Greene Shares Wisdom With Lake Shore Students

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Jovontae Jamar, Staff Writer

Every kid has thought about making a change for themselves and for the people around them, but they just don’t know how to use their own voice. That is why Jamie Greene is the executive director for Defeat the Label, which started the Upstander Program. She has been an amazing motivational speaker for a couple of years now, and she plans to inspire many more students around the world. 

Greene has been working with this program for over 6 years now. She has taken something so small and turned it into something very big. She has worked with various schools in other districts, but now she has brought it to Lake Shore High School, home of the Shorians. She has a place in her heart for Lake Shore, but Greene wants to expand this program with more and more schools to make this program a worldwide organization. She is someone who is very passionate about her work and is determined for success. 

The inspiration she had for the program was to make a difference with various young adults. She said, “I think that young adults have so much power. You guys have the opportunity to create so much positive change.”

She continues to say, “So many amazing movements that are happening around us right now, are being driven by students, and Upstander is a movement. It is a decision to create positive, safe, bully free spaces in our schools and communities.” 

It’s always been a motive of hers to just see kids make a change and more so be that change. The Upstander Program helps these kids be able to, “see something, recognize that it is not ok, and be able to start to make that change.” Greene doesn’t just want everyone to be a bystander when a conflict breaks down, she wants them to be the change and stop the problem. 

“I want students to feel empowered,” she explains. To be empowered is to feel strong, confident, and to have the ability or the confidence to be the change.  That’s all she wants Shorian students to recognize. Being helpful to others is making a huge change in today’s society. 

The impact that this program has had is very powerful, and Greene is always looking forward to expanding this program. The work she is doing with Lake Shore is for sure going to make a change for a lot of students, but hopefully a change for the whole school. It is only a matter of time before she makes this program a worldwide label.