Wearing awareness: Making jewelry against bullying

National statistics show around 80 percent of schoolchildren have been bullied. Now, the Bend jewelry store Nashelle is helping raise awareness of the issue, in artistic fashion.

Nashelle owner Heather Straw was at Highland Elementary in Bend on Monday, teaching the kids how to make necklaces with a message.

“What I’m going to help you do is going to help you make your own necklace. So I want you to think about a word that is really special to you,” Straw said.

The students got to design their own necklaces and get a meaningful word engraved on them. Kids chose words like “hope,” “love” and “joy.”

“I think it’s important to shed light on it daily, and teach children to raise above and support each other. Because it can be devastating,” Straw said.

Alison Hohengarten, a parent of one of the children in the class, liked the idea.

“I also love that a lot of kids are feeling a big sense of pride and they want to keep these as a reminder of what makes them happy,” Hohengarten said.

According to a national survey, nearly one in three schoolchildren experience some form of bullying between sixth and tenth grade. That number jumps even higher with teens.

“I think kids take this very seriously, said Michelle Hart, communications director for Nashelle.” It seems most everyone knows someone who has been bullied or is currently being bullied.”

The kids learned to be kind to one another, one necklace at a time.

“To remember always when you’re growing up to believe in yourself, and to believe in each other and to help each other,” Straw said. “To help each other when you’re up or down. Support each other through all of it.”

For more information, visit stopbullying.gov