Students in this summer’s CARE program are in the process of creating a tool that will hit cyberbullies where they live: the Internet.

The middle schoolers in this year’s summer Community, Academic, Recreation and Enrichment program are creating a website to address cyberbullying. According to their site, cyberbullying is “communication through social media outlets (facebook, twitter, youtube and texting) that is deliberate, repeated and aggressive by either an individual or a group that is intended to be mean, intimidating, threatening, or to cause harm anonymously.”

CARE teachers Jessica Andrews and Marie Ferreira are heading the project. Andrews said the students came up with the project on their own, without any direction. She said they simply asked the students in a survey what they believed to be the biggest problem in the school and surrounding community.

“They did a lot of investigation into bullying, and then, last week, they narrowed it down to cyberbullying,” Andrews said.

Andrews said the kids are creating two Google sites on cyberbullying. One is a guide for parents, and another is a guide for students. She said one of the main issues surrounding bullying, cyber and otherwise, is that the term is often misapplied to kids simply being mean to one another, which the sites seek to address. Andrews said her students, who are working on the parents’ site, have included a quiz parents can take to see if their child is actually being bullied.

“'Bullying' is a very overused term,” Andrews said. “It has to be repeated, it has to be intentional, there has to be power … imbalance, and … there has to be targeting.”

“Being called fat, or being made fun of one day doesn’t necessarily constitute as bullying,” Andrews continued. “It doesn’t make it right, but bullying is a whole ‘nother level.”

Ferreira said her class is in charge of creating the student website. Among the resources listed on the site are books students can read, as well as video websites they may look at for assistance. A group of students will also create their own skit and video, and put it on the site for other students to watch.

Ferreira’s classroom also has a paper figure, called, “Kelleeka,” which, in Scottish, means, “good-willed and loving.” Every time someone says or does something mean, a checkmark is put outside the figure, near negative words like, “drama”, or “being rude.” When someone in the classroom does something good or kind, a check mark is put inside the body.

“It’s a good way to keep us all, adults and students, aware of ourselves,” Ferreira said.

Andrews said a pair of boys working on the student site also created a calendar of anti-bullying events, which includes a national anti-bullying day.

“They want to do an anti-bullying day here,” Andrews said. “They are putting that on the calendar as a tentative event to do.”

Students Hehvin Barnett and Hanna Campinha said they thought the sites will be helpful. Campinha said they were “going to send the site to everyone in the school.”

“We have facts about it, and interventions,” Barnett said. “I think if people see how big of a problem it is, they will see that it’s a problem that really needs to stop.”

Ferreira said she is impressed at how allowing the students to decide how they wanted to combat cyberbullying has empowered them.

“I like the way that they’re communicating. They each have their own page, and they’ll ask each other’s opinions,” Ferreira said. “Just being very creative, and being able to express themselves.”