Fourteen year old Hannah Dahlin plays hockey for the Bronco girls hockey team, enjoys listening to music, likes taking pictures, hanging out with friends and shopping. While the smiley eighth grader has a lot going for her, she also knows what it is like to be bullied.
“I was always into different music and different fashion trends than a lot of other kids,” Dahlin told The Journal in a Facebook message. “Around sixth grade, the bullying got worse and I turned to self harm to solve my problems. I was such a mess at one point in my life.”
Dahlin continued that when she started attending Falls High School, the harassment carried on. Eventually, she wanted to make a change to avoid spending her school years in such a dark place. “So, very slowly, I started to learn how to not let it affect me. It took time, but it got me to where I am now.”
Feeding off her experience, Dahlin explained she wanted to do what she could to make a difference in her life and those of others. After hearing of a young girl named Benni Cinkle who had been a target of global online bullying, Dahlin “liked” Cinkle’s fan page on Facebook and entered a contest Cinkle was hosting called “Bring Benni to School Contest.”
“I decided to enter because I was aware of the bullying at our school and that it was a serious problem that needed to be taken care of,” Dahlin said.
The inspiration for Dahlin’s essay came from “kids who have ever been bullied or hurt.” It described living in a small town and the idea of “normal” that people had. “I never fit into that,” she said.
When she was contacted about being chosen as winner, Dahlin last week said she was very excited to have Cinkle visit Falls High School and hopefully encourage her and her peers to help put an end to bullying.
Cinkle’s visit
Standing among seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students at FHS Monday, Cinkle fit right in with her pink-highlighted blond hair. However, what set the 14-year-old from California apart from any of the Falls High students, is that she rose to online fame last year when she appeared in her friend, Rebecca Black’s music video “Friday.”
“I just thought it would be fun to be in a music video,” Cinkle told a group of Falls High students.
Shortly after the video launched on YouTube.com, it went viral across the web. As the almost-four-minute video received millions of views, Cinkle became a target for intense online bullying. Soon, Cinkle’s name and face were plastered around the Internet, accompanied by millions of negative, ugly comments, she said.
“I was only in the video for like 10 seconds,” Cinkle said with a laugh. “I was being made fun of because I danced funny. People who made fun of me didn’t even know me or my name. They called me ‘that girl in pink.’”
Instead of backing down and letting the bullying get the best of her, Cinkle stood up to show her strength. The teenager’s bullies quickly began to see Cinkle as a cheerful, down-to-earth teen they could relate to. Cinkle used her new-found fame to raise awareness to the issue of bullying and other causes that were important to her.
“I organized a flash mob at the mall for the American Red Cross and held a walk for cystic fibrosis,” Cinkle said.
As her charity work grew, Cinkle explained that she founded a non-profit organization. That Girl in Pink Foundation was created to direct the activity of her work. The organization’s name mimics some of the ridicule she received from bullies after the “Friday” video.
“If you make fun of your insecurities, it is harder for a bully to use them against you,” she noted.
Visiting schools and developing her program “Don’t Just Stand There” is the next notch on Cinkle’s anti-bullying kick and Falls High School was only her second stop.
“She can’t miss too much school because she’s a straight-A student,” said Benni Cinkle’s mother, Pati Cinkle. “So we’re only traveling to a few schools at a time.”
Regardless, Benni Cinkle has big plans for her message that tells people to stand up to bullies and eliminate the growing problem.
“I have a big goal, but I think I can reach it,” Cinkle told The Journal. “For every school I visit, I want there to never be a suicide in that school after hearing my message.”
Cinkle highlighted teen suicide as a result of bullying and dedicated her speech to five people — including one of Cinkle’s family members — who have taken their lives as a result of bullying.
“I get what kids are going through,” she said. “I want to make a difference.”
For more information on Cinkle, visit www.thatgirlinpink.org or find her on Facebook.
