2015 is the start of promoting kindness and spirit; a school-wide anti-bullying video is being made under the direction of Officer Scott Haigh. The video has been in the process of preplanning since the end of last school year. It will hopefully stimulate positivity throughout the student body since the plan is to have a “flash mob” of the entire school. It will boost school spirit and show that Morris Hills is serious about conquering negativity and bullying.

Since June of 2014, Officer Scott Haigh, with the help of others, has been preplanning to make a successful video. Mrs.Lynne  Malandrino, the television production teacher,  said, “My students will film and edit whatever needs to be filmed and edited.”  Students assisting are Mrs. Malandrino’s independent study students:  Melissa Townsend, Demi-Lee Pretorius, Jesse Swain, Jordan Johnson and Andrew Lishawa. They will include uplifting music that will play as the video goes on. Mrs. Maladrino, along with Mr. Swanick and other students, will do everything they can to make this video enjoyable to watch.

Officer Haigh explained, “There is a big issue with bullying; 3.2 million students that are victims of bullying of each year. So, we’re trying to do a positive thing in the school.” The video will relay the message of students being positive role models to one another. The theme is saying “A good gesture never goes unnoticed” and that positive things happen to positive people. Even a simple gesture of holding the door for someone or reporting a problem instead of being a quiet bystander can make a world of difference. The ideas is that if we get a more positive atmosphere, it will boost the morale of the school.

The goal is to end the film with footage filmed from the rooftop of a flash mob of the entire student body, which will be choreographed by Mrs. Moreno.   “Students are the central focus of the video,” Mrs. Malandrino said. It will certainly bring the school together and create happiness and optimism just by filming it. The segments of clubs and teams shown throughout the video will showcase teammates helping each other out and students in clubs being friendly and welcoming toward one another. It would be helpful for the making of this video, if coaches or players recorded segments of their own team and submit them to Mrs. Malandrino in order to insure that every team and activity is featured. The goal is to release the video by the end of this school year.

This anti-bullying video will not just be shown once or twice, but it will be shown as an example in years to come. “Two or three years from now when we have a knew crew of kids, we can build off the first one we made and continue to use it as a tool to show the positive atmosphere out there, “ said Officer Haigh. Ultimately,  this video will touch the lives of the students, teachers, and the administration, as well as new people who come to Morris Hills.