Second Step Bullying Prevention

This past spring The Athens Foundation issued grants to numerous organizations in the area that strive to improve the quality of life in the community, one of those being The Appalachian Peace and Justice Network (APJN). Mara Giglio is the director of APJN, and the conflict management trainer for a program called Second Step, a bully and violence prevention program that teaches children skills in empathy, respect, listening and focusing, anger management, self-talk and other skills for life. According to the Committee for Children, a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of bullying, violence and children abuse, “a recent meta-analysis found that students participating in such programs showed significant gains in social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, attitudes, and behaviors, as well as academic achievement.” Second Step teaches these skills through role-play, songs and videos, puppets, discussion, and interactive games that get kids thinking about their feelings, and how to handle conflict appropriately.

Mara Giglio instructing Second Step class

Second Step has reached numerous elementary schools in the area including Amesville, Chauncey, and Trimble, and is being taught to children as early as pre-school up through 6^th grade. While Mara Giglio teaches the curriculum herself to the classes, she also encourages the teachers to incorporate the material into their lessons. Marcia Burchby, a kindergarten teacher at Amesville Elementary, teaches the program because she believes that by using specific examples of bullying, arguments, anger-management issues etc. that she observes in class she brings the curriculum closer to home for the children.

Since the implementation of this program in local elementary schools, children and their parents strongly feel that it is changing their attitudes and behaviors when conflicts arise. When Chauncey Elementary was having problems with bullying, Giglio had a lunch class with 5^th grade girls, she explains how one of the girls came up to her in the middle of class and testified that the bullying stopped when they started the class. Giglio further explains how “just getting together, addressing the issue, being face-to-face and upfront about it helped cut down on bullying.” Parents have also said that their children are now teaching them how to take deep breaths, and count to ten when they get upset.

The Athens Foundation supports organizations like APJN that are changing the lives of those in our community. APJN was granted $2,600 which helped to buy the curriculum needed for Second Step. Mara Giglio says “we are using the best curriculum that we can get our hands on thanks to The Athens Foundation. It’s really improved over the last year. The kids love it, I love it and it’s really making a difference in all of these schools.”