WATCH: Valley Southwoods Anti-Bullying Group Mixes it Up, Does the Harlem Shake

The Valley Southwoods anti-bullying group SHOUT (Students Helping Out) mixed – and shook – things up before the school dismissed for spring break, abandoning their usual places in the cafeteria and sitting next to someone new.

They also did the Harlem Shake, a dance that was originated in Harlem in 1981, but became an Internet phenomenon last month when five Australian teenagers uploaded a video of them wildly flailing their arms and legs about on the video sharing site YouTube.

The whole event was designed to help break down walls that often result in the same people associating with each other during the school lunch hour, according to a story on the West Des Moines Community School District’s web site. Valley Southwoods

“Our goal is to have students come in the cafeteria and sit with someone they don’t normally sit with,”  Valley Southwoods Principal Mitch Kuhnert said. “It’s that concept of getting to somebody else and treating others with respect.”

Students were directed to sit at specific tables and each had a list of questions they could use as conversation starters. The exercise started out awkwardly for some students, but they said that once they began talking to one another, it became a fun opportunity to get to know their classmates better.


Next year, the school will repeat the activity on Mix It Up Day, which will be held on Oct. 29 at schools around the world.

SHOUT began as part of a larger anti-bullying campaign in the West Des Moines Community School District that challenges students to be part of a solution to bullying. At Valley Southwoods, some of the efforts so far include T-shirt and bracelet sales to raise awareness, and a pledge drive in which students posted their names on a Tiger Paw to visually show their commitment to ending bullying.

The program is being rolled out slowly, but by next year, Kehnert thinks it will be an ingrained aspect of the Valley Southwoods culture.