Text Up! crew- Julia Workowski, Lacy Booth, Piper Gaul, Jessica Wiegandt and Emily Swanson

“Text Up!”  (click for video) is an anti bullying campaign video produced by Fincastle resident and LBHS sophomore Piper Gaul. A budding film maker, Gaul saw the ad for the “No Bull” video contest  as an advertisement on on a website. Who says people do not read Internet ads! Gaul wrote, produced and filmed the video.

Voting begins April 1 and ends on April 15.

Jessica Wiegandt said, “We were sitting in band hall and she came up and asked us if we’d be in it.” The  star of the video is a sophomore Emily Swanson also a Fincastle resident and Gaul’s best friend.  A  very pretty young lady, she is the source of cyber bullying in the video.  The girl’s  noted social media on the local level features students  making remarks that are sometimes cruel and intimidating.  The support of her of friends in video makes the  cyber bullied girl feel better in spite of the mean girl and her caustic remarks.

Julia Workowski  a sophomore and also a Fincastle resident is the bad girl bully. When asked how she became so bad, Workowski replied, “I just used what I see and  hear in the halls on a daily basis to become the character.”

Though a sad comment, the fact these girls took the time to be in the video and Gaul wrote, produced  and filmed a anti cyber bu llying video, states more by peer  action that they are  not going to stand for cyber bulling.

The actors in the video are: Emily Swanson, Lacy Booth, Jessica Wiegandt, Julia Workowski, Paige Snay and Olivia Karkenny.

The top voted 100 videos will be whittled down to 15 and the winners will get a chance to go to Sand Francisco for the finals. Prizes include the trip to California and scholarships.

Gaul said, “Please go online register at the “Great American No Bull” campaign and vote for our video.”