Five Washington Middle School students imparted their words of wisdom on how to appropriately resolve bullying situations when they recently met with the fourth- and fifth-grade students at neighboring Trautwein Elementary.

This anti-bullying activity is one of several programs the two schools collaborated on this school year to provide valuable character education and service-learning opportunities for their students.

“We wanted to ramp up the connection between our schools this year,” Julie Kurz, English Language Learner teacher and Trautwein Character Education co-chair, stated in a news release. “This anti-bullying program is just one more way for us to educate our students and work to eliminate bullying at Trautwein.”

WMS eighth-graders and former Trautwein students C.J. Bender, Matt Davenport, Molly Gibbs, Kristin Haid and Adam Ryffel began their visit by eating lunch with Trautwein’s Character Club members.

The students then led Trautwein’s fourth- and fifth-graders in a variety of anti-bullying activities. The Trautwein students learned surprising statistics about bullying and spent time discussing the best way to handle different bullying scenarios. The eighth-graders also spoke with Trautwein students about cyberbullying and its increasing prevalence among preteens and teenagers.

After their presentations, the WMS students met with Trautwein Principal Donna Wagener before returning to their school to reflect on the day with WMS Assistant Principal Patrick Keenoy.