Schools were a sea of pink recently as students and staff across the district recognized Anti-Bullying Day. Thousands wore pink; many classes talked about how to prevent bullying as they cut out pink badges to wear; and bright posters and banners decorated classroom walls and hallways – blunt reminders to passers-by that bullying is wrong.

“Anti-Bullying Day celebrates the differences in our society with the action of wearing pink and asking ourselves when is it OK to make someone else feel bad?” explained Chemainus Secondary grade 12 student Amanda Folster.

"Today we take a stand to stop the hate, the sadness, the taunting and the being picked on for being different," said grade 8 student Elizabeth Stoker.

“We’re helping to create a positive awareness of the hurt and what we need to do as a society to stand together to make things better for everyone,” she added.

Classmate Mitchell Hinton agrees.

“Having an awareness day is also about action. I think the right thing to do is to fix the root of the problem. What is going on in the bully’s life that makes them want to bully others?” he said.

During the day, students discussed how safe they felt in their schools. Kyle Ilett, a grade 12 student, had warm words for Chemainus Secondary.

“As far as schools go you probably couldn't do much better than Chemainus Secondary,” he said.

“Where else can you walk down the hall wearing pretty much anything and not worry about people's criticism. I think of CHSS as an incubator for creativity, with the lamp being all the awesome staff members keeping us warm and helping us grow into young adults,” he explained.

“I know I'll look back on my days here and smile”.