No-Name Calling Week Panel

This year, GLSEN welcomed Barnes & Noble as a partner for No-Name Calling Week, an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.

Several GLSEN chapters across the country partnered with their local Barnes & Noble stores to host panel discussions on the topics of name-calling and bullying in schools.

Sarah Emmett, Community Relations Manager at the Barnes & Noble in Fair Lakes, reached out to GLSEN Northern Virginia to participate in their panel discussion.

Anna Beardsley, Morgan McGlothlin, Nia Farmer, Kyle McAfee, and Cady Wilsey served as panelists for the discussion with the team's Adult Coordinator, David Aponte, as the moderator. A variety of questions were asked about each student's school climate and how they felt they could make it better

Anna Beardsley, President of Battlefield High School's GSA and Student Leadership Team Member, answers a question from the audience towards the end of the panel discussion.

and what teachers and other school staff could do to help make schools safer.

Teachers were present at the event adding a greater dynamic to the discussion and gave the students and teachers a unique opportunity to have a conversation about bullying and ways students and teachers could work together to help solve the issue.

Everyone present was able to take some knowledge away from the event as the answers from the students applied to everyone and the audience recognized that bullying goes well beyond the school walls as a community-wide issue.

GLSEN Northern Virginia would like to thank Sarah Emmett and Barnes & Noble Fairfax for reaching out to GLSEN Northern Virginia to participate in this event and we look forward to working together again in the future!