Trisha Prabhu, a Harvard undergrad and the founder of ReThink. is the winner of $300,000 for her anti-bullying app.
Nowadays, I’m repeatedly surprised by young people leading inspiring initiatives. They are the ones out front, showing leadership on issues such as climate change, sane gun laws, food security, and social justice. Honestly, I want to follow where they lead. They are building a better future.
After seeing so many examples, I shouldn’t be surprised by today’s story about a college junior who started building a better world when she was 13. But as usual, I’m amazed.
Hiawatha Bray writes at the Boston Globe, “A junior at Harvard University is about to receive a big payoff for her seven-year campaign against cyberbullying. Trisha Prabhu, 20, will get at least $300,000 from the Elevate Prize Foundation to further develop ReThink, a smartphone app that nudges people into using more courteous language online.
“The grant is just the latest accolade for Prabhu, whose work earned her a White House visit during the Obama administration and a 2016 appearance on the ABC television series ‘Shark Tank,’ where she persuaded entrepreneurs Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner to invest in ReThink.
“ ‘It’s been an incredible ride, and not one I imagined at 13,’ said Prabhu, a native of Naperville, Ill., who is studying political science and computer science at Harvard.
“In middle school, Prabhu endured some bullying but shrugged it off. She later learned about other children who had suffered far worse, in some cases committing suicide. …
“So Prabhu channeled her outrage into a science project.
She surveyed 500 high schoolers and found they were less likely to make insulting comments if they were encouraged to think about their words before speaking.
“The results of the survey inspired Prabhu to develop ReThink. …
“The app monitors the words typed by the user and pops up subtle messages when it detects a swear word or insult. For instance, the user might see ‘Would you like to reword this?’
“ReThink doesn’t censor speech. The user can choose to go ahead and type the insult. But Prabhu believes many people will take the app’s advice to heart and mind their manners.
“Prabhu said that schools in 134 countries have formed ReThink chapters that encourage students to use the app, and it’s being used by some 5 million students worldwide. Now Prabhu is looking for ways to generate revenue without relying on intrusive onscreen ads. …
“The Elevate Prize Foundation will support ReThink as it upgrades the product and provide business advice and mentoring. The foundation was launched by a Boston native, Joseph Deitch, former chief executive of Commonwealth Financial Network, in partnership with MIT Solve, a social innovation project sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” More at the Globe, here.
I looked up more on the Elevate Foundation. I think you’ll be interested.
“The Elevate Prize offers $5 million in prize funding, professional development services, and connections to a powerful network of influencers, industry leaders, and subject-matter experts. …
“We are looking for extraordinary people leading high-impact projects and organizations who are:
- “Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind
- “Elevating issues and their solutions by building awareness and driving action to solve the most difficult problems of our world
- “Elevating understanding of and between people through changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.”
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
That’s an amazing idea. What a great young mind.
I loved that she did a survey first. Smart move.
As an educator for many years (NYCDOE), I had enough incidents of bullying within my classes to create an approach to changing the thinking–the emotional intelligence (EI) and social and emotional learning skills (SEL)–of my students. I did it through poetry writing and reading. I wrote an article to describe what I taught and the resultant poetry of my students: “Poetry Teacher Helps Bullied Kids Open Tortured Minds” (THE PATCH) at:
patch.com > new-work > williamsburg > poetry > teacher.
You can also Google the above article to find it.
The student poetry describes how bullied kids feel. I believe, from my own experiences, that there are no short term or instant solutions to bullying because it’s that pervasive from 5-year olds to high school and college students and adults. You need to change the heads–the mindsets–of children and adults alike before any real transformation can come about. And that takes time…
One school bullying incident I recall now: A new child in the class (5th grade), who was much smaller than the others–and looked like a lower grade student–was bullied (ganged up on) by five bigger girls in the class. It got so bad that the bullied girl did not return to school one day and was found by the police wandering the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. The police brought her back to the class much to the “amazement” of all the students and myself.
When I found out who did the bullying, I let the girls know–in so many words–what I thought and felt about what they did, and ended the bullying. But, to me, this “instant solution” to the bullying problem won’t work in the long run.
Educating the heart through self-and-other-awareness, empathy, compassion, critical-and-creative-thinking, and writing (poetry and prose) are steps to developing peaceful, mindful intra-personal and interpersonal communication skills.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Great piece! But I was also struck by Jeffrey’s comment, especially “educating the heart…” So many hearts to educate, including our own.
Certainly an app is not enough, but training kids to think twice about things in general could have all sorts of benefits.
Yes, you got it, we should “teach kids to think twice about things,” or to reflect. Most kids and adults are not always in the habit of reflecting about their behavior–what they do and say. During my teaching days I created a form of writing called, “Reflection Writing,” where I asked kids to go back to their past and to visualize mind-pictures and experiences. At the same time, I asked them to re-view their thoughts, feelings, and ideas at that time. Once students finished reflecting, I asked them to describe the past event in 100 words or more. I checked their “reflections” overnight, and wrote some questions for a sampling of their responses. The next day the work was read orally by the students and/or myself. Sometimes, if the writing was too personal (at least, in my eyes), I read it anonymously, or not at all, but talked with the student writer privately (if they wanted to talk to me about it). I wrote an article for the Teachers and Writers Collaborative magazine on the work titled, “Reflection Writing.” I will try to see if I can get that up if you and your readers would like to see it.
It’s young people like this that give me hope for the future!
They get an idea and just go ahead and do it. I think parents are more supportive of that, too. More believing.