Franklinton High School’s Beta Club members, in an effort to educate younger students about the prevalence of bullying and how to combat it, staged two programs Wednesday.

Beta sponsor Levi Morgan said the idea for the program came from the students, who approached him to find out if such a project would be feasible.

The program’s skits and games were created by the Beta members, and the entire project was “totally student driven,” Morgan said.

“I was very proud of them,” he said.

Seeing the students plan and execute the project, all with minimal help, was impressive. Morgan said he communicated with school administrators about the program and coordinated things such as practices and props.

The prep work began at the beginning of the school year. The peak number of students working on the project was 25, and 18 took part in the programs Wednesday.

The program was first presented at Franklinton Elementary School and then at Enon Elementary.

The format alternated between a game that provided facts about bullying and a skit that showed how students should react during a bullying situation. Each skit ended with a high school student explaining the message of the scenario and what the younger kids should take away from it.

The four skits taught the students the importance of being kind and respectful to others, let them know they should tell an adult if they are being bullied, demonstrated the importance of maintaining trust in friendships, and educated them about the dangers of cyber bullying.

At the conclusion of the program, a video was shown, comments about bullying were made by two Beta members, and a question and answer session was conducted by Morgan.

Morgan said the Beta members developed an extremely insightful program, exceeding his expectations.

Only minor revisions were needed to ensure it was sending the appropriate message to the younger students, he added.

He said he was pleasantly surprised by how engaged the elementary kids were during the program.

“We have assemblies at the high school, and the kids just kind of sit there,” he said after the Enon program. “Here, they were all into it. I was very happy with it.”