The Say NO to Bullying Today High School Presentation is a 50 minute (one-class period) presentation. Joe Wojcik a.k.a. Joe the Biker engages students in a serious discussion around bullying. The highly interactive dialogue helps students realize the effects of one’s behavior on others when bullying occurs. It allows open discussion around the tragic turn of events that can result as a consequence of bullying when an individual who is bullied negatively reacts to the oppression. The Say NO to Bullying Today Performance is compelling in that it provides educators and students with specific techniques for dealing with bullying together with a real understanding of its long-term effects. Joe the Biker helps them understand the importance and benefits of creating a sense of community, so that everyone assumes ownership for ensuring respect and the protection for all members of that community.
Joe the Biker talks about his first book Yubbie the Fall and Rise of an Everyday Joe and how being a victim of bullying led to his own self-destructive behavior as a teen and the impact on his professional career. He helps students appreciate the life-long difficulty of having to cope with the emotional trauma in their youth. Profound as it is provocative students resonate and empathize with the pain this biker feels even with his tough façade because he speaks from his heart and connects his stories to their world.
Say NO to Bullying Today High School presentation is a compelling presentation that:
- Encourages students to develop strategies to eradicate bullying in their school.
- Helps students define a sense of community.
- Encourages students to become role models.
- Discusses the use of the “Power of One” to make a difference.
- Engenders contemplation of the impact of their actions on others and their community.
- Promotes intervention.
- Differentiates between teasing and bullying.
- Discusses cyber bullying and its effects, its repercussions, and how to minimize it.
- Encourages students to take the “I am part of a Community pledge“.
Steve Lemanski, Principal, Agawam High School: “I highly recommend Joe the Biker… He is able to connect with a variety of student ages and also with the adults in a school sitting.”
Bullying is defined for students as: The results of actions which cause another person emotional pain, pain which is often internalized, causing irreparable damage. Students become attuned to the need for not participating in, for in fact refusing to accept or engage in any behavior that has a negative impact on another person while developing a sense of service to others.
