On Wednesday, the Toronto Argonauts Huddle Up program, presented by Tim Hortons, visited two Greater Toronto Area schools to help take a stand against bullying on Pink Shirt Day. It was the second straight year that the Argos hosted a pair of special Pink Shirt Day assemblies as part of the Huddle Up program.
Thank you, @DpAssisi for joining the huddle and standing together with us on #PinkShirtDay! 👚 #HuddleUp pic.twitter.com/2UWrsXeG5b
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) February 28, 2018
At each assembly, Argos players, cheerleaders, and staff members share personal stories that encourage, embrace and celebrate diversity and inclusion with the goal of helping inspire students to build positive character, self-awareness and positive sense of belonging.
Argos fullback Declan Cross and defensive end Shawn Lemon attended Wednesday’s assemblies, where they each shared their own impactful stories, mingled with students, and took photos with each school’s Huddle Up Committee.
Cross visited St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Mississauga, where he encouraged students to believe in themselves and each other. He shared the story of how current Argos special team’s coordinator Kevin Eiben helped him develop a belief in himself as a young athlete.
Capped off #PinkShirtDay👚 with the awesome #HuddleUp team and students from @_Leslieville! #ArgosFootball pic.twitter.com/VYOiRWqdvZ
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) February 28, 2018
Later in the afternoon, Lemon visited Leslieville Junior Public School and shared his own experience standing up to someone who was bullying, while encouraging kids to do the same for each other.
“Don’t be afraid to speak up and don’t be afraid to be yourself,” encouraged Lemon.
Pink Shirt Day is a North American-wide movement that began with a Nova Scotia student standing up for a younger student who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school.
The act of kindness and solidarity showed by then-Grade 12 students Travis Price and David Shepherd is exactly the kind of message the Huddle Up program has embodied since its inception.
Since its humble beginnings in 2008, millions of people now participate in pink shirt day annually in a showing of solidarity for bullying prevention efforts.
In now its 17th year, the Huddle Up program has reached over 600,000 students in Greater Toronto Area schools. The program has continuously addressed the issues surrounding bullying while adding a focus on improving the well-being of students.