Long Branch Middle School - Bullying We'll Stop It Goes to Washington, DC.

:Long Branch Middle School "Anti- Bullying Crew" takes its message to the White House and Capitol, during President Obama's bullying conference

Long Branch, NJ- The anti-bullying message was clearly visible last Thursday morning, when the Long Branch Middle School students warmed up their vocal cords to fight school bullying in front of the White House and Capitol building. The group ascended on Capitol Hill battling the wind and the rain wearing their iconic green "Bullying We'll Stop It" t-shirts, in the hopes of capturing peoples' attention with their anti-bullying message.




Moved by Tyler Clementi's tragic story, and their own personal encounters with bullying, a group of eighth grade students at Long Branch Middle School decided their community and America needed to pay more attention to bullying and the horrible impact that it can have on someone's life.

The group decided to take the beat of the song "I Like It," by Enrique Iglesias and change the lyrics to tell the story of a girl who is being bullied at school. After many hours, both before and after school, of reworking lyrics and editing, the song was complete.

The students then decided to get the help of a creative classmate to shoot a music video to accompany their reworked song. So the imaginative ball and cameras started to roll; and after three months, their former after-school project had become a touching visual story that allowed their audience to see first hand the emotionally devastating effects of bullying.




On February 2, 2011, Enrique Iglesias got wind of the remake. He supported the Long Branch Middle School students on the project, not only allowing them to use his song, but helping them gain national attention with their message by posting links to the video on his Facebook page, his Twitter account, and his personal web site encouraging fans to check out the song. Since then, the song has garnered over 40,000 hits. The video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-X3Pu20w24

Further testament to the power of their message came on February 9, 2011 when the Long Branch Middle School "Anti-Bullying Crew" students journeyed to New York City in the hopes of spreading their message to First Lady Michelle Obama and the world. Upon leaving ABC studios in her motorcade, the First Lady waved and smiled at the students, who were standing on the street singing their song.

On Saturday, February 26, 2011, The Star Ledger covered the group's efforts by debuting a front-page article about their message including an interview from Enrique Iglesias about the project and his excitement over the student's proactive stance against bullying. With a daily circulation of over 316,000, this interview marks another tremendous accomplishment for the group.

Furthermore, the group has been interviewed by several different New York news networks such as, WABC Eyewitness News, Fox 5 News, My9 Evening News, WPIX Morning News.

The students were asked on February 27, 2011 to show their music video and perform their song live at a Black History Month event, honoring the New Jersey Black Caucus, which was hosted by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Menendez praised the students for their work and stated several times how Mrs. Obama had seen the video and was very impressed with their work and message.

The students on March 10, 2011 accepted an invitation by the Senator to tour the US Capitol and possibly gain entrance to the White House for President Obamas conference on bullying. Although they did not gain admission to the conference, the students toured the capitol and spoke to several different Washingtonians on their way to work about their message, even capturing the attention of Senator John Kerry (D) while in the Senate building.

This trip marks yet another accomplishment for the group in their efforts to combat bullying in schools and in our society.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• lbms goes to dc
• long branch bullying
• long branch bullying movie
• enrique bullying movie

[musicismylife316]

i miss long branch

[nicevagina1]

wait just tell me any fucked up reason for bullying

[debbielopez3]

Great job EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!

[i4niPenguin]

Ishmaels the best camera man.

[totallyawesome98]

i loved when mrs oslen almost fell and jabriel saying you need to go somewhere