By Christine Hsu
San Francisco's second annual "Bye Bye Bullying" video contest kicked off yesterday for students in the city's middle and high schools. Students can submit one-minute videos against cyberbullying to the S.F. District Attorney's website between now and November 8.
Deangelo Garrett, a 17-year-old student at the city's Life Learning Academy charter school, rapped his way into becoming the Fan Favorite Winner last year with his video against bullying.
“Well, when I was younger I had eczema really bad, it’s a skin condition," Garrett said at a press conference launching this year's contest. "It was something I couldn’t control, so students would, you know, bully me over my skin. And it’s something you can’t hide, your skin, your face, your arms. So I felt bullying was close to me, 'cause I would go home at night and look at myself in the mirror and feel like I was such a bad person because I had this thing I couldn’t control.”
Garrett says he has seen positive change due to the contest.