Welcome to Be an Upstander!

Hello person reading this! I'm so glad you're here on the official Be an Upstander website! Funny story... this is actually my first website and blog post I've ever written! So many firsts and there will be many more to come. The purpose of this post is to introduce you to this wonderful home base for Be an Upstander.

So many introductions are in order, but I think it's only fair to meet the voice behind the post, website, and Be an Upstander as we know it. Hi, my name is Erin Quigg and I'm from a very small town in Michigan in the Southwest corner of the state. I have been blessed to have been involved in 4-H for the past 12 years and I am a current sophomore nursing student at Western Michigan University. I also compete in pageants and currently hold the title of the 2023 National American Miss Michigan Teen. When I was only eight years old, I began to be bullied and it went on for years. In my freshman year of high school, my friends would treat me so poorly and my bullies were so relentless, so I had to change schools. My new school was wonderful. I was welcomed into the community and was even named as one of the cheer captains on my team. However, it wasn't too long until I was bullied by those students too. I'm not sure what made me such an easy target, but I received death threats, catcalls in the hallway, and rude comments across all my social media at home. When I was crowned the 2020 National American Miss Michigan Jr. Teen, I realized I had a choice to make: I could either let my bullies win, or I could "take the reins" (horse pun!) and overcome it and have the best year as the Michigan Jr. Teen. I chose the second option. I chose to no longer live in fear of what people had to say about me and I did everything I could to make myself happy, which was mostly embracing my nerdy side with a deep love for Harry Potter and Star Wars.

During my year as the Michigan Jr. Teen, I hosted Zoom conference calls to teach bullying victims to do what I had done and break free from their bullies. After that impactful year, I wanted to take it to the next level, which is when Be an Upstander was born. When I was bullied, even when I was little, I watched students and faculty sit back and watch me get bullied as a form of entertainment. Because of this, I grew up never really having a role model or someone to look up to, so I created my platform to teach bystanders to bullying to speak up and stand up to bullying. I believe anyone can be a role model with the right knowledge, and to pay tribute to eight year old Erin, I now teach people how to be the role models I wish I had when I was eight.

Now you know about me and how Be an Upstander was created, it's time to look into the future of this website. Be an Upstander will be home to mental health resources and links, testimonies, and blog posts centered around bullying with a 'dash' of my life and the lessons I've learned along the way.

I'm so excited to move forward with my plans for Be an Upstander. As I close this post, always remember to Be the Change.... Be an Upstander!