Melineh Hovakimian Speaks Out Against Bullying

Farah Ali, Staff Writer/ Photographer|December 5, 2014

Melineh Hovakimian, junior, won first place honors for Hey U.G.L.Y's (Unique Gifted Lovable You’s) writing competition. She was awarded $250, a T-shirt, and a certificate of excellence. This year's essay topic was "why bystanders could be the key to stop bullying".

photo via heyugly.org under the Creative Commons licensephoto via __________ under the Creative Commons license

Melineh Hovakimian, junior, won first place honors for Hey U.G.L.Y’s (Unique Gifted Lovable You’s) writing competition. She was awarded $250, a T-shirt, and a certificate of excellence. This year’s essay topic was “why bystanders could be the key to stop bullying”.

In the Hey U.G.L.Y. (Unique Gifted Lovable You’s) annual essay contest, junior Melineh Hovakimian won for first place honors for her essay on bullying prevention. Hovakimian was awarded $250, a T-shirt and a certificate of excellence.

This year’s contest asked students to answer “why bystanders could be the key to stopping bullying.” The contest was judged by a panel of journalists and an award-winning filmmaker.

The president of Hey U.G.L.Y, Betty Hoeffner, wrote that “Melineh’s essay is not only insightful but it contains solutions to the epidemic that is bullying.”

Hovakimian’s essay highlights the importance of standing up to a bully and speaking up for the bullied. She submitted her bullying essay for her sophomore class Humanities class last year. “Bullying is a major issue that people face,” Hovakimian said.

Hovakimian wrote this essay because she said that she is very passionate about this issue and was excited to hear that she won first place. “I didn’t think I would win to be honest, but I’m glad I did,” she said.