Calgary students win anti-bullying award

Junior high students made a video about a girl who overcomes her bullies

CBC News - Posted: Nov 14, 2012

A group of girls from a junior high school in Calgary have created an award-winning video to help spread the anti-bullying message.

Six Grade 8 students at the French immersion school Ecole Madeleine D'houet won a provincewide competition hosted by The Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities.

The girls said the video started out as a fun project.

“We thought it'd be really cool to try and do it ourselves,” said Eliza Vass.

The video tells the story of a girl who overcomes her bullies with the help of another classmate.

“The bystander is the biggest difference because the bully starts it, but the bystander is the one that can end it,” said Mia Daragicevic, who came up with the concept.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media has taken bullying to another level, said Isabel McRitchie.

“In our day now, cyberbullying is becoming a huge issue and so we need to be able to know how to stand up to [it].”

The girls travel to Edmonton Wednesday to accept their award. This week marks national Bullying Awareness Week.