Webster Schroeder High School

I finished up my 2011 school bullying tour on a high note. Thank you a million times to Webster Schroeder High School's staff and students for welcoming me and for being so engaged in the fight against bullying.

After meeting staff I got involved right away in a meeting with three 12th grade boys who have chosen bullying prevention as their civic advocacy project. Webster Schroeder requires all 12th grade students to engage in community advocacy so they can begin to think about the impact they wish to make in the world. Obviously this is right up my alley, as this is exactly what we do with Project Empower's OUTREACH program. We had a discussion about the countless ways they could pursue bullying awareness. Some of my favorite ideas included asking the athletic department to require athletes to sign a Behavioral Contract which would ban bullying and require positive bystander support, starting a bystander awareness campaign, and raising awareness about the anonymous tips hotline at the school.

I then made stops into several classrooms before joining 1,000 students in the auditorium for a one hour conversation about bullying. I shared my stories and work, and then answered questions from the group. There were some questions that were so good, I wanted to expand upon them here in hopes that those students will find their way to my blog (if my responses seem incomplete, know that it is simply because I do not have time to retell my original answers and that these are only supplemental comments to my initial conversation):

To the young woman in the back who asked how I learned to feel beautiful...I could not see you because of the bright stage lights, but just asking that question is what makes you beautiful. You said that some girls just cannot believe that they have beauty within them but clearly you believe you do because you asked to learn how to let that beautiful person out. Please know that I still sometimes struggle with the concept that this title I have was contingent in some part upon the loads of makeup and fancy clothes that I put on this summer at the Miss New York pageant. Someday I want to write a book and spill all the secrets to the external beautification process I have learned. I'll tell you exactly what mascara, bra, hair color, posture tricks, etc it took to get the look of a "beauty queen." But, remember that you can buy fancy clothes, makeup, surgery to get a perfect body...but you cannot buy a beautiful mind. Even the best college in the world cannot make you smart if you do not already have your mind opened and engaged. Continue to beautify your mind; learn, think, experience things, explore. Get to know yourself and find the aspects of you internally that make you valuable. We all have skills, personality traits, etc that make us shine. I firmly believe that it is my mind that is the most beautiful thing I have. That's why I talk so much, and why I seek people and experiences that allow me to flex my brain. When I am leading my non-profit group through a strategy break-through, or explaining the concept of leadership to students, or having an intellectual conversation about world finance...that is when I feel truly beautiful. We are all a Light Bright; you can color us any sort of beautiful you want, but the beauty doesn't happen without the internal light.

To the young man who spoke with me after about also being the "quirky" one...I cannot tell you how happy I am that I helped you know you're not alone. There are more of us than you think. Just because the people around us cannot understand the value or reason behind our differences does not mean that those differences do not have both value and reason. Our job is to shut out the noise from others and focus on finding that place where we are meant to be. When you finally get to that place, the journey will make sense to both you and those who you met along the way. I hope you will always look for ways to make people question their pre-conceived notions of the world, and that you too will speak out someday and help others like us know that they are not alone. That moment with you is still replaying in my brain. So incredibly happy that we met.

After the assembly I went for a private meeting with another group of seniors focused on bullying prevention for their project. Their teacher had tweeted me asking to talk to them separately. One student's story was beyond anything I have heard all year. I am excited to be in a position to try and help, and expect I will be back in Webster again to follow up.

Thank you to the students for being so engaged in the assembly, to the staff of Webster Schroeder for welcoming me into your school, and to County Executive Maggie Brooks for hosting me for today's event!!! What a stunning end to my 2011 year.