You never know what is going on in another person’s life, fourth-grader Taylor Merrell said sagely. Somebody in their family may have died, or their parents could be going through a divorce.

Which is why you should never bully another student, Merrell concluded.

It’s a lesson that Merrell and other fourth-graders at Salem Hills Elementary School absorbed on Wednesday, after non-profit theater company CLIMB Theatre held a 40-minute-long presentation and workshop on bullying.

Based in Inver Grove Heights, CLIMB Theatre was founded in 1975 by Peg Wetli, who designed it to engage and support disabled students. Over more than three decades of operation, however, the troupe has morphed into an educational tool for all students, Wetli said. CLIMB now employs 22 actors and educators, and visits roughly 1,200 schools annually. Wetli estimates the theater company’s messages reach as many as 400,000 students every year.

“Our mission is to create and perform plays and classes that inspire and propel people —especially young people — toward actions that benefit themselves and the community,” Wetli said. “We produce work that is exceptional entertainment, is high-quality art and is also effective education.”

CLIMB frequently makes classrooms visits — like its workshops on Wednesday at Salem Hills. But the non-profit group also writes its own plays on socially relevant topics, including bullying, environmentalism, diversity or personal finances, and performs them in front of school-wide audiences. Before crafting a play, Wetli said, the theater group completes a significant amount of background research on the issue and consults with experts, teachers and students for input. When the research is done, the group devises imaginative, often-abstract ways to tackle the subject.

As part of the Wednesday workshop at Salem Hills, the students participated in educational games, acted out short skits and listened as two CLIMB actors explained how bullying can affect other students — and what friends and classmates can do to prevent it. The workshop also laid out a path of action students can follow when they are bullied, or see another classmate being bullied.

Their creative, interactive approach, CLIMB actor and educator Seth Kaltwasser said, engages students intellectually and creatively and allows them to take ownership over their school environment.

“I think it’s so easy when students hear about the problem of bullying to get immediately defensive,” said Kaltwasser, one of the actors leading the Wednesday workshop at Salem Hills. “I think the way we approach it really enables the students to say this is a problem, it’s a problem in every school, but what can I do, what decisions can I make today to make sure it’s not an issue in my classroom?”

The lessons weren’t lost on Merrell, 9, who said her favorite part of the workshop was an activity called “Enemies and Protectors.” As part of the game, students designate one enemy and one protector, and strive to keep the protector between themselves and the enemy. The game teaches students about the vulnerability victims of bullying can feel.

“It kind of got me scared because I was so close to my enemy,” Merrell said. The game, she said, taught her that’s important to protect the victims of bullying.

Salem Hills fourth-grader Reggiena Rush said her favorite part of the workshop was a skit the actors performed with student volunteers.

“I kind of liked it because in the scene one person is the enemy and you have to stand up for the person that is getting bullied, because if they get bullied, they could actually definitely get hurt,” Rush said.

“I learned that you shouldn’t bully someone, because you can hurt their feelings, and you don’t know what their life is like,” Rush added. “If you bully them it can make it even worse.”

To watch a video of CLIMB Theatre's bullying workshop at Salem Hills Elementary, click here.