Eishna Ranganathan
News Editor

On behalf of S.P.I.N., the student parent information network and PTO, Neshaminy will soon have guest speaker Tina Meier talk to Neshaminy student body on bullying and suicide.

Meier founded the Megan Meier Foundation after her daughter, Megan Meier committed suicide. Megan was three weeks from turning 14 when the tragedy happened. Megan created a MySpace account and had been in contact with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Megan and him had become good online friends and she had shared some personal things, like that she suffered from depression, ADD and being overweight.

Evans showed interest in her, despite her low self-esteem and weight – he had called her pretty. Then suddenly, Evans started sending her nasty messages starting with “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I have heard that you aren’t very nice to your friends,” and ending with, “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.” A few minutes later, Megan’s mom got a “God awful feeling” and went to Megan’s room only to find she had hanged herself.

It was later found that “Josh Evans” was a fake MySpace account created by a neighbor down the street whose daughter Megan had an on and off friendship with. They created the account to see what Megan said behind her back.

Meier will be arriving in November. She travels nationally and speaks at numerous schools spreading awareness about cyber bullying. Her previous presentation at Neshaminy occurred three years ago, and she spoke to the current seniors who were then freshman. She also reached out to student leaders like class officers, sports’ captains and the student council.

“What we look forward to the most is giving the students a chance to learn and ask questions about bullying and cyber bullying and the effects it has on the victims and their families. We have a current student who credits this program with saving their life after they were a part of the previous presentation” Denise Gormley, Vice President of S.P.I.N said.

The success of the first program inspired S.P.I.N. to bring it back. The impact and charisma of the speaker combined with the continuing issues in society, especially the social media aspect, resulted in the vital need to reiterate the program.

Neshaminy would like to have the program annually but, due to the expenditure, it is difficult to sustain on a regular basis. The expenditure of Meier living in a hotel and her airfare and such is costly and getting local hotels for discounts also requires work. The district is working to find cost effective alternatives.

“We expect to heighten student awareness, help victims step forward and bystanders take a proactive approach,” Robert Mueller, assistant principal, said.

The program aspires to reduce oblivion on the age-old issue of bullying and the extremity of words.