Yokota Middle School students, teachers and staff demonstrate against bullying at Yokota Air Base, Japan, October 30, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Dressed in orange clothing and carrying signs, more than 100 middle school students, staff and community members gathered this week to deliver an anti-bullying message at this air transportation hub in Japan. west of Tokyo.

Some of the signs were fanciful: “Donut bully,” one read, with the image of an orange donut covered in white sprinkles. Others, more serious: “Let’s be united. »

Yokota Middle School students, teachers and staff demonstrate against bullying at Yokota Air Base, Japan, October 30, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

Yokota Middle School students demonstrate against bullying at Yokota Air Base, Japan, October 30, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

“The anti-bullying march was something we started last year in October because it’s anti-bullying month, and we wanted to bring everyone together and wear orange, which is the color that signifies anti-bullying,” Yokota Middle School Principal Hilary Simmons said. Stars and Stripes during the half-hour event on the track at nearby Yokota High.

“We want to raise awareness about the importance of being in a place where you feel safe and where children feel valued,” she added.

Bullying is not very common at Yokota Middle School, said Simmons, who attributes that to being part of a military community. But bullying is a recognized problem in American schools.

“You never know where our students will go next, so it’s important that the month’s events make it highly visible and raise awareness, so children can feel empowered to take a stand against bullying,” she said .

One in five American students reported being bullied in some way during the 2016-2017 school year, according to the results of a survey released two years later by the Department of Education. ‘Education.

One in four eighth graders reported being bullied, the highest figure between sixth and 12th grades, the report said. In the Midwest, one in four students reported being bullied, the highest percentage among the four regions in the report.

According to the report’s data, bullying can range from exclusion from activities to insults sent via text message to being pushed or spat on.

Yokota Middle is one of several Department of Defense Educational Activities schools that have hosted events for Bullying Awareness Month. The message is not lost on students.

“Anti-Bullying Month is important to our school because every time new students come in and out, they should feel welcome,” seventh grader Macy Hawkins told Stars and Stripes after the walk.

Yokota Middle School students demonstrate against bullying at Yokota Air Base, Japan, October 30, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

Lelle Avellan, a seventh grader, said she was happy to show her support for such an important message.

“It makes me feel like my school actually cares about people and accepts them, and that participating is really, really fun,” she said.

Several DODEA schools across the Pacific celebrated World Bullying Prevention Day on October 7, Unity Against Bullying Day on October 16, and held assemblies and spirit weeks throughout the month.

“I think it’s really important, especially at the middle and high school level, because sometimes students aren’t totally aware of what bullying looks like, so teaching them that can encourage kids to really stand up for the fights against bullying,” Simmons said. .

National Bullying Awareness Month was originally a week-long event started in 2006 by the National Bullying Prevention Center. It was expanded in 2010 to include the entire month of October.