Madison County Promotes Student Unity
One upper valley county is taking a stand against bullying and promoting student unity.
The third annual “Got’cher Back” campaign promotes mental, social and emotional health. Organizers said the goal is to teach students about suicide awareness and prevention and enlarging the circle of support and inclusion within local schools.
“It’s a program that encourages students to recognize their own strengths and the strengths of others and once you do that, you can really see how everybody has their own individual strengths but together, we can make great things happen,” said Kavi Branham, a youth coordinator for the Madison School District.
How it works is students are given a strengths worksheet on which they write their name at the top of the page and highlight a strength they see in themselves. They then pass the paper around to classmates, who then highlight an additional strength they see in their peer.
“I think it’s good that we have these programs because it encourages friendship so people aren’t left out,” said David Barton, a ninth-grade student at Madison Junior High School.
Students at Madison Junior High School in Rexburg say that in cases of bullying, oftentimes intervention is the key to prevention.
“When you see someone being bullied or something, if you step in and help, it’ll stop,” said Shelby Yancey, an eighth-grade student at MJHS.
Organizers said grades K-12 will be included in the initiative in both the Madison and Sugar-Salem School Districts. “Got’cher Back” kicks off April 2.
