Students take on anti-bullying challenge

To celebrate the beginning of National Police Week, the Idaho Falls Fraternal Order of Police is working with local high school students to spread a message of kindness. Students at high schools in Idaho Falls School District 91 and Bonneville School District 93 are taking part in the competition.

“We like working with kids and kind of showing the more humanized side of the badge, interacting with the kids,” said Officer Dustin Howell, president of the Idaho Falls FOP.

Each high school had 30 days to put together an anti-bullying video with a message of “Rewind, Be kind, Keep others in mind.” The videos are posted on the Idaho Falls FOP Facebook page. The one with the most like gets a prize. The Idaho Falls FOP wanted to get students thinking about bullying.

It seems to be more prevalent in high school, junior high,” said Officer Bart Whiting, treasurer of the Idaho Falls FOP. “And so we thought that this would be a fun way to bring awareness to the situation and also challenge the creativity of the kids.”

The officers said the students and their videos exceeded expectations, and added that it is important to get them involved in stopping bullying.

“Any great community, it starts with the youth,” Whiting said. “And they’re the future. And by getting them involved, you know, to get them thinking about being kind and serving others, that they’ll continue to stay with that message and grow with that in their later lives.”

You can vote for your favorite video here. The winning high school gets $1,000, second place gets $500 and the other participants will get $250.