In recent years, schools across the nation have ramped up anti-bullying efforts. Instead of focusing only on combatting negative behavior, it’s also important to encourage a positive culture in a school, said Lisa Fitzgerald, a counselor at Powell Middle School.

“It’s not just anti-bullying — I know that’s the buzz word right now,” Fitzgerald said. “I like to say character education ... we just try to focus on making good choices and being a good person, which prevents bullying.”

Fitzgerald helped start the Bully Prevention Team at Powell Middle School last year, which is led and organized by students.

Small groups of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students get together about once a month to brainstorm ways to prevent bullying and promote kindness at the school.

“We plan activities that they feel would benefit their school, their classmates,” Fitzgerald said.

While she may throw out some ideas, the students decide what they will do.

“They’re the ones putting together this program,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s not coming from a book, it’s not coming from a teacher, it’s not coming from a counselor or their parents — they know what their group of classmates will respond to, participate in and what issues they’re dealing with.”

Survey results show the bullying prevention efforts are working at Powell Middle School.

In a survey last year, 25 percent of students said they felt they were bullied within the past two months. That number dropped to 16 percent of students this fall.

This year, 88 percent of students said they would try to put a stop to bullying when they witness it at school, compared to 58 percent last year.

Students recently organized a Bully Prevention Week during Oct. 27-31, focusing on promoting a safe and healthy school culture. In the sixth grade, students received caring cards with positive messages throughout the week. Seventh-graders created locker decorations.

“It’s not some big, major thing,” Fitzgerald said. “To me, it’s all of those kinds of little things that show kids are thinking about each other.”

During the Bully Prevention Week, students also participated in dress-up days and heard daily announcements with facts about bullying.

On one of the days, students were assigned a color. Unbeknownst to them, that color determined where they would sit at lunch.

“They had to sit with someone who they normally wouldn’t sit with,” she said.

During lunchtime, they had an activity to work on so they got to know their peers.

The students involved in the Bully Prevention Team aren’t all straight-A students, but rather, kids who are seen as leaders in different groups.

“The kids in the groups are excellent motivators for their classmates,” she said. “We want to reach all kids.”

Last year, the students wanted to do a program on choosing a different word instead of using offensive or hurtful words.

“Did it eliminate all of it? Probably not, but it did make people more aware when they said it and a kid would say, ‘Hey, don’t say that word,’” Fitzgerald said.

So far, students haven’t wanted to focus on cyber-bullying, because they don’t see it as a big issue at Powell Middle School, she said. Cyber-bullying is covered in depth at the beginning of the school year, and kids are at risk of losing their iPads if they’re involved in it, Fitzgerald said.

“They really don’t want to take a chance at losing that iPad — they don’t want to mess up,” she said.

Middle school is an especially important age to focus on kindness and good friendships.

“They’re figuring out who they are and who their real friends are,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said she hasn’t seen true bullying occur at the middle school in the past year and a half. The traditional definition of bullying is when someone is using superior strength over another person and forcing them to do what he/she wants. It’s over long periods of time, and the victim is deathly afraid of the bully and being seriously hurt, Fitzgerald said.

“Are kids teased and mean to each other sometimes, or don’t like everyone? Of course. I’m not saying that everyone is perfect here,” she said. “But the true sense of bully, bully, bully — I really don’t believe I’ve been aware of a true bullying situation here.”