No Hate Tour Rolls Through Fieldhouse

Anti-Bullying with BMXers

BMXer Zach Newman flips over Principal Tracey at #NoHateTour

Samantha Panariti ('23) and Henry Holt ('23)
November 2, 2022

On October 3, RMHS hosted the No Hate Tour in coordination with the United States Marines to teach students bullying prevention tactics and combine that information with the excitement of BMX bikers’ stunts in the Hawkes Fieldhouse.

Four bikers showcased stunts. The bikers included Trevor Meyer, who did land tricks, as well as Zach Newman, Alex Landstyle, and Logan Place who did flips and other tricks in the air using massive ramps set up in the fieldhouse for the event. The host, Dan Sieg, told stories throughout the presentation about bullying and people never giving up. He told the story of Newman, who was bullied by older kids at the skatepark but still continued to pursue his true passion. He also mentioned Mr. Beast, a famous YouTuber who faced hardships but worked hard to achieve his success. 

In an interview for this article, Sieg shared why he joined the No Hate initiative. “I was a confused, awkward kid… what I did wasn’t understood… So what inspired me was to help encourage kids that there’s other things you can do out there that’s going to be different than what other people are doing, and I want to encourage those kids to go after it.”

Students’ reactions were mixed. Senior Zac Morris enjoyed the assembly. “The anti-bullying assembly was fun. I didn’t get good seats, they kind of just packed us in, so I had to sit on the floor. But I really liked Zach Newman, his story was really cool how he was able to overcome the bullying he got from everyone at the skatepark.” However, senior Ashley McCue had a slightly different opinion. “I thought it was pretty good, but I don’t get what it had to do with anti-bullying because it was mostly about BMX and the bikers’ credentials.”

“We decided to take a chance and see if it was something that we really enjoyed,” said Ms. Buckley, explaining why RMHS hosted the event. Additionally, Ms. Buckley and the school administration “decided as a team to invite the No Hate anti-bullying in coordination with BMX because we read reviews from other schools from other schools that they had visited, and it seemed that it was a really engaging and exciting way to get the message across,” Ms. Buckley said. They are unsure if the No Hate anti-bullying in coordination with BMX will return in the future.

No Hate Tour reached out to Ms. Buckley over the summer to tell her they were interested in visiting RMHS. The No Hate Tour had previously visited high schools in neighboring cities. “It was actually completely free for our school to engage in, which was a huge perk,” said Ms. Buckley.

The #NoHateTour brought BMX bikes and an anti-bullying message to RMHS on October 3.

Ms. Buckley spoke in regards to how effective the No Hate Tour assembly has been in preventing bullying. “I think to manage or help any adolescent student to change their behavior on bullying or any other big life decision that they make, it will require lots of consistent messaging from lots of different people in their lives, so it’s just one piece of the puzzle to encourage people to live an inclusive life that we want in our school community.”

The school faculty is still trying to figure out if the No Hate Tour may return in future years. “I am not sure, I haven’t asked for feedback yet. So I’m interested in hearing anyone’s perspective, if they like it or not. Feel free to give me some feedback and then we can make a decision from there,” stated Ms. Buckley.