Family Channel Bullying Awareness Week Campaign
Family Channel makes its mark with Canadian students as it launches its ninth annual Bullying Awareness Week (November 14-20). This year the campaign, entitled What’s Up, Stand UP! features a special programming event, beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET/PT on Monday, November 14, along with bullying-themed programming throughout the week and new original content. In addition, Family will hold two online chats during the week giving kids the opportunity to discuss bullying-related topics with trained professionals and Family stars. Full details of the special schedule are available on Family’s Channel’s Bullying Awareness page.
What’s Up, Stand UP! launches with a special evening of hosted programming from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Anchored by the What’s Up, Warthogs! news desk team, the evening features episodes from top Family series including Good Luck Charlie, Shake It Up and Wingin’ It, as well as a never-before-seen episode of What’s Up, Warthogs! Rounding out the evening are special reports focused on Family stars’ personal experiences with bullying and segments detailing where to turn for bullying prevention resources.
Also premiering as part of this special lineup is the music video for the Bullying Awareness Week anthem, What’s Up Stand Up, performed by Canadian pop star Tyler Medeiros and written by Ryan Kowarsky, Dan Kowarsky and Maks Gabriel. Footage from one of this year’s bullying prevention rallies will also air on Monday evening. Family Channel selected four schools for rallies, each chosen from almost 1,250 nominations submitted by students across Canada.
“Each year we are impressed and humbled by the determination of Canadian students to stand up to bullying,” said Kate Dickson, Communications Manager, Family Channel. “The passion of these students is matched by the unwavering support we continually receive from Family stars, musical guests and our partners at PREVNet. Bullying Awareness Week provides us with a fantastic opportunity to combine all of our efforts so we can effectively engage students and equip them with the knowledge they need to prevent bullying.”
Online, the Stand UP! minisite on Family.ca features bullying prevention tip sheets, educator’s guides devised by PREVNet and message boards. Visitors to the site will be able to stream the Stand UP! news segments as well the special Stand UP! music video for this year’s Stand UP! anthem, “What’s Up, Stand Up.”
To enhance this year’s campaign, Family Channel will host two live online chats on Family.ca during Bullying Awareness Week to facilitate discussion about bullying and talk about ways to tackle the issue. On Tuesday, November 15 and Thursday, November 17, Family stars Ana Golja and Tiago Abreu from What’s Up, Warthogs! will be joined by Dr. Joanne Cummings, Partnership Director at PREVNet and Clinical Child Psychologist at Blueballoon as well as Kids Help Phone representative Shannon Freud to discuss their own experiences with bullying and respond to students’ concerns. The chats will run from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET, and students are encouraged to pose questions and share their feelings on the subject.
Family Channel co-founded Bullying Awareness Week in 2003 and developed the Stand UP! campaign in association with PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), a national network of Canadian researchers, community organizations and governments committed to ending bullying and promoting positive relationships.
PREVNet is a national network comprised of 58 leading Canadian research scientists and their students from 14 academic disciplines, and 48 national youth-serving organizations. Launched in 2006 as a New Initiative of the Networks of Centres of Excellence, PREVNet’s mission is to stop bullying in Canada and to promote safe and healthy relationships for all Canadian children and youth. Led by Scientific Co-Directors, Dr. Debra Pepler of York University and Dr. Wendy Craig of Queen’s University, this national network is the first of its kind in Canada, providing an unprecedented opportunity for social-cultural change.