haven’t seen a lot of bullying here at Wahlert. The most common things you hear about in high school are friendship issues involving a group of friends ganging up on someone or dating and relationship problems,” Mr. Kelley says.

Mr. Kelley offered some tips on how to cope and deal with being bullied.

“Talk with someone that you trust, or I hope that students would feel comfortable with coming to me. If we know what’s going on, we are able to help. Be watchful of who you hear things from; that could go a long way to solving these problems.”

If you don’t know how to help prevent bullying from happening, follow some of these tips from other students.

“Don’t feed into gossip and rumors. Don’t stoop down to their level,” Ellie Osterberger ,‘18, recommends.

Other students think that keeping your cool and treating everyone with kindness is another approach.

“Be nice to everyone and treat everyone how you want to be treated,” Sophie Foy, ‘19, says.

The last solution many students thought would be effective is a direct approach.

“If you see something happening, try to stop it, and if someone is saying false things about someone, step up and nicely tell them to stop,” Emma Duehr, ‘19, said.

Nobullying.com states that 70 percent of high school students have been bullied but never report it because they are afraid or because they feel the school will not take action. But, by working these tips into our school and everyday life, we can help eliminate bullying together.