5 personal Stories

FACEBOOK
‘FRENEMIES’//
Victim of social media attack still questions why In the spring of 2010, a group of Pinnacle High School students created a group on Facebook about junior Aubrey Stecher*. She discovered it a week after its creation and found it filled with cruel comments that insulted her physical appearance and made violent threats against her.“I found out about the group because my supposed ‘best friend’ told me about it and acted as if she had nothing to do with it,” Stecher says. Stecher told the vice principal because the group was still on the site days later. Once notified of the situation, he and Stecher immediately called her parents and, because threats were made, the police. Shortly after, the school administration questioned several students to find out where the page originated.“To this day, I have no clue why the group was created. I question it a lot and wonder about it. Looking back, the kids who were involved must have been very insecure to have done something like that,” Stecher says. Stecher thinks that the best thing to do in a situation like hers is to tell a trusted adult. She advises other victims to be strong and use kindness to diffuse the situation rather than escalating it by fighting back. – Hailee Pallas

SAFETY FROM
STEREOTYPES//
A teen’s past pushes him to change the views of his high school. Head spinning in confusion, feet pounding against concrete, Steven Henderson* ran.The cold air bit against his face as screams of
hatred followed behind him.“Queer! Faggot!,” his seventh grade peers screamed.All on bikes, the number of boys grew to almost 30. When Henderson neared his home, the boys finally backed down and rode off. Even after telling a counselor the following day, the harassment continued.“[I felt] I was disliked by many people because I was being true to my feelings and being honest with myself,” he says. As an openly gay sophomore at Pinnacle High School, Henderson believes that
bullies find lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) teens an “easy target.” In fact, he sees anti-gay cyberbullying two to three times a week. Henderson feels teens today “have more access to technology than ever before,” making it easier to torment LGBT teens anonymously.
These experiences inspired Henderson to create a group to help change the way PHS students view their LGBT peers. He and his friends consider their group a safe haven for LGBT teens and hope to spread awareness to their fellow students and the school’s faculty. – Alexandra Dersch
CYBER BULLIES
DEFEATED//
A 15-year-old’s experience with this generation’s new form of bullyingOf all the websites on the Internet, one in particular affected Pinnacle High School sophomore JustinAdams’* life and self-esteem. From early childhood to today, his passion for the performing arts flourished into a lifelong
aspiration. Unfortunately, this interest gave people reason to put him down and stereotype him. Through Formspring.com, Adams
was bullied without knowing who posted the cruel comments. Fortunately, Adams’ optimistic attitude trampled all their attempts.
“If anything, it pushes me farther, knowing that I may be famous and leave all of these people in the dust,” Adams says.Teenagers continued bullying him once he identified himself as a homosexual. Yet, with the support of family and friends, Adams ignores the negative opinions and comments. “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. By being pushed around, I was forced to be stronger,” he says. Living for 15 years under the stress of bullying made Adams a stronger individual and gave him the power to ignore harsh comments. He encourages
other victims of bullying to “cut off all means of contact with people and websites that you’re being bullied on. You aren’t being a coward.
You’re simply not fighting back.” – Nikki Charnstrom

TAKING A LEAP
OF FAITH //
Self-confidence helps victims to take a stand against bullying For Pinnacle High School junior Joan Harding*, her Christian faith was the ray
of hope against cyberbullying. The harassment started when her best friend Chelsea Moran*, who was jealous of the time Harding spent with other friends, sent Harding derogatory text messages. Without a best friend, Harding dealt with the betrayal and the pain of cyberbullying alone.The malicious texts continued and, as hard as she tried to ignore them, there were too many to forget. Comments like “Aren’t you so cool hanging out with your church?,” You don’t even have friends there,” and “You are such a loser who doesn’t do anything fun” sent her into a summer of torment and confusion. Soon after, Harding was diagnosed with depression so severe that she switched from a public high school to being home-schooled. With the support of her family and her faith, however, Harding has regained her confidence and plans to return to Pinnacle in 2011.
– Jenny LaPor

CRUCIAL COMPANIONS//
Two friends turn to each other when faced with peer harassment Feeling isolated from the effects of cyber bullying, Pinnacle High School
freshman Katie Glen* realized she wasn’t the only student going through it. Glen switched from a very small and secluded private school to
Pinnacle High School in 2010 along with her good friend, Lindsey Day*. However, Glen found high school to be an overwhelming experience and
felt miserable because of mean comments left on her Formspring page.“I was really upset. [Whoever bullied me] knew who I was
dating at the time and said I wasn’t good enough for him. They also called me fat, ugly and many other rude names,” Glen says.
Days later, Glen found out that she was not the only one being terrorized and discovered that Day was also being harassed on Formspring.
“They said she was ugly, anorexic and didn’t belong here. When she found out about the comments, she cried because she was so upset,” Glen says. Since Glen and Day both needed a friend’s support through the ordeal, they turned to the person who understood their emotions best: each other.
– Hailey Heldt

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