By Haley Whitt ’15

Last year, four Sherwood juniors wrote, directed and acted in an anti-bullying video called “One” for a health project. The students—Diane Trieu, Anya Mudryakova, Emily Gilburt and Savannah Suser—submitted their popular video to the Great American No Bull Challenge competition, where they were named finalists in the global contest. This year, Trieu, Mudryakova and Suser created a new video called “Your Ally” that has been entered into the same contest. Along with the new film came a new message.

“This year’s video is about internal bullying, and how we see ourselves in the mirror. Often, we are our own biggest bullies, and that is what we tried to convey,” said Suser. There will be a public voting period March 9 through 16 to help the video make it into the top 50 again.

The video begins with different students saying negative things about themselves, but ends with the students seeing the more positive qualities that they possess.

The girls hope that they will positively influence anyone who views their video. “I hope that teens will be more aware that bullying yourself can have just as big of an impact as another person bullying you,” said Trieu.
“I’m hoping that anyone, student or adult, who watches this finds a piece of themselves in the video,” added Mudryakova.