As part of an ongoing partnership with the Megan Meier Foundation, our Form III students participated in a Q+A with founder Tina Meier on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Tina Meier founded the Megan Meier Foundation in 2007 after her 13-year-old daughter, Megan, tragically took her own life following a cruel online hoax by an adult neighbor posing as a fictitious boy on MySpace. Tina has since committed to preventing this type of tragedy by helping other students, families, schools, and communities affected by bullying-related issues. The mission of the Megan Meier Foundation is to support and inspire actions to end bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Thirteen million children are bullied every year, and MMF works to support them through educational programs, prevention and intervention techniques, resources, counseling, and support.
Priory is working with the foundation to develop plans specifically geared to the needs of our students. Last year, members of the Honor Court participated a day long workshop in person learning about bullying and suicide. The group outlined some ideas for the Priory student, such as becoming more inclusive of the Junior School to help the boys feel more a part of the entire campus and teaching students more about the consequences of their online presence. In 2020, things look different due to COVID-19. Before Thanksgiving, Form III students viewed a film made by Tina Meier explaining the circumstances surrounding Megan’s death and listened to Mrs. Faucher’s experience with the foundation concerning her son who almost lost his life, due to bullying, six years ago. On Dec. 9, students had a live Q+A session with Tina Meier via Zoom. During the session, they learned about best practices for anti-bullying and suicide prevention.
The next steps for the Form III students will be to develop action plans for activities and programs to increase awareness of cyberbullying, bullying, and suicide, to challenge issues related to bullying present at Priory, and to learn ways of becoming allies to those faced with these issues. The goal is to continue to develop change within the community and to become stronger, more aware, and more proactive.