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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTeen voted to homecoming court as cruel prank faces bullies
A Michigan sophomore beamed last night as she faced the bullies who voted her to the homecoming court as a sick joke.
After initially planning to skip the celebrations, Whitney Kropp, 16, bravely walked out onto the field during Ogemaw Heights High School's homecoming football game to accept the honour, and more than 1,000 people showed up to support her.
'The kids that are bullying you, do not let them bring you down. Stand up for what you believe in and go with your heart and go with your gut,' Whitney said, shortly after the halftime celebration
Being cruelly selected to the West Branch high school's homecoming court as a joke prompted student to pick on Whitney both at school and on Facebook, her mother told NBC.
Whitney admitted she wasn't one of the popular students at Ogemaw, but didn't think her classmates could stoop so low. Yet the bullying became so relentless that she thought about taking her own life.
She told WNEM-TV: 'I had actually reached a point where I had thought about suicide for how bad this case was in. I thought I wasn't worthy at Ogemaw Heights at all.'
'I felt like I wasnt worthy,' she added on the Today show. 'Why even be a part of this community, this world if Im just going to be tossed around like basically a piece of trash?'
But the savage bullying was soon overpowered by a tremendous outpouring of support for the teen.
A former student, Jamie Kline set up a Facebook page 'Support Whitney Kropp,' which has shared her story of bullying with more than 100,000 since it was created.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210429/Whitney-Kropp-Teen-voted-homecoming-court-cruel-prank-faces-bullies-sports-stunning-dress-new-hairdo-accept-honour-football-game.html#ixzz27sfVW5tN
MuseRider
(34,060 posts)Why were they picking on her and why the bullying? Just because she is not popular?
A great outcome for her. I am pleased to see this turned around on those who tried to hurt her this way.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)From all sources it does appear that she was chosen because the 'popular kids" thought it would be funny to nominate a girl they found very unattractive. It happened to be this girl, but from reports it could have been any number of kids deemed unsuitable by the "popular" kids.
i find it rather "funny' that the kids that believed themselves to be superior to this girl, have been exposed for the ass holes they are
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Must be a good-looking school.
Hugin
(32,778 posts)I read the article and she seems to be a charming young lady.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Good to see that things are probably going to end up positive all around in the end.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Dyes her hair pink, dresses in black, is considered a "weirdo."
Very Carrie-like scenario.
Props to so many in the town for supporting her!
MuseRider
(34,060 posts)I had to ask because I looked at the pictures and could not find anything about her that would make her different.
Carrie was the first thought that came to my mind too. What an ugly group of kids to do that.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)She was mocked in the halls and on Facebook by those who nominated her. Her sister told their mother, and townsfolk found out. There's a great support page on FB set up by an alum of the HS, which has morphed into a great anti-bullying page.
Middle schoolers and HS kids can be so brutal and cruel.
Harry_Scrote
(121 posts)Whitney IS an attractive girl by any standards. Sounds like some popular kids were threatened by her?
jmowreader
(50,453 posts)...where you think the same, look the same and act the same or you have no friends. Whitney wears black clothes and fluorescent pink hair. Hence the "need" to target her for derision.
undeterred
(34,658 posts)The thing is- you can take shitty pics of any teenager and make them look lousy. And you can do a makeover of any teenager and make them look good. She looks fine.
My high school senior class voted a dwarf to be a homecoming queen in 1974. Partly because that broke the mold of the other 9 girls who were nominated, and it was the one person everybody liked. She was smart and friendly and talented and loveable and popular in a different sort of way. The homecoming king was gorgeous and popular and she was thrilled to get to hang out with him.
There have been cool teenagers for as long as there have been rotten ones.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)hair, whatever -- being conventionally attractive is no defense if the bullies decide you aren't worthy.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)She is a major target, I'm sure.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)If the bullies decide you're out, you're out, no matter how you look or what you try to do.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)I think I wrote it badly!
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)for the better off kids in a small town to form a clique. Truth is, these days a lot of kids call them the "populars" and think of them as boring snobs.
Uneeque
(8 posts)How could so many students be so bored with their lives that they are actually believing what they did was cool in any way? Is this about picking on a student or is it a rejection of hollow rituals?
Bucky
(53,795 posts)This is more of an American story. I was never singled out, but I saw many of my friends tormented in a big city suburban high school. And junior high school was far worse. As a teacher I only see a fraction of what went on in my high school--so I kind of suspect this bullying is also a facet of white American culture. At the largely Hispanic school I'm at, we have far far more acceptance than what is the norm in white schools.