Awkward Stage Drama Club sets scene to prevent bullying

By BRYAN HELLIOS

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Ironwood - The Awkward Stage Drama Club met at Depot Park on Tuesday to start work on an anti-bullying project.

Mary Hansen, co-coordinator of the club, said a grant was received to produce a campaign where club members will be writing scripts to address bullying in schools.

"We're not sure where it's going to go," she said. "But we're starting it and letting them kind of lead us into how we can get people to understand how to combat that within the school system."

Depending on the number of students who are involved, she said they hope to do a show near the end of summer, or at the beginning of school.

Kaley Lewis, will be going into eighth grade at Bessemer, said it's important for kids around her age to understand how bullying is wrong and why it is a big issue at a lot of schools.

"Bringing awareness and doing this as a group, I hope it makes a difference," she said.

Jaxon Sokol, entering his sophomore year at Hurley K-12 School, said bulling is everywhere.

"It's online, it's in schools, it's at work and it's in homes even," he said.

He said bullies either do it for attention or to "be cool" while in front of people and it has been going on for a long time.

"There is a point where people take it way to far and it affects people greatly in many ways," he added.

He feels 6th through 8th graders might receive the most benefit from the project because the majority of bulling he experienced was during those grades.

"There is a lot of kids (in that age group) who will pick on you for everything," he said.

For five years of his life, Sokol said he was bullied and it wasn't until high school that "everyone started to drop it," realizing it was time to grow up.

He said he wished this area had a anti-bullying group where problems could be discussed.

"In schools we've always have people come in and say bullying is bad," he said. "But it does not show exactly what happens."

Alex Hunt, 15, from Ironwood, said he does not agree with bulling and prefers it to "slow down."

"It can't stop all at once," he said. "but we can eventually slow it down to the point where it almost doesn't exists."

The direction of the project may change, but Hansen said she believes the insight from group who have will allow them to create an impacting message.

The possibility of a one act show might result from the project, but she said if the show does not "emerge," the group will put together a booklet of mini scripts to help people in bulling situations.

The drama club summer production program is open to 6th through 12th graders and Hansen said the project is big and they need a lot of help.

"We're going to let them create it as a group and talk about it as a group," she said. "To see how we can get the message into different schools."