Don’t be a bully, wear pink instead

ben lemphers/for metro edmonton

Jennifer Heck (centre, with sign), a Grade 11 student at Holy Trinity High School, stands with fellow students who wore pink shirts yesterday in support of an anti-bullying event organized by Heck and the school’s social justice committee.

Published: March 19, 2009 2:03 a.m.

Last modified: March 19, 2009 2:15 a.m.

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Students at Holy Trinity High School were tickled pink to promote anti-bullying yesterday.

Pink Shirt Day originated in 2007 in Cambridge, Ont., where a Grade 9 boy was harassed for wearing a pink T-shirt on his first day of school. The following day two Grade 12 boys came to school wearing pink shirts to promote a message about non-bullying.

“I want people to take away from it that there’s hope, that one day bullying won’t be an issue for anybody,” said student Jessica Heck. “There’s always people out there to talk to, you’re not alone.”

According to Heck, about 300 out of 800 people at the school wore an article of pink clothing, including 95 per cent of staff.

The campaign is not only limited to T-shirts; it included hats, socks, bandanas and even pants, she said.

Heck said that bullying at Holy Trinity isn’t an issue, despite the school being smaller. “We don’t want it to ever become an issue, we want to be proactive.”

Next year, Heck hopes get the whole football team involved, saying that real men wear pink.

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