St. James students make show of anti-bullying stand

Students at St. James High School sent a message Monday by wearing blue to support a day of awareness and prevention of bullying.

Patrick Kohlmann, a sophomore at St. James, led the charge by contacting the school's principal, Vann Pennell, and putting in motion Blue Shirt Day, along with an anti-bullying focus for the week.

"He's been the motivating factor behind this. We give him full credit," Pennell said. He said to avoid the cost of buying special shirts, students were complying by wearing blue shirts or shirts with some form of blue pattern.

"The kids have been very responsive," he said.

Kohlmann is a teen ambassador for the Stomp Out Bullying program, a national initiative of Love Our Children USA, according to the program's website, stompoutbullying.org. The program's mission is to prevent bullying, which includes cyberbullying, as well as digital abuse such as sexting, deterring school violence and educating against hatred.

Bullying has been cited as the spark for recent local and national events. A Socastee High School freshman was accused of firing a shot at a school resource officer and bringing two pipe bombs to school on Sept. 21. His attorney has said the 14-year-old has been bullied for half his life. The following day in New Jersey, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge just days after his roommate allegedly broadcast his intimate encounter with another man over the Internet.

Kohlmann, who moved to South Carolina in 2008, said he was bullied at his middle school in West Islip, N.Y. His ambassador profile said, among other things, he was pushed down stairs and suffered a concussion, with a bully finally threatening his life.

His school did nothing to help him, so Kohlmann said he made a YouTube video and website "to get the news out there," and area news stations picked up on the story. Ross Ellis, founder of Love Our Children USA, was one of the people who saw his story and asked him to join the Stomp Out Bullying team.

"When I moved down here, she wanted me to spread the word," said Kohlmann, who said he was reluctant to be very vocal at first. "This year, I wanted everyone to know that bullying isn't right. I don't want anyone to go through what I went through."

Kohlmann said that after speaking out on the subject, he's learned who his true friends are. Before Monday, he was approached by some students who said they would wear anything but blue that day, but overall, he was "definitely surprised by the number of kids wearing blue shirts."

This also is homecoming week for St. James, and Pennell said there would be an anti-bullying banner in the school for Friday's pep rally and that teachers may also be prompting classroom discussions on the subject. He said that while bullying is always atop the school's priority list, recent events may have brought bullying prevention a little more to the forefront.

The school received a reality check on Sept. 8 when an 18-year-old student at St. James was charged with disturbing schools after threats citing the 1999 Columbine shootings were posted on two social networking sites. On Sept. 13, a 15-year-old Conway High School student was charged with disturbing schools and conveying a bomb threat following posts on the Facebook pages of two local television stations.

Those incidents were followed by the one at Socastee High School, where the freshman used the website Twitter to post threatening messages as early as Aug. 23, Socastee Principal Paul Browning has said. In addition, a second Socastee student was charged with disturbing schools, a misdemeanor, after authorities said the 15-year-old posted threats on Facebook after the Sept. 21 incident.

"We don't want students to be afraid because of the color of their skin, their gender or their beliefs," Pennell said. "We want students to know we're here for them and for them to feel good about talking to us. Metal detectors are not the answer - relationships are key."

Kohlmann credits his teachers and administrators for helping him get plans off the ground.

"Without all their help, I'd have been too scared," Kohlmann said. "Everyone's going to talk about [anti-bullying], and we'll get the kids informed."