Lincoln-Way East Participates In Anti-Bullying Campaign

FRANKFORT, IL — Hats are normally prohibited in all Lincoln-Way 210 buildings. However, the district said Lincoln-Way East made an exception for some special blue stocking hats for a good cause: standing up to bullying.

Now a senior, Lainey O’Boyle started the first We Dine Together Club in Illinois her sophomore year, ensuring no student ever has to eat alone, the district said. We Dine is run by an anti-bullying company called Be Strong. As a state representative for Be Strong, O’Boyle was approached to get her school involved in #HatNotHate an anti-bullying campaign encouraging people across the world to make, wear and post handmade blue hats on social media.

The district said O’Boyle and the We Dine Together Club asked for 60 hats to wear in support, but Be Strong sent nearly 3,000, enough for the entire school. Each hat is handmade and many include a #HatNotHate tag, some even had handwritten notes in support.

The club set up a table and handed a free hat to every student and staff member in the building, and they all wore the hats on Friday, Oct. 4.

“It’s just really cool to see everybody band together,” said O’Boyle. “I hope they can see that everybody is included, from the football players to the band players, it’s just a really cool way to bring everybody together.”

The color blue represents awareness, peace, and solidarity, and is the color to wear in support of anti-bullying, the district said. Blue also happens to be the Griffin’s school colors, so the student body plans to all wear the stocking caps to the football game that night against Lincoln-Way Central.