SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Youth Opportunity Network Rocket21, the only professional networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe, today introduced an anti-bullying initiative, in collaboration with youth-run apparel company, Fight Your Ignorance.
From now through January 31st, youth under age 18 are encouraged to participate in Rocket21’s Dream Big to Stop Bullying Competition. To enter, Rocket21 Members must submit an original, anti-bullying T-Shirt Slogan, along with their own ideas for how to prevent bullying.
Two Grand Prize Winners in age categories of Youth Under 13 and Teens 13-17 will win a major prize package including: An Anti-Bullying Summit at their school, featuring an anti-bullying songwriting clinic guided by Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Steve Seskin; guest speaker Zayanne Rifai; and a Google Hangout broadcast of the anti-bullying song performed by the school’s students, plus other surprises. Each of the two winning students will receive $500 and their respective schools will also win $500 per school. Additionally, the winners’ T-Shirt designs will be featured in the Fight Your Ignorance online store and on Rocket21, with the winners’ schools receiving $6 for each of their anti-bullying shirts sold.
Grammy-nominated hit songwriter Steve Seskin has conducted hundreds of student songwriting workshops, many focused on anti-bullying themes. Seskin commented, “It's an honor to be included in Rocket 21's and F.Y.I.’s fine work. My pencils are sharpened and I’m ready to do some great writing with super talented student songwriters!”
Fight Your Ignorance is an online apparel company, headed by 16-year-old Piedmont, CA high school junior, Zayanne Rifai. Small in stature, Rifai was bullied as far back as she can remember and began to stand up for herself (and other kids) at a very young age. Zayanne’s strong belief that everyone needs to encourage bullied children to speak up and call out the socially unacceptable behavior of bullies ultimately drove her to apply her passion and experience to develop Fight Your Ignorance. The company is dedicated to preventing bullying by showcasing messages that call out bullying as socially unacceptable.
To support the launch of Fight Your Ignorance, Rocket21 has developed a Fight Your Ignorance Group on Rocket21. Zayanne Rifai is available to connect with all Rocket21 Members as a Rocket21 Youth PRO, to share her experiences with bullying, creating advocacy programs, and starting a company.
“I have learned from my own experiences that when you speak up, not only is justice served, but you also might save bullies from themselves,” said Zayanne Rifai, F.Y.I. Founder & Chief 'squash-da-bully' Officer. “I’m very excited to be working with Rocket21. They are genuinely committed to making kids’ lives better.”
“Rocket21 is all about helping kids and teens advance their passions and pursue their dreams. Helping Zayanne to launch her anti-bullying business and designing a contest that combines music, art, writing and advocacy is a dream project for our team, as well as for our PROs,” said Jodell Seagrave, Rocket21 Co-Founder and COO.
Teachers are invited to explore Rocket21, by logging in at www.rocket21.com with User Name: r21edu and Password: r21demo.
Alternative arrangements will be made for providing the anti-bullying summits, in the event a winning slogan is submitted by a home-schooled student.
About Steve Seskin
To learn more about the career and music of singer-songwriter Steve Seskin, visit http://steveseskin.com. For more information about Seskin’s Youth Songwriting Workshops, visit www.kidswritesongs.org.
About Fight Your Ignorance
F.Y.I. is committed and focused on exposing ignorance for its negative impact on young people. We execute on this mission by manufacturing and promoting trendy apparel featuring messages that call out certain behaviors as socially unacceptable. F.Y.I.’s messages are intended to stop ignoring divisive bully type behavior, and instead seek to shine a light on how shameful these actions are.
For more information visit www.fightyourignorance.com.
About Rocket21
Rocket21 is the only professional networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe. Rocket21 provides youth with unprecedented opportunities and access to world-class experts and organizations while protecting them with a combination of state-of-the-art, real-time filtering and human moderation, extensive safety and security precautions, and a specialized infrastructure designed to keep kids safe.
Like Rocket21 on Facebook and follow @Rocket21 on Twitter.
