A special assembly this week on the important, timely theme of anti-bullying brought together D-E Lower School students with US student leaders in the S.A.G.E. (Supporting Adolescent Group Experiences) Club and their 7th grade 'buddies'.  With multi-media powerpoints, homemade video segments, skits, and signage, the students were presented with strategies for counter-acting bullying and its various forms. 

US English Department faculty member and S.A.G.E. advisor Vicky Frankel, who helped with producing the presentation, spoke to how D-E can sustain an environment of acceptance by regularly educating students on the ways in which bullying can evolve. The theme of the assembly stemmed in part from the D-E School ideal of "being an Upstander" and standing up for what's right.  Even the youngest of students seemed attune to the responsibilities associated with this "Upstander" ideal.  (See recent coverage of the assembly, courtesy of NY 1.)

For the conclusion of the program, LS Principal Peter Davies led the entire group assembled in a cheer captured on students' T-shirts worn especially for the occasion: "I"M A BULLDOG, NOT A BULLY!" He went on to explain that all LS students will sign a new Anti-Bullying Pledge wall hanging in the D-E Lower School main lobby. The program ended fittingly with a group signalong to the main theme from Toy Story The Movie: "You've Got A Friend In Me."  By all accounts the assembly was an effective, engaging way in which to further strengthen the D-E school environment of tolerance, kindness, and compassion.