Bully Prevention Project Enters 11th Year in Wenatchee Schools

Wenatchee students are addressing bullying and learning about media production through the “DON’T WAIT to Unmake a Bully Project™.” This is the Wenatchee School District’s 11th year of partnering with New York Filmmaker Mike Feurstein to solve the bullying problem and help students learn about media production through a hands-on filmmaking venture. Feurstein is the creator and founder of Unmake A Bully™, and has teamed up with Lisa Bradshaw of Wenatchee, the founder of the DON’T WAIT Project®, a non-profit corporation that raises awareness about positive life choices. From New York to Washington State, the program is helping in the stand against bullying through positive media. 

This year, students at Newbery Elementary and Orchard and Pioneer Middle Schools will work with Ferstein to create Public Service Announcements (PSA) that aim to stomp out bullying. The students learn how to write, direct, produce, film, and act in a PSA, which is based on their story ideas according to their experiences with bullying in their schools. The product is a PSA, but the result is the message that students learn through the process of producing it. Students are gaining an empathetic understanding of the impact bullying has on students and are developing ways to address it.  

The DON’T WAIT to Unmake a Bully Project™ culminates in the premiere of the student-produced PSAs on Thursday, November 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Numerica Performing Arts Center. This event is free and open to the public.