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Touching teen lives
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Tina Kali (right), head of the Acts of Random Kindness program, introduced Lexi Collins (left), Miss High School USA, to students from Holy Family Catholic School on March 25.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Lexi Collins spoke at Holy Family Parish Center in Poland on March 25.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Several students participated in Lexi Collins's (right) talk about anti-bullying including Isabella Massaro-Suchora (left) on March 25.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Miss High School USA, Lexi Collins, paints stones and hands them out to whoever she speaks to as part of her Be Brave campaign.
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Neighbors | Amanda Tonoli.Nola Argiro (left) read a bullying question found under her seat provided by Lexi Collins (right).
By amanda tonoli
Lexi Collins, Miss High School America, came to Holy Family Parish Center in Poland to speak to about 50 female students from Holy Family School as part of an event for the Acts of Random Kindness (ARK) group headed by Tina Kali. Collins’s mission is to spread the word about bullying — how to avoid becoming one and how to deal with one.
Feeling strongly about bullying, Collins said she has personally experienced some instances of cyber-bullying and works to personally police it by trying to make everyone feel good about themselves.
“I’m a high school girl so we can definitely all connect to bullying,” Collins said. “It’s definitely nice that I can speak and share thoughts with other girls. I plan to continue to do that throughout my reign.”
Collins went on to say that she is so happy that Miss High School America gave her the opportunity to do this and allow her voice to be heard.
“To know that I’m helping people and to know that I can just be a change in someone’s mood is rewarding from me,” Collins said.
Part of Collins’s campaign to help fight bullying are rocks she painted for the day’s presentation that said, “Be Brave.” The two words on about 50 rocks brought to the center represented “bringing respect and value for everyone.”
Collins discussed the importance of sometimes befriending someone that no one else is friends with. She used her personal and eclectic group of friends as an example saying that even just sitting with someone who is normally alone at lunch can change their entire mood and outlook for that day, or for life.
Linda Collins, Lexi Collins’s mother, said she’s so proud of what her daughter does for the community.
“I’m right behind her,” Linda Collins said. “It’s a lot of work for her... I taught the girls [her two daughters] good speech skills when they were little and I couldn’t talk in front of a group of people. This is stuff that I tried to get them to do because I could never do it.”
Lexi Collins said she learned everything from Linda, who works as a speech therapist.
In addition to visiting schools across the nation to talk about bullying Collins has a talk show called TTYS — short for talk to you soon — on FOX on Saturday mornings to further talk about bullying and other current teen issues.