The Story of Pink Shirt Day

Ava Stacey, Grade 8 Student

Dunnville, ON

It was Chuck McNeill’s first day at Central Kings Rural High School in Berwick, Nova Scotia in 2007. He decided to wear a pink polo shirt.

Soon enough an incident occurred, a group of boys bullied Chuck. The boys called him rude slurs and said he was gay for wearing the pink shirt.

Two Grade 12 students, David Sheppard and Travis Price, saw what was happening to the young boy and decided they needed to take action against the situation.

The two seniors bought seventy-five women’s tank tops from the discount store, as well as pink pro tape for wrist bands and hairbands. They sent out a message via Messenger with the code name “Sea of Pink”.

The next day, the high school full of approximately 1000 had 700-800 students wearing pink to support the boy who was bullied. Sheppard and Price called school administration and they were told they could have faced expulsion, but they risked it.

Travis Price explained that the young Grade 9 student reminded him of himself; Price used to get bullied. David Sheppard once said, “If you can get more people against them… to show that we’re not going to put up with it and support each other, then they’re not as big as a group as they think they are.”

The pink shirt has since then become a symbol for the fight against bullying.