In grade 5 I desperately wanted to be our School Captain. I felt I had leadership capabilities that could really inspire my fellow classmates and knew I could make positive change at our school. I put my all....my everything...into becoming the school captain. Just before the pitch, I had many classmates say I didn't stand a chance, that I wasn't good enough and that I should give up. Unfortunately, I listened and believed what they told me. A few days before I was supposed to pitch in front of the whole school I backed out. I made excuses. I gave up on myself and my dream of becoming a School Captain. Unfortunately, the bullying didn't end in grade 5, it's continued all through my schooling life.
Buck-tooth Beaver, Bugs-Bunny, Gap-tooth; these are the names people called me, simply because of my teeth.
I've also been bullied throughout my schooling time because of my interests, including my involvement in Scouts. I love the outdoors, being in nature and connecting with likeminded people. It's gutting when people made fun of me for something I really enjoyed. It made me hide my true self from others; I stopped telling people about Scouts
I'm not alone in these experiences. For those of you reading this I am sure you can think back to times in your life when you were also the victim of bullying; Simply because of the way you looked, the way you dressed, the people you hung out with, or your dreams and passions.
Across Australia approximately 1 in 5 students are bullied EVERY DAY.
33% of students report being bullied multiple times PER WEEK. This bullying epidemic has led to 41,000 young Australian's trying to commit suicide every year.
Like these student statistics, I know how this feels. I struggle most mornings to get up, get ready, put on a happy face and go to school, knowing the same things are going to happen each and every day to the same poor students for no good reason.
I am here to tell you this is going to END!
My name is Tanieka Booth McNeill and I am a 15 year old student at Springfield Central State High School and I am also the Founder of Shielded Socks.
Here at Shielded Socks we sell socks to enable young people to feel more confident
in themselves, even if the socks are shielded by their shoes. Our socks will look
like normal school socks with the colour white being at the top of the
sock (where you will see the sock) and the cool design being underneath
the shoe. That way students can wear them without teachers getting angry and
telling them to change their socks. .
We've partnered with Mulga, an EPIC street artist from Sydney Australia, to design our first exclusive line of Shielded Socks
Our chosen charity is Headspace which is an organisation for youth between the
ages of 12-25 who are struggling with mental health issues. Shielded Socks will donate 10% of our profits to go towards extra counselling
for students in need of extra help.
We NEED your help!
In order to put Shielded Sock out into the world, we need YOU! We are so close to getting our first exclusive run of Shielded Socks complete, but need some further funds to put our amazing idea into action. So please share our page and make a donation to our crowdfunding. Every little bit helps!
Winner of the Future Anything
(see my pitching in action - click on the link below to see part of my pitch from the grand final of the Future Anything program). Please feel free to share this clip with your networks on social media.
My Future Anything - Grand Final Pitch