NEW ZEALAND TEEN, TORI, IS BEING THE CHANGE TO END BULLYING

Tori McAuley in an interview with Linda P. Frank, Director of Development and Marketing

From her appearance, Tori looks like a typical teenager in her jeans and t-shirt. But when you get to talk to her about who she really is and what she really wants to accomplish, you soon learn that she is a very special girl. Victoria "Tori" McAuley is a student at Morrinsville College in New Zealand. She appreciates sports, her friends, riding horses, and her family. Last school year she decided to see what she could do to change the bullying behavior at her school. In February one of the girls in her school had been beaten severely because of rumors about her. There were protests to get the bullies out of the school. Tori thought that more needed to be done.

Having seen the MTV show about Challenge Day "If You Really Knew Me," Tori wanted to bring Challenge Day to Morrinsville College. "We judge people without really knowing them," she explained during a recent visit to the Challenge Day. She thinks that if Challenge Day was a program implemented at her school that it would make" a huge difference." She and her mother and grandmother attended a Challenge Day in Northern California and according to Tori, it was her "favorite thing" that she did while visiting the U.S. Her visit to California, including touring San Francisco attractions, was for Tori like a "country girl steps out in the big city."

Actually quite worldly and mature for her age of 14 years old, Tori had a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in May 2011, and she spoke to him about her idea of bringing Challenge Day to schools in New Zealand. The problem of bullying is not only in the schools but also in the workplace. Tori remarked that Mr. Key was "pretty excited about the idea." She found him to be "very, very understanding and down to earth."

Soon after she returns home to New Zealand from her visit to the U.S., Tori will fly to Wellington and speak to the Select Committee comprised of government officials as well as have another meeting with the Prime Minister. She will be giving a prepared speech that will ask the officials "if [they] had ever felt that people didn't understand [them] completely." "This," Tori explains, "is how kids at school feel, and by having Challenge Day they will get to understand each other better."

Thank you Tori for being a real change maker and for being the change you wish to see in New Zealand and the world.

CORNELIO JAVIER, JR.,

Finance Assistant