AC Hub celebrates Pink Shirt Day with Mean Girls and anti-bullying messages

Amina Shahin, a technical writer student, said the “miracle” that saved her from being bullied was that she became an extrovert instead of an introvert.

“I put myself out there more,” Shahin said. “Yeah, like [I] broke the ice and then I made friends. I took an effort to make friends. So those haters, they sort of faded into the back.”

Shahin shared her experience with bullying and the importance of spreading the anti-bullying message at the Pink Shirt Day event on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at the AC Hub.

“I learned how to be myself with everyone, regardless of if they were rude or not,” she said. “And in the process, I found people who actually liked me.”

“On Wednesdays, we wear pink,” is the iconic quote from the Mean Girls movie that inspired AC Hub staff to screen the movie for Pink Shirt Day.

Pink Shirt Day is an annual event that encourages people to wear pink shirts to raise awareness of anti-bullying. It typically occurs on the last Wednesday of February.

Different from previous years, this year’s Pink Shirt Day took place during the reading week. So only about 10 to 20 people participated in the event.

Rather than organizing an energetic event, the primary activity was to relax on the couch, watch the movie Mean Girls and enjoy the little pink cupcakes offered by the AC Hub.

“This week, unfortunately, is reading week,” said Raivyn Halcro, the event programmer at AC Hub. “So, we want to do something that’s low maintenance and very passive for students to drop into, especially post exam-week.”

“[Pink Shirt Day] is an event that happens kind of Canada-wide to represent or present anti-bullying,” said Halcro. “The promotion of wearing pink is just reminding the students of the importance of anti-bullying and how bullying can take place not only in middle school or high school, but also at college.”

“We’re obviously a very diverse campus with a lot of people, of all ages, from around the world,” said Samantha Therrien, the event organizer. “I haven’t heard of anything bullying-specific, but I do know that many of our students are younger, like 17 to 18 years old, coming from high school where they may have experienced bullying. So, they might, you know, bring that kind of vibe to campus.”

Apart from watching the movie, AC Hub staff made little pink shirts out of cardstock for people to spread the message of anti-bullying.

“If we promote well-being and anti-bullying, hopefully that’ll get rid of bullying,” Halcro said.