Schools Can Change

Our Challenge Day club is doing a raffle fund-raiser. The winners will win one of these handmade wall hangings by Barbara Youngblood. Thank you for your time and support.

Eric Mohat, 17, was harassed so mercilessly in high school that when one bully said publicly in class, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you," he did.

In a federal lawsuit, the parents of Eric Mohat allege that their son committed suicide after being tormented by bullies at his Mentor, Ohio, High School. They say the school knew about the bullying and failed to protect their son.

(Courtesy Mohat Family)

Now his parents, William and Janis Mohat of Mentor, Ohio, have filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying that their son endured name-calling, teasing, constant pushing and shoving and hitting in front of school officials who should have protected him.

The lawsuit -- filed March 27, alleges that the quiet but likable boy, who was involved in theater and music, was called "gay," "fag," "queer" and "homo" and often in front of his teachers. Most of the harassment took place in math class and the teacher -- an athletic coach -- was accused of failing to protect the boy.

"When you lose a child like this it destroys you in ways you can't even describe," Eric Mohat's father told ABCNews.com.

The parents aren't seeking any compensation; rather, they are asking that Mentor High School recognize their son's death as a "bullicide" and put in place what they believe is a badly needed anti-bullying program.

by SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
April 2, 2009

This article can be found on http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7228335

Jesse was well liked by everyone, so everybody anticipated what he had to say
As he walked up to the microphone, on graduation day.
For a moment he remained silent, as he peered at the faces from his senior class,
And then Jesse leaned into the microphone, and finally spoke at last:
"As your class president, I’m here to speak to you today.
I was up most of the night, considering what words that I should say.
I reminisced on school days, and all the many things I’ve done,
So many memories came to mind, but my thoughts kept me focusing on one."
And then Jesse held up a photo, and he moved it all around,
As everyone leaned to view it, and silence was the only sound.
You could have heard a pin drop, as Jesse placed the picture in full view,
And began talking of a classmate, that no one really knew.
"Charlie’s life seemed meaningless, compared to yours or mine,
Because none of us understood him, we never took the time.
We saw only what we wanted to, that Charlie was not cool,
He was far from being popular, the butt of all our jokes in school.
That’s what we knew of Charlie, that much we decided on our own,
He simply wasn’t worth our time, he was an outsider who deserved to be alone.
But you see Charlie had a passion, deep within he had a dream,
It was his only one desire, to play for our soccer team."
"And of course that was ludicrous, it was totally absurd,
Charlie was no athlete,
He was the senior nerd.
In gym class he was never captain, he was always chosen last,
He was the poster child for unpopular, he preferred history, science, and math.
And so some of us took it upon ourselves to keep Charlie from wanting to play,
For weeks we taunted him with insults, day after day after day.
We made sure that he wasn’t welcomed, by anyone else on the team,
For whatever foolish reasons, we were set on destroying his dream.
And I’m here now to tell you, as your class president, I was wrong
I’m here to speak for Charlie, who couldn’t be here, because you see he’s gone."
Jesse paused just for a moment, to give time for his words to sink in,
As he looked about at the faces, of parents, teachers and friends.
"I’m not sure if all of you know it, I’m not sure if anyone cares,
But the reason Charlie isn’t with us is a reason I feel I must share.
Cruel words, they are definitely weapons, they destroyed Charlie’s body and soul,
For all of the taunting and teasing left Charlie feeling out of control.
And Charlie alone in a battle, gathered his weapons to fight.
He purchased some drugs from a dealer, his mother found his body last night.
Maybe it was only an accident, maybe Charlie wanted to die,
But no matter how it happened, we as his classmates know why.
For who in their lives hasn’t been teased, or made to feel unbearable shame,
I’m certain that everyone in this room has endured some heartache and pain.
And maybe boys will be boys and girls will be girls, and we each have our battles to fight,
But no matter our justification, hurting Charlie was never right."
And then Jesse took Charlie’s picture and held it firm in his hand,
And spoke to the photo before him, words unrehearsed and unplanned.
"If only I’d helped somehow, given you guidance to conquer your dream,
If only a teacher, a classmate, if someone would have just intervened.
But I know I can never go back, I can never undo what has been,
For you will never receive your diploma, or ever play soccer again.
But deep in my heart I wonder, I can’t help asking what if…
I would have reached out to you Charlie,
Would your school years have ended like this?"
Jesse stood lost in his thoughts of a life that was ended too soon,
Until muffled coughs caught his attention, and nervous whispers began filling the room.
And then Jesse turned with a smile, before retreating back to his chair,
Teaching a valuable lesson, with his final words filling the air:
"I would like to introduce our valedictorian, he will be speaking today,
Please give him your full attention, Please hear all that he has to say."
And then Jesse set Charlie’s picture down, on the podium facing the crowd,
As the silence told Charlie’s story, a message quite convincingly loud.
Cheryl Costello-Forshey

The Challenge Day Club is working to bring Challenge Day to Clear Lake High School, we are asking businesses to display donation jars at their buisness. If you are interested in getting one of these jar to help us raise money, please contact me and I will get one to you as soon as possible.

Hello everyone! Here is the most recent update.

If you would like to learn more about Challenge Day we have changed our meetings to the first Tuesday of every month at Round Table Pizza, at 6:00.
We are also having a meeting this Friday, the 4th for the Clear Lake High School students. At the meeting we are going to show a video, and we will have beverages, popcorn, and possibly donuts. Feel free to find me or one of the Be The Change team members for more information.

Thank you for your time!

-Megan

Today I received a newsletter in the mail. Mr. Gentry attached a paper on the front of every newsletter and it included some information that I thought was interesting. I have to disagree with some of Mr. Gentry's claims, I can only assume he is misinformed. There were several incidences of 'trashcannings' last year, and some of the students were trash canned twice. I am worried that Mr. Gentry might actually believe that these things are not happening, however I can not be certain. He also mentions the Link Crew program, from my understanding that was implemented last year. Many people got assigned mentors but Myself and a few others did not. Also during the year we were told we were getting new mentors due to an uneven number of people in each group, but after that nothing happened. It was a brilliant idea, and many people looked forward to it, but sadly the program did not last. To Mr. Gentry's credit the extra staff on campus has helped with the 'trashcannings' this year but it has not stopped the other forms of harassment and bullying. Pretending like it is not happening does not mean it is going away.

Please click on the picture to view a larger image.

This is the article that got me sent to the principals' office.

This is in response to Chance Crail and Terry Lane's articles. I understand that there are different beliefs on this subject, but my opinion is that something needs to be done about the bullying at Clear Lake High School.

I am a sophomore at CLHS. Last year, as a freshman, I witnessed other freshmen getting "trash-canned" and students getting beaten up when they said the wrong thing or wore the wrong outfit. This year I decided I was going to join Chance and many others in this struggle to help make my school a better place.

I do understand that many administrators, teachers and parents took part in similar traditions when they were in high school so they tolerate this type of behavior now but that does not mean it's right. Being a strong supporter of student rights, I strongly disagree with many of the traditions at Clear Lake High School.

One example of these traditions is online bullying, also called cyberbullying, where students send threatening or insulting e-mails, MySpace messages or texts. There is even a Facebook page set up simply to "hate freshmen," which many of the students at CLHS are fans of some of my friends included. There are currently over 100,000 subscribers to that page alone. If this was a page hating black students or Jewish students, or gay students, people would be outraged. If groups of students were only "trash-canning" certain ethnic or religious groups, they would be hate crimes. These assaults are against the law and should be against school rules. School is hard enough, especially as a freshman, without having to suffer degrading comments, ridicule, verbal and physical assaults and disrespect. It needs to change. Our school can change. We need to make our school a safe place where students aren't afraid to walk onto the campus.

The best solution that my peers and I could come up with to this problem was to work with the administration and introduce the implementation of a positive behavioral program such as Challenge Day (http://www.challengeday.org/) which includes workshops intended to result in more friendly environments and safer schools.

We have created a Challenge Day Club in hopes of raising enough money for the program to come to our school. If you would like to contact us or would like more information you can visit the club's new Web site (http://www.schoolscanchange.com/).

Megan Griffith