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Austintown students learned the “ABC’s of Bullying Prevention”
AUSTINTOWN
Harlem Globetrotter Zeus, also known as Julian McClurkin, demonstrated his off-the-court skills dealing with bullies.
Austintown Intermediate School third-grade students filled Austintown Fitch High School’s auditorium, excitedly waiting for Zeus. Students cheered, welcoming the trick-basketball star to the stage who discussed a problem affecting schools and students of all ages nationwide – cyber bullying.
Zeus introduced his personal “keep scrolling” rule when seeing something hurtful about a peer on the Internet.
“Cyber-bullying is when you choose to like a picture that someone is talking about somebody else in,” Zeus said. “Don’t even acknowledge that when somebody is talking about somebody else.”
Zeus used his presentation platform, ABC’s of Bullying Prevention, to break down anti-bullying into three easy parts – action, bravery and compassion.
“First, we take action. Someone should go tell a teacher. Next, you can be brave and walk away from a situation that really bugs you. And finally, have compassion and make someone your friend for a day,” Zeus said.
Zeus challenged students to put themselves in a bully’s shoes.
“Maybe they’re dealing with something else in their own lives that you don’t know about,” he said.
Accompanied by his advice about anti-bullying, he showed off some of his legendary basketball tricks with various volunteers from the crowd, making the speech not only informative and helpful, but related to something fun.
Joseph Bryan, 9, a third-grader, said although he liked Zeus’ tricks, he hated bullying.
“It shouldn’t happen. It’s mean, and no one should be mean,” Joseph said.
Students gave suggestions, letting one another know how they would handle a bully, but the consensus was just to be nice.
“If you see someone being bullied or not even having a great day, or if you know someone is a bully, you should be nice to that person,” Zeus said. “Never underestimate the power of a smile.”
Zeus and the rest of the Globetrotters perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown. Tickets are available at the center’s box office, tickemaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.