DetNews story: Town turns tables on school prank (bullying) - You're gonna love this!

[Bozita]

Last edited Mon Sep 24, 2012, 02:00 AM - Edit history (1)

September 24, 2012 at 1:00 am
Town turns tables on school prank
By Francis X. Donnelly
The Detroit News


West Branch, Mich. — High school student Whitney Kropp was shocked earlier this month when she was named to the homecoming court.

Her happy surprise turned to humiliation when she learned the reason. The students thought it would be funny if the popularity contest was won by someone who was unpopular.

Kids pointed at her in the hallways and laughed. The boy who was picked with her withdrew.

Students told her that, in case she was wondering why the boy had dropped out, he was uncomfortable being linked with her.

more...

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120924/METRO/209240341#ixzz27MRTncKX

[williesgirl]

1. sounds like a nice town will teach these brats a life lesson

[Journeyman]

2. Glad to read, later in the story, that the boy has decided to attend the event. . .

Not certain if he'll be with Whitney but he claims this was done without his consent and he disagrees with what happened. Maybe he'll prove bigger than his peers and help everyone have a great evening.

[susanna]

6. Absolutely.

IMHO, it's called leadership. And, considering (from what the news report said) that he backed out earlier, it's even more welcome.

Seems like her counterpart got a wake-up call to life and being an honorable human being. I will always and forever honor that. We're all in this together.

on edit: typo

[Bozita]

3. I just found some video...

http://www.wnem.com/story/19568689/bullied-teen-speaks-out-about-homecoming-court-joke

[Indpndnt]

4. Glad to see she has more friends, of all ages, than she knew.

Hope she has a blast!

[Archae]

5. I read this story and thought back to when I was (VERY briefly) a homecoming hero.

We were playing Kohler (and they always kill us at Homecoming,) and I played air hockey against a Kohler air hockey champ.

Beat him handily.
Got lots of "Attaboy!" "Way to go!" and such for about 5 minutes.

Yet the jocks on the football team got DAYS of attention, even after they lost!

(sigh)

[kevinbgoode1]

7. What an inspiring story! Kudos to the adults in that town. . .

and the young people who came forward to create that Facebook support page. A homecoming game and dance may only be one weekend in a young person's life, but the lessons learned by rising above the bullying will last forever.

[renate]

8. I'm so glad there's a happy ending, but oh does my stomach hurt

I wasn't even bullied in high school but I feel sick (not as sick as before I finished the article) thinking of what this poor girl went through.

My kids' school district seems to be really good at quashing bullying (at least, that's what my kids say, and I've heard sweet stories of them and their classmates sticking up for anybody who's being teased), but just the idea of these tender little hearts being wounded so cruelly and needlessly...

Anybody who's been bullied in school has a kind of courage that I am unable to even imagine, let alone express in words. They have my eternal admiration.

[MADem]

9. Not that looks count for everything, but that girl is a beauty. Her peers are idiots if they can't

see that. Apparently she's beautiful inside as well.

[Ken Burch]

10. That's a nice ending, for once.

I hope somebody tells Ellen Degeneres about this...she'd probably have Whitney on her show!

[obamanut2012]

17. I thought about Ellen, too!

[Festivito]

11. Beauty of character triumphs over conspiracy of meanness.

Outnumbered at first, good defeats evil once again.

Age-old story.

That boy needs to wipe the egg off his face and stand up to the rest of that clique. He's not worthy of her, but she's above being that petty. She'd have a better reason than that to tell him to take a hike. I think she'd see right through him -- and he'd better be looking good.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. What a beautiful

Story on a Monday morning!

[tk2kewl]

13. The anti-bullying movement is fantasitic

It gives me great hope for that the coming generations will be able to build a much fairer society

[FedUpWithIt All]

14. Spectacular! Best wishes to her!! n/t

[obamanut2012]

15. This could have ended in another teen suicide

Good for the town for showing such support for her and such dislike of bullying!

I think some of the kids who tormented her should be disciplined in some way.

[MineralMan]

16. A similar thing happened at my small town California high school

in 1963. Some kids nominated a girl in my class as Homecoming Queen as a joke. She was a really, really nice girl, but not at all the glamorous, popular type. But, she was friendly, open, and a really nice person. The cheerleader class thought it was really funny, and had a lot of sport over this. The rest of our class, on the other hand, turned the tables, and voted her in overwhelmingly, as a protest against the cliquishness at the school. She won with something like 75% of the vote, and held her head up high during the whole thing. Despite being treated badly by the "popular" kids, the rest of us just voted her in. Screw bullies.

[Canuckistanian]

18. "It's like "Carrie" with a happy ending."

I agree.

[whistler162]

19. To bad some popular, to teens,

celebrate can't stop by and be her escort. A Detroit Lion or Tiger.

[DonRedwood]

20. Hmmmmm...hey DU, maybe we should send her balloons or flowers on Friday?

Man oh man, I have overspent this month (elizabeth warren, sherrod brown, zurban, dukworth, obama.... i've given more money to political causes this month than I have in my entire LIFE) but, you know what? I think this girl deserves some flowers.

It was always a big deal in my high school when a girl got flowers. She'd schlepp them around all day from class to class. Everyone would want to know about them.

Yeah, I think she needs a few flowers. :0)

[Zalatix]

21. LOL it sucks to be the chump that dropped out of being her date. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. "A 60-year-old Wyandotte man talked about a 1966 bullying incident like it happened a day earlier."

YUP.

stop bullying folks.

[LiberalFighter]

23. Being popular isn't important. Doing the right thing is. Or at least trying.

Maybe she is a little weird but I don't know that. And maybe to me and others she might not be. My impression of her is that she is a decent girl. She is likely to learn a few good lessons and turn out better than the popular girls. Sometimes the popular girls are popular for the wrong reason.

If she has decent grades she might do much better in college and might have an edge on others getting in now.

Thank goodness for good people doing the right thing.

[Go Vols]

24. Words From Whitney

[Odin2005]

25. Karma!

[southernyankeebelle]

26. The young lady is cute. I don't understand why people are so damn mean.

[davidthegnome]

28. That was one of my first thoughts too

then I remembered that, while appearance is important in most schools... it is far more important (socially) that we fit in. Perhaps she is shy - socially awkward. Perhaps they think she talks funny or perhaps her parents aren't rich enough. You just never know with high school kids, or with any school kids for that matter. If my own children ever played a part in a prank like this... they would seriously be grounded until they turned 18.

[southernyankeebelle]

33. School is hell. I was alway pick on. Especially walking from class to class. I tried to melt into

the crowd. Kids can be so cruel. I don't miss it at all.

[Warpy]

29. she's DIFFERENT

Any kid who isn't rigidly conformist is going to get picked on.

It's funny because it's the picked on kids who generally turn out to be successful if they survive it, while the bullies stay within 20 miles of where they were born and never have an original though in their whole lifetimes.

[southernyankeebelle]

32. You are right about that. Ugly duckling turns into swan.

[davidthegnome]

27. Great story

This girl is incredibly brave. I faced similar treatment in high school - that's why I dropped out and got a GED instead. This girl, on the other hand, has the courage to face down the bullies. Damn good story. Wish I could be there to show my own support, but this post will have to do - HUGE K & R! LOVE IT!

[xfundy]

30. She's a cute kid, but regardless, NO ONE deserves that treatment.

I was also bullied in school, but would have curled up into a ball in shame, and my parents would have felt the shame as well— "what would people think?!" "What would the church think?!"

So glad to see that Dr. Seuss's theory was right--"Those that mind don't matter, and those that matter don't mind."

I do see this, and other, similar events, happening daily, as fine examples of evolution in action, kids and adults rising up and empathizing with others. Evolution in any form threatens the self-appointed "leaders" of society, most of whom are assholes and bullies and, of course, as they believe themselves exempt from scrutiny (the catholic child molesters as only one example); it's become time for those of us they consider worthless to stand up and declare our humanity, and to give THEM a bigggg dose of what they've done to us for years, decades, millennia, as ruthlessly as they dished it out to us.

Not talking about anarchy, just fairness, tit for tat.*

* Not "casting asparagus" at those with tits, or tats.

[Jennicut]

31. Poor kid. High School was like the worst 4 years of my life.

I was so happy when I graduated. I was never bullied this badly but I certainly did not fit it. Haven't been back to any of my high school reunions and I never will.
The funny thing is, you can now check out how some people turned out on Facebook. 15 years or so later and many of the popular kids are nothing special.
Glad many adults in this community (and perhaps some of the teens) realized that this girl needed some support.

[hootinholler]

34. Wait a minute

Carrie didn't have a happy ending?

*I* was pretty happy with it.