Cafaro Co.’s undersea adventure program teaches lesson on bullying

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

girard

He sat in his big chair, the Protector of Sand Dusty Reef, and he never said a word.

Sharks don’t talk, after all, but that didn’t matter — Captain McFinn still had the rapt attention of every kindergartner and first- and second-grader sitting on the floor before him Thursday at Girard’s Prospect Elementary School.

W ith him to tell his story was his assistant, Kasey Baker, who is part of the Students Help Achieve Respect and Kindness, or SHARK Patrol, an anti-bullying program sponsored by the Cafaro Co.

Baker had quite the fish tale to tell — “The Legend of Captain McFinn,” created in 2006 by Phyllis Cafaro for her grandson.

One of six books about McFinn, it is the story of his transformation from the biggest bully on Sand Dusty Reef to a real Captain Nice Guy — a shark who puts some teeth into the program that aims to teach kids while they’re very young that bullying hurts.

McFinn was pretty nasty stuff on the reef, swimming around with barracuda bullies Stink and Stank. They go off to torment three nice sea creatures, Bella the angelfish, Four-tooth the curious rabbitfish and Inky the octopus.

McFinn slams his huge tail into a cliff and shakes loose a cascade of garbage that buries him. Stink and Stank swim away, like the false friends and cowards that they are. But the nice creatures help McFinn out of the pile of trash that’s crushing him. He learns the meaning of true friendship.

When the four friends find clothes in a sunken ship they’re using for a clubhouse, McFinn puts them on and they become his signature outfit. Ta-da — Now he’s the Protector of the Reef.

Captain McFinn visits schools throughout the region, said Denise Holloway, who runs bullying intervention programs for the Trumbull County Educational Services Center. When he’s not at schools, he makes appearances at Eastwood Mall and its aquarium.

Captain McFinn made a big splash with Prospect Elementary students.

“He’s cool,” said first-grader Emma Thomas. “I would never be a bully.”