Ten boys have stepped up and taken the opportunity to be a part of the White Ribbon Boys group at Forbes High School.
The program aims to provide young men with the opportunity to be leaders within their school community and raise awareness about violence against women and the impact it can have.
Students participated in two days of White Ribbon Boy DFV and Peer Skills training workshops in early April under the guidance and support of the schools Youth Worker, Trudi Weyman and Aboriginal Education Officer, Barry Merritt. The training helped students learn and experience respectful relationships, gender equality and how to challenge attitudes which support violence. The aim is to create real generational change to stop violence against women and children in Australia. Trudi said: “It’s great to see our young male student volunteers, step up and be leaders in our school community and apart of this group.”
Congratulations to the following students for completing their training Blake Bray, Tyrhys Jones, Sebastian Markwort, Levi McDaniel, Angus Turner, Trent Tyne, Joshua Withers, Stuart Shaw, Jack Cole and Joshua Tooze-Rumble.
For all of the boys, the main driving force to be involved was that they wanted to stand up and help make change. Year 8 student, Angus Turner said: “I became involved to help make a difference,” which was something echoed by all students.
As a White Ribbon School, Forbes High School has a strong partnership with the Forbes Domestic Violence committee and the White Ribbon Day March held each year in Forbes. The White Ribbon Boys group played an integral part of the Forbes White Ribbon Day held March last year, being involved significantly in the formal proceedings throughout the day.
Barry said: “The boys had two fantastic days of training and really displayed dedication to the group and its goal of increasing awareness of domestic and family violence.”
Part of the group’s role will be being involved again this year in hosting a ‘Boy’s Night In’ later in the year, as well as being actively involved in the White Ribbon Day March in November. If you would like to find out more about White Ribbon Australia you can visit their website at https://www. whiteribbon.org.au/stop-violence-againstwomen/.