Alcorn School of Education and Psychology hosts anti-bullying events for students and community
Recently, Alcorn State University hosted anti-bullying events on the Lorman campus, A.W. Watson Elementary School in Port Gibson, Mississippi, and Jefferson County Elementary School in Fayette, Mississippi, featuring Nancy Silberkleit, co-CEO of Archie Comic Publications.
During her lecture, Mrs. Siberkleit shared her story of becoming the company’s co-CEO and acquiring the love of reading using Archie comic books. She also explained why she believes in the power of comic books to help address challenging social issues, such as childhood obesity, discrimination, environmental concerns and bullying. Siberkleit spoke to the audience about bullying as an unacceptable behavior using examples from “Rise Above: What we can all do about bullying”, a comic book by Rise Above Social Issues Foundation Incorporated, and shared books with the teachers to use in the classroom.
“Teachers can use these comic books as a tool to raise students’ interest and help combat bulling,” says Siberkleit. “The book teaches kids what to do when they are being bulled or witness other kids being bullied – reach out to a caring person, find an interest or a hobby that would relieve the pain from bullying. Teachers can use the book to start a conversation about taking care of each other, and promoting caring behavior to stop bullying.”
“Bullying is a problem everywhere and we are all working on addressing it,” stated Marvin Harvey, principle, A.W Watson Elementary School. “Using comic books is a fun way to deal with the problem and they do get the message across.” Assistant Principle and Alcorn alumnus Antwan Reeves ’98 agreed with him and added, “I grew up reading Archie comics. We are glad to host Mrs. Silberkleit and thankful to Alcorn for affording this positive experience for our children.”
The programs were sponsored by the School of Education and Psychology and spearheaded by Dr. Robert Z. Carr, dean, and Dr. Malinda Butler, chairperson, Department of Education and Psychology.
For more information on Archie Comics, visit www.archiecomics.com .
