campus engagement log #2

Today, I attended a presentation called "Taking Up Space: Middle School Girls' Responses to (Cyber) Bullying". It was presented by Dr. Santana of the College of Arts and Humanities in pursuit of a research grant. It is structured around interviews and direct observation. This research project aims to examine the relationship between anti-bullying education and mentoring services and how young girls' involvement in these programs affects how they address bullying on their school campus. Dr. Santana and the others involved in this project feel that self-confidence in young girls is imperative to future leadership.

Four hypotheses were established for this research project: in schools where over 40% of students are economically disadvantaged, harassment is more likely to be physical; when public school officials ignore bullying issues, girls are more likely to "take matters into their own hands"; with leadership instruction, girls are more likely to take safe and rational action against bullying; and when girls lead anti-bullying campaigns in their schools, school personnel will take more initiative to curb bullying. Out of eight interview participants, four students reported that they had been or were currently bullied, or knew someone who was being bullied. It was found that there were weak associations between race and more instances of physical bullying, as was there a weak association between prescription drug use in the last 30 days and bullying. An association between risky behaviors, such as drug use and sex, and bullying was not found.

As a victim of fairly serious bullying in my elementary and middle school years, this presentation hit home with me. Of her past being sex trafficked and the young trafficking victims she works with today, Rachel Lloyd says "I hunger to understand more about the girls' lives in order to understand mine. If I could figure out what had happened to them, perhaps I had a better chance of explaining it all to myself" (Lloyd 27). I felt this way when watching the presentation today, and am eager to hear more about the results found. Although I was in middle school slightly before social networking became popular, it is interesting and saddening to see how "cyber bullying" now effects young girls. I am a bit too old to have encountered much cyber bullying myself, but have seen examples of it in the media that are horrifying. I believe strongly in the work that has gone into this research project, mentoring, and leadership programs for girls, and I hope to hear more about it, or perhaps find opportunities for involvement, in the future.

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