WHS club spreads message of respect

A group of Whitefish High School students on a mission to teach respect for one another recently took their message to Whitefish Middle School.

About 15 members of the Big Dawg Club ventured to the middle school Thursday to talk with fifth- and sixth-graders about eliminating the word retard — the “R-word” — from their vocabulary.

Students presented the program as part of Spread the Word to End the Word, a national campaign that asks people to pledge to stop saying the R-word and use respectful language.

The high school students met with middle school classrooms to discuss the use of the word and why it’s derogatory.

Seniors Michael Voisin and Georgia Donaldson acted out a short skit for a fifth-grade class.

During the role-play, Donaldson commented on how someone looked “retarded.” Voision countered saying that using the word is not OK and is offensive to those with cognitive and physical disabilities.

Following their scene, they sat down with the fifth-graders to talk.

Voisin shared how as a freshman he wanted to be popular and sometimes that meant going along with others, but as a senior, now he knows better than to use a word that is offensive.

“We should care what the words are that we say,” Voisin said.

In a sixth-grade classroom, Sam Benkelman and Ryan Hanson went through a similar performance. They also talked with the students about how to handle the situation when they hear their peers using the word.

The pair challenged the sixth-graders to take a pledge to no longer use the word and invited them to sign a banner affirming that pledge. The banner will hang in the school hallway.

“Your words are your biggest superpower,” Benkelman said.

WHS teacher Christian Bitterauf said the session was designed to let the high school students share and talk with the younger students in a meaningful way. The role-playing scene was designed to show how to react when the R-word is spoken.

“We want to create awareness, but we also want to give students the tools to interrupt the practice of saying it,” he said.

In its first year at WHS, the club is focused on positive peer relationships and raising awareness of students with disabilities. The club is looking to promote its mission in the schools and the community.

Sophomore Jamie Siers has a personal reason for joining the Big Dawg Club and its campaign.

“I was getting called the R-word,” she said. “I wanted to do something about it. It feels really good to be role models for the younger students.”

The club plans to take its message to other grades in the middle school, Muldown Elementary and to their peers at the high school.

The club also produced a video that captures WHS students and staff making their own pledge to choose respect. The video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/WhitefishHigh.