Anti-bullying film a

Stars praise high school for its #BeefWithBullies campaign video

BULLIES have been put in their place by the pupils of Karamu High School.

The Hastings college’s video has won the Mad Butcher’s nationwide #BeefWithBullies social media campaign.

Backed by the Warriors, Hurricanes and other stars, including boxing legend Shane Cameron, the campaign engaged with 200 high schools across the country to try to put a stop to bullying by raising awareness through student-made short films.

The videos were submitted to a panel of judges, and Karamu High’s film was rewarded for being a simple and effective countering of multiple types of modern bullying.

Using the skills of the multimedia students, the Bully free Karamu film targets online, psychological and physical bullying.

‘‘[Bullying] has evolved into many different forms. The multimedia stuff is something they [students] use but they are aware of the real positive and negative things that can go on in terms of that,’’ said Karamu High principal, Martin O’Grady.

High profile judges, film-maker Taika Waititi, comedian Dai Henwood and actress Kimberly Crossman were impressed by the film’s unique approach.

‘‘It wasn’t trying to pull on the heartstrings or remake other ads. It was original, funny, irreverent, but with an important message,’’ said What We Do in the Shadows star Waititi.

Karamu High students teach each other social values through chosen leaders and mentors, O’Grady said. And Henwood appreciated the united front the film presented against bullying.

‘‘I really liked the way the entire school got involved in the closing frames – it was an original idea that was well filmed and edited,’’ Henwood said.

‘‘Importantly, it demonstrated school unity and told the story with a great sense of fun while staying true to the subject matter.’’

‘‘I love the inclusion of social media in it [Karamu High’s video] too and the way they used examples of bullying to get the message across,’’ Crossman said.

A Victoria University study revealed alarmingly high rates of bullying in New Zealand schools, with about 50 per cent of teachers nationally witnessing verbal bullying at least once a week and some 25 per cent witnessing physical bullying. And cyber bullying is a growing issue in schools with 39 per cent of student respondents citing it as a problem.

Many of the sports stars, celebrities and business people who got behind the campaign had their own stories of bullying.

Representing Super Rugby team the Hurricanes’ support for #BeefWithBullies, 122kg prop John Schwalger was an unlikely victim of bullying.

But when he and his mates first arrived at high school they were easy targets for older kids who bullied them, he said.

‘‘We were the easy picks. It got to the point where we had to put our foot down and try and stand up for ourselves,’’ Schwalger told Sunday News.

Psychological as well as physical bullying did damage, he said.

‘‘I have seen it affect people in the past. I have a friend who is still like that. If he knew how strong he was physically he would have been alright. But because of what happened at that school, I Taking a stand: Stars of Karamu High School’s video against bullying, above. Boxing legend Shane Cameron, right, and Hurricanes prop John Schwalger, far right, were among sports icons backing the social media campaign. don’t want to say he is traumatised, but he [has been affected psychologically],’’ said the hulking Hurricanes front-rower.

So when the opportunity came to support the campaign, the former All Black was eager to get in behind his team.

Schwalger was aware there had been schools in the Wellington area which had made headlines over accusations of bullying by pupils.