As many of you will have heard by now, February 26th is officially known as Pink Shirt Day in B.C. The aim of Pink Shirt Day is to put an end to bullying and discrimination. The day commemorates an event that happened in 2009 in a rural school in Nova Scotia. A boy in grade 9 wore a pink polo shirt to school. Some other students called him names and made fun of him. The boy’s friends heard about this, and decided they needed to take action. They gathered together as many pink shirts as they could and handed them out to people the next day, telling them what had happened. The school became a virtual “sea of pink”, and the message was loud and clear that they would not stand by while unkind things were done. Now, when we wear pink on February 26th, it reminds us that together we can put an end to bullying, discrimination and hate.
Here at CPE we have recognized Pink Shirt Day for four years in a row. This year, we decided to do something even a little more special, though. Throughout the months of January and February, the whole school has been learning about diversity and individual strengths and learning styles. So, it made sense to make our Pink Shirt Day celebration as unique as we are. During the past week, every CPE student had a chance to individually tie dye a shirt (or a scarf or skirt, or whatever students brought in!). We tied our shirts into swirls and knots and scrunches, then dipped them into a bath of permanent cloth dye. When they were rinsed and dried, we had hundreds of pieces of handmade art! And even better yet, our art has a message.
Today we gathered in the Gym for a special assembly put on by the Grade 7 class, along with students from the Me to We club. They put on a skit, got us dancing, and showed us a video from We Day about putting an end to bullying. Then students got to “Stomp Out Bullying” by tracing their foot onto big posters and signing their names.
It has been a busy week, but lots of fun! We hope you enjoy some of the photos of our day:
