Can college ambassadors help high schools reduce cyberbullying?

On Board Online • April 2, 2018

By George Basler
Special Correspondent

Cyberbullying hit home for Marc Badalucco during his senior year of high school. A fellow student, whom Badalucco describes as smart but socially awkward, ended up taking his own life after being targeted on social media.

The 20-year-old Siena College junior hasn't forgotten the shock. "I wanted to see if I could make a difference, even the smallest part," he said.

For this reason, Badalucco signed up to be part of a new initiative aimed at increasing awareness about cyberbullying and empowering teenagers to stand up against it.

The "Upstander" initiative is a joint effort of AT&T, Siena College and the Tyler Clementi Foundation, named for a Rutgers University student who committed suicide after being "outed" online for being gay. It pairs Siena College students who have been trained as "ambassadors" with high school students for peer-to-peer workshops, role playing exercises and school-wide assemblies.

An upstander - the opposite of a bystander - is defined as a person that interrupts cyberbullying as well as someone who helps a victim of cyberbullying, possibly by notifying an adult.

Twenty-one Siena students, including Badalucco, ran programs in seven high schools in different parts of the state in the fall. Five more schools have signed up for the spring, with the possibility more will be added, officials said.

The realistic goal is to provide an opportunity for students to have meaningful conversations and think through the choices they make, said Marissa Shorenstein, president of AT&T's Northeast Region. "We want to effect change student-by-student and parent-by-parent," she said.

The initiative grew out of the findings in the Upstate Cyberbullying Census survey conducted in late 2016 by the Siena College Research Institute. The survey found 26 percent of teens surveyed across upstate New York reported being cyberbullied.

Teens cited many reasons for this bullying: physical appearance (44 percent); social awkwardness (35 percent); being thought of as gay (35 percent); the clothes they wear (30 percent); being unathletic (26 percent); having a disability (24 percent); or being sexually active (20 percent).

The initiative is designed to affect a culture change, said April Backus, director of National Assessment of Service and Community Engagement at Siena College.

The research institute recruited the Siena student "ambassadors" and worked with different college departments, including theater and social work, to develop the day-long program, Backus said.

The college ambassadors visit high schools and lead a three-hour training session for a select group of 15 to 25 students picked by school officials. The Siena ambassadors review the findings of the cyberbullying survey and show a film produced by AT&T. They then discuss the issue and develop skits on how to stand up to cyberbullying.

The day concludes with the high school students presenting information and skits to a school-wide assembly. They tackle some tough issues, including revenge porn, depression, self-harm and suicide.

Students at Maine-Endwell High, which hosted the program in November, said they found the assembly riveting.

"In the beginning everyone was kind of fooling around (at the assembly), but once they saw the video they were kind of shocked. They listened and focused," said Amber Simrell, a Maine-Endwell senior.

"It makes people affected by cyberbullying know they're not alone, and it's not their fault," said Tyler Leniek, a junior.

Another junior, Vincent Smith, said he looks at social media differently now. "When I'm scrolling through my news feed and see someone being picked on, I'll message the person that it's going to be OK," he said. "Before (the program) I wouldn't have done that."

The program gets high marks from school leaders, including Dina Bombardiere, a school social worker at Garden City High School that hosted the program in October.

"The difference is that it's peer-led. It's not just an assembly with adults saying something is bad," she said. "It's their peers saying it's not cool."

Student reaction varied at East Syracuse-Minoa Central High School, said Executive Principal Grenardo Avellino. Some students found the Upstander effort "an eye opener" while others found it "ridiculous," he said. But he has noticed a decrease in internet-related incidents after the program took place in November.

It's important to follow-up on the one-day program, said Tom Burkhardt, principal at Maine-Endwell High School. The school is now using a video and other material from the program in its health classes. The school has also started a digital citizenship class to teach students how to positively use the internet and social media.

Siena officials plan to keep in touch with schools that hosted the one-day session to see what follow-up activities are taking place and what additional resources may be needed, Backus said.

Meanwhile, AT&T is gauging school interest in the program for the next school year. It also offering a separate anti-cyberbullying program for parent organizations.

In the end, "teenagers are going to be the ones to change their culture," Backus said. "But we can give them the tools."