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Wednesday March 2 2016 11 EDUCATION BULLYING KAESERS SPECIALS Wood Buffalo Frolics March 10-13 2016 Kaesers Stores Ltd. 76-80 Breynat St. Fort Smith NT 867 872-2345 BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY FROLICS FROM KAESERS STAFF. FROLICS SPRING SALE 25 OFF ALL WINTER ITEMS Winter Boots Winter Coats Hats Gloves 15 OFF FURNITURE ITEMS Love Seats Couches Patio Items Friday March 11 Save 10 all stores all day We also have a good selection of queen-size mattresses currently available By CRAIG GILBERT and DON JAQUE Sometimesitbreaksmyhearttotalkaboutit butIlosta13year-oldcousininFortChipewyan who took her own life because of bullying. NWT Commissioner George Tuccaro was speaking to a room lled with tiny attentive faces in a sea of pink during the Pink Shirt Day assembly at Fort Smiths JBT Elemen- tary School last Tuesday. I still feel sad because of it he said as children and teachers in the room listened rapt. My eyes water. We should never ever have that situation happen to us so I want you to really really pay attention. I didnt want her to pass from this world without anybody knowing and to learn from that. He too was bullied as a youth he said be- cause he had a funny eye that kids at school made fun of. Tuccaro shared his story of coming to terms with his bullies he even- tually came to the realization that everyone is worthwhile and important despite - and maybe even because of - their dierences. Each and every one of you was born with a special gift he said. You know why - be- cause God doesnt make junk just beauti- ful people. Tuccaro who is a renowned country musi- cian then got his guitar out and sang Cana- dian singersongwriter Donny Parenteaus Imagine a World which calls out bullies and urges children to love without insecurity. A popular commissioner who is an accom- plished musician and storyteller is a tough act to follow but up next was young rapper JomeiNewkirk14.Heenthralledtheaudience with his dramatic animated and in its own way equally powerful piece on why bullying is bad and caring is important. The hard-driving yet poignant anti-bully- ing anthem Area was an original rap written by Newkirk when he was 10. An alumnus of JBT he has been authoring rhymes for four years and rapping for nearly eight. Newkirk arrived at JBT that morning with a re-worked version of the song put to a new beat. You wanna be a bully he sang. Not in my area. You wanna be a pusher Not in my area Aint tryin to be mean or even unfair to ya but that aint welcome here and this were trying to make clear to ya When Newkirk wrote the song he was often the target of bullies at school. To pro- cess what he was going through he asked his dad whether he could rhyme about that experience with his newest song. At the time in my class it was really pop- ular to be mean he said. I already had two raps out and I asked to write this one because I came home really frustrated at one kid in my class. At rst it was almost like a battle rap because I was really angry but we worked on it and changed it around and it became this positive its not cool to bully kind of rap. Attheendofhisperformancehespokeclearly anddirectlytothegatheredchildrentellingthem teachersattheschoolhadhelpedhimwhenever he needed it and that they are all still available toanyoneinneedandtotrustandtalktothem. The JBT student leadership committee then followed with a brief skit about kind- ness and a Grade 3 class sang a song about treating each other well. Tuccaros last ocial day as commissioner is May 11. He was invited to Fort Smith for the special visit by Salt River First Nation Chief Frieda Martselos after a student was dropped on his head and injured in a bully- ing incident at JBT in October. Its been an honourable and wonderful experience being the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories he said. Its been the best ve or six years of my life. He said he wanted to continue helping out withnationalPinkShirtDayaslongaspossible. Bullying is so real Tuccaro said. Its so in our face all the time. We need to be able to talk about it so we can gain a better un- derstanding and we can make more educated choices about setting boundaries in our lives about whats acceptable and what isnt. Being able to teach young kids whats acceptable. Bullying is not acceptable. How many times do we cross each others boundaries during a school year he asked. I want to let the children know suicide due to bullying does happen and be cognizant and understand it. Its hard to get that mes- sage across so I always bring a song with it. Much the way we heard from Jomei who did a wonderful job with his rap song and the choir all the words that come out. NWT Commissioner George Tuccaro and Fort Smith rapper Jomei Newkirk performing his own anti-bullying song shared the stage at the Pink Shirt Day assembly at JBT Elementary School in Fort Smith on Feb. 23. Anti-bullying songs rock elementary school assembly PhotoCraigGilbert