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August 30, 2011

Teen turns bullying into character builder

Bill Grimes Effingham Daily News

ALTAMONT — Paige Logan didn’t have any problems in school until eighth grade.

    Then, her victory in the Effingham County Fair Junior Miss contest in the summer of 2008 apparently ruffled some feathers among the other girls at Altamont Grade School. And, they let Logan know about it through snide comments, both in person and on social networking sites.

    The bullying never got physical, Logan said, but it was distressing nonetheless.

    “It was a very hard time for me,” she said. “I just wanted to stay home and not go to school. I couldn’t concentrate on anything because all I could think about was what they were saying.

    “I’d be sitting in class and hear people talking bad about me and spreading rumors about me,” she said. “People would put me down and make me look bad.”

    Once the bullying hit the Internet through social networking, Unit 10 Superintendent Jeff Fritchtnitch stepped in.

    “Mr. Fritchtnitch talked to me and the girls who were bullying me and told us that we all needed to get on with our own lives and step away from what other people are doing,” she said.

    Logan, now a junior at Altamont High School, successfully recovered from that rough period, and now, she wants other people to understand how devastating bullying can be. Not only is she one of 15 members of the Illinois State Board of Education Student Advisory Council, but she’s headed to Washington, D.C., next month for a national seminar on bullying prevention.

    The second annual Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention summit is set for Sept. 21-22 in Washington. Logan is one of 175 people invited to participate in a group that includes corporate and nonprofit leaders, researchers, school personnel, parents and students.

    The group has been charged with devising a national strategy to combat bullying. Logan has been working on a local strategy for several years through her participation in the Effingham County Youth Ambassador program through 4-H.

    Logan, a former member of the Daisy Dolls & Guys 4-H club, said 4-H helped her deal with eighth-grade bullying.

    “4-H was my safe zone,” she said. “At first, I was more involved with teaching cooking, but I eventually started teaching leadership skills.

    The youth ambassador group eventually held a leadership camp that was a success. Logan said the leadership skills developed through 4-H helped her rise above the bullying.

    “With my leadership skills, I am going to be able to step forward, while other people spend time talking about each other,” she said.

    Logan said bullying sometimes goes unobserved by the casual bystander.

    “Bullying was a new thing to me,” she said. “I didn’t realize what was going on until it happened to me.”

    Logan said she tries to prevent bullying on the high school level.

    “I was bullied in junior high, and I hate seeing kids being bullied in high school,” she said, adding the Washington seminar could lead to new ideas that could be implemented in Altamont.

    “I want to bring what I learn back to our school,” she said.

    Logan, an honor student, hopes to become a speech pathologist. She plans to attend either Eastern Illinois University in Charleston or Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

    Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.

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