By Christopher Rim, edited by Jim Luce
Paramus, N.J. I started It Ends Today, Inc. during my sophomore year of high school after I saw a countless number of students bullied for something they could not change about themselves. I didn’t know what to do to help the victims, because the victims were shy, so I decided to start an organization that would visit different schools where I live to talk directly to the students about the harmful effects of bullying. On top of that, It Ends Today offers prizes and scholarships from $50 to $2,500 for making posters, videos, songs, and pictures that relate to bullying.
The It Ends Today Club that I founded at the Dwight Morrow Academies at
Englewood High School. Only half of the members are present in the picture.
Bullying is one of the biggest causes of suicide for teenagers. According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, 20% of teens have thought about suicide and over 160,000 students do not attend school every year because they are afraid of getting bullied or harassed by other students. In 2011 alone, we have seen a countless number of suicides from Jamey Rodemeyer from New York to Paige Moravetz from Minnesota to Craig Wilson from Toronto.
Fundraising at Vlada Lounge NYC with a group of It Ends Today volunteers!
The mission of It Ends Today is to promote anti-bullying awareness in schools and communities throughout the country by awarding scholarships to students who talk publicly about their experiences with bullying and its effects on them.
I founded It Ends Today with one purpose in mind: to end bullying now. Our organization holds presentations to inform students on the dangers and consequences that come with bullying. A non-profit organization, It Ends Today also encourages teens to speak out against bullying via the Internet, in the hope of spreading our message more efficiently.
One of the stories we received was particularly poignant:
I’m Samara, this is my story. I moved at the beginning of my fourth grade year when my mother remarried. Immediately I didn’t like the other girls in my grade, I could tell there was something off about them, but I hoped like me, they had faced abuse or neglect and that was the cause of the strange behaviors. I was wrong. I was isolated and picked on everywhere I went, they were harsh, and cruel. Their words dug deep, to this day I still feel the sting.
We finally made it to junior high (sixth grade) after a long two years. Joining four smaller elementary schools together for junior high did not help my situation any. My bullying clique began to grow, and soon the bullying became physical as well as verbal. I was beaten up at least twice a week.
I entered a severe depression in the middle of my sixth grade year. I began cutting in the seventh grade. I was diagnosed with anorexia in the eighth. My eighth grade year, a girl broke my nose, and another gave me a serious concussion. The summer following eighth grade, I finally opened up to someone, at church camp.
Some of the girls were there, and I shared my story of childhood abuse. The girls used this against me. My freshman year rolls around, and things haven’t changed much. Except one day after basketball practice, I never saw it coming. I was jumped, beaten, and then sexually assaulted. Everyone in the locker room just watched. No one stepped up, they just stood and stared. I was tormented and taunted by everyone in the school. I was isolated and beaten down… I am 5’9 I weighed 97 lbs. I stopped eating and sleeping all together.
I attempted suicide two weeks later. I changed schools five months later. I’m on the road to recovery, a year later I still struggle with the side effects. I haven’t seen the last of those girls yet, they follow me around and often try to corner me. But I made it. With only God at my side.
It Ends Today is a very unique anti-bullying organization because it was formed by a high school student— me – and is entirely run by high school students – my friends. We walk from businesses to businesses on Saturday mornings in hopes of receiving donations or products from local stores that we can raffle off to support our cause. If you are in position to contribute, please contact our Director of Operations and Development
Vlada Von Shats.
We also fundraise by planning all you can eat pasta dinners and also all you can eat KFC nights alongside the weekly bake sales and pizza sales we hold. There are many organizations that deal with the dangers of bullying. I believe that It Ends Today can affect more students’ lives than any other anti-bullying organization because we are students talking to students about bullying.
One of the first entries we received for the It Ends Today picture contest.
Since bullying is a worldwide epidemic, It Ends Today offers scholarship money from $50 to $2,500 for students speaking up about bullying. We hold monthly contests for the most inspiring bullying-related story, poster design contest, photo-story picture, and our annual video contest. As of today, we have received over 1,200 submissions from all of the contests that we held. We call this contest YANA – You Are Not Alone!
Follow It Ends Today on Facebook and Twitter!
It Ends Today, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization registered in the State of New Jersey. All contributions are tax deductible by the extent allowable by law. Please contribute here.
Christopher Rim is a high school student. The founder and president of It Ends Today®, Christopher Rim, was a 15-year-old sophomore at Academies@Englewood high school in Englewood, N.J. in March of 2011, when he got tired of feeling powerless witnessing classmates being bullied and decided to do something about it. It Ends Today started as an organization, but has developed many chapters in high schools over Bergen County.
Christopher had significant experience starting up school volunteer organizations, having founded a non-profit tutoring group called Prestige Review Group in eighth grade. He was interviewed by The Record newspaper of Bergen County, Channel ONE CBS News, and was featured in numerous online articles. Christopher also started and continues to lead the Math Connections Club, in which Academies@Englewood students tutor middle school students in Englewood. This club was so successful that the school transformed it into an elective course through which participants earn credits toward graduation.
Christopher had also served as Freshman Class Representative and is the current Student Council Vice-President at the Academies@Englewood. He was the student chairman for the Student Ambassadors for Admission at Academies@Englewood. Christopher is also a member of the school’s varsity golf team. He was honored with the President’s Call to Service Volunteer Award, and earned the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship in ninth grade.
Christopher enjoys traveling the world and learning about different cultures and cuisines. He has been nominated as a 2012 Luce Leader of The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation whose mission is supporting young global leadership.
Special thanks to Daniel Santana for technical assistance.