Bullying is not only present in the “real world” where you can be attacked physically, but is also prominent on sites where the students of NHS are most frequently, the internet.

    The Internet is a huge outlet for anonymous messages people can send at any time of day. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other sites are the main outlet for this kind of bully like behavior.

    Melinda Miller, assistant principal at NHS, has a strong opinion on the topic of bullying.     “Bullying is any kind of imbalance in power, from one party to another.” Miller said. Since this definition is so vast, it can be interpreted and distorted on what people think and consider what bullying is. Stephanie Gilbert, sociology teacher at NHS, had a similar opinion.

     “It doesn’t have to be left… it can be emotional [or] it can be exclusion,” Gilbert said. Gilbert and Miller both believed that bullying doesn’t need to be physical to be harmful.

    The internet is an efficient way to hate someone and bully them without connections to who they are.       

    “I don’t think there is so much [bullying] at school, we have so many eyes and ears at school.” said Miller. Because of this, the school administration has difficulty controlling or monitoring bullying online.

   However bullying may not be present at school, bullying can be present anywhere you go. Junior Kristi Stumpp, an avid promoter against bullying spoke up about her opinion.

    “Bullying is present everywhere you look: inside homes, the workplace, and especially schools,” Stumpp said.

     Even if bullying isn’t always caught by the school, many students speak up about bullying.

    “It’s still [at NHS] but I also hear more about students who are speaking up,” said Miller.

    “We’ve had former students come back who are still connected to high school students and say, ‘Hey, I know you guys [want to] know this, but this is what’s going on.’ I love that. I love that they know that this is wrong, and they know we can handle it,” said Miller.

As the internet keep growing and NHS keeps improving their online basis, their knowledge of bullying on the internet expands. “I really think we are making a lot of progress with [bullying].” Miller said. If you ever see bullying present or someone who is being bullied, contact the administration or tell them anonymously at [email protected].