New Group “Zero Conflict” Aims to Eliminate Bullying at North

Starting with its mission statement, Parkway North has a full-time commitment to create a safe school environment for everyone. Nothing better shows the school’s commitment to that than the students who take action, outside of the administration. Recently, another group has joined the list of student groups who work to make this school a better place – Zero Conflict.

“Zero Conflict an anti-bullying organization. Its focus is to eliminate prejudices and to eliminate the biases in bullying situations,” said freshman Joseph Goldman, who founded the group. “It’s very easy to get into Zero Conflict. All we want you to do is to stop bullying when you see [it].”

Goldman started Zero Conflict with fellow freshman Meghan Mudd when they were both students at Northeast Middle. They were fed up with seeing bullying and harassment happening at the school, so they decided that the best way to solve the problem was to get students to care about it. Zero Conflict is based around the idea of stopping conflict before it starts.

Goldman said: “It’s very easy to entice a lot of people because it’s a new approach to this problem. [To join,] all you have do is sign a contract, a simple contract: I will not bully; I will stop bullying when I see it; I will…put an end to hatred.”

Zero Conflict only took form as a club this semester, but Goldman and Mudd have been hard at work since they were at Northeast.

Many students remember the presentation on “Rachel’s Challenge” in the first semester, which Goldman and Mudd introduced to both Northeast and North. Beyond that, they have already helped to stimulate the growth of Zero Conflict.

“We want our kids to be coming home from school and saying, ‘Hey, y’know, there’s this organization at my school called Zero Conflict. Should I join it?’ We want it to keep going, and we want it to be all around the world so that it can work to stop bullying,” Mudd said.

This new club, which meets in Julie McMullen’s room after school, is focused on organizing and planning their activities for the rest of the semester and beyond. Goldman says that they need upperclassmen, to help out with this the most. In the end, it boils down to what the students can do together that no administration can do. If enough force gets behind it, Zero Conflict could become a stable of North High.

Written by Jonathan Herzog – Staff Writer