Ciara Hosein took extra time to explain a well-known game to J.P. Ryon Elementary School students. Because while most may be familiar with the wood block stacking game, this time there was a twist.

“This game of Jenga is a little bit different than how you have played it before, because these blocks represent J.P. Ryon Elementary School,” said Hosein, founder of the No-Bullying Bear Foundation, during a recent assembly.

The building blocks of the Jenga tower represented students at the school as they came up to play the game. “The objective of the game is to make sure that your school is still standing at the end,” Hosein said. She asked each student if they had been bullied before they pulled a block off the tower. This was one of the few activities and games that were played at the Stand Up and Speak Out Against Bullying assembly at Ryon on Oct. 17.

Students in Grades 3-5 attended the assembly to learn ways to identify and prevent bullying. Partners at the event were Hosein, members of the Charles County Branch of the NAACP, Lisa Ambers of Beyond the Classroom and Miss Charles County Volunteer Teen Lillian Stephens.

Wanda Proctor, community school coordinator at Ryon, wanted to bring this initiative to students at the school. “Today’s event has been well received by our young scholars. They were so engaged as they learned ways to identify and prevent bullying,” she said.

“I wanted to start this nonprofit because when I was in school, I was bullied,” Stephens said during the assembly. “I want to help people so that they do not end up how I did.”

She said that there are so many people who get bullied every day and she wants to help others know ways to speak up against bullying whether they are the ones being bullied or witnessing someone else being bullied.

National Unity Day is Oct. 22. The day focuses on coming together to prevent bullying in and out of school. In Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) students and staff can unite by wearing orange while standing up for kindness, acceptance and inclusion.

Ambers wanted to bring Beyond the Classroom and elements of anti-bullying behavior to students at Ryon after she and Stephens brought the anti-bullying assembly to C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School last school year.

“I was bullied, and I remember it like it was yesterday” Ambers said. “That’s why it is such a big part of Beyond the Classroom.”

“I appreciate Mr. Adam, our principal, for all he does setting and supporting the goals of our community school,” Proctor said. “He knows the long hours, and heavy lifting involved. It is about being intentional in building relationships and seeing the impact of developing partnerships within the community to make events like this possible. We have awesome partners who donate their time and energy to making our school better.”

Learn more about National Bullying Prevention Month and Unity Day at https://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/.

About CCPS

Charles County Public Schools provides 28,162 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 39 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Dr. Mike Blanchard, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event. 

CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).