Few escape their school years without at least one episode of bullying. For some, it’s a part of school life, something you learn to live with. For others, it makes the school day something to be dreaded. In some cases, it is a torment so unbearable that the only way out is suicide.

On the afternoon of Friday, January 11, however, it was an enthusiastic group of over 400 kindergarten through fourth grade students, teachers, staff and parents who filled the gym at the Honey Brook Elementary Center for the annual anti-bullying assembly called “C.A.R.E.”.

C.A.R.E. is described a major initiative to “Create A Respectful Environment” within the school and community. Its goals are to reduce existing bullying problems, prevent the development of new bullying problems, and achieve better peer relations at school.