By Julia Spitz/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
May 2, 2009

NATICK — Almost 200 girls went to the mall yesterday to pick up a few essentials: A shot of confidence and tips on dealing with bullies.

“It was pretty cool. It had pretty good advice,” said Mary Bethany Moody, an 11-year-old from Brookline who attended the afternoon session with Elizabeth, her Revolutionary Era American Girl doll.

“It was good. It was fun,” said Julianna Leone, 11, whose father, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone was the afternoon’s guest speaker.

“The ramifications of bullying get more and more serious,” Gerry Leone said before addressing the group assembled by the Infinity Pool Court. “Anything we can do on the front end is worth it to me so we don’t have to see it on the back end” when it moves into the criminal realm.

Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in the Virginia Tech shootings two years ago, had in his backpack an essay about bullying he’d written in eighth grade, Leone said. In April, bullying was blamed for the suicide of an 11-year-old boy in Springfield.

“You find you’ve got to reach down younger and younger,” Leone said. “It’s all about communication. You can’t talk to kids this age the same way you talk to teenagers. … Once (the message) resonates, they talk to one another.”

American Girl offices “receive thousands of letters from girls” across the country, said Scott Davidson, manager of the Natick Collection store. “Recently, we’ve received many from girls about bullying.”

In response, this year’s “Girl of the Year,” a doll designed to “reflect what is happening that year,” is Chrissa, and “her experience is bullying,” said Davidson. American Girl stores across the country marked Stop the Bullying Day yesterday with activities and a 30-minute program based on “Stand Up for Yourself & Your Friends,” an advice book written by a clinical social worker for the American Girl line.

“What we want you to do … is stand up and speak out,” Leone told the girls.

Meredith Lerner, 25, prevention and policy coordinator, and Allison Coan, 23, project coordinator for the District Attorney’s Office, presented the interactive program in Natick at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

“They wanted someone closer to their age range” to do the presentations, said Lerner.

“We thought because we’re learning about bullying in our school we should come,” said Maddie McGuire, 10, of Hopkinton.

Plus, “we both love Chrissa,” said Ally Scimone, 9, also from Hopkinton.

In the interactive program, the more than 120 girls in the morning session and about 50 in the afternoon learned ways to diffuse a bad situation.

Among the tips were how to stand so your posture exudes confidence, and specific phrases to use such as “Hey, what are you doing?” and “Stop it. That’s bullying.”

“I think it’s empowering to give kids something to say,” said Susan Michals, a Newton mother who attended with her 8-year-old daughter. “It’s unfortunate it’s up to the Mattel Company to get the dialogue going.

“This is very important,” she said.

(Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@cnc.com.)