Project Rockit is an anti bullying program run by sisters Lucy and Rosie Thomas, which in three short years has become one of the most successful anti bullying business in Victoria. Appearing in both The Herald Sun and an upcoming appearance on Today Tonight, the girls have visited over 9000 students at nearly 40 schools, but what makes them different to the “Just Don’t Do  It” programmes that we all got in high school, is that Project Rockit is run for the youth, by the youth. They are also greatly passionate about the message they are sending; that bullying is something that the students themselves need to change. Hearing about their work you have a sudden urge to perform some sort of a 90’s Girl Power salute, not in a mocking way, but just because you genuinely get a buzz from their enthusiasm. Their success has proven that many others are starting to believe their own creed, “We’re young, we know you’re world- we’ll rock it”.

What prompted you and Rosie to start Project Rockit?

Lucy- Well I had just come home from overseas, after finishing my Creative Arts Honours, and Ro had kind of slipped into Arts degree apathy, when we went for a family trip to a wedding in Noosa. We were sitting around talking about what we wanted in life and our aims, and we had this moment like “Oh my god, we share so many of the same goals and values!” We both really wanted to start something that could make a difference, not in a patronising sense, but just to create something out of nothing, you know? We’d had experience as youth workers and had noticed that there was a gap in anti bullying programs, especially through our contact with teachers. It just became abundantly clear that there was an intersection in our values.

And so you decided to start your own business...

Yeah, well we both had had experience running school programs before, but they were for businesses, not ourselves. Basically we just had to ask people we knew for favours and use any connections we could.

You guys are really young to be starting your own business; did you find it hard channelling all you energy into one thing when people in their early twenties are usually still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up?

In terms of the business, yes, in terms of the actual experience, no. Because we’re passionate about it it’s not like a part time job where you can stay up all night, and then go the next morning hung-over; when we do Rockit we’re in bed by 7pm! Our drive comes from the actual work, we’re motivated not only by the fact that we don’t want to let each other down, but because it’s so much cooler than a part time job! But in terms of business, well yeah we avoid ringing the accountant. The actual logistics side took discipline; it took a while to learn the cogs of running your own business.

What are the aims of Project Rockit?

We aim to shine a light on the strengths, abilities, ethics and other positive aspects of the young people we work with. Rather than tell them what is wrong with the youth, we want to spotlight their capabilities and maturity; anti bullying programs don’t need to be negative, standing up to injustice is ultimately a positive thing. We also try to establish some student ownership over the issue, by encouraging responsibility and also pride in questioning themselves as leaders. Basically it’s all about identity, who you are and who you want to be. Rockit’s really about giving people that haven’t been recognised as leaders a chance to be recognised, and hopefully we can help bring about a cultural change in that school.

What do you find to be the most confronting aspect of Rockit?

The most confronting thing is definitely when you realise what some kids bring from home, whether it be verbal or physical abuse. It’s really scary when you think about the broader social issues that affect kids, like all the shit that teenagers seem to have to go through. Gaining an insight into the crap that young people have going on is pretty daunting. But at the same time it’s hard to address all these issues in one hour session, within one year level you could have kids with every issue under the sun. So we try to present them with case studies of other people’s experiences, and situations through role plays, which means that they can come up with their own solutions. The first thing we learnt was to show, not tell.

On your website there is a video of you and Ro doing a choreographed dance in front of a group of teenagers, which must have been confronting in itself...

Well, yeah! We used it to interrogate concepts of judgement. You can’t really care about them judging you, because they will, but the moment you break it down and don’t care about being uncool, they don’t care either.

And the most rewarding?

When you walk out of a session and you’ve had a tough crowd, or have had to work hard to engage them, or have had to think every minute, but you’ve done it. I love when students ask a lot of you and you can deliver, having an impact is the most rewarding thing. The idea of working with people who have never had an opportunity for leadership, or even just creating an opportunity for someone to be something else, that’s really gratifying. What we really get excited about is trying to create a culture where standing up to injustice is cool, in a way it’s sort of more about citizenship and having a social conscience than bullying.

Do you ever meet resistance from the kids?

Yeah, when you open with the phrase “anti-bullying”, you see the kids roll their eyes because there is such a stigma about anti bullying programmes. They automatically think they’re going to be patronised, and this judgment is usually correct. Sometimes we don’t even use the word bullying for this reason.

Have you found that your youth has been an advantage or disadvantage in promoting your business?

I think that it has been a definite pro in engaging young people; it’s one of our biggest assets in terms of kids being more likely to talk to someone closer to their own age. I don’t think you can underestimate the power of understanding pop culture and using lingo correctly. In the same way, you can’t talk about cyber bullying without having a Facebook. I think that our knowledge of the internet has been really important given the massive demand for information about cyber bullying. The reality is that adults are never going to be able to catch up the progress of the internet, its developing beyond us; we just have to trust kids with the reigns. I guess our youth has meant that sometimes adults haven’t taken us seriously, but actually it hasn’t been an issue. It’s funny because in the three years we’ve been running Rockit I’ve seen so much potential in other young people we’ve worked with and this is pretty comforting given there will be a day when I'll be too old to be running it. I’m not precious at all about Rockit, and thinking about passing it on to other enthusiastic young people is pretty exciting.

Project Rockit is a pretty creative program, exhibited in everything from your website to your activities, what inspires you?

Creatively, music is a massive source of inspiration. If you say to a room full of teenagers “put your hand up if you like music”, everyone will raise their hands. You don’t have to like the same kind of music, but just this common interest is a kind of social leveller. We use a lot of music in our sessions, not only does it inspire energy but particularly in teenagers, it’s something that draws a positive light on shit issues.

Finally, what are your five favourite empowering anti bullying songs and movies?

“Lord Anthony” by Belle and Sebastian, “Float On” by Modest Mouse, “Today” by Smashing Pumpkins, “Roses” by Outkast, “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes AND “Mean Girls”, “The Breakfast Club”, any of the “Harry Potter's”, “Edward Scissorhands” and “Hey, Hey! It’s Ester Blueberger”.

www.projectrockit.com.au