Teen takes steps to combat bullying
Los Gatos High School junior gives purpose to traumatic experience
LOS GATOS — When Chloe Howard gave her TEDx presentation last year, she did so with the poise and polish of a veteran public speaker. Wearing a headset, the Los Gatos High School junior confidently strolled the stage, delivering her speech entirely from memory.
That Howard opted to do so without shoes wasn’t entirely out of place at the Santa Barbara TEDx enclave. But instead of a casual wardrobe choice, the 16year-old’s barefoot stance was a purposeful one.
While giving an impassioned plea for audience members to consider the causes of bullying, Howard also offered an up-close view of the physical differences that have transformed her into an anti-bullying advocate. Given some special encouragement from none other than U2 frontman Bono, Howard hopes to empower others to embrace their uniqueness and “boldly face their beautiful selves.”
Born with a severely misshapen and twisted clubfoot, Howard endured as many as six corrective surgeries from infancy on.
“My left foot was upside down and backwards, and I only have three toenails; I’m missing the other seven,” the teen said matter-offactly. “Plus, I have all of the scars from my various surgeries, so my feet definitely look different.”
Luckily, Howard was born to parents who helped her view her disability as unique. Her family’s devout faith was an additional source of solace.
“Growing up, my parents always told me that my foot was special and beautiful, and that God had made me this way for a reason,” she recalled. “A couple of times after a surgery I’d be in a wheelchair, so I’d have to endure stares from the other kids. But I wasn’t really bullied when I was younger.”
Then came Howard’s entry into a private high school. As a freshman, her foot became the subject of great interest and speculation — so much so that during one harrowing lunch hour in the fall of 2014, Howard was pulled over to a cafeteria table and restrained. Her shoe and sock were then yanked off, exposing her foot to her classmates’ ridicule.
The entire episode took no more than 90 seconds, after which Howard replaced her footwear, walked back to her own table and finished out her lunch break. But the experience was to change the teen in ways she never could have anticipated.
“I felt super alone after the assault,” she said. “No one could really understand what I’d gone through.”
Struggling to come to terms with the attack, Howard withdrew from family, friends and classmates. She retreated — literally — into her wardrobe, wearing shapeless, oversized sweatshirts in an attempt to hide herself. “It was a really, really bad time,” she said.
Over the holiday break, Howard’s parents offered her the option of a transfer to a new school. But wanting to prove to her peers, and herself, that she need not be defined by the assault, she chose to finish out the school year. She started to feel stronger, and ended up making some friends.
By then another seismic event had occurred in Howard’s life. Within days of offering his daughter a change of schools, Howard’s father learned he had won a contest to attend a U2 concert and meet Bono, the band’s lead singer and a prominent activist. Since U2 is Howard’s favorite band, her dad took her along.
Howard shared her story with the musician, who advised the teen that her assault was an “injustice,” encouraging her to use her voice for change. That was the moment that inspired her to launch her campaign: “Stand Beautiful.”
“I don’t know why, but after my assault I started to write the word ‘beautiful’ over the main scar on my foot,” said Howard, who transferred to Los Altos High as a sophomore. “As my healing progressed, I came to understand that my foot is beautiful in my eyes and in God’s eyes. My foundation is all about giving other people the opportunity to stand beautiful in their own ways.”
Today, the Stand Beautiful website offers apparel inscribed with the word “beautiful” written in the script Howard first drew on her own foot. All proceeds from the sales are directed toward charities that combat bullying.
Along with her online presence, Howard has shared her message via interviews in Teen Vogue, on NPR and in other media outlets. There was that TEDx chat as well.
In the video of her presentation, Howard speaks calmly and unhurriedly of the assault that occurred just months before. It was a triumphant postscript to an emotionally shattering episode in her life, punctuated by an image of two bare feet.
“There I was, standing in front of a live audience, showing them my feet,” Howard said. “I felt very vulnerable. But it was a really cool, great day.”
Howard’s case eventually went to trial. Though the district attorney hoped to prosecute on felony hate crime charges, a jury instead found Howard’s assailants guilty of misdemeanor battery.
“I didn’t suffer any physical damage, and the law doesn’t recognize emotional damage as being equal,” Howard said. “So now I’m researching the laws, and hope to go to Sacramento someday to change them.”