CHS flips for special lunchtime “No Hate” BMX assembly
No Hate High School Tour promotes anti-bullying at CHS
XGames bronze medalist Zach Newman performs a stunt for students outside the Cafetorium as part of the No Hate Tour assembly.
Colton, CA—BMX stunts and anti-bullying message took center stage today during both lunches in front of the Cafetorium. The ASA No Hate High School Tour, partnering with the United States Marines, held assemblies at both lunches promoting anti-bullying.
A special assembly schedule was created for the day which added 13 minutes to each lunch.
The assemblies were showcases for BMX stunts by pro BMX bikers AJ Anaya, Dane Beardsley, Wesley Hark, and Zach Newman. All of the bikers are well known in the BMX world, and have performed at higher levels of BMX, like the XGames.
Giant ramps were set up on the south end of D.C. Lane for the pros to impress the gathered students.
Throughout the showcase, Master of Ceremonies, Zack “Catfish” Yankush interjected tidbits of information about bullying, his personal experiences, and about his fellow bikers in between BMX moves.
It’s the right message to be sharing with students, but the use of BMX makes the No Hate Tour unique.
“We find that students really like BMX,” said pro Dane Beardsley, “There are a lot of parallels between what we do and anti-bullying.”
The large crowd along D.C. Lane confirmed Beardsley’s theory. The sight of many kids clapping, cheering, exclaiming in awe, and even recording the show on their phones to share on social media was satisfying to see.
This brought the school together for the first time this semester.
Beardsley shared, “The last two years have been really tough on everybody. Just breaking up the day for students. A lot of the shows we’ve done this tour have been the first event schools have had. So it’s cool to be the first event back, you know? To bring people back together.”
Along with BMX pros, the United States Marines were also there enjoying the showcase and offering their own security and support.
After the stunts, the Marines brought out a pull up bar for students to test their strength and attempt to break student records in a friendly competition.
The message was not lost on students.
Sophomore Valeria Pech said, “It was more about anti-bullying because they focused on helping each other out. Like when she [a student] was doing the pull ups, Catfish helped out the girl. That’s what the message was. Helping out other people, being more kind, and not being a bully.”
The No Hate High School Tour and Marines were able to bring both fun and awareness to a nationwide problem, and did it in style.
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