Elementary school merges symbol of healing with anti-bullying message

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Miranda Alam/Special to the Sun

The newly redecorated school garden is unveiled during an event for CCSD’s Week of Respect at Paul E. Culley Elementary School in Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018.

Fri, Oct 5, 2018 (2 a.m.)

CCSD Week of Respect Celebration

The newly redecorated school garden is unveiled during an event for CCSD's Week of Respect at Paul E. Culley Elementary School in Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. Launch slideshow »

More than 1,000 paper cranes billowed in the October wind at the Paul E. Culley Elementary School garden in Las Vegas. Students sprawled across the courtyard clapping to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” during Thursday’s event to encourage a safe and respectful learning environment.

More than one in five students nationally reported being bullied, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Clark County School District’s annual Week of Respect began in 2011 to address this issue at the local level.

The event helps students and faculty understand the importance of celebrating diversity on their campuses throughout the year.

An hourlong assembly at the school included a speech about kindness by Drew Stevens from the nonprofit Josh Stevens Foundation, a discussion on resiliency after tragedies like Oct. 1, and the unveiling of their new school garden, which included over 1,000 paper cranes.

“A big thing we talked about during our counseling meeting was that they wanted the Week of Respect to include some sort of component to the Oct. 1 shooting,” said Brandi Cuti, a counselor at Culley elementary. “What I wanted to focus on is showing them (the kids) that these bad things have happened, but it matters how we persevere and lift ourselves up from this bad thing.”

Cuti was inspired by the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes — hence why students made more than 1,000 paper cranes for the project. Sadako Sasaki was 2 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, developing cancer from her exposure to the bombs. She made 1,000 paper cranes to continue hoping for better days.

“We talked about Sadako and the 1,000 cranes, and we talked about Josh Stevens, but what matters is how we carry ourselves out of these tragedies,” Cuti said. “As Mr. Rogers said, ‘When I was a boy I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me look for the helpers.’ You will always find people who are helping. So I want to thank everyone — students, teachers, staff — Paul Culley has many, many, if not all of us, are helpers.”

Stevens at the end of the ceremony released the first of 58 doves in a memorandum of the 58 lives lost during the Route 91 Harvest Festival tragedy.

Visit ccsd.net/getyourblueon for more on CCSD’s anti-bullying efforts.

“We tell kids all the time don’t bully, don’t do that when we should be telling them what they should be doing like be kind, be respectful,” Cuti said.

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