A number of Spruce Ridge School students were provided with some important life lessons on Friday.
The School Community Council organized a youth conference for kids in Grades 6, 7 and 8. The topics touched on self-defence, drug and alcohol awareness, fire safety, health and fitness and street safety.
The students were also educated on Internet safety and digital citizenship, a couple of topics that are becoming increasingly important with the growth of social media, cellphone usage and cyber bullying.
Caroline Gillies, an IT consultant for the Cornerstone Public School Division, stressed to students that everything they do on the Internet leaves a digital footprint and, despite what many believe, is there forever.
"Tech is all around you, you know that," Gillies said to the students. "Anything you do on the computer or cellphone or anything digital is permanent. It's stored somewhere; it can be pulled back. So you really want to think about what you do - be cybersmart."
Gillies added that everyone, young and old, gets burned by saying things online with the belief that it's either anonymous or won't be spread to others. She advised the students that if it's something they wouldn't say to a person's face, then it shouldn't be posted online either.
"This is one that burns everybody," said Gillies, who also advised the students to ensure they log out of all websites and that their digital devices are password protected. "How hard would it be for someone who is maybe not so nice to go on (a site) and pretend to send something from me because I didn't log off. Be smart, sign out, log off and be even smarter, don't share your password."
Delving further into passwords, Gillies warned the students not to use the same password for each web site and to make them difficult for people to predict.
Gillies also advised the students to take caution when using social media sites as there are numerous predators prowling the Internet. She said it is very important for people to check their privacy settings and again advised them to be careful what they post.
"Think before you do stuff. I want you to think before things happen,"
Cyberbullying is another issue that has been in the spotlight recently. Gillies noted that cyberbullying takes many forms and is described as using technology to bully or intimidate someone. She said if someone is being bullied online, they should report it to either their parents or a teacher and added that both Estevan and Weyburn have laws against bullying.
"You have the power to help yourself or help your friend. A lot of people think they can't go to the police because maybe they started it. But if it gets out of hand can you be the one to stop it as well? Yes and you need to do that."
Gillies noted the presentation she made to the students Friday was a combined effort of the Estevan and Weyburn Police Services, RCMP and the Cornerstone and Holy Family school divisions and Sun Country Health Region's mental health division.
