Champions, Not Bullies - Zaina Khoury

On October 24, 2011 the Young Dreamer Network threw an Anti-Bullying event! As soon as I started heading towards the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, I saw middle school students pouring out of school buses. Immediately, I became jumpy and excited to have all of these guys coming to an awesome event like this. I kept telling everyone “I’m so excited!” and “This is so exciting!” over and over and over again. It genuinely thrilled me to see such a large outcome for this event. Many really awesome videos were played showing students how bullying hurts through relatable things like music and dance. Some teens from the Boys and Girls Club rapped for students as well, singing about the effect of bullying and where it can take people that it hurts. It was really cool looking back from the front row and seeing the middle school students nodding their heads to the beat and smiling at the performers. A kind representative from the Boys and Girls Club came to speak with the audience about his experiences with bullying too. He presented it with such confidence and added some humor which really kept everybody listening to his amazing story. Radio Silence NYC, a band from New York, came to play as well. Their catchy songs and cool vibe kept us head bangin’ and jumping around! Their message through rock music portrayed their opinion against bullying. In my opinion, they were a BIG hit considering I heard a few young girls behind me yell, “I LOVE YOU!” and many of the students’ desperate runs to catch the lead singer’s pick! It all ended with a Young Dreamer group picture with the band and a quick meet-up backstage. Overall, this event really helped me, as well as many other students, find out what role I want to play in this rising problem. I want to stop bullying before it eats our classmates alive. I want to be a Champion.