Middle School Introduces "Hand Project"
August 21, 2007
During the third quarter of the 2006-07 school year, the middle school counselor, Chris Yunick, introduced “The Hands Project” to the Putnam County Middle School students. The mission of the nationwide project is to educate each person in every community about their moral and legal right to live free of abuse and violence.
The project began in February of 1997 in an Oregon school. In just seven weeks, 11,000 students pledged to stop violence in their schools. Due to an overwhelmingly positive response, the project has expanded to several states and communities. In addition to reaching schools, “The Hands Project” has expanded to include government agencies, the business community, places of worship, battered women’s shelters, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, day care centers, and birthing centers for parents of newborns.
The project has a pledge they ask participants to take: “I will not use my hands or my words for hurting myself or others.” This fourteen-word pledge alerts students and others to the things they say and do to themselves and others that cause pain. Several discussions were held during the middle school teacher advisory group time. Mrs. Yunick also asked parents to take the pledge during third-quarter parent teacher conferences last year.
The state of Missouri passed legislation that says all schools are required to adopt a bully prevention policy. The state law defines bullying as follows: “Bullying means intimidation or harassment that causes a reasonable student to fear for his or her physical safety or property. Bullying may consist of physical actions, including gestures or oral or written communication and any threat of retaliation or reports of such acts.” With the new Missouri bullying law, the continuance of “The Hands Project” will be very important.
