Students at Tiogue Elementary School were visited on Friday by Sensei Mike Cellucci from Northeast Family Martial Arts, for a presentation on how to handle bullying situations both inside of school and out.
Sensei Mike was accompanied by Savannah, a former Tiogue student who is currently in the 7th grade at ASFMS. She also studies martial arts at Northeast, now located at 113 Tiogue Ave., after a recent re-location from West Warwick.
Sensei Mike began the presentation by showing his audience how martial art students practice focus and show respect to their peers and instructor.
Students were asked to respond to Sensei Mike's questions with "Yes, Sir" while focusing their minds and bodies through concentration, eye contact and posture during multiple exercises throughout the presentation.
He explained the three types of bullying that students may encounter, which are verbal/mental, physical and exclusion. The acronym H.E.L.P. was introduced to the Tiogue students and is a lesson used at Northeast to teach awareness and ways to diffuse or avoid bullying situations. H - Have a plan to avoid bullies, E - Elevate your awareness, L - Learn to ask for help and P - Protect your mind and body.
"You want to get out of the situation the right way and find a grown up that you trust to help you out," said Sensei Mike. "We use the motto 'Use Common Sense Before Self Defense' as a rule."
At the end of the presentation, students were given the opportunity to ask Sensei Mike questions about bullying and martial arts.