A true friend tells you if you're being stupid, but doesn't make you feel stupid.
That's the message a group of Hillsboro high school students is sending to their peers through an anti-bullying campaign. The 25 teens, members of the city's Youth Advisory Council, have worked all school year on the project. They premiered a two-minute public service announcement Tuesday in front of their families, school district officials and city leaders.
In a 2009 national survey, one in five students reported having been bullied at school in the year prior. Bullied students are more likely to be absent from class or drop out, abuse drugs or alcohol and develop mental health issues.
The anti-bullying campaign rollout starts next fall. Students on the advisory council will coordinate assemblies and classroom talks at each of their high schools. They will show the PSA video at middle schools. They will launch a blog where students can write about friendship.
And for a constant reminder, bare walls at the schools will be covered in a series of posters.
Are you a frenemy?
Frenemy: Someone whose words or actions can bring you down
Friend: Tells you if you are being stupid but doesn't make you feel stupid
Some of the posters, labeled, "a little birdie told me," depict a series of Twitter comments. Some are nice: "My boyfriend thinks I am worth the wait," or "Just got accepted to Stanford!" But others are mean: "The football team thinks I'm easy;" "Since I failed my test, my teacher thinks I am not going to college."
Daniel Smith, 15, a sophomore at Glencoe High School, said the team wanted to reach other students through social media. They also looked for a fresh angle, choosing to focus on the word "frenemy."
"Sometimes your friends are the very people weighing you down," he said.
The students worked with Lines for Life, a substance abuse and suicide prevention nonprofit, to learn what counts as bullying and develop an appropriate approach to the campaign based on what happens at their high schools. They wrote, acted in and directed the video. Filmmakers at Magmatic Northwest put it together.
In April, the advisory council presented their video to the Hillsboro School Board.
"I felt this PSA," said board member Adriana Cañas. "I felt it. It hurt me. When you're doing a campaign like this, you have to reach into these emotions."
The end of the video gets to its core point.
"Friend; frenemy; enemy. Rethink where you stand. Redefine your boundaries."
Sophie VanDyke, 18, a senior a Glencoe, played the main role of a girl getting bullied. She said the process taught her bullying isn't necessarily what everyone thinks.
"We don't think about the impact that what we say has on people," she said.