Telling peers not to bully each other doesn't work.
"It's better to prevent the problem," said Bri Marr, a junior and member of the Friends of Rachel Club at Bayfield High School. "We want to stop conflicts before they happen."
To that end, the club promotes being kind to each other, and having fun while doing it.
The club is named after Rachel Scott, the first victim of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. Rachel's Challenge focuses on kindness programs in schools so students don't feel alienated by bullying.
On Nov. 6-9, members of the group will attend the conference for the International Bullying Prevention Association. They are making a 90-minute presentation on how to start a kindness club, with different aspects devoted to high schools, middle schools and elementaries.
"It's compassion versus anti-bullying," explained Lenka Doskocil, the club's leader.
"We're really excited to reach out to people beyond the community," said Savannah Kaufmann, another member of the club. "We're hoping we can spread our message even further."
The club has sponsored random acts of kindness, "Dude, Be Nice" week, freshman orientation, and talks with fourth and fifth graders in Bayfield and Durango as they prepare to enter middle school.
One aspect of that was creating paper chains for each act of kindness the kids conducted. "The chains got huge," Marr said. "It was impressing all of us."
Freshman orientation is important for new students as they come into high school, said Aidan Jackson. Freshman are divided into groups that have a mentor from the FOR Club to help with schedules and other issues.
Being a peer mentor for special education and learning disabled students is one of the favorite activities for Sydney Gabbard, another member.
The club members work with their fellow students on learning skills, such as cleaning and doing laundry, as well as social skills, such as talking with their peers and playing board games.
"This helps the peer mentors almost more than the special ed students," Gabbard explained. It helps them think about "who I can be," as well as understanding the importance of strong relationships.
The club performs random acts of kindness throughout the year, providing goody bags to students who are sick, or coffee and cookies to businesses on Mill Street.
The club also sponsors a local family for Project Merry Christmas.
The trip will cost about $10,000 for airfare, registration and hotel rooms, said Jen Leithauser and Amber Cook, the club advisors. They have raised most of the money, but are trying to come up with a bit more to pay for meals and some activities in New Orleans.
Donations can be made to Bayfield High School, with FOR Club in the memo. The school's mailing address is 800 CR 501, Bayfield, 81122.
More information about the national program is at www.rachelschallenge.org
