Good News Friday: Kevin Curwick Fights Cyberbullying

High school is tough when you're different. There are lots of people, most afraid of their own perceived differences, who want to bully others to take the light off themselves. 

I was one of those kids who was picked on and taunted, mostly in junior high and in my first tow years of high school. By the time I was a Sophomore, I decided to embrace the differences in me, and give up fending off bullies. It just didn't matter any more, because I was on the way toward realizing that I was okay.

But for some kids, it may take longer to feel good about themselves, and they become easy targets for the bullies at their schools. But one high school student has decided that enough is enough.

Kevin Curwick

Kevin Curwick is seventeen, a senior at Osseo High School, in Osseo Minnesota, and captain of the football team, and he's tired of the bullies. No, Kevin wasn't a victim, but he was a witness and he'd finally had enough and decided to fight back. With words. Words of praise and encouragement for his classmates who were being bullied.

Kevin started a Twitter account that would only spread good things about his school  and you can find him at @OsseoNiceThings. He did so because he wanted to change the conversation by highlighting the positive and basically ignoring the negative: "I wasn't personally attacked but it just hit me the wrong way, these were coming out about my friends. I want them to feel welcomed, be happy about what they are and what they contribute to Osseo."

He began sending Tweets out about the students that seemed most likely to be bullied, or who had been bullied, praising their differences and their talents:

And his inspired similar Twitter accounts all across the state, and fellow Osseo students, like Michael Day have just learned it was his friend Kevin who made kindness go viral. "Made my day," said Day, who has been inspired to post positive messages himself. "I might tweet, great character, great leader, Kevin Curwick makes the school better."

Kevin Curwick is proving you can fight the nasty by being nice. Since the @OsseoNiceThings page started in late July, most of the accounts attacking his classmates have disappeared.

Taking a stand against bullying, with a smile and a kind word. Who knew?

source